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https://github.com/siong1987/backbone_routes

Rails like central routing control for Backbone.
https://github.com/siong1987/backbone_routes

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Rails like central routing control for Backbone.

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README 

        
# Backbone.Routes



You want to have a central place to control all your routing logic for

your [Backbone][1] app. Then, Backbone.Routes is made for you. This is a

Backbone plugin that I created for my own use on one of the projects

that I am working on now. You can also check out the [introduction blog 

post][2].



## Warnings



This plugin will replace some of the things that Backbone is

doing now.



For example:



```coffeescript

class YourApp.Routers.UsersRouter extends Backbone.Router

  routes:

    "/new": "new"

```



`routes` will not longer be working once you start using Backbone.Routes

with your Backbone app. So, what Backbone.Routes is useful for?



## Installation



To install this, just load it after Backbone is loaded.



For example in Rails 3.1,



```javascript

//= require jquery

//= require jquery_ujs

//= require underscore

//= require backbone

//= require backbone_routes

```



## Example



You can check out [forkbin][3] to see how Backbone.Routes works.



## Features



In fact, if you want to have a central place to control all your routing

logic for Backbone. Backbone.Routes is a good plugin that you should

use.



Example:



```coffeescript

Backbone.Routes.prefix = YourApp.Routers



# Matches from top to bottom.

Backbone.Routes.map

  "/":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "HomeRouter": "index"



  "/signin":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "RegistrationRouter": "signin"



  "/questions":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "QuestionsRouter": "index"

    "SidebarRouter"  : "new_questions"



  "/:nick":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "ProfilesRouter" : "index"

    "SidebarRouter"  : "new_questions"

```



So, the first thing you have to set is the `prefix` for Backbone.Routes.

The default is `window`. So, how it is used by Backbone.Routes. If you

take a look at the first route: "/". There are `NavbarRouter` and

`HomeRouter`. So, once you set the `prefix`, inside Backbone.Routes, it

will call:



```coffeescript

Backbone.Routes.prefix = YourApp.Routers



# a safer way than actually calling eval()



# The following code is equivalent to

# new YourApp.Routers.NavbarRouter()

new Backbone.Routes.prefix["NavbarRouter"]() # string to class



# and



# The following code is equivalent to

# new YourApp.Routers.HomeRouter()

new Backbone.Routes.prefix["HomeRouter"]() # string to class

```



So, it also means that you don't have to initiate the Routers again

anymore since Backbone.Routes will do the work for you.



And, another cool thing about Backbone.Routes is that it matches routes

from top to bottom. So, for the example above, only `/signin` will get

called. On a traditional Backbone app, you will have to structure your

Backbone app in the way that `/signin` is called before `/:nick` which

is really annoying most of the time.



## Concurrent Routers



So, you might want to ask, what the following code does?



```coffeescript

"/":

  "NavbarRouter": "index"

  "HomeRouter": "index"

```



Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. Two routers get called when the

route `/` is hit. Why is this? I do this because I separated the logic

for the navigation bar and the real homepage. So, my code can be more

modularized in the way that people who work on the navigation bar and

the people who work on the homepage do not have to step on the foot of

each other.



More modularized code also means less commit conflicts and less points of

failure.



## Caching



Backbone.Routes supports caching too. For example, if you have code

similar as:



```coffeescript

# Matches from top to bottom.

Backbone.Routes.map

  "/":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "HomeRouter": "index"



  "/signin":

    "NavbarRouter": "index"

    "RegistrationRouter": "signin"

```



You notice that `NavbarRouter#index` is called at least two times. And, one

thing is that `NavbarRouter#index` is static. The content of it doesn't

change. So, why should Backbone rerender it everytime?



So, to cache that particular action `NavbarRouter#index`, you can do:



```coffeescript

class NavbarRouter extends Backbone.Router

  cache: ["index"]



  index: ->

    # blah blah blah...

```



Notice the `cache` keyword here, it is used to cache the `index` action

in this particular router `NavbarRouter`. Once you use the `cache`

keyword, `NavbarRouter#index` will only be loaded for the first time,

any subsequent call to `NavbarRouter#index` will be cached.



Notice that the caching only work for the subsequent call. If

`NavbarRouter#index` isn't called for the subsequent call. It will be

purged from the cache.



## Help/Issues



The code is extremely simple. Just read the source code if you have any

questions. Or, you can create a GitHub issue, I will look at them as

soon as I have the time.



## Contact



Let me know if you want to talk to me about this plugin. You can email

me siong(1900+87) (at) gmail (dot) com.



## LICENSE



(The MIT License)



Copyright (c) 2012 Teng Siong Ong



Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the

'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including

without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,

distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to

permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to

the following conditions:



The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be

included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.



THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF

MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY

CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,

TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE

SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.



[1]: http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/

[2]: http://siong1987.com/posts/introducting-backbone-routes/

[3]: https://github.com/siong1987/forkbin