I am using backbone.js routes and i am struggling to make history to work. Here is the code i have:
$(function() {
var AppRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"/": "initHome",
"home": "initHome",
"projects": "initProjects",
"project/:id" : "initProject"
}
});
// Instantiate the router
var app_router = new AppRouter;
app_router.on('route:initProject', function (id) {
// Note the variable in the route definition being passed in here
getContent("project",id);
});
app_router.on('route:initProjects', function () {
getContent("projects");
});
app_router.on('route:initHome', function () {
getContent("home");
});
// SINGLE PAGE MAGIC
$(document).on("click",".links",function(e) {
var href = $(this).attr("href");
var url = lang + "/" + href;
page = $(this).attr("data-id");
var param = $(this).attr("data-param");
if (typeof(param) == 'undefined') { param = ""; }
if(activepage != href && !main.hasClass("loadingPage")){
loader.show();
firstInit = false;
activepage = href;
res = app_router.navigate(url, true);
getContent(page,param);
}
return false;
});
Backbone.history.start({pushState: true, root: "/karlin/"});
});
Push state is working fine on click, but it wont call getContent() function when i try back/next buttons in the browser. I am an newbie to backbone, so any advice will be helpful.
Change this: res = app_router.navigate(url, true);
To this: app_router.navigate(url, {trigger: true});
I can't see any reason to create a variable "res".
IMHO you've got a convoluted implementation of Backbone. I'd suggest moving your routes to the constructor like so:
var AppRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"/": "initHome",
"home": "initHome",
"projects": "initProjects",
"project/:id" : "initProject"
},
initProject: function (id) {
// Note the variable in the route definition being passed in here
getContent("project", id);
},
initProjects: function () {
getContent("projects");
},
initHome: function () {
getContent("home");
}
});
// Instantiate the router
var app_router = new AppRouter;
Also, if you set up your routes properly like in the Backbone docs,
routes: {
"help": "help", // #help
"search/:query": "search", // #search/kiwis
"search/:query/p:page": "search" // #search/kiwis/p7
},
you can pass parameters to the routes with traditional links. You can also move your if activePage statement to the router as a helper function for changing pages.
Router.navigate is for rare instances.
I suggest, reading the Backbone docs over and over. I learn something new every time. There's a lot there and Backbone is doing things efficiently already. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Hope this helps!
I second Andrew's answer: your use of routing is a bit odd.
If you're interested in learning more about why, as Andrew says, "Router.navigate is for rare instances", read pages 32-46 here: http://samples.leanpub.com/marionette-gentle-introduction-sample.pdf
It's part of the sample for my book on Backbone.Marionette.js, but routing concepts remain the same. In particular, you'll learn why the default trigger value is false, and why designing your app routing with that in mind will make your apps better.
Related
This is the first time I am using Backbone and I seem to be stuck on the basics, so bear with me.
I just want to use Backbone for Routing, I'm currently testing it within the News section of my site but I can't get the routes to trigger the functions I want.
Here' my code:
var NewsRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"*news": "init",
"news:tmpl": "loadTemplate",
},
init: function(params) {
//$("#main").load("/news/all");
console.log('news called')
},
loadTemplate: function(tmpl) {
console.log('loadTemplate function called')
}
});
var news_router = new NewsRouter;
Backbone.history.start();
I have this route working fine:
mysite.dev/news/ - console shows "news called"
mystic.dev/news/interviews - should call loadTemplate()
What am I mssing?
You missed slash after "news" in the route for 'loadTemplate':
"news/:tmpl": "loadTemplate",
Note that in your case router is configured only for hash-based navigation (like '#news/interviews' ). You may enable URL-based navigation by specifying additional options for 'start' method:
Backbone.history.start({ pushState: true });
I've tested. This works.
var NewsRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"news": "init",
"news/:tmpl": "loadTemplate",
},
init: function(params) {
//$("#main").load("/news/all");
alert('news called');
},
loadTemplate: function(tmpl) {
alert('loadTemplate function called: ' + tmpl);
}
});
var news_router = new NewsRouter;
Backbone.history.start();
Only updated below part.
routes: {
"news": "init",
"news/:tmpl": "loadTemplate",
},
Basically, you also need to remove * (asterisk) apart from missing slash as answered by #Vitaliy Fedorchenko.
Backbone code is not as complex as jQuery. It's pretty readable. So best thing is go to code and read rather than finding documentation. I don't understand regex as much, but if you see splatParam variable, I think it is treating asterisk as wild match. Anyone can please correct me if I'm wrong.
I have main app with subapps:
main_app
|-mainRouter.js
|-sub_app
|-subAppRouter.js
subAppRouter.js extends mainRouter.js. subAppRouter.js has handler for route (e.g. /app1/item/). I have no access to subAppRouter.
Here is what I need:
In mainRouter I want to create routing that will handle all URL's from all apps.
It should handle route , make some check and in one case it should continue firing handler from subAppRouter for that url, else it should make redirect (e.g. /app2/somepage).
Could someone helps me with finding the best solution how to do it?
In other words: how to realize interceptor pattern via router in backbone?
Thanks
i will rephrase your question in points
1- you have a main router for common routes
2- you have a specialized router for some app routes
3- you need your main router to choose weather to handle the route of just forward it to sub router
to achieve this i suggest the following
1- create the main router , extending Backbone.Router
var mainRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes:{
'index':'loadIndex',
//other common app routes......
},
loadIndex: function(){
//code to load index
}
});
2- then define the sub router for app,extending the main router, but notice how routes is defined
var subAppRouter = mainRouter.extend({
initialize: function(){
// here we will extend the base routes to not lose default routing, and add app special routing
_.extend(this.routes, {
'subApp/index': 'subAppIndex'
});
},
subAppIndex: function(){
// code to load sub app index
},
});
then you can use the sub router which will contains the base routing also
Here is a good article about subrouting. This works perfect for me.
Include subroute js lib in your project:
<script type="text/javascript" src="backbone.subroute.min.js"></script>
HTML body example:
App1
App2
<div class="app">
</div>
JS Code example:
var MyApp = {};
MyApp.App1 = {
Router: Backbone.SubRoute.extend({
routes: {
"": "init",
"sub1": "sub1"
},
init: function () {
console.log("app1");
$(".app").html($("<h1 />", {text: "App1"}));
$(".app").append($("<a/>", {href: "#app1/sub1", text: "sub1"}));
},
sub1: function () {
console.log("sub1");
$(".app").append($("<h2 />", {text: "sub1"}));
}
})
};
MyApp.Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
initialize: function () {
if(!MyApp.Routers){
MyApp.Routers = {};
}
},
routes: {
"app1/*subroute": "invokeApp1Router",
"app2": "app2"
},
invokeApp1Router: function (subroute) {
if(!MyApp.Routers.App1){
MyApp.Routers.App1 = new MyApp.App1.Router("app1/");
}
},
app2: function () {
console.log("app2");
$(".app").html($("<h1 />", {text: "App2"}));
}
});
$(document).ready(function () {
new MyApp.Router();
Backbone.history.start();
})
Just want to get some basic routing up and going. Having seen a number of examples I thought the code below should work, but when I run I get the error "Unable to get property 'doChat' of undefined or null reference". Do I have the initialization sequence wrong?
require(["marionette", "jquery.bootstrap", "jqueryui"], function (Marionette) {
window.App = new Marionette.Application();
App.start();
App.addRegions({
//add some regions here
});
//Set up routing
var AppRouter = Marionette.AppRouter.extend({
appRoutes: {
"": "doDefault",
"chat": "doChat"
},
doDefault: function () {
alert("doing default...")
},
doChat: function () {
alert("doing chat...")
}
});
var router = new AppRouter();
//History
if (Backbone.history) {
Backbone.history.start();
}
})
The AppRouter allows two types of routes, standard backbone routes as defined in the routes property and routes which call functions in another object defined in the appRoutes property.
So to get you above code working, you can do one of two things. The quickest is simply to change the appRoutes property to routes which will do normal backbone routing. The second option is to create another object and pass that to the AppRouter as the controller during instantiation:
var myController = {
doDefault: function () {
alert("doing default...")
},
doChat: function () {
alert("doing chat...")
}
}
var router = new AppRouter({
controller: myController
});
This is detailed in the AppRouter documentation.
I began learning Backbonejs recently, by reading a book. and I feel a little bit confuse about this issue.Here is a Router:
define(['views/index', 'views/login'], function(indexView, loginView) {
var SelinkRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
currentView: null,
routes: {
'home': 'home',
'login': 'login'
},
changeView: function(view) {
if(null != this.currentView)
this.currentView.undelegateEvents();
this.currentView = view;
this.currentView.render();
},
home: function() {
this.changeView(indexView);
},
login: function() {
this.changeView(loginView);
}
});
return new SelinkRouter();
});
and this is the boot method of a application:
define(['router'], function(router) {
var initialize = function() {
// Require home page from server
$.ajax({
url: '/home', // page url
type: 'GET', // method is get
dataType: 'json', // use json format
success: function() { // success handler
runApplicaton(true);
},
error: function() { // error handler
runApplicaton(false);
}
});
};
var runApplicaton = function(authenticated) {
// Authenticated user move to home page
if(authenticated) window.location.hash='home';
//router.navigate('home', true); -> not work
// Unauthed user move to login page
else window.location.hash='login';
//router.navigate('login', true); -> not work
// Start history
Backbone.history.start();
}
return {
initialize: initialize
};
});
My question is about the runApplication part. The example of the book that I read passed router into module just like this, but it used window.location.hash = "XXX", and the router wasn't touched at all.
I thought the "navigate" method would make browser move to the page I specified, but nothing happened. Why?
And for the best practice sake, what is the best way to achieve movement between pages(or views)?
thanks for any ideas.
You could also use the static method to avoid router dependency (while using requirejs for instance).
Backbone.history.navigate(fragment, options)
This way, you just need :
// Start history
Backbone.history.start();
// Authenticated user move to home page
if(authenticated)
Backbone.history.navigate('home', true);
// Unauthed user move to login page
else
Backbone.history.navigate('login', true);
According to the documentation, if you also want to call the function belonging to a specific route you need to pass the option trigger: true:
Whenever you reach a point in your application that you'd like to save
as a URL, call navigate in order to update the URL. If you wish to
also call the route function, set the trigger option to true. To
update the URL without creating an entry in the browser's history, set
the replace option to true.
your code should look like:
if(authenticated)
router.navigate('home', {trigger: true});
Once your router is created, you also have to call
Backbone.history.start();
Backbone.history.start([options])
When all of your Routers have
been created, and all of the routes are set up properly, call
Backbone.history.start() to begin monitoring hashchange events, and
dispatching routes.
Finally the runApplication logic will be something similar to this:
var runApplicaton = function(authenticated) {
var router = new SelinkRouter();
// Start history
Backbone.history.start();
// Authenticated user move to home page
if(authenticated)
router.navigate('home', true);
// Unauthed user move to login page
else
router.navigate('login', true);
}
I am looking the best way to track the Site Activity in Google Analytics for a web app made with Backbone and Requires.
Looking At Google's Page, I found this drop-in plugin - Backbone.Analytics.
My questions are:
1) using Backbone.Analytics, should I change backbone.analytics.js in order to add _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);?
2) Are there other possible solutions/plugins?
I prefer "do it yourself" style :) It's really simple:
var Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
initialize: function()
{
//track every route change as a page view in google analytics
this.bind('route', this.trackPageview);
},
trackPageview: function ()
{
var url = Backbone.history.getFragment();
//prepend slash
if (!/^\//.test(url) && url != "")
{
url = "/" + url;
}
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', url]);
}
}
And you add google analytics script to your page as usual.
You shouldn't have to change anything. Just add your Google Analytics code snippet, like normal, and include Backbone.Analytics as you would any other Javascript library.
Just figured i'd share how i'm doing it. This might not work for larger apps but I like manually telling GA when to track page views or other events. I tried binding to "all" or "route" but couldn't quite get it to record all the actions that I need automajically.
App.Router = BB.Router.extend({
//...
track: function(){
var url = Backbone.history.getFragment();
// Add a slash if neccesary
if (!/^\//.test(url)) url = '/' + url;
// Record page view
ga('send', {
'hitType': 'pageview',
'page': url
});
}
});
So i just call App.Router.Main.track(); after I navigate or do anything i want to track.
Do note that I use the new Analytics.js tracking snippet which is currently in public beta but has an API so intuitive that it eliminates the need for a plugin to abstract any complexity what so ever. For example: I keep track of how many people scroll to end of an infinite scroll view like this:
onEnd: function(){
ga('send', 'event', 'scrollEvents', 'Scrolled to end');
}
Good luck.
I wrote a small post on this, hope it helps someone:
http://sizeableidea.com/adding-google-analytics-to-your-backbone-js-app/
var appRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
initialize: function() {
this.bind('route', this.pageView);
},
routes: {
'dashboard': 'dashboardPageHandler'
},
dashboardPageHandler: function() {
// add your page-level logic here...
},
pageView : function(){
var url = Backbone.history.getFragment();
if (!/^\//.test(url) && url != ""){
url = "/" + url;
}
if(! _.isUndefined(_gaq)){
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', url]);
}
}
});
var router = new appRouter();
Backbone.history.start();
Regarding other possible solutions/plugins, I've used https://github.com/aterris/backbone.analytics in a few projects and it works quite well as well. It also has options for a few more things like event tracking which can be handy at some point in your analytics integration.
If you use the new universal analytics.js, you can do that like this:
var Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"*path": "page",
},
initialize: function(){
// Track every route and call trackPage
this.bind('route', this.trackPage);
},
trackPage: function(){
var url = Backbone.history.getFragment();
// Add a slash if neccesary
if (!/^\//.test(url)) url = '/' + url;
// Analytics.js code to track pageview
ga('send', {
'hitType': 'pageview',
'page': url
});
},
// If you have a method that render pages in your application and
// call navigate to change the url, you can call trackPage after
// this.navigate()
pageview: function(path){
this.navigate(path);
pageView = new PageView;
pageView.render();
// It's better call trackPage after render because by default
// analytics.js passes the meta tag title to Google Analytics
this.trackPage();
}
}
All answers seem to be almost good, but out-of-date (Sept. 2015). Following this Google devs guide: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/single-page-applications
Here's my version of the solution (I've added the suggested call to ga('set'...) ):
MyRouter = Backbone.Router.extend
...
initialize: () ->
# Track every route and call trackPage
#bind 'route', #trackPage
trackPage: () ->
url = Backbone.history.getFragment()
# Add a slash if neccesary
if not /^\//.test(url) then url = '/' + url
# Analytics.js code to track pageview
global.ga('set', {page: url})
global.ga('send', 'pageview')
...
Just posting an update to this question as it seems to be one I get a lot from backbone.js developers I know or work with who seem to fall at the last hurdle.
The Javascript:
App.trackPage = function() {
var url;
if (typeof ga !== "undefined" && ga !== null) {
url = Backbone.history.getFragment();
return ga('send', 'pageview', '/' + url);
}
};
Backbone.history.on("route", function() {
return App.trackPage();
});
The Tracking Snippet:
<head>
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||
function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();
a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;
a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script',
'//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X', 'auto');
</script>
</head>
The Tracking Snippet should be available on any page you wish to track activity. This could be your index.html where all your content is injected, but some sites may have multiple static pages or a mix. You can include the ga('send') function if you wish, but it will only fire on a page load.
I wrote a blog post that goes in to more detail, explaining rather than showing, the full process which you can find here: http://v9solutions.co.uk/tech/2016/02/15/how-to-add-google-analytics-to-backbone.js.html