Question

Is it possible to create a view which lists a collection which is binded to different models? Also can the sort function be used?

For example I have ‘sales’ and ‘accounts’ model and would like to make a view with all the names of the people working in those departments.

Thanks

Answer 1

Sure. What you usually do is end up using a combination of applying event listeners on the collection, creating small subviews which represent each model and binding the model event handlers through that.

BigView = Backbone.View.extend({
    el: 'ul',  // This view is a <ul> and we'll be adding the model views
    initialize: function() {
        // This collection represents the collection you passed in
        // For our purpose lets say it was a SalesCollection
        this.collection.on('reset', this.addAllSales, this);
        this.collection.on('add', this.addSale, this);
    },
    addAllSales: function() {
        var that = this;
        this.collection.each(function(sale) {
            that.addSale(sale);
        });
    }
    addSale: function(model) {
        var view = new Subview({
            'model': model
        });
        this.$el.append(view.render().el);
    }
});

SaleView = Backbone.View.extend({
    initialize: function() {
        this.model.on('change', this.something, this);
    },
    render: function() {
        this.$el.html();  // Or whatever else you need to do to represent a sale as view
        return this;
    }
    something: function(model) {
        // Code for something
    }
});

So in this example, you basically have your main view that has a collection (e.g. sales). When the sales collection is reset, it fires up the addAllSales(). Each time an sale is added to the collection we add a subview that represents the specific model (sale model). In this subview, we take care of binding events to the model changes which then do something.