Question

I am trying to build a collection, but need to build it dynamically as i don’t know how many to be pushed. Currently what I do is;

var DataCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
            model : dataModel
        });

        var dataModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
            defaults : {
                dataID : 'unknown',
                text : 'unknown',

            }
        });


        var linkPrev = new dataModel({ dataID: "Prev", text: "Prev" });
        var link1 = new dataModel({ dataID: "1", text: "1" });
        var link2 = new dataModel({ dataID: "2", text: "2" });
        var link3 = new dataModel({ dataID: "3", text: "3" });
        var linkNext = new dataModel({ dataID: "Next", text: "Next" });

        var myDataCollection = new DataCollection();
        //myDataCollection.push(linkPrev);
        myDataCollection.push(link1);
        myDataCollection.push(link2);
        myDataCollection.push(link3);
        myDataCollection.push(linkNext);

Instead of manually saying

link1 = new dataModel({ dataID: "1", text: "1" }); 
myDataCollection.push(link1);

can I create the list this dynamically..

For example, if i have 4 links, I want link4 to be added with dataID: 4, TextID: 4… etc…

Answer 1

If you need to populate collection while initialization, you can simply pass an array of objects to populate, there is no need to create a model for each object, Backbone.Collection will do it for you:

var DataCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
    model : DataModel
});

var DataModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
    defaults : {
        dataID : 'unknown',
        text : 'unknown'
    }
});

var myDataCollection = new DataCollection([
    { dataID: "Prev", text: "Prev" },
    { dataID: "1", text: "1" },
    { dataID: "2", text: "2" },
    { dataID: "3", text: "3" },
    { dataID: "Next", text: "Next" }
]);