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<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/html">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
<link rel="icon" href="static/images/favicon.ico">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Arimo" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="static/css/style.css">
<title>Backbone-relational.js</title>
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script>
document.createElement('header');
document.createElement('nav');
document.createElement('section');
document.createElement('article');
document.createElement('aside');
document.createElement('footer');
document.createElement('hgroup');
</script>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<div id="sidebar">
<a class="toc_title" href="#">
Backbone-relational.js <span class="version">(0.10.0)</span>
</a>
<ul>
<li class="link_out"><a href="https://github.com/PaulUithol/Backbone-relational">GitHub Repository</a></li>
</ul>
<a class="toc_title" href="#introduction">
Introduction
</a>
<a class="toc_title" href="#installation">
Installation
</a>
<a class="toc_title" href="#RelationalModel">
Backbone.RelationalModel
</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#RelationalModel-relations">relations</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#relations-key">key</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-relatedModel">relatedModel</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-type">type</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-includeInJSON">includeInJSON</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-autoFetch">autoFetch</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-collectionType">collectionType</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-collectionKey">collectionKey</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-collectionOptions">collectionOptions</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-createModels">createModels</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-keySource">keySource</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-keyDestination">keyDestination</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-parse">parse</a></li>
<li><a href="#relations-reverseRelation">reverseRelation</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypes">subModelTypes</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypeAttribute">subModelTypeAttribute</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync">getAsync</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getIdsToFetch">getIdsToFetch</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getRelation">getRelation</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getRelations">getRelations</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-set">set</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-toJSON">toJSON</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-setup">setup</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-build">build</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-findOrCreate">findOrCreate</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-find">find</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-findModel">findModel</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-events"><strong>Catalog of Events</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<a class="toc_title" href="#Relation">
Backbone.Relation
</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#Relation-HasOne">HasOne</a></li>
<li><a href="#Relation-HasMany">HasMany</a></li>
</ul>
<a class="toc_title" href="#Store">
Backbone.Store
</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#Store-addModelScope">addModelScope</a></li>
<li><a href="#Store-removeModelScope">removeModelScope</a></li>
<li><a href="#Store-reset">reset</a></li>
</ul>
<a class="toc_title" href="#examples">
Examples
</a>
<a class="toc_title" href="#change-log">
Change Log
</a>
<a class="toc_title" href="#under-the-hood">
Under the Hood
</a>
</div>
<div class="container">
<section>
<h1>
Backbone-relational.js
</h1>
<p>
When developing any medium to large-scale web application, you often get to the point where
an action by a user can cause a number of different models to change on the client and the server.
</p>
<p>
You can try to keep updating both sides of a relation manually for every action, and individually call
<q><a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model-save">save</a></q> or <q><a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model-fetch">fetch</a></q>
on each of the changed models to sync with the server, but that quickly turns into a tedious process and
results in multiple requests.
</p>
<p>
Using Backbone-relational, we can configure relationships between our models, and sync the model and all of its related models with a single
call to <q><a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model-save">save</a></q>, <q><a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync">getAsync</a></q> or <q><a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model-fetch">fetch()</a></q>
after setting up a model's <q><a href="#RelationalModel-relations">relations</a></q>.
</p>
<p>
Backbone-relational is hosted on <a href="https://github.com/PaulUithol/Backbone-relational">GitHub</a>,
and is available under the <a href="https://github.com/PaulUithol/Backbone-relational/blob/master/LICENSE.txt">MIT license</a>.
</p>
<p>
Thanks to <a href="http://progressiveplanning.com">Progressive Planning</a> for allowing me the time to
work on Backbone-relational!
</p>
</section>
<section id="downloads">
<h2>
Downloads & Dependencies
<span style="padding-left: 7px; font-size:11px; font-weight: normal;" class="interface">
(Right-click, and use "Save As")
</span>
</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<td><a class="punch" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PaulUithol/Backbone-relational/a7634e7d9deac64e3da455a3fde13b96ae253612/backbone-relational.js">Latest Release (0.10.0)</a></td>
<td class="text"><i>~70kb. Full source, uncompressed, lots of comments.</i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a class="punch" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PaulUithol/Backbone-relational/master/backbone-relational.js">Edge Version</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
Backbone-relational depends on <a href="http://backbonejs.org/">Backbone.js</a> <small>(>= 1.2.1)</small>,
which itself requires <a href="http://underscorejs.org">Underscore.js</a> <small>(> 1.7.0)</small> and
<a href="http://jquery.com">jQuery</a> <small>(> 1.7.0)</small> or
<a href="http://zeptojs.com/">Zepto</a>.
</p>
</section>
<section id="introduction">
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>
Backbone-relational.js provides one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-one relations
between models for Backbone. To use relations, extend <a href="#RelationalModel"><strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong></a>
(instead of a regular <a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model">Backbone.Model</a>) and define a
<a href="#RelationalModel-relations"><q>relations</q></a> property, containing an array of option objects.
Each relation must define (at least) the <a href="#relations-type"><q>type</q></a>, <a href="#relations-key"><q>key</q></a>,
and <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a>. Available relation types are
<a href="#Relation-HasOne"><q>Backbone.HasOne</q></a> and <a href="#Relation-HasMany"><q>Backbone.HasMany</q></a>.
</p>
<p>
Backbone-relational's main features include:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Bidirectional relations, which notify related models of changes through events.
</li>
<li>
Control how relations are serialized using the <a href="#relations-includeInJSON"><q>includeInJSON</q></a> option.
</li>
<li>
Automatically convert nested objects in a model's attributes into model instances (using the
<a href="#relations-createModels"><q>createModels</q></a> option, which is <q>true</q> by default).
</li>
<li>
Lazily retrieve a set of related models through the <a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync"><q>getAsync</q></a>
method.
</li>
<li>
Determine the type of HasMany collections with <a href="#relations-collectionType"><q>collectionType</q></a>.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
You can also bind new events to a <strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong> for an:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>addition</strong> to a HasMany relation with <a href="#RelationalModel-events">add:<key></a>.
</li>
<li>
<strong>removal</strong> from a HasMany relation with <a href="#RelationalModel-events">remove:<key></a>.
</li>
<li>
<strong>reset</strong> of a HasMany relation with <a href="#RelationalModel-events">reset:<key></a>.
</li>
<li>
<strong>changes</strong> to the contents of a HasMany or HasOne relations with <a href="#RelationalModel-events">change:
<key></a>.
</li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="installation">
<h2>Installation</h2>
<p>
Backbone-relational depends on <a href="http://backbonejs.org/">Backbone.js</a> (and thus on
<a href="http://underscorejs.org">Underscore.js</a>). Include Backbone-relational right after Backbone
and Underscore:
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code class="language-markup"><!--
--><script type="text/javascript" src="./js/underscore.js"></script>
<!-- --><script type="text/javascript" src="./js/backbone.js"></script>
<!-- --><script type="text/javascript" src="./js/backbone-relational.js"></script>
</code></pre>
<p class="notice">
Note for <strong>CoffeeScript</strong> users: due to the way the <q>extends</q> keyword is implemented in
CoffeeScript, you may have to make an extra call to <a href="#RelationalModel-setup"><q>setup</q></a> for
your models. See the <a href="#RelationalModel-setup"><q>setup</q></a> documentation for details.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel">
<h2>
Backbone.RelationalModel
</h2>
<p>
When using Backbone-relational, each model defining (or receiving) <q>relations</q> must extend
<strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong> in order to function. <strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong>
introduces a couple of new methods, events and properties. It's important to know which are properties,
which are methods of an instance, and which operate on the type itself.
These three categories are detailed below.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Properties</strong> can be defined when extending Backbone.RelationalModel, or a subclass thereof.
</p>
<ul class="small">
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-relations">relations</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypes">subModelTypes</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypeAttribute">subModelTypeAttribute</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
<strong>Instance methods</strong> operate on an instance of a type.
</p>
<ul class="small">
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync">getAsync</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getIdsToFetch">getIdsToFetch</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getRelation">getRelation</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-getRelations">getRelations</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-set">set</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-toJSON">toJSON</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
<strong>Static methods</strong> operate on the type itself, as opposed to operating on model instances.
</p>
<ul class="small">
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-setup">setup</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-build">build</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-findOrCreate">findOrCreate</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-find">find</a></li>
<li><a href="#RelationalModel-findModel">findModel</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="RelationalModel-properties">
Properties
</h3>
<h4 class="code" id="RelationalModel-relations">
relations<code>relation[]</code>
</h4>
<p>
A <strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong> may contain an array of relation definitions. Each relation supports a number of
options, of which <a href="#relations-key"><q>key</q></a> and <a href="#relations-type"><q>type</q></a> are mandatory.
You'll also need to specifiy <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a> if you want to reference another model.
A relation could look like the following:
</p>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code id="example-zoo" class="language-javascript runnable"><!--
-->Zoo = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
relations: [{
type: Backbone.HasMany,
key: 'animals',
relatedModel: 'Animal',
collectionType: 'AnimalCollection',
reverseRelation: {
key: 'livesIn',
includeInJSON: 'id'
// 'relatedModel' is automatically set to 'Zoo'; the 'relationType' to 'HasOne'.
}
}]
});
Animal = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
urlRoot: '/animal/'
});
AnimalCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Animal
});
// We've now created a fully managed relation. When you add or remove model from `zoo.animals`,
// or update `animal.livesIn`, the other side of the relation will automatically be updated.
var artis = new Zoo( { name: 'Artis' } );
var lion = new Animal( { species: 'Lion', livesIn: artis } );
// `animals` in `artis` now contains `lion`
alert( artis.get( 'animals' ).pluck( 'species' ) );
</code></pre>
<pre class="language-javascript nomargin"><code class="language-javascript runnable" data-setup="#example-zoo"><!--
-->var amersfoort = new Zoo( { name: 'Dierenpark Amersfoort', animals: [ lion ] } );
// `lion` now livesIn `amersfoort`, and `animals` in `artis` no longer contains `lion`
alert( lion.get( 'livesIn' ).get( 'name' ) + ', ' + artis.get( 'animals' ).length );
</code></pre>
<section id="relations-key">
<h4 class="code">
key<code>relation.key</code>
</h4>
<p>
Required. A string that references an attribute name on <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a>.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-relatedModel">
<h4 class="code">
relatedModel<code>relation.relatedModel</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string that can be resolved to an object on the global scope, or a reference to a
<strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong>. Also see <a href="#Store-addModelScope"><q>addModelScope</q></a>.
</p>
<p>
If omitted, the relation will be self-referential.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-type">
<h4 class="code">
type<code>relation.type</code>
</h4>
<p>
Required. A string that references a <a href="#Relation"><q>Backbone.Relation</q></a> type by name ("HasOne" or "HasMany"),
or a direct reference to a relation type.
</p>
<p>
You can model a one-to-one or a many-to-one relationship by declaring <q>type</q> as the string "HasOne", or by
directly referencing <a href="#Relation-HasOne"><q>Backbone.HasOne</q></a>. A HasOne relation contains a single
<strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong>. The default <q>reverseRelation.type</q> for a "HasOne" relation is
"HasMany". This can be set to "HasOne" instead, to create a one-to-one relation.
</p>
<p>
You can model a one-to-many relationship by declaring <q>type</q> as the string "HasMany", or by directly
referencing <a href="#Relation-HasMany"><q>Backbone.HasMany</q></a>. A HasMany relation contains a Backbone.Collection,
containing zero or more <strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong>s. The default <q>reverseRelation.type</q>
for a HasMany relation is HasOne; this is the only option here, since many-to-many is not supported directly.
</p>
<p>
It is possible to model a many-to-many relationship using two <a href="#Relation-HasMany"><q>Backbone.HasMany</q></a>
relations, with a link model in between:
</p>
</section>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript" id="example-job"><!--
-->Person = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
relations: [{
type: 'HasMany',
key: 'jobs',
relatedModel: 'Job',
reverseRelation: {
key: 'person'
}
}]
});
// A link object between 'Person' and 'Company'
Job = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
defaults: {
'startDate': null,
'endDate': null
}
});
Company = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
relations: [{
type: 'HasMany',
key: 'employees',
relatedModel: 'Job',
reverseRelation: {
key: 'company'
}
}]
});
</code></pre>
<section id="relations-includeInJSON">
<h4 class="code">
includeInJSON<code>relation.includeInJSON</code>
</h4>
<p>
A boolean, a string referencing one of the model's attributes, or an array of strings referencing model
attributes. Default: <q>true</q>.
</p>
<p>
Determines how the contents of a relation will be serialized following a call to the
<a href="#RelationalModel-toJSON"><q>toJSON</q></a> method. If you specify a:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Boolean</strong>: a value of true serializes the full set of attributes on the related model(s).
Set to false to exclude the relation completely.
</li>
<li>
<strong>String</strong>: include a single attribute from the related model(s). For example, 'name', or
<q>Backbone.Model.prototype.idAttribute</q> to include ids.
</li>
<li>
<strong>String[]</strong>: includes the specified attributes from the related model(s).
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Specifying <q>true</q> will cascade, meaning the relations of nested model will get serialized as well,
until either a different value is found for <q>includeInJSON</q> or we encounter a model that has already
been serialized.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-autoFetch">
<h4 class="code">
autoFetch<code>relation.autoFetch</code>
</h4>
<p>
A boolean or an object. Default: <q>false</q>.
</p>
<p>
If this property is set to <q>true</q>, when a model is instantiated the related model is
automatically fetched using <a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync"><q>getAsync</q></a>. The
value of the property can also be an object. In that case the object is passed to
<a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync"><q>getAsync</q></a> as the options parameter.
</p>
<p>
Note that <q>autoFetch</q> operates independently from other `fetch` operations,
including those that may have fetched the current model.
</p>
</section>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript"><!--
-->var Shop = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
relations: [
{
type: Backbone.HasMany,
key: 'customers',
relatedModel: 'Customer',
autoFetch: true
},
{
type: Backbone.HasOne,
key: 'address',
relatedModel: 'Address',
autoFetch: {
success: function( model, response ) {
//...
},
error: function( model, response ) {
//...
}
}
}
]
});
</code></pre>
<section id="relations-collectionType">
<h4 class="code">
collectionType<code>relation.collectionType</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string that can be resolved to an object type on the global scope, or a reference to a
<strong>Backbone.Collection</strong> type.
</p>
<p>
Determine the type of collections used for a HasMany relation. If you define a
url(models<Backbone.Model[]>) function on the specified collection, this enables
<a href="#RelationalModel-getAsync"><q>getAsync</q></a> to fetch all missing models in one request,
instead of firing a separate request for each.
</p>
<h4 class="code" id="relations-collectionKey">
collectionKey<code>relation.collectionKey</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string or a boolean. Default: <q>true</q>.
</p>
<p>
Used to create a back reference from the <strong>Backbone.Collection</strong> used for a HasMany relation to the model on
the other side of this relation. By default, the relation's key attribute will be used to create a reference to
the RelationalModel instance from the generated collection. If you set <q>collectionKey</q> to a string,
it will use that string as the reference to the RelationalModel, rather than the
relation's key attribute. If you don't want this behavior at all, set <q>collectionKey</q> to <q>false</q>
(or any falsy value) and this reference will not be created.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-collectionOptions">
<h4 class="code">
collectionOptions<code>relation.collectionOptions</code>
</h4>
<p>
An options hash, or a function that accepts an instance of a <strong>Backbone.RelationalModel</strong> and returns an options
hash.
</p>
<p>
Used to provide options for the initialization of the collection in the 'Many'-end of a HasMany relation. Can be
an options hash or a function that should take the instance in the 'One'-end of the 'HasMany' relation and return
an options hash.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-createModels">
<h4 class="code">
createModels<code>relation.createModels</code>
</h4>
<p>
A boolean. Default: <q>true</q>.
</p>
<p>
Specifies whether models will be created from nested objects or not.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-keySource">
<h4 class="code">
keySource<code>relation.keySource</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string that references an attribute to deserialize data for <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a> from.
</p>
<p>
Used to override key when determining what data to use when (de)serializing a relation, since the data backing
your relations may use different naming conventions. For example, a Rails backend may provide the keys suffixed
with <q>_id</q> or <q>_ids</q>. The behavior for <q>keySource</q> corresponds to the following rules:
</p>
<p>
When a relation is instantiated, the contents of the <q>keySource</q> are used as its initial data. The
application uses the regular key attribute to interface with the relation and the models in it; the
<q>keySource</q> is not available as an attribute for the model. So you may be provided with data containing
<q>animal_ids</q>, while you want to access this relation as <q>zoo.get('animals')</q>.
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note that setting <q>keySource</q> will set <a href="#relations-keyDestination"><q>keyDestination</q></a>
to the same value, if it isn't specified itself.
This means that when saving zoo, the animals attribute will be serialized back into the <q>animal_ids</q> key.
</p>
<p class="warning">
WARNING: when using a keySource, you should not use that attribute name for other purposes.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-keyDestination">
<h4 class="code">
keyDestination<code>relation.keyDestination</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string that references an attribute to serialize <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a> into.
</p>
<p>
Used to override key (and <a href="#relations-keySource"><q>keySource</q></a>) when determining what attribute to be
written into when serializing a relation, since the server backing your relations may use different naming
conventions. For example, a Rails backend may expect the keys to be suffixed with _attributes for nested
attributes.
</p>
<p>
When calling <a href="#RelationalModel-toJSON"><q>toJSON</q></a> on a model (either via
<strong>Backbone.Sync</strong>, or directly), the data in the key attribute is transformed and assigned to the
<q>keyDestination</q>.
</p>
<p>
So you may want a relation to be serialized into the animals_attributes key, while you want to access this
relation as <q>zoo.get( 'animals' );</q>.
</p>
<p class="warning">
WARNING: when using a <q>keyDestination</q>, you should not use that attribute name for other purposes.
</p>
</section>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript runnable" data-setup="#example-zoo"><!--
-->var FarmAnimal = Animal.extend();
// This `Farm` is confused, like legacy stuff can be. It wants its data back on a completely
// different key than it supplies it on. We want to use a different one in our app as well.
var Farm = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend({
relations: [{
type: Backbone.HasMany,
key: 'animals',
keySource: 'livestock',
keyDestination: 'pets',
relatedModel: FarmAnimal,
reverseRelation: {
key: 'farm',
includeInJSON: 'name'
}
}]
});
// Create a `Farm`; parse `species`, add to `animals`, output goes to `pets`.
var farm = new Farm( { name: 'Old MacDonald', livestock: [ { species: 'Sheep' } ] } );
farm.get( 'animals' ).add( { species: 'Cow' } );
alert( JSON.stringify( farm.toJSON(), null, 4 ) );
</code></pre>
<section id="relations-parse">
<h4 class="code">
parse<code>relation.parse</code>
</h4>
<p>
A boolean. Default: <q>false</q>.
</p>
<p>
If you have a relation where the models should be parsed when data is being set, specify `parse: true`.
</p>
</section>
<section id="relations-reverseRelation">
<h4 class="code">
reverseRelation<code>relation.reverseRelation</code>
</h4>
<p>
An object specifying the relation pointing back to this model from <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a>.
</p>
<p>
If the relation should be bidirectional, specify the details for the reverse relation here. It's only mandatory
to supply a <a href="#relations-key"><q>key</q></a>; <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a> is automatically
set. The default <a href="#relations-type"><q>type</q></a> for a <q>reverseRelation</q> is HasMany for a
HasOne relation (which can be overridden to HasOne in order to create a one-to-one relation), and HasOne for a
HasMany relation. In this case, you cannot create a <q>reverseRelation</q> with
type HasMany as well; please see Many-to-many relations on how to model these type of relations.
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note that if you define a relation (plus a reverseRelation) on a model, but don't actually create an instance
of that model, it is possible <q>initializeRelations</q> will never get called, and the reverseRelation
will not be initialized. This can happen when <q>extend</q> has been overridden, or redefined as in CoffeeScript.
See <a href="#RelationalModel-setup">setup</a>.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-subModelTypes">
<h4 class="code">
subModelTypes<code>relationalModel.subModelTypes(attributes<object>, [options<object>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
An object. Default: <q>{}</q>.
</p>
<p>
A mapping that defines what submodels exist for the model (the superModel) on which
<q>subModelTypes</q> is defined. The keys are used to match the
<a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypeAttribute"><q>subModelTypeAttribute</q></a> when deserializing, and the values
determine what type of submodel should be created for a key. When building model instances from data, we need to
determine what kind of object we're dealing with in order to create instances of the right subModel type. This
is done by finding the model for which the key is equal to the value of the
<a href="#RelationalModel-subModelTypeAttribute"><q>subModelTypeAttribute</q></a> attribute on the passed in data.
</p>
<p>
Each subModel is considered to be a proper submodel of its superclass (the model type you're extending), with a
shared id pool. This means that when looking for an object of the supermodel's type, objects of a submodel's type
can be returned as well, as long as the id matches. In effect, any relations pointing to the supermodel will look
for instances of its submodels as well.
</p>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript runnable" data-setup="#example-zoo"><!--
-->Mammal = Animal.extend({
subModelTypes: {
'primate': 'Primate',
'carnivore': 'Carnivore'
}
});
Primate = Mammal.extend();
Carnivore = Mammal.extend();
MammalCollection = AnimalCollection.extend({
model: Mammal
});
// Create a collection that contains a 'Primate' and a 'Carnivore'.
var mammals = new MammalCollection([
{ id: 3, species: 'chimp', type: 'primate' },
{ id: 5, species: 'panther', type: 'carnivore' }
]);
var chimp = mammals.get( 3 );
alert( 'chimp is an animal? ' + ( chimp instanceof Animal ) + '\n' +
'chimp is a carnivore? ' + ( chimp instanceof Carnivore ) + '\n' +
'chimp is a primate? ' + ( chimp instanceof Primate ) );
</code></pre>
<p>
Suppose that we have an Mammal model and a Primate model extending Mammal. If we have a Primate object with id 3,
this object will be returned when we have a relation pointing to a Mammal with id 3, as Primate is regarded a
specific kind of Mammal; it's just a Mammal with possibly some primate-specific properties or methods.
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note that this means that there cannot be any overlap in ids between instances of Mammal and Primate, as the
Primate with id 3 will be the Mammal with id 3.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-subModelTypeAttribute">
<h4 class="code">
subModelTypeAttribute<code>relationalModel.subModelTypeAttribute</code>
</h4>
<p>
A string. Default: <q>type</q>.
</p>
<p>
The <q>subModelTypeAttribute</q> references an attribute on the data
used to instantiate <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a>. The attribute that will be checked to
determine the type of model that should be built when a raw object of attributes is set as the related value,
and if the <a href="#relations-relatedModel"><q>relatedModel</q></a> has one or more submodels.
</p>
</section>
<h3 id="RelationalModel-instance-methods">
Instance methods
</h3>
<section id="RelationalModel-getAsync">
<h4 class="code">
getAsync<code>relationalModel.getAsync(attr<string>, [options<object>]</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>jQuery.Deferred</q> A <a href="http://api.jquery.com/category/deferred-object/">jQuery promise</a>
</p>
<p>
Get an attribute's value asynchronously. If available, the local value will be returned.
If <q>attr</q> is a relation and one or more of its models are not available, they will be fetched.
</p>
<p>
This can be used specifically for lazy-loading scenarios.
Only models are referenced in the attributes but have not been found/created yet are fetched.
Setting <q>options.refresh</q> to true will fetch all model(s) from the server.
In that case, any model that already exists will be updated with the retrieved data.
The <q>options</q> object specifies options to be passed to <a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Sync">Backbone.Sync</a>.
</p>
<p>
By default, a separate request will be fired for each model that is to be fetched from the server (if `key` references a collection).
However, if your server/API supports it, you can fetch the set of models in one request by specifying a
collectionType for the relation you call getAsync on. The <a href="#relations-collectionType"><q>collectionType</q></a>
should have an overridden <a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-url"><q>url</q></a>
method that allows it to construct a url for an array of models. See <a href="#example-person">this example</a>
or <a href="https://github.com/PaulUithol/backbone-tastypie">Backbone-tastypie</a> for an example.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-getIdsToFetch">
<h4 class="code">
getIdsToFetch<code>relationModel.getIdsToFetch(attr<string|Backbone.Relation>, [refresh<boolean>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Array</q> A list of the ids that will be fetched when calling <q>getAsync</q>.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-getRelation">
<h4 class="code">
getRelation<code>relationModel.getRelation(attr<string>)</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.Relation</q> A single initialized relation on the model.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-getRelations">
<h4 class="code">
getRelations<code>relationModel.getRelations()</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.Relation[]</q> The set of initialized relations on the model.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-set">
<h4 class="code">
set<code>set(key<string>, value, [options<object>]) <strong>or</strong> set(attributes<object>, [options<object>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> The model instance.
</p>
<p>
The <q>set</q> method is overridden so that setting a value on an "relational" attribute will update that relation.
This is especially important to keep in mind for <q>HasMany</q> relations (which are backed by a <q>Backbone.Collection</q>).
For these, calling <q>set</q> can be thought of as being equivalent to calling <q>update</q> on the collection itself,
including how the options are handled.
</p>
<p>
Additional <q>options</q> for a <q>HasMany</q> relation:
</p>
<dl>
<dt><q>add</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>true</q>. If true, models specified in the arguments but not yet present in the relation will be added to the relation.</dd>
<dt><q>merge</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>true</q>. If true, existing models will be updated with the given attributes.</dd>
<dt><q>remove</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>true</q>. If true, models present in the relation but not specified in the arguments will be removed.</dd>
</dl>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-toJSON">
<h4 class="code">
toJSON<code>relationModel.toJSON(name<string>)</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Object</q> The JSON representation of the model.
See <a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Model-toJSON">Backbone.Model.toJSON</a>.
</p>
<p>
The regular <q>toJSON</q> function has been overridden and modified to serialize (nested) relations
according to their <a href="#relations-includeInJSON"><q>includeInJSON</q></a>, <a href="#relations-keySource"><q>keySource</q></a>,
and <a href="#relations-keyDestination"><q>keyDestination</q></a> options.
</p>
</section>
<h3 id="RelationalModel-static-methods">
Static methods
</h3>
<section id="RelationalModel-setup">
<h4 class="code">
setup<code>relationModel.setup()</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel.constuctor</q> The type.
</p>
<p>
Initialize the relations and submodels for the model type. Normally, this happens automatically, but it doesn't if
you're using CoffeeScript and using the syntax <q>class MyModel extends Backbone.RelationalModel</q> instead of
the JavaScript equivalent of <q>MyModel = Backbone.RelationalModel.extend()</q>.
</p>
<p>
This has advantages in CoffeeScript, but it also means that <q>Backbone.Model.extend</q> will not get called.
Instead, CoffeeScript generates piece of code that would normally achieve the same. However, <q>extend</q> is also
the method that Backbone-relational overrides to set up relations as you're defining your <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> subclass.
</p>
<p>
In this case, you should call <q>setup</q> manually after defining your subclass CoffeeScript-style. For example:
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note: this is a static method. It operates on the model type itself, not on an instance of it.
</p>
</section>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript"><!--
-->class Animal extends Backbone.RelationalModel
urlRoot: "/animal"
class Mammal extends Animal
subModelTypes:
"primate": "Primate"
"carnivore": "Carnivore"
relations: [
# More relations
]
Mammal.setup()
class Primate extends Mammal
class Carnivore extends Mammal
chimp = Mammal.build( { id: 3, species: "chimp", type: "primate" } )
</code></pre>
<section id="RelationalModel-build">
<h4 class="code">
build<code>relationalModel.build(attributes<object>, [options<object>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> A model instance.
</p>
<p>
Create an instance of a model, taking into account what submodels have been defined.
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note: this is a static method. It operates on the model type itself, not on an instance.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-findOrCreate">
<h4 class="code">
findOrCreate
<code>relationalModel.findOrCreate(attributes<string|number|object>, [options<object>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> A model instance.
</p>
<p>
Search for a model instance in the <a href="#Store">Backbone.Relational.store</a>, and return the model if found.
A new model will be created if no model is found, <q>attributes</q> is an object, and <q>options.create</q> is <q>true</q>.
</p>
<p>
Accepted <q>options</q>:
</p>
<dl>
<dt><q>create</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>true</q>. If true, a new model will be created if an instance matching <q>attributes</q> isn't found in the store.</dd>
<dt><q>merge</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>true</q>. If true, a found model will be updated with <q>attributes</q> (if <q>attributes</q> is an <q>object</q>).</dd>
<dt><q>parse</q></dt>
<dd>Default: <q>false</q>. If true, <q>attributes</q> will be parsed first. Please note this will cause <q>Model.parse</q> to be called
as a function (<q>this</q> will not point to a model), instead of as a method.</dd>
</dl>
<p class="warning">
Note: this is a static method. It operates on the model type itself, not on an instance of it.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-find">
<h4 class="code">
find
<code>relationalModel.find(attributes<string|number|object>, [options<object>])</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> A model instance.
</p>
<p>
A shortcut for <a href="#RelationalModel-findOrCreate"><q>findOrCreate</q></a> that uses <q>create: false</q>.
Accepts the same options as <q>findOrCreate</q> (except for <q>create</q>).
</p>
<p class="warning">
Note: this is a static method. It operates on the model type itself, not on an instance of it.
</p>
</section>
<section id="RelationalModel-findModel">
<h4 class="code">
findModel
<code>relationalModel.findModel(attributes<string|number|object>)</code>
</h4>
<p>
Returns: <q>Backbone.RelationalModel</q> A model instance.
</p>
<p>
A hook to override the matching when updating (or creating) a model.
The default implementation is to look up the model by id in the store:
<q>return Backbone.Relational.store.find( this, attributes );</q>
</p>
<p>
Custom behavior is useful in cases where (a collection of) nested data gets saved to the server.
Consider saving the following model:
</p>
<pre class="language-javascript"><code class="language-javascript runnable" data-setup="#example-zoo"><!--