Heres what I've been working on: http://jsfiddle.net/leapin_leprechaun/29aysou5/3/
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Results App Training</title>
<script src="js/libs/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="js/libs/underscore.js"></script>
<script src="js/libs/backbone.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$( document ).ready(function() {
/*
***********
Models
***********
*/
var MatchInfo = Backbone.Model.extend({
defaults: {
season:"1415"
}
});//model class
var matchInfo = new MatchInfo(); //model instance
/*
***********
Collections
***********
*/
var Matches = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: MatchInfo, //note this references the model class, not the model instance
url : "http://www.hookhockey.com/index.php/temp-gillian/",
sync : function(method, collection, options) {
// By setting the dataType to "jsonp", jQuery creates a function
// and adds it as a callback parameter to the request, e.g.:
// [url]&callback=jQuery19104472605645155031_1373700330157&q=bananarama
// If you want another name for the callback, also specify the
// jsonpCallback option.
// After this function is called (by the JSONP response), the script tag
// is removed and the parse method is called, just as it would be
// when AJAX was used.
//console.log('sync');
options.dataType = "jsonp";
return Backbone.sync(method, collection, options);
},
parse : function(response) {
// console.log(response.matches);
//.matches is what the json at http://www.hookhockey.com/index.php/temp-gillian/ is putting out
return response.matches;
}
}); //collection class
var matches = new Matches(); //collection instance
matches.bind("sync", matches.render, matches);
matches.fetch({
success : function(collection, response, options) {
/* notes: calling these outside of the success listener meant that nothing got returned. This is because they fire before the fetch returns http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9431673/load-data-into-a-backbone-collection-from-json-file
the alternative is to call them within the success function or to call them like so:
.complete(function() {
console.log(matches);
console.log('length: ' + matches.length);
});
..after the fetch call.
*/
console.log('in collection instance fetch success: ' + matches.length);
return response;
},
error : function(collection, response, options) {
console.log(response.statusText);
},
// A timeout is the only way to get an error event for JSONP calls!
timeout : 5000
});
/*
***********
Views
***********
*/
var MatchModelView = Backbone.View.extend({
// template: _.template( $("#matchTemplate").html() ), // removed because template was not being found - uses underscore and the content from index.html script tag with the id of matchElement that contains the template tags
id : 'someID',
className: 'someClassName',
initialize: function () {
_.bindAll(this, "render");
this.collection.bind("reset", this.render);
},
render: function() {
//var matchTemplate = this.template(this.model.toJSON()); //passes in all of the model data (using this.model.toJSON()) into the template (this.template) so that info is available to the template tags
var matchTemplate = '<p>' + this.model.get('title') + '</p>';
this.$el.html(matchTemplate); //pass the templated info into the el element and return it for render
return this;
}
}); //model view class
//var matchModelView = new MatchModelView({model:matchInfo}); //model view instance
//console.log(matchModelView.render().el);
var MatchesModelView = Backbone.View.extend({
id: 'somethingelse',
initialize: function () {
_.bindAll(this, "render");
this.collection.bind("reset", this.render);
},
render: function(){
console.log('collection length in view:' + this.collection.length); //returns 0
this.collection.each(this.oneMatch, this);
return this;
},
oneMatch: function (aMatch){
console.log(aMatch);
var matchView = new MatchModelView ({ model: aMatch });
this.$el.append(MatchView.render().el);
}
}); //collection view class
var matchesModelView = new MatchesModelView({collection: matches });
$("#allMatches").html(matchesModelView.render().el);
/*
***********
Routers
***********
*/
}); //end doc ready
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="site">
<div id="allMatches">adasdasd</div>
<div id="copy"></div>
</div>
<script id="matchTemplate" type="text/template">
<%= title %>
</script>
</body>
</html>
I've just put 2 alerts in there to show where I think my issue is. I can see that the call to json is working and returning items. But at the time the view kicks in I suspect the call hasn't gone through fully.
Is it bad practice to call a view from within the .fetch success callback? Am I losing the whole modularity advantage of backbone by doing that? Or am I missing something to get the returned objects into the collection?
I'm new to Backbone so you can ignore all my comments within the code, just trying to keep track!! :) I realise they should all be separated out into different js files too, am just getting to grips with things first.
Thanks for your time!
I see a lot of good things, here. You're embracing the Backbone event-driven model (by rendering on sync, for example) and you're off to a good start.
Your problem is that you're calling render on the collection, and not the view, in your sync callback.
matches.bind("sync", matches.render, matches);
You want to move
matches.bind("sync", matches.render, matches);
matches.fetch({ ... });
until after you've instantiated your view. So, you'd do:
var matchesModelView = new MatchesModelView({collection: matches });
matches.bind("sync", matchesModelView.render, matches);
matches.fetch({ ... });
and notice that I replaced matches.render with matchesModelView.render as the callback of the sync event.