Allowing multiple routes for a single Backbone Model

Question

Allowing multiple routes for a single Backbone Model

I am fairly new to Backbone and am creating some basic API for a site. However, I came across a problem that I have yet to find a solution to.

On my front end I have a Backbone Model called Item that has a urlRoot: "/item". Now this urlRoot is used by Backbone to send different HTTP requests to the server correct? So if my backbone model uses Item.fetch() it will send a GET request, and a Item.save() may send a POST request.

My backend then has a bunch of listener functions to handle different cases like "/createItem", "/updateItem", "deleteItem", ect. Can all of these be handled using the basic urlRoot that is provided? Or do I have to specific what route to emit explicitly?

node.js
backbone.js
express

Answer 1

If you want to follow the default way of doing it, your backend should not use different names for each of the CRUD operations. It should use the url you specified using rootUrl + /id of the model, and should handle an HTTP POST, GET, PUT, or, DELETE for that single URL (with the exception that the POST URL has no /id attached).

See: http://backbonejs.org/#Sync

Answer 2

Since you are using an unconventional set of rest endpoints you will need to provide a custom sync method for your model:

sync : function(method, model, options) {
    if (method === 'read') {
        this.baseUrl = '/item';
        return Backbone.sync.apply(this, arguments);
    } ...
}