Question

According to backbone.js doc for View:

There are several special options that, if passed, will be attached
directly to the view: model, collection, el, id, className, tagName
and attributes.

I understand the el,id & className are used for wrapping whatever’s in render(), but

How special are model and collection in a View object? Are they used by View methods at all?

Thank you.

Answer 1

No, View methods don’t use this options. model and collection will just become properties of the View object.
Quotting from source:

// List of view options to be merged as properties.
var viewOptions = ['model', 'collection', 'el', 'id', 'attributes', 'className', 'tagName'];

// Set up all inheritable **Backbone.View** properties and methods.
_.extend(View.prototype, Events, {

  ...
  // Performs the initial configuration of a View with a set of options.
  // Keys with special meaning *(model, collection, id, className)*, are
  // attached directly to the view.
  _configure: function(options) {
    if (this.options) options = _.extend({}, this.options, options);
    for (var i = 0, l = viewOptions.length; i < l; i++) {
      var attr = viewOptions[i];
      if (options[attr]) this[attr] = options[attr];
    }
    this.options = options;
  },
  ...

};