Question

var JavascriptHelper = Backbone.Model.extend("JavascriptHelper",
        {}, // never initialized as an instance
        {
            myFn: function() {
                $('.selector').live('click', function() {
                    this.anotherFn(); // FAIL!
                });
            },

            anotherFn: function() {
                alert('This is never called from myFn()');
            }
        }
    );

The usual _.bindAll(this, ...) approach won’t work here because I am never initializing this model as an instance. Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

You could do it by hand:

myFn: function() {
    $('.selector').live('click', function() {
        JavascriptHelper.anotherFn();
    });
}

Or, if anotherFn doesn’t care what this is when it is called (or if it wants this to be what live uses):

myFn: function() {
    $('.selector').live('click', JavascriptHelper.anotherFn);
}

As an aside, live has been deprecated in favor of on. Also, if you’re not instantiating your JavascriptHelper, then why is it a Backbone.Model at all? Why not use a simple object literal:

var JavascriptHelper = {
    myFn: function() {
        //...
    },
    anotherFn: function() {
        //...
    }
};

And what are you expecting this construct:

var JavascriptHelper = Backbone.Model.extend(string, {}, {...})

to leave you in JavascriptHelper? Extending a string is strange but passing three arguments to Backbone.Model.extend is pointless, it only cares about two arguments. If you want static properties then you should be passing them as the second argument:

var JavascriptHelper = Backbone.Model.extend({}, { myFn: ... });