Model destroy calling incorrect REST url

Question

Model destroy calling incorrect REST url

My model:

var Backbone = require('backbone');

module.exports = Backbone.Model.extend({
    idAttribute: '_id',
    defaults: {
        id: 0,
        description: '',    
        amount: 0,
        dateEntry: new Date(),
        positive: false
    },
    url: '/api/transactions'
});

My collection:

var Backbone    = require('backbone');
var Transaction = require('../models/Transaction')

var TransactionCollection = Backbone.Collection.extend({

    model: Transaction,

    url: '/api/transactions',

    initialize: function() {
        this.hasNextPage = false;
        this.filter = 'all';
    },

    parse: function(response) {
        this.hasNextPage = response.hasNextPage;
        this.balance = response.balance;
        return response.transactions || [];
    }

});

module.exports = new TransactionCollection();

I have a number of item views, each displaying its model data (transaction).

In each item view there's a "delete" button which triggers:

delete: function() {
        console.log("Remove:: ");
        console.log(this.model.toJSON());
        this.model.destroy();
    }

Looking at the console, I see the REST DELETE call to /api/transactions/

Shouldn't it be /api/transaction/model_id ? Actually, I see empty req.body and req.query on the server side (NodeJS).

The browser console logs:

[Log] Object (app.js, line 20298)
__v: 0
_id: "5421da84c6fd7c91060ba405"
amount: 1200
category: Object
dateAdded: "2014-09-23T20:39:32.905Z"
dateEntry: "2014-06-17T22:00:00.000Z"
description: "Example!"
id: 0
positive: true
user: "53fbb34fb91a922f03be61f8"
__proto__: Object

Transaction data is coming from MongoDB, thus having the _id property.

I suspect that is the reason of my problem. How can I have my Backbone app calling the right DELETE url?

javascript
node.js
mongodb
rest
backbone.js

Answer 1

In your model you're overriding the url property when you should be overriding the urlRoot property

//intercept the request for testing.
$.mockjax({
  // matches /api/transactions/abCD1234
  url: /^\/api\/transactions\/([0-9a-zA-A]+)$/,
  urlParams: ['id'],
  response: function (settings) {
    var id = settings.urlParams.id;
    $('body').append(id); 
  }
});

var yourModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
    idAttribute: '_id',
    defaults: {
        id: 0,
        description: '',    
        amount: 0,
        dateEntry: new Date(),
        positive: false
    },
    //This is the property that sets the "base" of all your REST urls
    urlRoot: '/api/transactions'
});

var yourInstance = new yourModel({
  _id:'5421da84c6fd7c91060ba405',
  amount: 1200,
  dateAdded: "2014-09-23T20:39:32.905Z",
  dateEntry: "2014-06-17T22:00:00.000Z",
  description: "Example!",
  id: 0,
  positive: true,
  user: "53fbb34fb91a922f03be61f8"
}); 

yourInstance.destroy();

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
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<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/backbone.js/1.1.2/backbone-min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-mockjax/1.5.3/jquery.mockjax.min.js"></script>