Question

How to I access a javascript template that is reused throughout my site, and do so within javascript and bind a object to it. I would like access to the template as a string so I can add it in the content property below in a Google Maps Info Window.

I know there’s this function ko.renderTemplate("myTemplate", accessor, {}, element, 'replaceNode'); but how can I get that to return me the string to shoot to the info window?

<script type="text/html" id="info-window-test">

   <span data-bind="text: Name"></span>

</script>

   var html = TODO: Get Template With Data

  /***************** OLD WAY
    var html = '<div class="info-window">';

        html = html + '<div><b>' + location.City + ', ' + location.StateRegion + '</b></div><hr/>';

        length = location.Events.length;

        $.each(location.Events, function (index, item) {
            html = html + '<div><a target="_blank" href="' + item.Link + '">' + item.Name + '</a></div>';
            html = html + '<div><i>' + item.DateFormatted + '</i></div>';

            if (index < length - 1) {
                html = html + '<hr/>';
            }
        });

        html = html + '</div>';
    **************************/

    var infoWindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow({
       content: html
    });

Answer 1

If I have understood your question correctly it should be “Can I use KnockoutJS as a simple template engine?” and the simple answer is No, you cannot.

But you can use the DOM temporally to achieve what you want.

Check this jsfiddle http://jsfiddle.net/angelyordanov/zQZT8/.

<script type="text/html" id="info-window-test">  
  <span data-bind="text: Name"></span>  
</script>  

var viewModel = { Name: 'John' };

var templatePlaceholder = 
  $('<div style="display: none" data-bind="template: { name: \'info-window-test\' }"></div>')
  .appendTo('body');

ko.applyBindings(viewModel, templatePlaceholder[0]);

var resultHtml = templatePlaceholder.html();

ko.cleanNode(templatePlaceholder[0]);
templatePlaceholder.remove();

alert(resultHtml);