Backbone: Creating models from a Collection of Models that contain a Collection of Models - backbone.js

Question

I have an API that is producing GeoJSON data of a number of Venues and Events that are occurring at each Venue.
See an example output:
{
"crs":null,
"type":"FeatureCollection",
"features":[
{
"geometry":{
"type":"Point",
"coordinates":[
-122.330056,
47.603828
]
},
"type":"Feature",
"id":39,
"properties":{
"city_slug":"seattle",
"neighborhood_name":"Downtown",
"events__all":[
{
"category__category":"Gallery",
"eventid":16200847,
"description":"A Wider View, curated by Onyx Fine Arts Collective, features 60 works by 23 artists of African descent.",
"title":"A Wider View",
"cost":"Free",
"category__slug":"gallery",
"slug":"a-wider-view"
}
],
"venue_name":"City Hall Lobby Gallery",
"venue_address":"600 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, USA",
"city_name":"Seattle",
"neighborhood_slug":"downtown",
"venue_slug":"city-hall-lobby-gallery"
}
},
{
"geometry":{
"type":"Point",
"coordinates":[
-122.348512,
47.6217233
]
},
"type":"Feature",
"id":42,
"properties":{
"city_slug":"seattle",
"neighborhood_name":"Downtown",
"events__all":[
{
"category__category":"Museums",
"eventid":15455000,
"description":"The Art of Video Games tackles a 40-year history, with a focus on video game as art form. Nerdy heartstrings will be tugged in this nostalgia-inducing retrospective, including everything from the Atari VCS to Playstation 3.",
"title":"The Art of Video Games",
"cost":"$20",
"category__slug":"museums",
"slug":"the-art-of-video-games"
},
{
"category__category":"Museums",
"eventid":15213972,
"description":"There's just something about the black leather jacket. It's a garment that invariably comes with context, that cannot help but be an icon. Worn to Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket explores the evolution of the leather jacket from \"protective gear to revolutionary garb.\"",
"title":"Worn to Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket",
"cost":"$20",
"category__slug":"museums",
"slug":"worn-to-be-wild-the-black-leather-jacket"
}
],
"venue_name":"Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum.",
"venue_address":"325 5th Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109, USA",
"city_name":"Seattle",
"neighborhood_slug":"downtown",
"venue_slug":"experience-music-project-science-fiction-museum"
}
}
],
"bbox":[
-122.348512,
47.6035448,
-122.3233742,
47.6217233
]
}
I want to map this into a Collection called VenueEvents. VenueEvents contains models called JsonVenues, and each of these Venues then have contain a collection called EventSet, containing a number of Event models (side topic: is naming a model 'Event' a recipe for disaster?).
My models are outlined as such:
var Event = Backbone.Model.extend({
parse: function(response){
return {
id: response.eventid,
slug: response.slug,
title: repsonse.title,
description: response.description,
category: response.category__category,
cost: response.cost
}
}
});
var EventSet = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Event,
}
});
var JsonVenue = Backbone.Model.extend({
initialize: function(attributes) {
console.log(attributes)
},
parse: function(response){
// var eventSet = new EventSet(response.properties.events__all);
return {
name: response.properties.venue_name,
address: response.properties.venue_address,
neighborhood: response.properties.neighborhood_name,
//eventSet: eventSet
}
}
});
// Is this actually a model?
var VenueEvents = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: JsonVenue,
url: '/json/',
parse: function(response){
return response.features;
}
});
The VenueEvents and JsonVenue objects get created as expected, with the exception that the response.properties.events__all object doesn't seem to make it's way to the JsonVenue model (which is where I'd expect to use it to create the EventSet collection). I've put a console.log(attributes) in the initialize parameter of the JsonVenue object and it shows that while all the other values within features.properties of a JsonVenue make its way to the model, the events__all does not.
Is there any reason why this would be happening? Is this method of loading nested JSON data into models even possible? In most examples, people are only including the id of the nested object in their JSON output, and then (I assume) building a model out of that object in another JSON string and relating them based on the ID. This seems like it would require more traffic between the server and client. I also see people side-loading data, is this the recommended method of relating models in a single API call?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Well.. Ive just tried your code, using:
new VenueEvents(json, {parse: true});
to create your collection. And... it works just fine it seems...
Still, Backbone-relational might have the behavior you want to simplify your code (this is just an assumption, I've never tested it myself, nor have had a real look at it).