Issue with rendering Backbone subview correctly

Today, I delved into the world of website development using backbone.js. Surprisingly, after a whole morning of trying to crack a puzzling problem, I find myself stuck.

Let me focus on the crucial bits of code here.

Initially, I have a View named Navigator that holds a Collection of Records (which is empty at first):

var NavigatorView = Backbone.View.extend({
    template: JST['app/scripts/templates/Navigator.ejs'],

    tagName: 'div',

    id: '',

    className: 'saiNavigator',

    events: {},

    initialize: function () {
        this.currentRecords = new RecordsCollection();
        this.currentRecords.on('reset', this.onRecordsCollectionReseted.bind(this));
    },
    // More functions and code snippets follow...

Then comes a view called "dossier" which has the following HTML structure:

<div id="dossier1" class="dossier">
  <div id="dossier1-navContainer" class="navigatorContainer"/>   
  <div class="pagesNavigatorContainer"/>
  <div class="pagesContainer"/>
  <div class="readOnlyFiche"/>
</div>

When I render the dossier for the first time, I create the navigator as shown in the render function below:

// Code snippet for rendering the dossier
render: function () {
    // Some rendering logic goes here
    var nav = this.navigator = new NavigatorView({
        model : this.model,
        id: this.id+'navigator',
        el: $('#'+this.id+'-navContainer')
    });
    // More rendering logic follows...
}

Each time I render the dossier, it creates a navigator that can load data through an AJAX request from the server. The issue arises when the second rendering occurs and the DOM doesn't update accordingly. Help!

After extensive discussions with Seebiscuit, adding a few lines like the ones below helped clarify the situation:

// Additional lines added after discussion
newTask.render();
var taskHtml = newTask.$el.html();
$('#mainTaskContainer').append(taskHtml);

Answer №1

It seems like there may be a binding issue in your code. Consider making the following change:

this.currentRecords.on('reset', this.onRecordsCollectionReseted.bind(this)); },

Replace the above code in your initialize function with:

this.listenTo(this.currentRecords, "reset", this.render);

You don't need to manually bind the callback function. When using Backbone's listenTo, it automatically binds the callback to the object that is setting the listener (in this case, the this in this.listenTo). This method also ensures that when you remove the view (by calling this.remove()), the listener will be removed as well, preventing any potential issues.

Give it a try and see if it resolves the problem.

Answer №2

It seems like the issue may lie in how you are utilizing the data being passed to your navigatorView.

Have you attempted this modification in your navigatorView:

initialize:function(el) {
    this.$el=el
    ...
}

Please inform me if this adjustment proves helpful.

Answer №3

Following an extensive conversation with seebiscuit, we were able to reach a resolution. The crux of the issue lies in the definition of the $el element. According to the formal definition, it is described as

A cached jQuery object for the view's element. A convenient reference rather than re-wrapping the DOM element repeatedly

This definition deviates from a typical cache perspective. In my understanding, a cache typically looks for a value and uses it if available; however, this is not the case here. As explained by Seebiscuit,

Because when you first bind this.$el = $(someelement) this.$el will always point to the return of $(someelement) and not to $(someelement). When does the distinction become important? When the element is not present in the DOM during the assignment

Essentially, $el retains the outcome of the initial selector lookup. Therefore, if the first search fails, it will never succeed even if the element is added later.

My error was introducing the main dossierView into the DOM after rendering its NavigatorView subview. Had $el functioned as a true cache, the second rendering in the ajax callback could have located the element. However, given the current behavior of $el, I was left empty-handed.

Lesson learned: ensure all parts of your view are adequately rendered in the DOM before attempting to render a subview.

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