Rendering and delete multiple views…

Question

I hope i am clear enough, otherwise ask me for clarifications.
I would like to delete end create view in agreement to a main template…

I did try the following implementation, unsuccessfully.

   // main-template.html

   <div id=""project>
     <div class="main-template">
        <div id="view1"></div>
        <div class="foldable-block">
            <div id="view2"></div>
            <div id="view3"></div>       
        </div>
     </div>
   </div>

---

//mainView.js
define([
    "js/views/view1",
    "js/views/view2",
    "js/views/view3",
    "text!templates/main-template.html"
], function (View1, View2, View3, mainTemaplte) {

    var MainView = Backbone.View.extend({

        initialize: function ()
        {
            this.$el.html(Mustache.render(mainTemaplte));
            this.render();
        },

        el: $("#project"),

        render: function ()
        {
            var options = this.options;

            this.view1 = new View1(options);
            this.view2 = new View2(options);
            this.view3 = new View3(options);
        }
    });    

    return MainView;
});

---

//view1.js
define([… ], function (..) {

    var View1 = Backbone.View.extend({

         el: $("#view1"),

         initialize: function () {
             console.log(this.$el) // []
             setTimeout( function () {
                    console.log(this.$el) // []
             }, 2000);
         }

    });

    return View1;

});

The issues as you can see from the comments is in view1.js

(this.$el) // []

from my js console it works:

$("#view1") // <div>….</div>

My goals is:
1) when I load the mainView.js module I would like to create a template to which attach my views (view1, view2, view3)
2) when I trigger delete view, every DOM, to which are attached the view, should be deleted.
3) when I call again the mainView.js module the template should be recreated.

if you have other ideas to suggest, please post.

---

Thanks to @nikoshr advise this.$el, in view1.j, is defined and when I call render in view1.js the this.$el is fill properly
but it is not attached to the body of document.
How can I make it without using append or similar jquery methods to my main-template.html ?

Here my render function:

    render: function () 
    {
         this.$el.html(Mustache.render(myTemplate, this.view);
    }

Answer 1

You are attaching your subviews to elements that do not exist at the time you require them. Something like this may be a step in the right direction:

mainView.js

define([
    "js/views/view1",
    "js/views/view2",
    "js/views/view3",
    "text!templates/main-template.html"
], function (View1, View2, View3, mainTemaplte) {

    var MainView = Backbone.View.extend({

        initialize: function ()
        {
            this.render();
        },

        render: function ()
        {
            // render from template and assign this.el to the root of the element
            // e.g #project
            var html=Mustache.render(mainTemaplte);
            this.setElement( $(html) );

            // create each view with its el set to the correct descendant
            this.view1 = new View1( _.extend( {el:this.$("#view1")} , this.options) );
            this.view2 = new View2( _.extend( {el:this.$("#view2")} , this.options) );
            this.view3 = new View3( _.extend( {el:this.$("#view3")} , this.options) );
        }
    });    

    return MainView;
});

view1.js

define([… ], function (..) {

    var View1 = Backbone.View.extend({

         initialize: function () {
             console.log(this.$el);
         }

    });

    return View1;
});

And you can recreate your view with something like

require(["js/views/mainView"], function(MainView) {
    var view=new MainView();
    console.log(view.$el);

    //attach  the view to the DOM
    $("body").append(view.$el);
});