mirror of
https://github.com/jashkenas/backbone.git
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2250 lines
84 KiB
HTML
2250 lines
84 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
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<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">
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<title>Backbone.js</title>
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<style>
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body {
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font-size: 14px;
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line-height: 22px;
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font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial;
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background: #f4f4f4 url(docs/images/background.png);
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}
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.interface {
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font-family: "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important;
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}
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div#sidebar {
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background: #fff;
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position: fixed;
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top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0;
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width: 200px;
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overflow-y: auto;
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overflow-x: hidden;
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padding: 15px 0 30px 30px;
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border-right: 1px solid #ddd;
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box-shadow: 0 0 20px #ccc; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 20px #ccc; -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 20px #ccc;
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}
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a.toc_title, a.toc_title:visited {
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text-decoration: none;
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display: block;
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color: black;
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font-weight: bold;
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margin-top: 15px;
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}
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a.toc_title:hover {
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text-decoration: underline;
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}
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#sidebar .version {
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font-size: 10px;
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font-weight: normal;
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}
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ul.toc_section {
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font-size: 11px;
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line-height: 14px;
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margin: 5px 0 0 0;
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padding-left: 0px;
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list-style-type: none;
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font-family: Lucida Grande;
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}
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.toc_section li {
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cursor: pointer;
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margin: 0 0 3px 0;
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}
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.toc_section li a {
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text-decoration: none;
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color: black;
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}
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.toc_section li a:hover {
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text-decoration: underline;
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}
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div.container {
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position: relative;
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width: 550px;
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margin: 40px 0 50px 260px;
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}
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div.run {
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position: absolute;
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right: 15px;
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width: 26px; height: 18px;
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background: url('docs/images/arrows.png') no-repeat -26px 0;
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}
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div.run:active {
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background-position: -51px 0;
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}
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p, div.container ul {
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margin: 20px 0;
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width: 550px;
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}
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p.warning {
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font-size: 12px;
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line-height: 18px;
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font-style: italic;
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}
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div.container ul {
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list-style: circle;
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font-size: 12px;
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padding-left: 15px;
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}
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a, a:visited {
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color: #444;
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}
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a:active, a:hover {
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color: #000;
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}
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a img {
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border: 0;
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}
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h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
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padding-top: 20px;
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}
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h2 {
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font-size: 20px;
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}
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b.header {
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font-size: 16px;
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line-height: 30px;
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}
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span.alias {
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font-size: 14px;
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font-style: italic;
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margin-left: 20px;
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}
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table {
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margin: 15px 0 0; padding: 0;
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}
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tr, td {
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margin: 0; padding: 0;
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}
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td {
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padding: 0px 15px 5px 0;
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}
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code, pre, tt {
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font-family: Monaco, Consolas, "Lucida Console", monospace;
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font-size: 12px;
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line-height: 18px;
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font-style: normal;
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}
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tt {
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padding: 0px 3px;
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background: #fff;
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border: 1px solid #ddd;
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zoom: 1;
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}
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code {
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margin-left: 20px;
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}
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pre {
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font-size: 12px;
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padding: 2px 0 2px 15px;
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border: 4px solid #bbb; border-top: 0; border-bottom: 0;
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margin: 0px 0 30px;
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}
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img.example_image {
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margin: 0px auto 30px;
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}
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</style>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div id="sidebar" class="interface">
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<a class="toc_title" href="#">
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Backbone.js <span class="version">(0.3.3)</span>
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</a>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#Introduction">
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Introduction
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</a>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#Events">
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Events
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</a>
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<ul class="toc_section">
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<li>– <a href="#Events-bind">bind</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Events-unbind">unbind</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Events-trigger">trigger</a></li>
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</ul>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#Model">
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Model
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</a>
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<ul class="toc_section">
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<li>– <a href="#Model-extend">extend</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-constructor">constructor / initialize</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-get">get</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-escape">escape</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-set">set</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-unset">unset</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-clear">clear</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-id">id</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-cid">cid</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-attributes">attributes</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-defaults">defaults</a></li>
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<li>- <a href="#Model-toJSON">toJSON</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-fetch">fetch</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-save">save</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-destroy">destroy</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-validate">validate</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-url">url</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-parse">parse</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-clone">clone</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-isNew">isNew</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-change">change</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-hasChanged">hasChanged</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-changedAttributes">changedAttributes</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-previous">previous</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Model-previousAttributes">previousAttributes</a></li>
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</ul>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#Collection">
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Collection
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</a>
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<ul class="toc_section">
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<li>– <a href="#Collection-extend">extend</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Collection-model">model</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-constructor">constructor / initialize</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-models">models</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-toJSON">toJSON</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-Underscore-Methods"><b>Underscore Methods (25)</b></a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-add">add</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-remove">remove</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-get">get</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-getByCid">getByCid</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-at">at</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-length">length</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-comparator">comparator</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-sort">sort</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-pluck">pluck</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-url">url</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-parse">parse</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-fetch">fetch</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#Collection-refresh">refresh</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Collection-create">create</a></li>
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||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<a class="toc_title" href="#Controller">
|
||
Controller
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||
</a>
|
||
<ul class="toc_section">
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Controller-extend">extend</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Controller-routes">routes</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Controller-constructor">constructor / initialize</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Controller-route">route</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#Controller-saveLocation">saveLocation</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<a class="toc_title" href="#History">
|
||
History
|
||
</a>
|
||
<ul class="toc_section">
|
||
<li>– <a href="#History-start">start</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#History-saveLocation">saveLocation</a></li>
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||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<a class="toc_title" href="#Sync">
|
||
Sync
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||
</a>
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<ul class="toc_section">
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||
<li>– <a href="#Sync">Backbone.sync</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Sync-emulateHTTP">Backbone.emulateHTTP</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#Sync-emulateJSON">Backbone.emulateJSON</a></li>
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</ul>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#View">
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View
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||
</a>
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||
<ul class="toc_section">
|
||
<li>– <a href="#View-extend">extend</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-constructor">constructor / initialize</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-el">el</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-dollar">$ (jQuery or Zepto)</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-render">render</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-remove">remove</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#View-make">make</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#View-delegateEvents">delegateEvents</a></li>
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</ul>
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<a class="toc_title" href="#examples">
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Examples
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||
</a>
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<ul class="toc_section">
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<li>– <a href="#examples-todos">Todos</a></li>
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<li>– <a href="#examples-documentcloud">DocumentCloud</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#examples-basecamp">Basecamp Mobile</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#examples-flow">Flow</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#examples-cloudapp">CloudApp</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#examples-soundcloud">Mobile SoundCloud</a></li>
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||
<li>– <a href="#examples-tilemill">TileMill</a></li>
|
||
<li>- <a href="#examples-instagreat">Insta-great!</a></li>
|
||
<li>- <a href="#examples-quietwrite">QuietWrite</a></li>
|
||
<li>- <a href="#examples-tzigla">Tzigla</a></li>
|
||
<li>- <a href="#examples-substance">Substance</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<a class="toc_title" href="#faq">
|
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F.A.Q.
|
||
</a>
|
||
<ul class="toc_section">
|
||
<li>– <a href="#FAQ-events">Catalog of Events</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#FAQ-nested">Nested Models & Collections</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#FAQ-bootstrap">Loading Bootstrapped Models</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#FAQ-mvc">Traditional MVC</a></li>
|
||
<li>– <a href="#FAQ-this">Binding "this"</a></li>
|
||
<li>- <a href="#FAQ-rias">Other RIA Frameworks</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<a class="toc_title" href="#changelog">
|
||
Change Log
|
||
</a>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<div class="container">
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img style="width: 385px; height: 126px;" src="docs/images/backbone.png" alt="Backbone.js" />
|
||
</p>
|
||
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||
<p>
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||
<a href="http://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/">Backbone</a>
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||
supplies structure to JavaScript-heavy applications by providing <b>models</b> with
|
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key-value binding and custom events, <b>collections</b> with a rich API of enumerable functions,
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||
<b>views</b> with declarative event handling, and connects it all to your
|
||
existing application over a RESTful JSON interface.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
The project is <a href="http://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/">hosted on GitHub</a>,
|
||
and the <a href="docs/backbone.html">annotated source code</a> is available,
|
||
as well as an online <a href="test/test.html">test suite</a>, and
|
||
<a href="examples/todos/index.html">example application</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
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||
You can report bugs and discuss features on the
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues">issues page</a>,
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on Freenode in the <tt>#documentcloud</tt> channel,
|
||
or send tweets to <a href="http://twitter.com/documentcloud">@documentcloud</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
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||
<i>
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||
Backbone is an open-source component of
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||
<a href="http://documentcloud.org/">DocumentCloud</a>.
|
||
</i>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="downloads">
|
||
Downloads & Dependencies
|
||
<span style="padding-left: 7px; font-size:11px; font-weight: normal;" class="interface">(Right-click, and use "Save As")</span>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
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<table>
|
||
<tr>
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||
<td><a href="backbone.js">Development Version (0.3.3)</a></td>
|
||
<td><i>35kb, Uncompressed with Comments</i></td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><a href="backbone-min.js">Production Version (0.3.3)</a></td>
|
||
<td><i>3.9kb, Packed and Gzipped</i></td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Backbone's only hard dependency is
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/">Underscore.js</a>.
|
||
For RESTful persistence, and DOM manipulation with
|
||
<a href="#View">Backbone.View</a>,
|
||
it's highly recommended to include
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js">json2.js</a>, and either
|
||
<a href="http://jquery.com">jQuery</a> or <a href="http://zeptojs.com/">Zepto</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Introduction">Introduction</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
When working on a web application that involves a lot of JavaScript, one
|
||
of the first things you learn is to stop tying your data to the DOM. It's all
|
||
too easy to create JavaScript applications that end up as tangled piles of
|
||
jQuery selectors and callbacks, all trying frantically to keep data in
|
||
sync between the HTML UI, your JavaScript logic, and the database on your
|
||
server. For rich client-side applications, a more structured approach
|
||
is helpful.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
With Backbone, you represent your data as
|
||
<a href="#Model">Models</a>, which can be created, validated, destroyed,
|
||
and saved to the server. Whenever a UI action causes an attribute of
|
||
a model to change, the model triggers a <i>"change"</i> event; all
|
||
the <a href="#View">Views</a> that display the model's data are notified of the
|
||
event, causing them to re-render. You don't have to write the glue
|
||
code that looks into the DOM to find an element with a specific <i>id</i>,
|
||
and update the HTML manually
|
||
— when the model changes, the views simply update themselves.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Many of the examples that follow are runnable. Click the <i>play</i> button
|
||
to execute them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Events">Backbone.Events</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b>Events</b> is a module that can be mixed in to any object, giving the
|
||
object the ability to bind and trigger custom named events. Events do not
|
||
have to be declared before they are bound, and may take passed arguments.
|
||
For example:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var object = {};
|
||
|
||
_.extend(object, Backbone.Events);
|
||
|
||
object.bind("alert", function(msg) {
|
||
alert("Triggered " + msg);
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
object.trigger("alert", "an event");
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Events-bind">
|
||
<b class="header">bind</b><code>object.bind(event, callback)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Bind a <b>callback</b> function to an object. The callback will be invoked
|
||
whenever the <b>event</b> (specified by an arbitrary string identifier) is fired.
|
||
If you have a large number of different events on a page, the convention is to use colons to
|
||
namespace them: <tt>"poll:start"</tt>, or <tt>"change:selection"</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Callbacks bound to the special
|
||
<tt>"all"</tt> event will be triggered when any event occurs, and are passed
|
||
the name of the event as the first argument. For example, to proxy all events
|
||
from one object to another:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
proxy.bind("all", function(eventName) {
|
||
object.trigger(eventName);
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Events-unbind">
|
||
<b class="header">unbind</b><code>object.unbind([event], [callback])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Remove a previously-bound <b>callback</b> function from an object. If no
|
||
callback is specified, all callbacks for the <b>event</b> will be
|
||
removed. If no event is specified, <i>all</i> event callbacks on the object
|
||
will be removed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
object.unbind("change", onChange); // Removes just the onChange callback.
|
||
|
||
object.unbind("change"); // Removes all "change" callbacks.
|
||
|
||
object.unbind(); // Removes all callbacks on object.
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Events-trigger">
|
||
<b class="header">trigger</b><code>object.trigger(event, [*args])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Trigger callbacks for the given <b>event</b>. Subsequent arguments to
|
||
<b>trigger</b> will be passed along to the event callbacks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Model">Backbone.Model</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b>Models</b> are the heart of any JavaScript application, containing
|
||
the interactive data as well as a large part of the logic surrounding it:
|
||
conversions, validations, computed properties, and access control. You
|
||
extend <b>Backbone.Model</b> with your domain-specific methods, and
|
||
<b>Model</b> provides a basic set of functionality for managing changes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
The following is a contrived example, but it demonstrates defining a model
|
||
with a custom method, setting an attribute, and firing an event keyed
|
||
to changes in that specific attribute.
|
||
After running this code once, <tt>sidebar</tt> will be
|
||
available in your browser's console, so you can play around with it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var Sidebar = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
promptColor: function() {
|
||
var cssColor = prompt("Please enter a CSS color:");
|
||
this.set({color: cssColor});
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
window.sidebar = new Sidebar;
|
||
|
||
sidebar.bind('change:color', function(model, color) {
|
||
$('#sidebar').css({background: color});
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
sidebar.set({color: 'white'});
|
||
|
||
sidebar.promptColor();
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-extend">
|
||
<b class="header">extend</b><code>Backbone.Model.extend(properties, [classProperties])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
To create a <b>Model</b> class of your own, you extend <b>Backbone.Model</b>
|
||
and provide instance <b>properties</b>, as well as optional
|
||
<b>classProperties</b> to be attached directly to the constructor function.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b>extend</b> correctly sets up the prototype chain, so subclasses created
|
||
with <b>extend</b> can be further extended and subclassed as far as you like.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Note = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
|
||
initialize: function() { ... },
|
||
|
||
author: function() { ... },
|
||
|
||
coordinates: function() { ... },
|
||
|
||
allowedToEdit: function(account) {
|
||
return true;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var PrivateNote = Note.extend({
|
||
|
||
allowedToEdit: function(account) {
|
||
return account.owns(this);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p class="warning">
|
||
Brief aside on <tt>super</tt>: JavaScript does not provide
|
||
a simple way to call super — the function of the same name defined
|
||
higher on the prototype chain. If you override a core function like
|
||
<tt>set</tt>, or <tt>save</tt>, and you want to invoke the
|
||
parent object's implementation, you'll have to explicitly call it, along these lines:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Note = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
set: function(attributes, options) {
|
||
Backbone.Model.prototype.set.call(this, attributes, options);
|
||
...
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-constructor">
|
||
<b class="header">constructor / initialize</b><code>new Model([attributes])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When creating an instance of a model, you can pass in the initial values
|
||
of the <b>attributes</b>, which will be <a href="#Model-set">set</a> on the
|
||
model. If you define an <b>initialize</b> function, it will be invoked when
|
||
the model is created.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
new Book({
|
||
title: "One Thousand and One Nights",
|
||
author: "Scheherazade"
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-get">
|
||
<b class="header">get</b><code>model.get(attribute)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get the current value of an attribute from the model. For example:
|
||
<tt>note.get("title")</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-escape">
|
||
<b class="header">escape</b><code>model.escape(attribute)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Similar to <a href="#Model-get">get</a>, but returns the HTML-escaped version
|
||
of a model's attribute. If you're interpolating data from the model into
|
||
HTML, using <b>escape</b> to retrieve attributes will prevent
|
||
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting">XSS</a> attacks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var hacker = new Backbone.Model({
|
||
name: "<script>alert('xss')</script>"
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
alert(hacker.escape('name'));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-set">
|
||
<b class="header">set</b><code>model.set(attributes, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Set a hash of attributes (one or many) on the model. If any of the attributes
|
||
change the models state, a <tt>"change"</tt> event will be triggered, unless
|
||
<tt>{silent: true}</tt> is passed as an option. Change events for specific
|
||
attributes are also triggered, and you can bind to those as well, for example:
|
||
<tt>change:title</tt>, and <tt>change:content</tt>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
note.set({title: "October 12", content: "Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet..."});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
If the model has a <a href="#Model-validate">validate</a> method,
|
||
it will be validated before the attributes are set, no changes will
|
||
occur if the validation fails, and <b>set</b> will return <tt>false</tt>.
|
||
You may also pass an <tt>error</tt>
|
||
callback in the options, which will be invoked instead of triggering an
|
||
<tt>"error"</tt> event, should validation fail.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-unset">
|
||
<b class="header">unset</b><code>model.unset(attribute, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Remove an attribute by deleting it from the internal attributes hash.
|
||
Fires a <tt>"change"</tt> event unless <tt>silent</tt> is passed as an option.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-clear">
|
||
<b class="header">clear</b><code>model.clear([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Removes all attributes from the model. Fires a <tt>"change"</tt> event unless
|
||
<tt>silent</tt> is passed as an option.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-id">
|
||
<b class="header">id</b><code>model.id</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
A special property of models, the <b>id</b> is an arbitrary string
|
||
(integer id or UUID). If you set the <b>id</b> in the
|
||
attributes hash, it will be copied onto the model as a direct property.
|
||
Models can be retrieved by id from collections, and the id is used to generate
|
||
model URLs by default.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-cid">
|
||
<b class="header">cid</b><code>model.cid</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
A special property of models, the <b>cid</b> or client id is a unique identifier
|
||
automatically assigned to all models when they're first created. Client ids
|
||
are handy when the model has not yet been saved to the server, and does not
|
||
yet have its eventual true <b>id</b>, but already needs to be visible in the UI.
|
||
Client ids take the form: <tt>c1, c2, c3 ...</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-attributes">
|
||
<b class="header">attributes</b><code>model.attributes</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
The <b>attributes</b> property is the internal hash containing the model's
|
||
state. Please use <a href="#Model-set">set</a> to update the attributes instead of modifying
|
||
them directly. If you'd like to retrieve and munge a copy of the model's
|
||
attributes, use <a href="#Model-toJSON">toJSON</a> instead.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-defaults">
|
||
<b class="header">defaults</b><code>model.defaults</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
The <b>defaults</b> hash can be used to specify the default attributes
|
||
for your model. When creating an instance of the model, any unspecified
|
||
attributes will be set to their default value.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var Meal = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
defaults: {
|
||
"appetizer": "caesar salad",
|
||
"entree": "ravioli",
|
||
"dessert": "cheesecake"
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
alert("Dessert will be " + (new Meal).get('dessert'));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-toJSON">
|
||
<b class="header">toJSON</b><code>model.toJSON()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Return a copy of the model's <a href="#Model-attributes">attributes</a> for JSON stringification.
|
||
This can be used for persistence, serialization, or for augmentation before
|
||
being handed off to a view. The name of this method is a bit confusing, as
|
||
it doesn't actually return a JSON string — but I'm afraid that it's
|
||
the way that the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JSON#toJSON()_method">JavaScript API for <b>JSON.stringify</b> works</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var artist = new Backbone.Model({
|
||
firstName: "Wassily",
|
||
lastName: "Kandinsky"
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
artist.set({birthday: "December 16, 1866"});
|
||
|
||
alert(JSON.stringify(artist));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-fetch">
|
||
<b class="header">fetch</b><code>model.fetch([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Refreshes the model's state from the server. Useful if the model has never
|
||
been populated with data, or if you'd like to ensure that you have the
|
||
latest server state. A <tt>"change"</tt> event will be triggered if the
|
||
server's state differs from the current attributes. Accepts
|
||
<tt>success</tt> and <tt>error</tt> callbacks in the options hash, which
|
||
are passed <tt>(model, response)</tt> as arguments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
// Poll every 10 seconds to keep the channel model up-to-date.
|
||
setInterval(function() {
|
||
channel.fetch();
|
||
}, 10000);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p class="warning">
|
||
<b>Cautionary Note:</b> When fetching or saving a model, make sure that the model is part of
|
||
a collection with a <a href="#Collection-url">url</a> property specified,
|
||
or that the model itself has a complete <a href="#Model-url">url</a> function
|
||
of its own, so that the request knows where to go.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-save">
|
||
<b class="header">save</b><code>model.save(attributes, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Save a model to your database (or alternative persistence layer),
|
||
by delegating to <a href="#Sync">Backbone.sync</a>. If the model has a <a href="#Model-validate">validate</a>
|
||
method, and validation fails, the model will not be saved. If the model
|
||
<a href="#Model-isNew">isNew</a>, the save will be a <tt>"create"</tt>
|
||
(HTTP <tt>POST</tt>), if the model already
|
||
exists on the server, the save will be an <tt>"update"</tt> (HTTP <tt>PUT</tt>). Accepts
|
||
<tt>success</tt> and <tt>error</tt> callbacks in the options hash, which
|
||
are passed <tt>(model, response)</tt> as arguments. The <tt>error</tt> callback will
|
||
also be invoked if the model has a <tt>validate</tt> method, and validation fails.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
In the following example, notice how because the model has never been
|
||
saved previously, our overridden version of <tt>Backbone.sync</tt> receives a <tt>"create"</tt> request.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
Backbone.sync = function(method, model) {
|
||
alert(method + ": " + JSON.stringify(model));
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
var book = new Backbone.Model({
|
||
title: "The Rough Riders",
|
||
author: "Theodore Roosevelt"
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
book.save();
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-destroy">
|
||
<b class="header">destroy</b><code>model.destroy([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Destroys the model on the server by delegating an HTTP <tt>DELETE</tt>
|
||
request to <a href="#Sync">Backbone.sync</a>. Accepts
|
||
<tt>success</tt> and <tt>error</tt> callbacks in the options hash.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
book.destroy({success: function(model, response) {
|
||
...
|
||
}});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-validate">
|
||
<b class="header">validate</b><code>model.validate(attributes)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
This method is left undefined, and you're encouraged to override it with
|
||
your custom validation logic, if you have any that can be performed
|
||
in JavaScript. <b>validate</b> is called before <tt>set</tt> and
|
||
<tt>save</tt>, and is passed the attributes that are about to be updated.
|
||
If the model and attributes are valid, don't return anything from <b>validate</b>;
|
||
if the attributes are invalid, return an error of your choosing. It
|
||
can be as simple as a string error message to be displayed, or a complete
|
||
error object that describes the error programmatically. <tt>set</tt> and
|
||
<tt>save</tt> will not continue if <b>validate</b> returns an error.
|
||
Failed validations trigger an <tt>"error"</tt> event.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var Chapter = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
validate: function(attrs) {
|
||
if (attrs.end < attrs.start) {
|
||
return "can't end before it starts";
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var one = new Chapter({
|
||
title : "Chapter One: The Beginning"
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
one.bind("error", function(model, error) {
|
||
alert(model.get("title") + " " + error);
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
one.set({
|
||
start: 15,
|
||
end: 10
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<tt>"error"</tt> events are useful for providing coarse-grained error
|
||
messages at the model or collection level, but if you have a specific view
|
||
that can better handle the error, you may override and suppress the event
|
||
by passing an <tt>error</tt> callback directly:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
account.set({access: "unlimited"}, {
|
||
error: function(model, error) {
|
||
alert(error);
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-url">
|
||
<b class="header">url</b><code>model.url()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Returns the relative URL where the model's resource would be located on
|
||
the server. If your models are located somewhere else, override this method
|
||
with the correct logic. Generates URLs of the form: <tt>"/[collection]/[id]"</tt>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Delegates to <a href="#Collection-url">Collection#url</a> to generate the
|
||
URL, so make sure that you have it defined.
|
||
A model with an id of <tt>101</tt>, stored in a
|
||
<a href="#Collection">Backbone.Collection</a> with a <tt>url</tt> of <tt>"/notes"</tt>,
|
||
would have this URL: <tt>"/notes/101"</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-parse">
|
||
<b class="header">parse</b><code>model.parse(response)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
<b>parse</b> is called whenever a model's data is returned by the
|
||
server, in <a href="#Model-fetch">fetch</a>, and <a href="#Model-save">save</a>.
|
||
The function is passed the raw <tt>response</tt> object, and should return
|
||
the attributes hash to be <a href="#Model-set">set</a> on the model. The
|
||
default implementation is a no-op, simply passing through the JSON response.
|
||
Override this if you need to work with a preexisting API, or better namespace
|
||
your responses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you're working with a Rails backend, you'll notice that Rails' default
|
||
<tt>to_json</tt> implementation includes a model's attributes under a
|
||
namespace. To disable this behavior for seamless Backbone integration, set:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
ActiveRecord::Base.include_root_in_json = false
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-clone">
|
||
<b class="header">clone</b><code>model.clone()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Returns a new instance of the model with identical attributes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-isNew">
|
||
<b class="header">isNew</b><code>model.isNew()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Has this model been saved to the server yet? If the model does not yet have
|
||
an <tt>id</tt>, it is considered to be new.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-change">
|
||
<b class="header">change</b><code>model.change()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Manually trigger the <tt>"change"</tt> event.
|
||
If you've been passing <tt>{silent: true}</tt> to the <a href="#Model-set">set</a> function in order to
|
||
aggregate rapid changes to a model, you'll want to call <tt>model.change()</tt>
|
||
when you're all finished.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-hasChanged">
|
||
<b class="header">hasChanged</b><code>model.hasChanged([attribute])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Has the model changed since the last <tt>"change"</tt> event? If an <b>attribute</b>
|
||
is passed, returns <tt>true</tt> if that specific attribute has changed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
book.bind("change", function() {
|
||
if (book.hasChanged("title")) {
|
||
...
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-changedAttributes">
|
||
<b class="header">changedAttributes</b><code>model.changedAttributes([attributes])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Retrieve a hash of only the model's attributes that have changed. Optionally,
|
||
an external <b>attributes</b> hash can be passed in, returning
|
||
the attributes in that hash which differ from the model. This can be used
|
||
to figure out which portions of a view should be updated, or what calls
|
||
need to be made to sync the changes to the server.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-previous">
|
||
<b class="header">previous</b><code>model.previous(attribute)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
During a <tt>"change"</tt> event, this method can be used to get the
|
||
previous value of a changed attribute.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var bill = new Backbone.Model({
|
||
name: "Bill Smith"
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
bill.bind("change:name", function(model, name) {
|
||
alert("Changed name from " + bill.previous("name") + " to " + name);
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
bill.set({name : "Bill Jones"});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Model-previousAttributes">
|
||
<b class="header">previousAttributes</b><code>model.previousAttributes()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Return a copy of the model's previous attributes. Useful for getting a
|
||
diff between versions of a model, or getting back to a valid state after
|
||
an error occurs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Collection">Backbone.Collection</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Collections are ordered sets of models. You can to bind <tt>"change"</tt> events
|
||
to be notified when any model in the collection has been modified,
|
||
listen for <tt>"add"</tt> and <tt>"remove"</tt> events, <tt>fetch</tt>
|
||
the collection from the server, and use a full suite of
|
||
<a href="#Collection-Underscore-Methods">Underscore.js methods</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Collections may also listen for changes to specific attributes in their
|
||
models, for example: <tt>Documents.bind("change:selected", ...)</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-extend">
|
||
<b class="header">extend</b><code>Backbone.Collection.extend(properties, [classProperties])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
To create a <b>Collection</b> class of your own, extend <b>Backbone.Collection</b>,
|
||
providing instance <b>properties</b>, as well as optional <b>classProperties</b> to be attached
|
||
directly to the collection's constructor function.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-model">
|
||
<b class="header">model</b><code>collection.model</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Override this property to specify the model class that the collection
|
||
contains. If defined, you can pass raw attributes objects (and arrays) to
|
||
<a href="#Collection-add">add</a>, <a href="#Collection-create">create</a>,
|
||
and <a href="#Collection-refresh">refresh</a>, and the attributes will be
|
||
converted into a model of the proper type.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Library = Backbone.Collection.extend({
|
||
model: Book
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-constructor">
|
||
<b class="header">constructor / initialize</b><code>new Collection([models], [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When creating a Collection, you may choose to pass in the initial array of <b>models</b>.
|
||
The collection's <a href="#Collection-comparator">comparator</a> function
|
||
may be included as an option. If you define an <b>initialize</b> function, it will be
|
||
invoked when the collection is created.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var tabs = new TabSet([tab1, tab2, tab3]);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-models">
|
||
<b class="header">models</b><code>collection.models</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Raw access to the JavaScript array of models inside of the collection. Usually you'll
|
||
want to use <tt>get</tt>, <tt>at</tt>, or the <b>Underscore methods</b>
|
||
to access model objects, but occasionally a direct reference to the array
|
||
is desired.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-toJSON">
|
||
<b class="header">toJSON</b><code>collection.toJSON()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Return an array containing the attributes hash of each model in the
|
||
collection. This can be used to serialize and persist the
|
||
collection as a whole. The name of this method is a bit confusing, because
|
||
it conforms to
|
||
<a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JSON#toJSON()_method">JavaScript's JSON API</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var collection = new Backbone.Collection([
|
||
{name: "Tim", age: 5},
|
||
{name: "Ida", age: 26},
|
||
{name: "Rob", age: 55}
|
||
]);
|
||
|
||
alert(JSON.stringify(collection));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-Underscore-Methods">
|
||
<b class="header">Underscore Methods (25)</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Backbone proxies to <b>Underscore.js</b> to provide 25 iteration functions
|
||
on <b>Backbone.Collection</b>. They aren't all documented here, but
|
||
you can take a look at the Underscore documentation for the full details…
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#each">forEach (each)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#map">map</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#reduce">reduce (foldl, inject)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#reduceRight">reduceRight (foldr)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#detect">find (detect)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#select">filter (select)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#reject">reject</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#all">every (all)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#any">some (any)</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#include">include</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#invoke">invoke</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#max">max</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#min">min</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#sortBy">sortBy</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#sortedIndex">sortedIndex</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#toArray">toArray</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#size">size</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#first">first</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#rest">rest</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#last">last</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#without">without</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#indexOf">indexOf</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#lastIndexOf">lastIndexOf</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#isEmpty">isEmpty</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#chain">chain</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
Books.each(function(book) {
|
||
book.publish();
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var titles = Books.map(function(book) {
|
||
return book.get("title");
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var publishedBooks = Books.filter(function(book) {
|
||
return book.get("published") === true;
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var alphabetical = Books.sortBy(function(book) {
|
||
return book.author.get("name").toLowerCase();
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-add">
|
||
<b class="header">add</b><code>collection.add(models, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Add a model (or an array of models) to the collection. Fires an <tt>"add"</tt>
|
||
event, which you can pass <tt>{silent: true}</tt> to suppress. If a
|
||
<a href="#Collection-model">model</a> property is defined, you may also pass
|
||
raw attributes objects, and have them be vivified as instances of the model.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var ships = new Backbone.Collection;
|
||
|
||
ships.bind("add", function(ship) {
|
||
alert("Ahoy " + ship.get("name") + "!");
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
ships.add([
|
||
{name: "Flying Dutchman"},
|
||
{name: "Black Pearl"}
|
||
]);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-remove">
|
||
<b class="header">remove</b><code>collection.remove(models, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Remove a model (or an array of models) from the collection. Fires a
|
||
<tt>"remove"</tt> event, which you can use <tt>silent</tt>
|
||
to suppress.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-get">
|
||
<b class="header">get</b><code>collection.get(id)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get a model from a collection, specified by <b>id</b>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var book = Library.get(110);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-getByCid">
|
||
<b class="header">getByCid</b><code>collection.getByCid(cid)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get a model from a collection, specified by client id. The client id
|
||
is the <tt>.cid</tt> property of the model, automatically assigned whenever
|
||
a model is created. Useful for models which have not yet been saved to
|
||
the server, and do not yet have true ids.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-at">
|
||
<b class="header">at</b><code>collection.at(index)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get a model from a collection, specified by index. Useful if your collection
|
||
is sorted, and if your collection isn't sorted, <b>at</b> will still
|
||
retrieve models in insertion order.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-length">
|
||
<b class="header">length</b><code>collection.length</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Like an array, a Collection maintains a <tt>length</tt> property, counting
|
||
the number of models it contains.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-comparator">
|
||
<b class="header">comparator</b><code>collection.comparator</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
By default there is no <b>comparator</b> function on a collection.
|
||
If you define a comparator, it will be used to maintain
|
||
the collection in sorted order. This means that as models are added,
|
||
they are inserted at the correct index in <tt>collection.models</tt>.
|
||
Comparator functions take a model and return a numeric or string value
|
||
by which the model should be ordered relative to others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Note how even though all of the chapters in this example are added backwards,
|
||
they come out in the proper order:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var Chapter = Backbone.Model;
|
||
var chapters = new Backbone.Collection;
|
||
|
||
chapters.comparator = function(chapter) {
|
||
return chapter.get("page");
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
chapters.add(new Chapter({page: 9, title: "The End"}));
|
||
chapters.add(new Chapter({page: 5, title: "The Middle"}));
|
||
chapters.add(new Chapter({page: 1, title: "The Beginning"}));
|
||
|
||
alert(chapters.pluck('title'));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p class="warning">
|
||
Brief aside: This comparator function is different than JavaScript's regular
|
||
"sort", which must return <tt>0</tt>, <tt>1</tt>, or <tt>-1</tt>,
|
||
and is more similar to a <tt>sortBy</tt> — a much nicer API.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-sort">
|
||
<b class="header">sort</b><code>collection.sort([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Force a collection to re-sort itself. You don't need to call this under
|
||
normal circumstances, as a collection with a <a href="#Collection-comparator">comparator</a> function
|
||
will maintain itself in proper sort order at all times. Calling <b>sort</b>
|
||
triggers the collection's <tt>"refresh"</tt> event, unless silenced by passing
|
||
<tt>{silent: true}</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-pluck">
|
||
<b class="header">pluck</b><code>collection.pluck(attribute)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Pluck an attribute from each model in the collection. Equivalent to calling
|
||
<tt>map</tt>, and returning a single attribute from the iterator.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var stooges = new Backbone.Collection([
|
||
new Backbone.Model({name: "Curly"}),
|
||
new Backbone.Model({name: "Larry"}),
|
||
new Backbone.Model({name: "Moe"})
|
||
]);
|
||
|
||
var names = stooges.pluck("name");
|
||
|
||
alert(JSON.stringify(names));
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-url">
|
||
<b class="header">url</b><code>collection.url or collection.url()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Set the <b>url</b> property (or function) on a collection to reference
|
||
its location on the server. Models within the collection will use <b>url</b>
|
||
to construct URLs of their own.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Notes = Backbone.Collection.extend({
|
||
url: '/notes'
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
// Or, something more sophisticated:
|
||
|
||
var Notes = Backbone.Collection.extend({
|
||
url: function() {
|
||
return this.document.url() + '/notes';
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-parse">
|
||
<b class="header">parse</b><code>collection.parse(response)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
<b>parse</b> is called by Backbone whenever a collection's models are
|
||
returned by the server, in <a href="#Collection-fetch">fetch</a>.
|
||
The function is passed the raw <tt>response</tt> object, and should return
|
||
the array of model attributes to be <a href="#Collection-add">added</a>
|
||
to the collection. The default implementation is a no-op, simply passing
|
||
through the JSON response. Override this if you need to work with a
|
||
preexisting API, or better namespace your responses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Tweets = Backbone.Collection.extend({
|
||
// The Twitter Search API returns tweets under "results".
|
||
parse: function(response) {
|
||
return response.results;
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-fetch">
|
||
<b class="header">fetch</b><code>collection.fetch([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Fetch the default set of models for this collection from the server,
|
||
refreshing the collection when they arrive. The <b>options</b> hash takes
|
||
<tt>success</tt> and <tt>error</tt>
|
||
callbacks which will be passed <tt>(collection, response)</tt> as arguments.
|
||
When the model data returns from the server, the collection will
|
||
<a href="#Collection-refresh">refresh</a>.
|
||
Delegates to <a href="#Sync">Backbone.sync</a>
|
||
under the covers, for custom persistence strategies.
|
||
The server handler for <b>fetch</b> requests should return a JSON array of
|
||
models.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
Backbone.sync = function(method, model) {
|
||
alert(method + ": " + model.url);
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
var Accounts = new Backbone.Collection;
|
||
Accounts.url = '/accounts';
|
||
|
||
Accounts.fetch();
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Note that <b>fetch</b> should not be used to populate collections on
|
||
page load — all models needed at load time should already be
|
||
bootstrapped in to place. <b>fetch</b> is intended for lazily-loading models
|
||
for interfaces that are not needed immediately: for example, documents
|
||
with collections of notes that may be toggled open and closed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-refresh">
|
||
<b class="header">refresh</b><code>collection.refresh(models, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Adding and removing models one at a time is all well and good, but sometimes
|
||
you have so many models to change that you'd rather just update the collection
|
||
in bulk. Use <b>refresh</b> to replace a collection with a new list
|
||
of models (or attribute hashes), triggering a single <tt>"refresh"</tt> event
|
||
at the end. Pass <tt>{silent: true}</tt> to suppress the <tt>"refresh"</tt> event.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Here's an example using <b>refresh</b> to bootstrap a collection during initial page load,
|
||
in a Rails application.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
<script>
|
||
Accounts.refresh(<%= @accounts.to_json %>);
|
||
</script>
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Collection-create">
|
||
<b class="header">create</b><code>collection.create(attributes, [options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Convenience to create a new instance of a model within a collection.
|
||
Equivalent to instantiating a model with a hash of attributes,
|
||
saving the model to the server, and adding the model to the set after being
|
||
successfully created. Returns
|
||
the model, or <tt>false</tt> if a validation error prevented the
|
||
model from being created. In order for this to work, your should set the
|
||
<a href="#Collection-model">model</a> property of the collection.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Library = Backbone.Collection.extend({
|
||
model: Book
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var NYPL = new Library;
|
||
|
||
var othello = NYPL.create({
|
||
title: "Othello",
|
||
author: "William Shakespeare"
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Controller">Backbone.Controller</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Web applications often choose to change their URL fragment (<tt>#fragment</tt>)
|
||
in order to provide shareable, bookmarkable URLs for an Ajax-heavy application.
|
||
<b>Backbone.Controller</b> provides methods for routing client-side URL
|
||
fragments, and connecting them to actions and events.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p class="warning">
|
||
Backbone controllers do not yet make use of HTML5 <b>pushState</b> and
|
||
<b>replaceState</b>. Currently, <b>pushState</b> and <b>replaceState</b>
|
||
need special handling on the server-side, cause you to mint duplicate URLs,
|
||
and have an incomplete API. We may start supporting them in the future
|
||
when these issues have been resolved.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
During page load, after your application has finished creating all of its controllers,
|
||
be sure to call <tt>Backbone.history.start()</tt> to route the initial URL.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Controller-extend">
|
||
<b class="header">extend</b><code>Backbone.Controller.extend(properties, [classProperties])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get started by creating a custom controller class. You'll
|
||
want to define actions that are triggered when certain URL fragments are
|
||
matched, and provide a <a href="#Controller-routes">routes</a> hash
|
||
that pairs routes to actions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Workspace = Backbone.Controller.extend({
|
||
|
||
routes: {
|
||
"help": "help", // #help
|
||
"search/:query": "search", // #search/kiwis
|
||
"search/:query/p:page": "search" // #search/kiwis/p7
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
help: function() {
|
||
...
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
search: function(query, page) {
|
||
...
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Controller-routes">
|
||
<b class="header">routes</b><code>controller.routes</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
The routes hash maps URLs with parameters to functions on your controller,
|
||
similar to the <a href="#View">View</a>'s <a href="#View-delegateEvents">events hash</a>.
|
||
Routes can contain parameter parts, <tt>:param</tt>, which match a single URL
|
||
component between slashes; and splat parts <tt>*splat</tt>, which can match
|
||
any number of URL components.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
For example, a route of <tt>"search/:query/p:page"</tt> will match
|
||
a fragment of <tt>#search/obama/p2</tt>, passing <tt>"obama"</tt>
|
||
and <tt>"2"</tt> to the action. A route of <tt>"file/*path"</tt> will
|
||
match <tt>#file/nested/folder/file.txt</tt>,
|
||
passing <tt>"nested/folder/file.txt"</tt> to the action.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
When the visitor presses the back button, or enters a URL, and a particular
|
||
route is matched, the name of the action will be fired as an
|
||
<a href="#Events">event</a>, so that other objects can listen to the controller,
|
||
and be notified. In the following example, visiting <tt>#help/uploading</tt>
|
||
will fire a <tt>route:help</tt> event from the controller.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
routes: {
|
||
"help/:page": "help",
|
||
"download/*path": "download",
|
||
"folder/:name": "openFolder",
|
||
"folder/:name-:mode": "openFolder"
|
||
}
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
controller.bind("route:help", function(page) {
|
||
...
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Controller-constructor">
|
||
<b class="header">constructor / initialize</b><code>new Controller([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When creating a new controller, you may pass its
|
||
<a href="#Controller-routes">routes</a> hash directly as an option, if you
|
||
choose. All <tt>options</tt> will also be passed to your <tt>initialize</tt>
|
||
function, if defined.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Controller-route">
|
||
<b class="header">route</b><code>controller.route(route, name, callback)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Manually create a route for the controller, The <tt>route</tt> argument may
|
||
be a <a href="#Controller-routes">routing string</a> or regular expression.
|
||
Each matching capture from the route or regular expression will be passed as
|
||
an argument to the callback. The <tt>name</tt> argument will be triggered as
|
||
a <tt>"route:name"</tt> event whenever the route is matched.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
initialize: function(options) {
|
||
|
||
// Matches #page/10, passing "10"
|
||
this.route("page/:number", "page", function(number){ ... });
|
||
|
||
// Matches /117-a/b/c/open, passing "117-a/b/c"
|
||
this.route(/^(.*?)\/open$/, "open", function(id){ ... });
|
||
|
||
}
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Controller-saveLocation">
|
||
<b class="header">saveLocation</b><code>controller.saveLocation(fragment)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Whenever you reach a point in your application that you'd like to save
|
||
as a URL, call <b>saveLocation</b> in order to update the URL fragment
|
||
without triggering a <tt>hashchange</tt> event. (If you would prefer to
|
||
trigger the event and routing, you can just set the hash directly.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
openPage: function(pageNumber) {
|
||
this.document.pages.at(pageNumber).open();
|
||
this.saveLocation("page/" + pageNumber);
|
||
}
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="History">Backbone.history</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b>History</b> serves as a global router (per frame) to handle <tt>hashchange</tt>
|
||
events, match the appropriate route, and trigger callbacks. You shouldn't
|
||
ever have to create one of these yourself — you should use the reference
|
||
to <tt>Backbone.history</tt> that will be created for you automatically if you make use
|
||
of <a href="#Controller">Controllers</a> with <a href="#Controller-routes">routes</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="History-start">
|
||
<b class="header">start</b><code>Backbone.history.start()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When all of your <a href="#Controller">Controllers</a> have been created,
|
||
and all of the routes are set up properly, call <tt>Backbone.history.start()</tt>
|
||
to begin monitoring <tt>hashchange</tt> events, and dispatching routes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
$(function(){
|
||
new WorkspaceController();
|
||
new HelpPaneController();
|
||
Backbone.history.start();
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="Sync">Backbone.sync</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b>Backbone.sync</b> is the function the Backbone calls every time it
|
||
attempts to read or save a model to the server. By default, it uses
|
||
<tt>(jQuery/Zepto).ajax</tt> to make a RESTful JSON request. You can override
|
||
it in order to use a different persistence strategy, such as WebSockets,
|
||
XML transport, or Local Storage.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
The method signature of <b>Backbone.sync</b> is <tt>sync(method, model, success, error)</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><b>method</b> – the CRUD method (<tt>"create"</tt>, <tt>"read"</tt>, <tt>"update"</tt>, or <tt>"delete"</tt>)</li>
|
||
<li><b>model</b> – the model to be saved (or collection to be read)</li>
|
||
<li><b>success({model: ...})</b> – a callback that should be fired if the request works</li>
|
||
<li><b>error({model: ...})</b> – a callback that should be fired if the request fails</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
With the default implementation, when <b>Backbone.sync</b> sends up a request to save
|
||
a model, its attributes will be passed, serialized as JSON, and sent in the HTTP body
|
||
with content-type <tt>application/json</tt>. When returning a JSON response,
|
||
send down the attributes of the model that have been changed by the server, and need
|
||
to be updated on the client. When responding to a <tt>"read"</tt> request from a collection
|
||
(<a href="#Collection#fetch">Collection#fetch</a>), send down an array
|
||
of model attribute objects.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
The default <b>sync</b> handler maps CRUD to REST like so:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><b>create → POST </b><tt>/collection</tt></li>
|
||
<li><b>read → GET </b><tt>/collection[/id]</tt></li>
|
||
<li><b>update → PUT </b><tt>/collection/id</tt></li>
|
||
<li><b>delete → DELETE </b><tt>/collection/id</tt></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
As an example, a Rails handler responding to an <tt>"update"</tt> call from
|
||
<tt>Backbone</tt> might look like this: <i>(In real code, never use
|
||
</i><tt>update_attributes</tt><i> blindly, and always whitelist the attributes
|
||
you allow to be changed.)</i>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
def update
|
||
account = Account.find params[:id]
|
||
account.update_attributes params
|
||
render :json => account
|
||
end
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
One more tip for Rails integration is to disable the default namespacing for
|
||
<tt>to_json</tt> calls on models by setting <tt>ActiveRecord::Base.include_root_in_json = false</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Sync-emulateHTTP">
|
||
<b class="header">emulateHTTP</b><code>Backbone.emulateHTTP = true</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
If you want to work with a legacy web server that doesn't support Backbones's
|
||
default REST/HTTP approach, you may choose to turn on <tt>Backbone.emulateHTTP</tt>.
|
||
Setting this option will fake <tt>PUT</tt> and <tt>DELETE</tt> requests with
|
||
a HTTP <tt>POST</tt>, and pass them under the <tt>_method</tt> parameter. Setting this option
|
||
will also set an <tt>X-HTTP-Method-Override</tt> header with the true method.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
Backbone.emulateHTTP = true;
|
||
|
||
model.save(); // POST to "/collection/id", with "_method=PUT" + header.
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="Sync-emulateJSON">
|
||
<b class="header">emulateJSON</b><code>Backbone.emulateJSON = true</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
If you're working with a legacy web server that can't handle requests
|
||
encoded as <tt>application/json</tt>, setting <tt>Backbone.emulateJSON = true;</tt>
|
||
will cause the JSON to be serialized under a <tt>model</tt> parameter, and
|
||
the request to be made with a <tt>application/x-www-form-urlencoded</tt>
|
||
mime type, as if from an HTML form.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="View">Backbone.View</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Backbone views are almost more convention than they are code — they
|
||
don't determine anything about your HTML or CSS for you, and can be used
|
||
with any JavaScript templating library.
|
||
The general idea is to organize your interface into logical views,
|
||
backed by models, each of which can be updated independently when the
|
||
model changes, without having to redraw the page. Instead of digging into
|
||
a JSON object, looking up an element in the DOM, and updating the HTML by hand,
|
||
you can bind your view's <tt>render</tt> function to the model's <tt>"change"</tt>
|
||
event — and now everywhere that
|
||
model data is displayed in the UI, it is always immediately up to date.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-extend">
|
||
<b class="header">extend</b><code>Backbone.View.extend(properties, [classProperties])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Get started with views by creating a custom view class. You'll want to
|
||
override the <a href="#View-render">render</a> function, specify your
|
||
declarative <a href="#View-delegateEvents">events</a>, and perhaps the
|
||
<tt>tagName</tt>, <tt>className</tt>, or <tt>id</tt> of the View's root
|
||
element.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var DocumentRow = Backbone.View.extend({
|
||
|
||
tagName: "li",
|
||
|
||
className: "document-row",
|
||
|
||
events: {
|
||
"click .icon": "open",
|
||
"click .button.edit": "openEditDialog",
|
||
"click .button.delete": "destroy"
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
initialize: function() {
|
||
_.bindAll(this, "render");
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
render: function() {
|
||
...
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-constructor">
|
||
<b class="header">constructor / initialize</b><code>new View([options])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When creating a new View, the options you pass are attached to the view
|
||
as <tt>this.options</tt>, for future reference. There are several special
|
||
options that, if passed, will be attached directly to the view:
|
||
<tt>model</tt>, <tt>collection</tt>,
|
||
<tt>el</tt>, <tt>id</tt>, <tt>className</tt>, and <tt>tagName</tt>.
|
||
If the view defines an <b>initialize</b> function, it will be called when
|
||
the view is first created. If you'd like to create a view that references
|
||
an element <i>already</i> in the DOM, pass in the element as an option:
|
||
<tt>new View({el: existingElement})</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var doc = Documents.first();
|
||
|
||
new DocumentRow({
|
||
model: doc,
|
||
id: "document-row-" + doc.id
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-el">
|
||
<b class="header">el</b><code>view.el</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
All views have a DOM element at all times (the <b>el</b> property),
|
||
whether they've already been inserted into the page or not. In this
|
||
fashion, views can be rendered at any time, and inserted into the DOM all
|
||
at once, in order to get high-performance UI rendering with as few
|
||
reflows and repaints as possible.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<tt>this.el</tt> is created from the view's <tt>tagName</tt>, <tt>className</tt>,
|
||
and <tt>id</tt> properties, if specified. If not, <b>el</b> is an empty <tt>div</tt>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-dollar">
|
||
<b class="header">$ (jQuery or Zepto)</b><code>view.$(selector)</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
If jQuery or Zepto is included on the page, each view has a
|
||
<b>$</b> function that runs queries scoped within the view's element. If you use this
|
||
scoped jQuery function, you don't have to use model ids as part of your query
|
||
to pull out specific elements in a list, and can rely much more on HTML class
|
||
attributes. It's equivalent to running: <tt>$(selector, this.el)</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
ui.Chapter = Backbone.View.extend({
|
||
serialize : function() {
|
||
return {
|
||
title: this.$(".title").text(),
|
||
start: this.$(".start-page").text(),
|
||
end: this.$(".end-page").text()
|
||
};
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-render">
|
||
<b class="header">render</b><code>view.render()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
The default implementation of <b>render</b> is a no-op. Override this
|
||
function with your code that renders the view template from model data,
|
||
and updates <tt>this.el</tt> with the new HTML. A good
|
||
convention is to <tt>return this</tt> at the end of <b>render</b> to
|
||
enable chained calls.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Bookmark = Backbone.View.extend({
|
||
render: function() {
|
||
$(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));
|
||
return this;
|
||
}
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Backbone is agnostic with respect to your preferred method of HTML templating.
|
||
Your <b>render</b> function could even munge together an HTML string, or use
|
||
<tt>document.createElement</tt> to generate a DOM tree. However, we suggest
|
||
choosing a nice JavaScript templating library.
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/janl/mustache.js">Mustache.js</a>,
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/creationix/haml-js">Haml-js</a>, and
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/sstephenson/eco">Eco</a> are all fine alternatives.
|
||
Because <a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/">Underscore.js</a> is already on the page,
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#template">_.template</a>
|
||
is available, and is an excellent choice if you've already XSS-sanitized
|
||
your interpolated data.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Whatever templating strategy you end up with, it's nice if you <i>never</i>
|
||
have to put strings of HTML in your JavaScript. At DocumentCloud, we
|
||
use <a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/jammit/">Jammit</a> in order
|
||
to package up JavaScript templates stored in <tt>/app/views</tt> as part
|
||
of our main <tt>core.js</tt> asset package.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-remove">
|
||
<b class="header">remove</b><code>view.remove()</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Convenience function for removing the view from the DOM. Equivalent to calling
|
||
<tt>$(view.el).remove();</tt>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-make">
|
||
<b class="header">make</b><code>view.make(tagName, [attributes], [content])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Convenience function for creating a DOM element of the given type (<b>tagName</b>),
|
||
with optional attributes and HTML content. Used internally to create the
|
||
initial <tt>view.el</tt>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre class="runnable">
|
||
var view = new Backbone.View;
|
||
|
||
var el = view.make("b", {className: "bold"}, "Bold! ");
|
||
|
||
$("#make-demo").append(el);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<div id="make-demo"></div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="View-delegateEvents">
|
||
<b class="header">delegateEvents</b><code>delegateEvents([events])</code>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Uses jQuery's <tt>delegate</tt> function to provide declarative callbacks
|
||
for DOM events within a view.
|
||
If an <b>events</b> hash is not passed directly, uses <tt>this.events</tt>
|
||
as the source. Events are written in the format <tt>{"event selector": "callback"}</tt>.
|
||
Omitting the <tt>selector</tt> causes the event to be bound to the view's
|
||
root element (<tt>this.el</tt>). By default, <tt>delegateEvents</tt> is called
|
||
within the View's constructor for you, so if you have a simple <tt>events</tt>
|
||
hash, all of your DOM events will always already be connected, and you will
|
||
never have to call this function yourself.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Using <b>delegateEvents</b> provides a number of advantages over manually
|
||
using jQuery to bind events to child elements during <a href="#View-render">render</a>. All attached
|
||
callbacks are bound to the view before being handed off to jQuery, so when
|
||
the callbacks are invoked, <tt>this</tt> continues to refer to the view object. When
|
||
<b>delegateEvents</b> is run again, perhaps with a different <tt>events</tt>
|
||
hash, all callbacks are removed and delegated afresh — useful for
|
||
views which need to behave differently when in different modes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
A view that displays a document in a search result might look
|
||
something like this:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var DocumentView = Backbone.View.extend({
|
||
|
||
events: {
|
||
"dblclick" : "open",
|
||
"click .icon.doc" : "select",
|
||
"contextmenu .icon.doc" : "showMenu",
|
||
"click .show_notes" : "toggleNotes",
|
||
"click .title .lock" : "editAccessLevel",
|
||
"mouseover .title .date" : "showTooltip"
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
render: function() {
|
||
$(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));
|
||
return this;
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
open: function() {
|
||
window.open(this.model.get("viewer_url"));
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
select: function() {
|
||
this.model.set({selected: true});
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-todos">
|
||
<a href="http://jgn.me/">Jérôme Gravel-Niquet</a> has contributed a
|
||
<a href="examples/todos/index.html">Todo List application</a>
|
||
that is bundled in the repository as Backbone example. If you're wondering
|
||
where to get started with Backbone in general, take a moment to
|
||
<a href="docs/todos.html">read through the annotated source</a>. The app uses a
|
||
<a href="docs/backbone-localstorage.html">LocalStorage adapter</a>
|
||
to transparently save all of your todos within your browser, instead of
|
||
sending them to a server. Jérôme also has a version hosted at
|
||
<a href="http://localtodos.com/">localtodos.com</a> that uses a
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/jeromegn/backbone-mootools">MooTools-backed version of Backbone</a>
|
||
instead of jQuery.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="examples/todos/index.html">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/todos.png" alt="Todos" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-documentcloud">
|
||
The <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/public/#search/">DocumentCloud workspace</a>
|
||
is built on Backbone.js, with <i>Documents</i>, <i>Projects</i>,
|
||
<i>Notes</i>, and <i>Accounts</i> all as Backbone models and collections.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/public/#search/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/dc-workspace.png" alt="DocumentCloud Workspace" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-basecamp">
|
||
<a href="http://37signals.com/">37Signals</a> used Backbone.js to create
|
||
<a href="http://basecamphq.com/mobile">Basecamp Mobile</a>, the mobile version
|
||
of their popular project management software. You can access all your Basecamp
|
||
projects, post new messages, and comment on milestones (all represented
|
||
internally as Backbone.js models).
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://basecamphq.com/mobile">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/basecamp-mobile.png" alt="Basecamp Mobile" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-flow">
|
||
<a href="http://www.metalabdesign.com/">MetaLab</a> used Backbone.js to create
|
||
<a href="http://www.getflow.com/">Flow</a>, a task management app for teams. The
|
||
workspace relies on Backbone.js to construct task views, activities, accounts,
|
||
folders, projects, and tags. You can see the internals under <tt>window.Flow</tt>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://www.getflow.com/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/flow.png" alt="Flow" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-cloudapp">
|
||
<a href="http://getcloudapp.com">CloudApp</a> is simple file and link
|
||
sharing for the Mac. Backbone.js powers the web tools
|
||
which consume the <a href="http://developer.getcloudapp.com">documented API</a>
|
||
to manage Drops. Data is either pulled manually or pushed by
|
||
<a href="http://pusher.com">Pusher</a> and fed to
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/janl/mustache.js">Mustache</a> templates for
|
||
rendering. Check out the <a href="http://cloudapp.github.com/engine">annotated source code</a>
|
||
to see the magic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://getcloudapp.com">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/cloudapp.png" alt="CloudApp" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-soundcloud">
|
||
<a href="http://soundcloud.com">SoundCloud</a> is the best sound sharing
|
||
platform on the internet, and Backbone.js provides the foundation for
|
||
<a href="http://m.soundcloud.com">Mobile SoundCloud</a>. The project uses
|
||
the public SoundCloud <a href="http://soundcloud.com/developers">API</a>
|
||
as a data source (channeled through a nginx proxy),
|
||
<a href="http://api.jquery.com/category/plugins/templates/">jQuery templates</a>
|
||
for the rendering, <a href="http://docs.jquery.com/Qunit">Qunit
|
||
</a> and <a href="http://code.google.com/p/phantomjs/">PhantomJS</a> for
|
||
the testing suite. The JS code, templates and CSS are built for the
|
||
production deployment with various Node.js tools like
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/dsimard/ready.js">ready.js</a>,
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/mde/node-jake">Jake</a>,
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/tmpvar/jsdom">jsdom</a>.
|
||
The <b>Backbone.History</b> was modified to support the HTML5 <tt>history.pushState</tt>.
|
||
<b>Backbone.sync</b> was extended with an additional SessionStorage based cache
|
||
layer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://m.soundcloud.com">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/soundcloud.png" alt="SoundCloud" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-tilemill">
|
||
Our fellow
|
||
<a href="http://www.newschallenge.org/">Knight Foundation News Challenge</a>
|
||
winners, <a href="http://mapbox.com/">MapBox</a>, created an open-source
|
||
map design studio with Backbone.js:
|
||
<a href="http://mapbox.github.com/tilemill/">TileMill</a>.
|
||
TileMill lets you manage map layers based on shapefiles and rasters, and
|
||
edit their appearance directly in the browser with the
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/mapbox/carto">Carto styling language</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://mapbox.github.com/tilemill/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/tilemill.png" alt="TileMill" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-instagreat">
|
||
<a href="http://twitter.com/elliottkember">Elliott Kember</a> and
|
||
<a href="http://twitter.com/dizzyup">Hector Simpson</a> built
|
||
<a href="http://instagre.at">Insta-great!</a>
|
||
- a fun way to explore popular photos and interact with
|
||
<a href="http://instagram.com/">Instagram</a> on the web.
|
||
Elliott says, "Backbone.js and Coffeescript were insanely useful for
|
||
writing clean, consistent UI code and keeping everything modular and
|
||
readable, even through several code refactors. I'm in love."
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://instagre.at">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/instagreat.png" alt="instagre.at" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-quietwrite">
|
||
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/jamesjyu">James Yu</a> used Backbone.js to
|
||
create <a href="http://www.quietwrite.com/">QuietWrite</a>, an app
|
||
that gives writers a clean and quiet interface to concentrate on the text itself.
|
||
The editor relies on Backbone to persist document data to the server. He
|
||
followed up with a Backbone.js + Rails tutorial that describes how to implement
|
||
<a href="http://www.jamesyu.org/2011/01/27/cloudedit-a-backbone-js-tutorial-by-example/">CloudEdit, a simple document editing app</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://www.quietwrite.com/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/quietwrite.png" alt="QuietWrite" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-tzigla">
|
||
<a href="http://twitter.com/evilchelu">Cristi Balan</a> and
|
||
<a href="http://dira.ro">Irina Dumitrascu</a> created
|
||
<a href="http://tzigla.com">Tzigla</a>, a collaborative drawing
|
||
application where artists make tiles that connect to each other to
|
||
create <a href="http://tzigla.com/boards/1">surreal drawings</a>.
|
||
Backbone models help organize the code, controllers provide
|
||
<a href="http://tzigla.com/boards/1#!/tiles/2-2">bookmarkable deep links</a>,
|
||
and the views are rendered with
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/creationix/haml-js">haml.js</a> and
|
||
<a href="http://zeptojs.com/">Zepto</a>.
|
||
Tzigla is written in Ruby (Rails) on the backend, and
|
||
<a href="http://coffeescript.org">CoffeeScript</a> on the frontend, with
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/jammit/">Jammit</a>
|
||
prepackaging the static assets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://www.tzigla.com/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/tzigla.png" alt="Tzigla" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<p id="examples-substance">
|
||
Michael Aufreiter is building an open source document authoring and
|
||
publishing engine: <a href="http://substance.io">Substance</a>.
|
||
Substance makes use of Backbone.View and Backbone.Controller, while
|
||
Backbone plays well together with
|
||
<a href="http://github.com/michael/data">Data.js</a>, which is used for
|
||
data persistence.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<div style="text-align: center;">
|
||
<a href="http://substance.io/">
|
||
<img src="docs/images/substance.png" alt="Substance" class="example_image" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="faq">F.A.Q.</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-events">
|
||
<b class="header">Catalog of Events</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Here's a list of all of the built-in events that Backbone.js can fire.
|
||
You're also free to trigger your own events on Models and Views as you
|
||
see fit.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><b>"add"</b> (model, collection) — when a model is added to a collection. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"remove"</b> (model, collection) — when a model is removed from a collection. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"refresh"</b> (collection) — when the collection's entire contents have been replaced. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"change"</b> (model, collection) — when a model's attributes have changed. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"change:[attribute]"</b> (model, collection) — when a specific attribute has been updated. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"error"</b> (model, collection) — when a model's validation fails, or a <a href="#Model-save">save</a> call fails on the server. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"route:[name]"</b> (controller) — when one of a controller's routes has matched. </li>
|
||
<li><b>"all"</b> — this special event fires for <i>any</i> triggered event, passing the event name as the first argument. </li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-nested">
|
||
<b class="header">Nested Models & Collections</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
It's common to nest collections inside of models with Backbone. For example,
|
||
consider a <tt>Mailbox</tt> model that contains many <tt>Message</tt> models.
|
||
One nice pattern for handling this is have a <tt>this.messages</tt> collection
|
||
for each mailbox, enabling the lazy-loading of messages, when the mailbox
|
||
is first opened ... perhaps with <tt>MessageList</tt> views listening for
|
||
<tt>"add"</tt> and <tt>"remove"</tt> events.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var Mailbox = Backbone.Model.extend({
|
||
|
||
initialize: function() {
|
||
this.messages = new Messages;
|
||
this.messages.url = '/mailbox/' + this.id + '/messages';
|
||
this.messages.bind("refresh", this.updateCounts);
|
||
},
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
var Inbox = new Mailbox;
|
||
|
||
// And then, when the Inbox is opened:
|
||
|
||
Inbox.messages.fetch();
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-bootstrap">
|
||
<b class="header">Loading Bootstrapped Models</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
When your app first loads, it's common to have a set of initial models that
|
||
you know you're going to need, in order to render the page. Instead of
|
||
firing an extra AJAX request to <a href="#Collection-fetch">fetch</a> them,
|
||
a nicer pattern is to have their data already bootstrapped into the page.
|
||
You can then use <a href="#Collection-refresh">refresh</a> to populate your
|
||
collections with the initial data. At DocumentCloud, in the
|
||
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERuby">ERB</a> template for the
|
||
workspace, we do something along these lines:
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
<script>
|
||
Accounts.refresh(<%= @accounts.to_json %>);
|
||
Projects.refresh(<%= @projects.to_json(:collaborators => true) %>);
|
||
</script>
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-mvc">
|
||
<b class="header">How does Backbone relate to "traditional" MVC?</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Different implementations of the
|
||
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model–View–Controller">Model-View-Controller</a>
|
||
pattern tend to disagree about the definition of a controller. If it helps any, in
|
||
Backbone, the <a href="#View">View</a> class can also be thought of as a
|
||
kind of controller, dispatching events that originate from the UI, with
|
||
the HTML template serving as the true view. We call it a View because it
|
||
represents a logical chunk of UI, responsible for the contents of a single
|
||
DOM element.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-this">
|
||
<b class="header">Binding "this"</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
Perhaps the single most common JavaScript "gotcha" is the fact that when
|
||
you pass a function as a callback, it's value for <tt>this</tt> is lost. With
|
||
Backbone, when dealing with <a href="#Events">events</a> and callbacks,
|
||
you'll often find it useful to rely on
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#bind">_.bind</a> and
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#bindAll">_.bindAll</a>
|
||
from Underscore.js. <tt>_.bind</tt> takes a function and an object to be
|
||
used as <tt>this</tt>, any time the function is called in the future.
|
||
<tt>_.bindAll</tt> takes an object and a list of method names: each method
|
||
in the list will be bound to the object, so that it's <tt>this</tt> may
|
||
not change. For example, in a <a href="#View">View</a> that listens for
|
||
changes to a collection...
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<pre>
|
||
var MessageList = Backbone.View.extend({
|
||
|
||
initialize: function() {
|
||
_.bindAll(this, "addMessage", "removeMessage", "render");
|
||
|
||
var messages = this.collection;
|
||
messages.bind("refresh", this.render);
|
||
messages.bind("add", this.addMessage);
|
||
messages.bind("remove", this.removeMessage);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
});
|
||
|
||
// Later, in the app...
|
||
|
||
Inbox.messages.add(newMessage);
|
||
</pre>
|
||
|
||
<p id="FAQ-rias">
|
||
<b class="header">
|
||
How is Backbone different than
|
||
<a href="http://www.sproutcore.com/">SproutCore</a> or
|
||
<a href="http://cappuccino.org/">Cappuccino</a>?
|
||
</b>
|
||
<br />
|
||
This question is frequently asked, and all three projects apply general
|
||
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model–View–Controller">Model-View-Controller</a>
|
||
principles to JavaScript applications. However, there isn't much basis
|
||
for comparison. SproutCore and Cappuccino provide rich UI widgets, vast
|
||
core libraries, and determine the structure of your HTML for you.
|
||
Both frameworks measure in the hundreds of kilobytes when packed and
|
||
gzipped, and megabytes of JavaScript, CSS, and images when loaded in the browser
|
||
— there's a lot of room underneath for libraries of a more moderate scope.
|
||
Backbone is a <i>4 kilobyte</i> include that provides
|
||
just the core concepts of models, events, collections, views, controllers,
|
||
and persistence.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="changelog">Change Log</h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.3.3</b> — <small><i>Dec 1, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Backbone.js now supports <a href="http://zeptojs.com">Zepto</a>, alongside
|
||
jQuery, as a framework for DOM manipulation and Ajax support.
|
||
Implemented <a href="#Model-escape">Model#escape</a>, to efficiently handle
|
||
attributes intended for HTML interpolation. When trying to persist a model,
|
||
failed requests will now trigger an <tt>"error"</tt> event. The
|
||
ubiquitous <tt>options</tt> argument is now passed as the final argument
|
||
to all <tt>"change"</tt> events.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.3.2</b> — <small><i>Nov 23, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Bugfix for IE7 + iframe-based "hashchange" events. <tt>sync</tt> may now be
|
||
overridden on a per-model, or per-collection basis. Fixed recursion error
|
||
when calling <tt>save</tt> with no changed attributes, within a
|
||
<tt>"change"</tt> event.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.3.1</b> — <small><i>Nov 15, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
All <tt>"add"</tt> and <tt>"remove"</tt> events are now sent through the
|
||
model, so that views can listen for them without having to know about the
|
||
collection. Added a <tt>remove</tt> method to <a href="#View">Backbone.View</a>.
|
||
<tt>toJSON</tt> is no longer called at all for <tt>'read'</tt> and <tt>'delete'</tt> requests.
|
||
Backbone routes are now able to load empty URL fragments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.3.0</b> — <small><i>Nov 9, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Backbone now has <a href="#Controller">Controllers</a> and
|
||
<a href="#History">History</a>, for doing client-side routing based on
|
||
URL fragments.
|
||
Added <tt>emulateHTTP</tt> to provide support for legacy servers that don't
|
||
do <tt>PUT</tt> and <tt>DELETE</tt>.
|
||
Added <tt>emulateJSON</tt> for servers that can't accept <tt>application/json</tt>
|
||
encoded requests.
|
||
Added <a href="#Model-clear">Model#clear</a>, which removes all attributes
|
||
from a model.
|
||
All Backbone classes may now be seamlessly inherited by CoffeeScript classes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.2.0</b> — <small><i>Oct 25, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Instead of requiring server responses to be namespaced under a <tt>model</tt>
|
||
key, now you can define your own <a href="#Model-parse">parse</a> method
|
||
to convert responses into attributes for Models and Collections.
|
||
The old <tt>handleEvents</tt> function is now named
|
||
<a href="#View-delegateEvents">delegateEvents</a>, and is automatically
|
||
called as part of the View's constructor.
|
||
Added a <a href="#Collection-toJSON">toJSON</a> function to Collections.
|
||
Added <a href="#Collection-chain">Underscore's chain</a> to Collections.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.1.2</b> — <small><i>Oct 19, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Added a <a href="#Model-fetch">Model#fetch</a> method for refreshing the
|
||
attributes of single model from the server.
|
||
An <tt>error</tt> callback may now be passed to <tt>set</tt> and <tt>save</tt>
|
||
as an option, which will be invoked if validation fails, overriding the
|
||
<tt>"error"</tt> event.
|
||
You can now tell backbone to use the <tt>_method</tt> hack instead of HTTP
|
||
methods by setting <tt>Backbone.emulateHTTP = true</tt>.
|
||
Existing Model and Collection data is no longer sent up unnecessarily with
|
||
<tt>GET</tt> and <tt>DELETE</tt> requests. Added a <tt>rake lint</tt> task.
|
||
Backbone is now published as an <a href="http://npmjs.org">NPM</a> module.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.1.1</b> — <small><i>Oct 14, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Added a convention for <tt>initialize</tt> functions to be called
|
||
upon instance construction, if defined. Documentation tweaks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<b class="header">0.1.0</b> — <small><i>Oct 13, 2010</i></small><br />
|
||
Initial Backbone release.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<br />
|
||
<a href="http://documentcloud.org/" title="A DocumentCloud Project" style="background:none;">
|
||
<img src="http://jashkenas.s3.amazonaws.com/images/a_documentcloud_project.png" alt="A DocumentCloud Project" style="position:relative;left:-10px;" />
|
||
</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<script src="test/vendor/underscore-1.1.3.js"></script>
|
||
<script src="test/vendor/jquery-1.4.2.js"></script>
|
||
<script src="test/vendor/json2.js"></script>
|
||
<script src="backbone.js"></script>
|
||
|
||
<script>
|
||
// Set up the "play" buttons for each runnable code example.
|
||
$(function() {
|
||
$('.runnable').each(function() {
|
||
var code = this;
|
||
var button = $('<div class="run" title="Run"></div>');
|
||
$(button).insertBefore(code).bind('click', function(){
|
||
eval($(code).text());
|
||
});
|
||
});
|
||
});
|
||
</script>
|
||
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html>
|