Backbone.Marionette Fade Transition for only specific regions? - marionette

I know I can override all regions to add a fade transition by using the following.
Marionette.Region.prototype.open = function(view){
this.$el.hide();
this.$el.html(view.el);
this.$el.fadeIn()
}
Is there a way to only override specific regions or views? I have certain regions in my layout that I would like to be able to fade in while other regions should be rendered instantly.
Thanks,
dk

You can define a custom Region the way you can define any Backbone object, and add this code to that region type.
MyRegion = Backbone.Marionette.Region.extend({
el: "#some-element",
open: function(view){
this.$el.hide();
this.$el.html(view.el);
this.$el.fadeIn();
}
});
MyApp.addRegions({
myRegion: MyRegion
});
Note that I included the el in the region definition. If you want to re-use this across multiple regions, you'll have to create a base region and extend from that for each one that you need.
FadeInRegion = Backbone.Marionette.Region.extend({
open: function(view){
this.$el.hide();
this.$el.html(view.el);
this.$el.fadeIn();
}
});
MyApp.addRegions({
myRegion: FadeInRegion.extend({el: "#some-element"}),
anotherRegion: FadeInRegion.extend({el: "#another-element"})
});

Another option that I just used was to override the open method for animations was to create a separate config file, override the open method in that config file, and conditional logic to test for className. So here's what I did with coffee script and using Marionette modules.
Create my view:
#Item.module "ItemApp.Add", (Add, App, Backbone, Marionette, $,_) ->
class Add.Item extends Marionette.ItemView
template: "#add-item"
className: "add-modal"
And in my config file I just test the className to perform the desired animation:
do (Marionette) ->
_.extend Marionette.Region::,
open: (view) ->
if view.el.className == "add-modal"
console.log "the add-modal has been called"
#$el.hide()
#$el.html(view.el)
#$el.show().animate "left": '0', queue: false

Related

Backbone routing and view relations

I'm preparing to build a medium sized website with Backbone for the first time. There are 7 menu items, and I cant figure out whats the best routing/view relationship when it comes to performance. When a route is triggered, do I create a new instance of the "active" view every time it's triggered or do I only create one view instance for each view, when the user loads the page?
... And whats the best way to handle views – adding and removing dom elements and events, without having trouble with performance. e.g.
$('selector').html(my-new-view);
You can create your menu only once, if it doesnt change. You can create some html template like this.
<div>
<nav>render-here-only-one</nav>
<section>render-here-when-page-changes/loads</section>
</div>
I prefer backbone's render method initialize and append itself.
var testView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $("#section"),
template:_.template("<strong>hello.</strong>")
initialize: function () {
// any change on view will trigger render
_.bindAll(this, "render");
},
render: function (item) {
this.el.html(this.template());
}
});
var myView = new testView();
myView.render();

Backbone Marionette: Add to region

Instead of using region.show(view), I would like to add multiple views to a region without destroying the view already present in the region. I have tried using preventDestroy: true, but it isnt working out. The region only shows the last "application".
var fetchingApplications = App.request('application:entities');
$.when(fetchingApplications).done(function(applications) {
console.log(applications);
applications.each(function(application) {
var applicationView = new List.Application({
model: application
});
App.layout.mainRegion.show(applicationView, { preventDestroy: true });
});
I know the example look weird, because I could merely use a CollectionView. However, using a CollectionView is not what I want to do.
I think it should works with dynamically add region and fadeIn. You could add class or inline style with 'display: none' so it will be initially not displayed and then in view put 'onShow : function(){ this.$el.fadeIn(); }'

Is it ok to use App.__container__.lookup to access instances?

I need access to the ApplicationView from another view and I'm able to do so with App.__container__.lookup('view:application').
Is __container__ intended to be used this way?
Is there a better way to access instances of views?
(update)
My usecase:
My ApplicationView has a template with 2 columns.
The CSS is responsive so the size of the columns changes to accommodate the
width of the page.
I'm using Ember List View which requires height and width to be specified during initialization
I want to get the instance so I can access the DOM object to figure out its size
I can't use Ember.View.views because at that point, the ApplicationView has not been inserted into the DOM
Don't use that. One of the core developers said that whenever someone tries to use App.__container__, he would add another underscore.
If you really want to access an Ember.View intance use Ember.View.views['foo']. Where foo is the elementId of the view instance.
So if for example you want the App.ApplicationView instance:
App.ApplicationView = Ember.View.extend({
elementId: 'application'
});
// somewhere else in your code
var applicationViewInstance = Ember.View.views['application'];
Having said that, I never came across a situation where I needed to access view instances like that. If you can post your use case, I may be able to suggest alternative ways.
UPDATE: You want to access some properties of a view instance, from some other view instance (view height and width). You can pass those properties to the controller and let other controllers access them for using them in other views (source view -> source controller -> some other controller -> some other view):
App.ApplicationView = Ember.View.extend({
didInsertElement: function() {
var controller = this.get('controller'),
height = this.$().height(),
width = this.$().width();
controller.setProperties({
height: height,
width: width
});
}
});
App.SomeotherController = Ember.Controller.extend({
needs: ['application'],
applicationViewWidthBinding: 'controllers.application.width',
applicationViewHeightBinding: 'controllers.application.height'
});
App.SomeOtherView = Ember.View.extend({
// assuming its controller is an instance of App.SomeotherController
applicationViewWidthBinding: 'controller.applicationViewWidth',
applicationViewHeightBinding: 'controller.applicationViewHeight'
});

How do I add default events to Marionette's Marionette.View base type?

I am currently extending Marionette's base Marionette.View type with the method I named quickClick. I'm doing this to
config/marionette/view.js
(function() {
define([
'backbone.marionette'
],
function(Marionette){
return _.extend(Backbone.Marionette.View.prototype, {
quickClick: function(e) {
$(e.target).get(0).click();
}
});
});
}).call(this);
This allows me to call this method from any view I create without having to redefine it per view. Great!
Here's a trimmed down view with the events object still in place:
(function() {
define([
'backbone.marionette',
'app',
'templates'
],
function(Marionette, App, templates){
// Define our Sub Module under App
var List = App.module("SomeApp");
List.Lessons = Backbone.Marionette.ItemView.extend({
events: {
'tap .section-container p.title': 'quickClick'
}
});
// Return the module
return List;
});
}).call(this);
In case your wondering, tap is an event I'm using from Hammer.js because this is a mobile app. So, in order to circumvent the 300ms click event delay on iOS and Android, I'm manually triggering a click event when the tap event fires on certain elements.
Now, all of this is working just fine, and I felt it was necessary to describe this in detail, so that an answer could be given with context.
My problem is having to define the events object. I don't mind at all for elements as specific as the one above, .section-container p.title. But, I would like to register a tap event for all <a> tags within every view. It doesn't make sense to keep defining this event in each view I create
events: {
'tap .section-container p.title': 'quickClick',
// I don't want to add this to every single view manually
'tap a': 'quickClick'
}
Instead, of adding this to every view, I thought I would just add an events object to the config/marionette/view.js file where I added a method to the Marionette.View prototype.
Here's what I did
(function() {
define([
'backbone.marionette'
],
function(Marionette){
return _.extend(Backbone.Marionette.View.prototype, {
events: {
'tap a': 'quickClick'
},
quickClick: function(e) {
$(e.target).get(0).click();
}
});
});
}).call(this);
Of course, that doesn't work. The events object is overridden each time I need to add events that only apply to that view. Btw, tap a does work when my view does not have its' own events object.
So, my question is: How do I add default events to Marionette's Marionette.View base type?
"Of course, that doesn't work. The events object is overridden each time I need to add events that only apply to that view."
Yes, that seems to be the problem. Here is the part of Marionette that does the event delegation:
// internal method to delegate DOM events and triggers
_delegateDOMEvents: function(events){
events = events || this.events;
if (_.isFunction(events)){ events = events.call(this); }
var combinedEvents = {};
var triggers = this.configureTriggers();
_.extend(combinedEvents, events, triggers);
Backbone.View.prototype.delegateEvents.call(this, combinedEvents);
},
One possible solution could be overwriting this (private!) part of Marionette - but it could probably change in new versions of Marionette and you'd always have to make sure that things still work. So this is bad.
But you could do something like this in your subviews.:
events: _.extend(this.prototype.events, {
'tap .section-container p.title': 'quickClick'
})
If this makes sense for only one 'global' event is another question.
Or you could define an abstract View Class, which does something like that
events: _.extend({'tap a': 'quickClick'}, this.my_fancy_events)
and also defines the quickClick method and then use this view for all you subviews. They then define their events not in 'events' but in 'my_fancy_events'.
When extending the views I occasionally find myself in situation when I need to add some extra calls in 'initialize' as well as extend 'events' property to include some new calls.
In my abstract view I have a function:
inheritInit: function(args) {
this.constructor.__super__.initialize.apply(this, args);
this.events = _.extend(this.constructor.__super__.events, this.eventsafter);
},
Then, in an extended view, I can call
initialize: function(options) {
this.inheritInit(arguments)
//..some extra declarations...
}
and also I can use 'events' property in a regular way.

does an onclick function go in model, view or controller?

I am using backbone.js and trying to stay strict to the model-view-controller structure as I learn it. I have an onclick function for a link in one of my views that I am not sure where to put. Is the best place to keep this in the render function of the view?
Thanks
More specifically, the onclick performs a facebook login and then adds the user to my database if they are not currently in it. Don't know if this changes anything.
Here is what I think I will go with:
var NewUserView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $('#window'),
render: function(){
// Render
this.listeners();
},
listeners: function(){
// onclick and other listeners
}
});
From the Backbone documentation:
In Backbone, the View class can also be thought of as a kind of
controller, dispatching events that originate from the UI, with the
HTML template serving as the true view. We call it a View because it
represents a logical chunk of UI, responsible for the contents of a
single DOM element.
Here's the general way to handle events in Backbone:
var NewUserView = Backbone.View.extend({
el: $('#window'),
render: function() {
// Render
},
events: {
"click #facebookButton": "loginViaFacebook"
},
loginViaFacebook: {
// Perform facebook login and add user to database
}
});
Where do you want the link to appear? On View page right? So , you should keep it in the same view on which you want the link to appear.
But , if you are building an architecture rather than just a web application, then you should put the onclick function in some different file where you will keep all these function and then import them in the view as required or keeping them in separate files and bundling them for import on view page.
Please make a file and write all the functions in that file and include that file in the your view file and use the onClick in the anchor tag. Please let me know if this make sense.

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