How to know the collection has changed by user in backbone.js - backbone.js

I'm listing a collection with one check box and description. Now when user will click on submit button I want to validate that user should have clicked on at least one checkbox. I know there is an event "change" in collection but am not sure how to use it.
I want this collection should have a property of boolean type to check
whether the collection is changed or not.

Thanks for your prompt response.
I know i can use change event of collection. I wonder am correct in my solution. Here is my code. Note am registering the event after my view is rendered because on default I change some values.
complienceListView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $('#complienceList'),
initialize: function () {
complienceList.bind("reset", this.render, this);
},
render: function () {
complienceList.each(function (complience) {
$(this.el).append(new complienceListItemView({ model: complience }).render().el);
}, this);
complienceList.on('change', function(){isDirty = true;})
return this;
}
});
var isDirty = false;

Related

Best method to set a single view selected (others should be unselected)

So what i'm trying to do is the following:
i have an collectionlistview of
<li><a>item</a></li>
itemviews.
Now the method i use is when i click on item it handles the click in the itemview and adds the class selected, and i use $('.selected').removeClass('selected');
But this doesn't feel right, i've thought several times about how i could this the best way.
Maybe i should use events somehow?
Ideas/implementations?
If each of the views corresponds to a model, then I'd probably select the model and let the view react to a change event on the model:
var MyModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
select: function () {
// I add select methods instead of having this
// set directly on the model in case I want to
// control the event firing, for example if I
// want to suppress it
this.set({ selected: true });
},
deselect: function () {
this.set({ selected: false });
}
});
// where-ever my view is defined:
var MyView = Marionette.ItemView.extend({
initialize: function () {
this.listenTo(this.model, 'change:select', this.toggleSelected);
},
toggleSelected: function () {
this.$el.toggleClass('selected');
}
});
This keeps the model state decoupled and scopes the view behavior to just the view's concern as well. If you're worried about keeping the selected state of the class in sync with the selected state of the model, you can also trigger the change even from the model select/deselect methods yourself, passing the selected state as an additional option in the trigger method:
select: function () {
this.trigger('selected', { selected: true });
}
toggleSelected: function (options) {
this.$el.toggleClass('selected', options.selected);
}
or you can actually query the state of the model when you call toggleClass:
toggleSelected: function () {
this.$el.toggleClass('selected', this.model.get('selected'));
}

Right way for wiring backbone views

I have a two views:
1 LeftView (maximized when RightView is minimized & vice versa)
2 RightView (containing)
- collection of
- RightItemView (rendering RightItemModel)
When RightView is maximized and the user clicks a RightItemView, I want to maximize LeftView and display something according to the data from the clicked RightItemView.
What's the proper way to wire them?
I would recommend using the Backbone.Events module:
http://backbonejs.org/#Events
Basically, this line is all it takes to create your event dispatcher:
var dispatcher = _.clone(Backbone.Events);
Then all of your views can trigger/listen for events using the global dispatcher.
So, in RightItemView you would do something like this in the click event:
dispatcher.trigger('rightItemClick', data); // data is whatever you need the LeftView to know
Then, in LeftView's initialize function, you can listen for the event and call your relevant function:
dispatcher.on('rightItemClick', this.maximizeAndDisplayData);
Assuming your LeftView would have a function like so:
maximizeAndDisplayData: function(data) {
// do whatever you need to here
// data is what you passed with the event
}
The solution #jordanj77 mentioned is definitely one of the correct ways to achieve your requirement. Just out of curiosity, I thought of another way to achieve the same effect. Instead of using a separate EventDispatcher to communicate between the two views, why shouldn't we use the underlying model as our EventDispatcher? Let's try to think in those lines.
To start with, add a new boolean attribute to the RightItem model called current and default it to false. Whenever, the user selects the RightItemView, set the model's current attribute to true. This will trigger a change:current event on the model.
var RightItem = Backbone.Model.extend({
defaults: {
current: false,
}
});
var RightItemView = Backbone.View.extend({
events: {
'click li': 'changeCurrent'
}
changeCurrent: function() {
this.model.set('current', true);
}
});
On the other side, the LeftView will be handed a Backbone.Collection of RightItem models during creation time. You would anyways have this instance to supply the RightView isn't it? In its initialize method, the LeftView will listen for change:current event. When the event occurs, LeftView will change the current attribute of the model it is currently displaying to false and start displaying the new model that triggered this event.
var LeftView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function() {
this.collection.on('change:current', this.render, this);
},
render: function(model) {
// Avoid events triggered when resetting model to false
if(model.get('current') === true) {
// Reset the currently displayed model
if (this.model) {
this.model.set('current') = false;
}
// Set the currently selected model to the view
this.model = model;
// Display the view for the current model
}
}
});
var leftView = new LeftView({
// Use the collection that you may have given the RightView anyways
collection: rightItemCollection
});
This way, we get to use the underlying model as the means of communication between the Left and Right Views instead of using an EventDispatcher to broker for us.
The solution given by #Ganeshji inspired me to make a live example
I've created 2 views for this.
var RightView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $('.right_view'),
template: _.template('<p>Right View</p>'),
renderTemplate: function () {
this.$el.html('');
this.$el.append(this.template());
this.$link = this.$el.append('Item to view').children('#left_view_max');
},
events: {
'click #left_view_max' : 'maxLeftView'
},
maxLeftView: function () {
//triggering the event for the leftView
lView.trigger('displayDataInLeftView', this.$link.attr('title'));
},
initialize: function (options) {
this.renderTemplate();
}
});
var LeftView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $('.left_view'),
template: _.template('<p>Left View</p>'),
renderTemplate: function () {
this.$el.html('');
this.$el.append(this.template());
},
displayDataInLeftView: function (data) {
this.$el.append('<p>' + data + '</p>');
},
initialize: function (options) {
//set the trigger callback
this.on('displayDataInLeftView', this.displayDataInLeftView, this);
this.renderTemplate();
}
});
var lView = new LeftView();
var rView = new RightView();
Hope this helps.

Backbone custom event trigger not being recognised?

I'm learning Backbone.js for the first time and I'm having an issue trying to get a custom event from triggering (or from the View from recognising when it's been triggered)?
You can see my Collection code here: https://github.com/Integralist/Backbone-Playground/blob/master/Assets/Scripts/App/main.js#L72-86 which when initialized it triggers a custom collection:init event.
var Contacts = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Contact,
initialize: function(){
this.trigger('collection:init');
this.bind('add', this.model_added, this);
},
model_added: function(){
console.log('A new model has been created so trigger an event for the View to update the <select> menu');
}
});
But later on in my View where I'm listening for that event I can't get the function populate to fire: https://github.com/Integralist/Backbone-Playground/blob/master/Assets/Scripts/App/main.js#L90-107
var ContactsView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function(){
console.log(contacts.models, 'get initial model data and populate the select menu?');
},
events: {
'collection:init': 'populate',
'change select': 'displaySelected'
},
populate: function(){
console.log('populate the <select> with initial Model data');
},
displaySelected: function (event) {
console.log('get model data and display selected user', event);
}
});
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
The events hash in a view is used to bind events from the DOM to your view, e.g. events raised by the elements in your rendered view. To listen to events raised by your collection, you will have to set them manually:
var ContactsView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function(){
contacts.on("collection:init",this.populate,this);
}
...
});
Note that you are using a global contacts variable, I would advise to use Backbone mechanisms and pass your collection to the constructor, as you do with the el:
var ContactsView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function(){
console.log(this.collection.models);
this.collection.on("collection:init",this.populate,this);
}
...
});
var contacts_view = new ContactsView({
el: $('#view-contacts'),
collection:contacts
});
As #mu said in the comments, as is, your event won't do anything since you trigger it in the initialize method of the collection, which is automatically called by the constructor of the collection therefore before you can bind anything in the view. See this Fiddle to visualize the call order : http://jsfiddle.net/yRuCN/
Trigger it elsewhere, or, if I read correctly your intent, you (probably) want to use the built in reset event:
var ContactsView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function(){
this.collection.on("reset",this.populate,this);
}
...
});
See http://jsfiddle.net/yRuCN/1/ for an example with potential uses.

marionette simple event delegation

I am trying to add a simple event to the children under my compositeview but it is not triggering at all..and frankly I am not sure why, it seems so simple, I could do this just fine with normal backbone.view.
In the example below, the alert is not triggered at all, however when I purposefully change the function name the event binds to , to something else that doesnt exist, it complaints that the function doesnt exist, so I think it's something else...help?
App.View.ContentContainer = Backbone.Marionette.CollectionView.extend({
className:'content_container',
itemView:App.View.ContentBrowseItem,
events:{
'click .browse_item':'focus_content'
},
initialize:function () {
//this.views = {} //indexed by id
//this.create_modal_container()
var coll = this.collection
coll.calculate_size()
coll.sort_by('title', -1)
},
focus_content:function (e) {
alert('here???')
var $modal_container = this.$modal_container
var content_id = $(e.currentTarget).data('content-id')
var $selected_view = this.views[content_id]
var $focused_content = new App.View.FocusedItem({model:$selected_view.model})
$modal_container.empty().show().append($focused_content.el).reveal().bind('reveal:close', function () {
$focused_content.close()
})
return false
},
onShow:function(){
this.$el.addClass('content_container').isotope({
selector:'.content_item',
resizable:true,
layoutMode:'masonry',
masonry:{ columnWidth:64 }
})
}
EDIT: this is the resulting HTML: http://pastebin.com/uW2X8iPp the div.content_container is the resulting el of App.View.ContentContainer
Is .browse_item a selector for the App.View.ContentBrowseItem itemView element? In that case, you need to bind the event in the ItemView definition, not in the CollectionView definition. The reason is that events are bound when a view is rendered. The CollectionView itself is rendered before any of its child itemViews.
Also, if you are opening up another modal view on this click event, I would let the app handle that, rather than your CollectionView
Try something like this:
App.View.ContentBrowseItem = Backbone.Marionette.ItemView.extend({
...
initialize: function() {
// Maintain context on event handlers
_.bindAll(this, "selectItem")
},
events: {
"click" : "selectItem"
}
selectItem: function() {
App.vent.trigger("item:select", this.model);
}
...
});
And to actually show the modal detail view:
App.vent.on("item:select", function(itemModel) {
var detailView = new App.View.FocusedItem({ model: itemModel });
// You may also want to create a region for your modal container.
// It might simplify some of your `$modal_container.empty().show().append(..).etc().etc()
App.modalRegion.show(detailView);
});
Allowing each of your views to handle their own events is part of what makes Backbone and Marionette so beautiful. You'll just want to avoid one view getting all up in another view's business (eg. a CollectionView trying to handle its ItemView's events, an ItemView creating event bindings to show and close a separate modal view, etc.)
Hope this helps!

Backbone.js: How do I force the View to automatically refresh when changing a models collection

So I have a View that looks like this.
//base class
var SelectListView = Backbone.View.extend({
initialize: function() {
_.bindAll(this, 'addOne', 'addAll');
this.collection.bind('reset', this.addAll);
},
addAll: function() {
this.collection.each(this.addOne);
},
events: {
"change": "changedSelected"
},
changedSelected: function() {
this.selected = $(this.el);
this.setSelectedId($(this.el).val());
}
});
//my extended view
var PricingSelectListView = SelectListView.extend({
addOne: function(item) {
$(this.el).append(new PricingView({ model: item }).render().el);
}
});
I have instantiated the view like this...
var products = new ProductPricings();
var pricingsView = new PricingSelectListView({
el: $("#sel-product"),
collection: products
});
Somewhere else (another views custom method)I have updated the pricing view's collection
pricingsView.collection = new ProductPricings(filtered);
This does not seen to do anything.
pricingsView.render();
So now the collection has fewer items but the new view is never rendered or refreshed in the DOM.
How to I do I 1.) refresh the rendering in the DOM? 2.) Make it automatically refresh the DOM? Do I have to somehow tell it to render when ever the collection changes?
You bound addOne() to a reset event. When you just replace the pricingsView.collection instance then that event is not triggered and addOne() is not executed.
Try instead:
pricingsView.collection.reset(filtered);
This might work since you bind to collection's reset event already:
pricingsView.collection.reset(filtered);
http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-reset
You still have tweak your rendering logic to remove old markup from the view when reset happens.

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