This is a simple example of using Backbone.js models and collections, and the Marionette.js ItemView and CollectionView. Here is the Javascript:
/* create a new instance of the Marionette app */
var app = new Backbone.Marionette.Application();
/* add the initial region which will contain the app */
app.addRegions({
/* reference to container element in the HTML file */
appRegion: '#AppBase'
});
/* define a module to keep the code modular */
app.module('App',function(module, App, Backbone, Marionette, $, _){
/* definition for book model, with default example of data structure */
module.BookModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
defaults: {
title: '',
authorFirst: '',
authorLast: ''
}
});
/* definition for book collection */
module.BookCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
/* set model type used for this collection */
model: module.BookModel,
/* comparator determines how collection is sorted */
comparator: 'authorLast'
});
/* definition for individual item view */
module.BookItemView = Marionette.ItemView.extend({
tagName: 'li',
/* set the template used to display this view */
template: '#itemView-template',
/* used to show the order in which these method are called */
initialize: function(){ console.log('BookItemView: initialize >>> ' + this.model.get('title')) },
onRender: function(){ console.log('BookItemView: onRender >>> ' + this.model.get('title')) },
onShow: function(){ console.log('BookItemView: onShow >>> ' + this.model.get('title')) }
});
/* definition for collection view */
module.BookCollectionView = Marionette.CollectionView.extend({
tagName: 'ul',
/* explicitly set the childview (formerly 'itemView') used to display the models in this collection */
childView: module.BookItemView,
initialize: function(){ console.log('BookCollectionView: initialize') },
onRender: function(){ console.log('BookCollectionView: onRender') },
onShow: function(){ console.log('BookCollectionView: onShow') }
});
/* define a view; in this case a 'LayoutView' (formerly 'Layout') */
module.AppLayoutView = Marionette.LayoutView.extend({
/* the auto-generated element which contains this view */
tagName: 'div',
/* id attribute for the auto-generated container element */
id: 'AppContainer',
/* reference to the template which will be rendered for this view */
template: '#layout-template',
/* define the regions within this layout, into which we will load additional views */
regions: {
'RegionOne' : '#regionOne'
},
/* called when the view initializes, before it displays */
initialize: function() {
console.log('main layout: initialize');
},
/* called when view renders in the DOM. This is a good place to
add nested views, because the views need existing DOM elements
into which to be rendered. */
onRender: function() {
console.log('main layout: onRender');
/* create an array of books using anonymouse objects;
the objects have the same structure as in the 'defaults'
attribute of the module.BookModel definition */
var bookArray = [];
bookArray.push({title: 'Wolf',authorLast: 'Harrison', authorFirst: 'Jim'});
bookArray.push({title: 'The Theory and Practice of Rivers', authorLast: 'Snyder', authorFirst: 'Gary'});
bookArray.push({title: 'Weather Central',authorLast: 'Kooser', authorFirst: 'Ted'});
bookArray.push({title: 'Losing Season',authorLast: 'Ridl', authorFirst: 'Jack'});
bookArray.push({title: 'Mornings Like This',authorLast: 'Dillard', authorFirst: 'Annie'});
/* create a collection using the array of anonymous objects */
var bookCollection = new module.BookCollection(bookArray);
/* create new instance of the collection view using the bookCollection */
var bookCollectionView = new module.BookCollectionView({collection: bookCollection});
/* display the collection view in region 1 */
this.RegionOne.show(bookCollectionView);
},
/* called when the view displays in the UI */
onShow: function() {
console.log('main layout: onShow');
}
});
/* Tell the module what to do when it is done loading */
module.addInitializer(function(){
/* create a new instance of the layout from the module */
var layout = new module.AppLayoutView();
/* display the layout in the region defined at the top of this file */
app.appRegion.show(layout);
});
});
/* once the DOM initializes, start the app */
$(document).ready(function() {app.start();});
And here is the HTML, including the templates used by the Marionette views.
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Backbone/Marionette basic setup with nested views</title>
<style type="text/css">
body {
background: #ffffff;
}
#AppBase {
width: 400px;
margin: 10px auto;
padding: 0;
outline: 1px solid #808080;
}
#AppContainer {
width: 400px;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
h1 {
width:100%;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
text-align: center;
border-bottom: 1px solid #808080;
}
ul {
margin: 1em 0 0 0;
padding:0;
list-style-type: none;
width: 400px;
}
li {
margin-bottom: .5em;
padding: 0 0 .5em 1em;
border-bottom: 1px solid #dedede;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Base element for app -->
<!--
Dont use the BODY element as the base because when the app renders in the BODY
it will wipe out the template files before the views can pick them up
-->
<div id="AppBase"></div>
<!-- TEMPLATES -->
<!-- main layout template -->
<script type="text/template" id="layout-template">
<h1>Main Template</h1>
<div id="regionOne"></div>
</script>
<!-- bookItemView template -->
<!-- This used the Underscore templating system, which is built into Marionette.js -->
<script type="text/template" id="itemView-template">
<span><b>Title</b>: <%- title %></span><br/>
<span><b>Author</b>: <%- authorLast %>, <%- authorFirst %></span>
</script>
<!-- libraries -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/underscore.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/backbone.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/backbone.marionette.js"></script>
<!-- app code -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Here are links to the code libraries used to create this example: