I am building a test application in Backbone.js (my first app using Backbone). The app goes like this:
Load Data from server "Plans"
Build list of plans and show to screen
There is a button to add a new plan
Once new plan is added, add to collection ( do not save to server as of now )
redirect to index page and show the new collection ( includes the plan you just added)
My issue is with item 5. When I save a plan, I add the model to the collection then redirect to the initial view. At this point, I fetch data from the server. When I fetch data from the server, this overwrites my collection and my added model is gone.
How can I prevent this from happening? I have found a way to do this but it is definitely not the correct way at all. Below you will find my code examples for this. Thanks for the help.
PlansListView View:
var PlansListView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'ul',
initialize : function()
{
_.bindAll( this, 'render', 'close' );
//reset the view if the collection is reset
this.collection.bind( 'reset', this.render , this );
},
render : function()
{
_.each( this.collection.models, function( plan ){
$( this.el ).append( new PlansListItemView({ model: plan }).render().el );
}, this );
return this;
},
close : function()
{
$( this.el ).unbind();
$( this.el ).remove();
}
});//end
NewPlanView Save Method
var NewPlanView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'section',
template : _.template( $( '#plan-form-template' ).html() ),
events : {
'click button.save' : 'savePlan',
'click button.cancel' : 'cancel'
},
intialize: function()
{
_.bindAll( this, 'render', 'save', 'cancel' );
},
render : function()
{
$( '#container' ).append( $( this.el ).html(this.template( this.model.toJSON() )) );
return this;
},
savePlan : function( event )
{
this.model.set({
name : 'bad plan',
date : 'friday',
desc : 'blah',
id : Math.floor(Math.random()*11),
total_stops : '2'
});
this.collection.add( this.model );
app.navigate('', true );
event.preventDefault();
},
cancel : function(){}
});
Router (default method):
index : function()
{
this.container.empty();
var self = this;
//This is a hack to get this to work
//on default page load fetch all plans from the server
//if the page has loaded ( this.plans is defined) set the updated plans collection to the view
//There has to be a better way!!
if( ! this.plans )
{
this.plans = new Plans();
this.plans.fetch({
success: function()
{
self.plansListView = new PlansListView({ collection : self.plans });
$( '#container' ).append( self.plansListView.render().el );
if( self.requestedID ) self.planDetails( self.requestedID );
}
});
}
else
{
this.plansListView = new PlansListView({ collection : this.plans });
$( '#container' ).append( self.plansListView.render().el );
if( this.requestedID ) self.planDetails( this.requestedID );
}
},
New Plan Route:
newPlan : function()
{ var plan = new Plan({name: 'Cool Plan', date: 'Monday', desc: 'This is a great app'});
this.newPlan = new NewPlanView({ model : plan, collection: this.plans });
this.newPlan.render();
}
FULL CODE
( function( $ ){
var Plan = Backbone.Model.extend({
defaults: {
name : '',
date : '',
desc : ''
}
});
var Plans = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model : Plan,
url : '/data/'
});
$( document ).ready(function( e ){
var PlansListView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'ul',
initialize : function()
{
_.bindAll( this, 'render', 'close' );
//reset the view if the collection is reset
this.collection.bind( 'reset', this.render , this );
},
render : function()
{
_.each( this.collection.models, function( plan ){
$( this.el ).append( new PlansListItemView({ model: plan }).render().el );
}, this );
return this;
},
close : function()
{
$( this.el ).unbind();
$( this.el ).remove();
}
});//end
var PlansListItemView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'li',
template : _.template( $( '#list-item-template' ).html() ),
events :{
'click a' : 'listInfo'
},
render : function()
{
$( this.el ).html( this.template( this.model.toJSON() ) );
return this;
},
listInfo : function( event )
{
}
});//end
var PlanView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'section',
events : {
'click button.add-plan' : 'newPlan'
},
template: _.template( $( '#plan-template' ).html() ),
initialize: function()
{
_.bindAll( this, 'render', 'close', 'newPlan' );
},
render : function()
{
$( '#container' ).append( $( this.el ).html( this.template( this.model.toJSON() ) ) );
return this;
},
newPlan : function( event )
{
app.navigate( 'newplan', true );
},
close : function()
{
$( this.el ).unbind();
$( this.el ).remove();
}
});//end
var NewPlanView = Backbone.View.extend({
tagName : 'section',
template : _.template( $( '#plan-form-template' ).html() ),
events : {
'click button.save' : 'savePlan',
'click button.cancel' : 'cancel'
},
intialize: function()
{
_.bindAll( this, 'render', 'save', 'cancel' );
},
render : function()
{
$( '#container' ).append( $( this.el ).html(this.template( this.model.toJSON() )) );
return this;
},
savePlan : function( event )
{
this.model.set({
name : 'bad plan',
date : 'friday',
desc : 'blah',
id : Math.floor(Math.random()*11),
total_stops : '2'
});
this.collection.add( this.model );
app.navigate('', true );
event.preventDefault();
},
cancel : function(){}
});
var AppRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
container : $( '#container' ),
routes : {
'' : 'index',
'viewplan/:id' : 'planDetails',
'newplan' : 'newPlan'
},
initialize: function(){
},
index : function()
{
this.container.empty();
var self = this;
//This is a hack to get this to work
//on default page load fetch all plans from the server
//if the page has loaded ( this.plans is defined) set the updated plans collection to the view
//There has to be a better way!!
if( ! this.plans )
{
this.plans = new Plans();
this.plans.fetch({
success: function()
{
self.plansListView = new PlansListView({ collection : self.plans });
$( '#container' ).append( self.plansListView.render().el );
if( self.requestedID ) self.planDetails( self.requestedID );
}
});
}
else
{
this.plansListView = new PlansListView({ collection : this.plans });
$( '#container' ).append( self.plansListView.render().el );
if( this.requestedID ) self.planDetails( this.requestedID );
}
},
planDetails : function( id )
{
if( this.plans )
{
this.plansListView.close();
this.plan = this.plans.get( id );
if( this.planView ) this.planView.close();
this.planView = new PlanView({ model : this.plan });
this.planView.render();
}
else{
this.requestedID = id;
this.index();
}
if( ! this.plans ) this.index();
},
newPlan : function()
{ var plan = new Plan({name: 'Cool Plan', date: 'Monday', desc: 'This is a great app'});
this.newPlan = new NewPlanView({ model : plan, collection: this.plans });
this.newPlan.render();
}
});
var app = new AppRouter();
Backbone.history.start();
});
})( jQuery );
