Backbone sort collections by click on non template elements

Question

I want to sort my backbone collections by clicking non backbone template elements

In brief , i have 2 Sorting options named "Sort by date" and "Sort by name". when i click these elements i need to sort my collection in my backbone view

View template :

    <ul>
    <li>Sort By date</li>
    <li>Sort By name</li>
    </ul>

    <script type="foo/bar" id='videos-thumbnail'>
          <div class="col-md-4">
          <div class="video-thumbnail-item">
            <div style="background-image:url(recenty_added/recentlyadded2.jpg);" class="video-thumbnail"> </div>
            <div class="video-details">
              <div class="video-title text-purple uppercase"><%= title %></div>
              <div class="video-date"><%= date %></div>
            </div>
            <div class="video-thumbnail-checkbox"> <span class="custom-checkbox">
              <input type="checkbox" class="playlist-checkbox" name="addto-playlist[]">
              </span>
              <% if (is_rights_managed== true) { %>
              <div class="checkbox-label-light">RM</div>
              <% } else {%>
              <div class="checkbox-label-light"></div>
              <% } %>
            </div>
            <div class="video-thumbnail-options"> <span title="Download" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-download"></i> </span> <span title="Edit" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-pencil"></i> </span> <span title="More Information" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-info-circle"></i> </span> <span title="View Details" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-search"></i> </span> <span title="Add to Clipbins" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-folder-open"></i> </span> <span title="Add to Cart" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-cart-plus"></i> </span> <span title="Contact me about this Clip" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-envelope"></i> </span> </div>
          </div>
        </div>
    </script> 

<div class="row" id="thumbnail_target"> </div>

App :

//backbone & underscore
$(function() {
var Videos = Backbone.Model.extend();

var VideoList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
   model: Videos,
   url: 'https://api.myjson.com/bins/4mht3'
});

var videos = new VideoList();

var VideoView = Backbone.View.extend({
   el: "#thumbnail_target",
   template: _.template($('#videos-thumbnail').html()),
   render: function(eventName) {
      _.each(this.model.models, function(video){
         var videoTemplate = this.template(video.toJSON());
         $(this.el).append(videoTemplate);
      }, this);
      return this;
   },
});

var videosView = new VideoView({model: videos});

videos.fetch({
    success: function() {
        videosView.render();
        videoslistView.render();
    }
});

});

Am newbie to backbone and underscore, am not sure how to make this work

Example fiddle : Fiddle

Answer 1

Since you have access to collection outside view, you can simply use jquery to bind an event handler for the <li>, which updates the collections comparator and sorts it. Then have the view re-render itself when a sort event occurs on the collection.

for the demo I'm using string and number types of sort attributes so that I can directly set it as comparator. You should write a custom comparator function that handles sorting based on different types of arguments like string, number, date etc. Updated fiddle

//backbone & underscore
$(function() {
  var Videos = Backbone.Model.extend();
  var VideoList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
    model: Videos,
    url: 'https://api.myjson.com/bins/4mht3'
  });
  var videos = new VideoList();
  var VideoListView = Backbone.View.extend({
    el: "#thumbnail_target",
    template: _.template($('#videos-thumbnail').html()),
    initialize: function() {
      this.listenTo(this.collection, 'sort', this.render);
    },
    render: function(eventName) {
      this.$el.empty();
      _.each(this.collection.models, function(video) {
        var videoTemplate = this.template(video.toJSON());
        this.$el.append(videoTemplate);
      }, this);
      return this;
    },
  });
  var videosView = new VideoListView({
    collection: videos
  });
  videos.fetch({
    success: function(collection) {
      videosView.render();
    }
  });
  $('#sortBy').on('click', 'li', function() {
    var category = $(this).text().split('Sort By ')[1];
    videos.comparator = category;
    videos.sort();
  });
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.5.2/underscore-min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/backbone.js/1.0.0/backbone-min.js"></script>
<ul id="sortBy">
  <li>Sort By average</li>
  <li>Sort By title</li>
</ul>
<script type="foo/bar" id='videos-thumbnail'>
  <div class="col-md-4">
    <div class="video-thumbnail-item">
      <div style="background-image:url(recenty_added/recentlyadded2.jpg);" class="video-thumbnail"></div>
      <div class="video-details">
        <div class="video-title text-purple uppercase">
          <%=t itle %>
        </div>
        <div class="video-date">
          <%=d ate %>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="video-thumbnail-checkbox"> <span class="custom-checkbox">
          <input type="checkbox" class="playlist-checkbox" name="addto-playlist[]">
          </span>
        <% if (is_rights_managed==t rue) { %>
          <div class="checkbox-label-light">RM</div>
          <% } else {%>
            <div class="checkbox-label-light"></div>
            <% } %>
      </div>
      <div class="video-thumbnail-options"> <span title="Download" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-download"></i> </span>  <span title="Edit" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-pencil"></i> </span>  <span title="More Information" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-info-circle"></i> </span> 
        <span
        title="View Details" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-search"></i> 
          </span> <span title="Add to Clipbins" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-folder-open"></i> </span>  <span title="Add to Cart" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-cart-plus"></i> </span>  <span title="Contact me about this Clip" class="option-parts"> <i class="fa fa-envelope"></i> </span> 
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</script>

<div class="row" id="thumbnail_target"></div>