loops in underscore js template

Question

Ok guys so I have this array of key pair values which I'm using as my model:

var acs = [{'label':'input box'},{'label':'text area'}];

the rest of the code goes as follows

var Action = Backbone.Model.extend({});
var action = new Action(acs);
var ActionView = Backbone.View.extend({
    tagName:"li",
    template: _.template($('#actions-template').html()),
    events:{
        "click":"makeInput"
    },
    render:function(){
        $(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));
        $(".hero-unit>ul").append(this.el);
        return this;
    },
    makeInput:function(){
        alert("im in");
    }
});
var actionView = new ActionView({model:action});
actionView.render();

The question is with regards to the view. How can I loop through the model I'm passing if this is the view I want to have

<script type="text/template" id="actions-template">
<% _.each(action, function(acs) { %> 
    <a class="btn"><%= label %></a>
<% }); %>
</script>

There is something wrong with my view and the loop I believe. Any clues? Thanks!

Answer 1

You'd probably want to do two things:

1. Adjust the data you supply to the template:

   $(this.el).html(this.template({
       action: this.model.toJSON()
   }));
   

2. Adjust the inner part of the template to use acs.label instead of label:

   <a class="btn"><%= acs.label %></a>
   

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/ambiguous/xczBy/

On second thought, I think you should be working with a collection rather than a single model. You'd want to add this:

var ActionCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
    model: Action
});

And then adjust render to use this.collection:

    $(this.el).html(this.template({
        actions: this.collection.toJSON()
    }));

And then start things up like this:

var actions = new ActionCollection(acs);
var actionView = new ActionView({collection: actions});

And finally, refer to actions in the template:

<% _.each(actions, function(acs) { %> 

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/ambiguous/6VeXk/

This would better match Backbone's key/value based models.