Dynamically add/remove regions to a layout - backbone.js

Question

Is it possible to dynamically add and remove regions to a layout with Marionette? My app needs to be able to push and pop regions from a layout. This is similar to how GitHub pushes and pops views when you drill down in the source code of a project. They have the slide over animation when presenting the next view and then it slides back when you're backing out. The idea is that I need to keep the previous views around. Another analogy would be how UINavigationControllers work on iOS.
Or maybe I should just define a custom layout that is able to handle adding and removing regions on the fly?

Answer 1

I ended up implementing a container view to fit my needs. It cleans up event refs like you'd expect in Marionette.
https://github.com/ayoung/backbone-vs-marionette/blob/marionette/public/js/views/mainContainer.js

Answer 2

I'm not sure but you may be getting confused with the existence of some html and the displaying of that html?
I mean you can make a CompositeView of Items and only show one of the items at a time. Then use jQuery animate or another animation library to move through the CompositeView's Items.

Answer 3

Yes it is possible. Here is the code I use.
The layout:
var Layout = Marionette.LayoutView.extend({
initialize: function(options) {
options = _.extend({ regionTag: 'div' }, options);
this.mergeOptions(options, ['regionTag', 'regionName']);
},
template: false,
regions: {},
append: function(view) {
var viewClass = 'dynamic-layout-' + this.regionName,
viewCount = $('.' + viewClass).length + 1,
viewId = this.regionName + '-view-' + viewCount,
$el = $('<' + this.regionTag + '/>', {
id: viewId,
class: viewClass
});
this.$el.append($el);
var region = Marionette.Region.extend({
el: '#' + viewId
});
this.regionManager.addRegion(viewId, region);
this.regionManager.get(viewId).show(view);
},
appendEmpty: function(id, className, tag) {
tag = tag || 'div';
var data = { id: id, className: className, tag: tag };
var $el = Marionette.Renderer.render('#append-layout-template', data);
this.$el.append($el);
var region = Marionette.Region.extend({
el: '#' + id
});
this.regionManager.addRegion(id, region);
},
customRemove: function(regionId) {
this.regionManager.removeRegion(regionId);
}
});
A helpful template:
<script type="text/template" id="append-layout-template">
<<%= tag %> id='<%= id %>' class='<%= className %>'></<%= tag %>>
</script>
The controller:
var view = new SomeView();
// the region name will be a part of a unique id
var layout = new Layout({ regionName: 'myRegion' });
// add a dynamic region to the layout and a view to that region
layout.append(view);
// same as above (you have to name the id and class yourself)
var regionId = 'myRegionId';
layout.appendEmpty(regionId, 'someClassName', 'span');
layout.getRegion(regionId).show(view);
// remove a region
layout.customRemove(regionId);