Guide to attaching a click event in a subview of Backbone

Question

Guide to attaching a click event in a subview of Backbone

I'm struggling with understanding event binding in a Backbone subview. Here's how my view is set up:

TenantView = Backbone.View.extend({
  events: {
    "click": "setActive"
  },
  initialize: function() {
    this.parentEl = this.options.parentEl;
    return this.render();
  },
  template: new EJS({
    url: '/scripts/templates/tenant.ejs'
  }),
  render: function() {
    $(this.parentEl).children('ul').append(this.template.render(this.model));
    return this;
  },
  setActive: function(event) {
    return this.model.set('active', true);
  }
});

The template just contains an li with an a inside. However, I'm having trouble with click events not being captured in my view and the setActive method not being triggered.

When I add an el property like el: 'li' to my view, one of the views works correctly and triggers the setActive function. But the second view doesn't respond at all. Upon inspecting the el property during view initialization, the working view's el points to the correct li, while the problematic view's el points to the first li it finds on the page.

I'm completely lost on the purpose of the el property.

My question is, how can I properly bind a click event in a view to the setActive function for that view?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards, Felix

javascript events backbone.js

Answer 1

Answer №1

If you're looking for guidance on how to use Backbone.js View-el, I recommend checking out the official documentation and also this resource for further explanation.

Considering the presence of the parentEl property in the TenantView, it's likely that it is being rendered within a parent_view. To address this, I suggest implementing a similar approach as outlined below and giving it a go:

var ChildView = Backbone.View.extend({
  tagName : "li", // adjust as needed 

  events : {
    "click": "setActive"
  },

  initialize : function() {
    _.bindAll(this, "setActive");
    // initialization code for child_view
  },

  render : function() {
    // Render template content within the "li" tag
    this.$el.html(this.template()); 

    return this;
  },

  setActive : function(event) {
    // Custom code to execute in the event callback
  }
});


var ParentView = Backbone.View.extend({
  el : "#parent_view_el",

  initialize : function() {
    // Initialization code for parent view
  },

  render : function() {
    // Initialize ChildView within this method
    var child_view = new ChildView();

    this.$("ul").append(child_view.render().$el); // Equivalent to this.$el.find("ul")

    return this;
  }
});

I hope this approach proves to be helpful for your implementation!

Answer 2

If you're looking for guidance on how to use Backbone.js View-el, I recommend checking out the official documentation and also this resource for further explanation.

Considering the presence of the parentEl property in the TenantView, it's likely that it is being rendered within a parent_view. To address this, I suggest implementing a similar approach as outlined below and giving it a go:

var ChildView = Backbone.View.extend({
  tagName : "li", // adjust as needed 

  events : {
    "click": "setActive"
  },

  initialize : function() {
    _.bindAll(this, "setActive");
    // initialization code for child_view
  },

  render : function() {
    // Render template content within the "li" tag
    this.$el.html(this.template()); 

    return this;
  },

  setActive : function(event) {
    // Custom code to execute in the event callback
  }
});


var ParentView = Backbone.View.extend({
  el : "#parent_view_el",

  initialize : function() {
    // Initialization code for parent view
  },

  render : function() {
    // Initialize ChildView within this method
    var child_view = new ChildView();

    this.$("ul").append(child_view.render().$el); // Equivalent to this.$el.find("ul")

    return this;
  }
});

I hope this approach proves to be helpful for your implementation!

Answer 3

Answer №2

You have altered the natural behavior of backbones by adding the parentEl property and bypassing the creation of a view element. You are not connecting the views `el` property to anything.

From what I understand, the TenantView represents a single list item within a list of tenants.

To make use of backbone's built-in events in your TenantView, you can do the following:

render: function() {
    this.setElement(this.template.render(this.model));
    $(this.parentEl).children('ul').append(this.$el);
    return this;
}

The function setElement will utilize the result of your template function to link up the views element and set up the events for you. It is recommended in the documentation to use setElement instead of just assigning something to the el property. Additionally, there is the handy $el property which holds a cached jQuery (or Zepto) object of your view's element.

To further adhere to the backbone way, I would suggest something like this:

var TenantView = Backbone.View.extend({
    // =========
    // = Setup =
    // =========

    events: {
        "click": "setActive"
    },

    template: new EJS({
        url: '/scripts/templates/tenant.ejs'
    }),

    // =============
    // = Lifecycle =
    // =============

    initialize: function(model, options) {
        this.render();
    },

    render: function() {
        var content = this.template.render(this.model);
        this.$el.html(content);
        return this;
    },

    // ==========
    // = Events =
    // ==========

    setActive: function(event) {
        return this.model.set('active', true);
    }

});


var TenantList = Backbone.View.extend({

    // =========
    // = Setup =
    // =========

    id: "tenantList",
    tagName: "ul",

    // =============
    // = Lifecycle =
    // =============

    initialize: function() {
        this.render();
    },

    render: function() {
        if (this.collection.length > 0) {
            this.renderChildren();
        }
    },

    renderChildren: function() {
        var that = this;

        this.collection.each(function(tenant) {
            that.$el.append(new TenantView(tenant).$el);
        });
    }
});

Answer 4

You have altered the natural behavior of backbones by adding the parentEl property and bypassing the creation of a view element. You are not connecting the views `el` property to anything.

From what I understand, the TenantView represents a single list item within a list of tenants.

To make use of backbone's built-in events in your TenantView, you can do the following:

render: function() {
    this.setElement(this.template.render(this.model));
    $(this.parentEl).children('ul').append(this.$el);
    return this;
}

The function setElement will utilize the result of your template function to link up the views element and set up the events for you. It is recommended in the documentation to use setElement instead of just assigning something to the el property. Additionally, there is the handy $el property which holds a cached jQuery (or Zepto) object of your view's element.

To further adhere to the backbone way, I would suggest something like this:

var TenantView = Backbone.View.extend({
    // =========
    // = Setup =
    // =========

    events: {
        "click": "setActive"
    },

    template: new EJS({
        url: '/scripts/templates/tenant.ejs'
    }),

    // =============
    // = Lifecycle =
    // =============

    initialize: function(model, options) {
        this.render();
    },

    render: function() {
        var content = this.template.render(this.model);
        this.$el.html(content);
        return this;
    },

    // ==========
    // = Events =
    // ==========

    setActive: function(event) {
        return this.model.set('active', true);
    }

});


var TenantList = Backbone.View.extend({

    // =========
    // = Setup =
    // =========

    id: "tenantList",
    tagName: "ul",

    // =============
    // = Lifecycle =
    // =============

    initialize: function() {
        this.render();
    },

    render: function() {
        if (this.collection.length > 0) {
            this.renderChildren();
        }
    },

    renderChildren: function() {
        var that = this;

        this.collection.each(function(tenant) {
            that.$el.append(new TenantView(tenant).$el);
        });
    }
});

Guide to attaching a click event in a subview of Backbone

Answer №1

Answer №2

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