It seems like I may not be grasping the full picture here, but let me lay out my current understanding:
- I have a Model that holds 'all' the data (JSON retrieved from a single URL).
- This model contains one or more Collections which are populated with data upon instantiation.
- There is some specific code that needs to be executed on the Collection once the data is loaded and initialized.
My primary concern lies with the composed Collection. While I could potentially handle this outside of the Collection, I prefer to keep it encapsulated within (since why bother creating a 'class' structure with an initializer if not for this purpose).
Initially, I considered placing the code in the
initialize()function. However, this runs before the model is fully populated, leading to empty access for the models within the collection (this.modelsremains empty).Next, I thought about binding to an event, but no events are triggered post-initialization. Events would trigger if I were to load the Collection using a
fetchfrom its designated endpoint, but this isn't the case as I'm initializing the collection with existing data.
Therefore, my query is: How can I execute initialization code on the Collection immediately after it's been populated with data (ensuring that this.models is not empty)?
Is there a way to achieve this without involving any external code?
To provide better clarity, below you'll find a demo snippet that may elucidate things further.
var Everything = Backbone.Model.extend({
url: "/static/data/mydata.json",
parse: function(data)
{
this.set("things", new Things(data.things, {controller: this}));
}
});
var Thing = Backbone.Model.extend({
});
var Things = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Thing,
initialize: function(data, options)
{
// At this point, I wish to access this.models.
// Unfortunately, it hasn't been populated yet.
console.log("initialize");
console.log(this.models);
// result: []
// Additionally, this event does not get triggered either!
this.on("all", function(eventType)
{
console.log("Some kind of event happened!", eventType);
});
}
});
var everything = new Everything();
everything.fetch();
// Some manual verification to validate the functionality of the demo code:
// Executed after all operations are complete to confirm collection creation with data
setTimeout(function(){console.log("outside data", everything.get("things").models);}, 1000);
// Expected outcome: displays a list of models.
// Verify the event handler functionality.
setTimeout(function(){console.log("outside trigger", everything.get("things").trigger("change"));}, 1000);
// This triggers the event callback.