BackboneJS with XML ajax

Question

this is a two part question from a JS newbie.

So, I was trying to create a backbone application using requireJS by following Thomas Davis\'s tutorial.

Answer 1

1. You can override the default parse function to provide XML support. It should return the data transformed into JSON http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-parse

2. Bind the render to a reset event instead of refresh for Backbone<1.0 or to a sync event for Backbone>=1.0

It could look like this

var Book = Backbone.Model.extend();

var Books = Backbone.Collection.extend({
    model: Book,
    url: "books.xml",

    parse: function (data) {
        var $xml = $(data);

        return $xml.find('book').map(function () {
            var bookTitle = $(this).find('name').text();
            return {title: bookTitle};
        }).get();
    },

    fetch: function (options) {
        options = options || {};
        options.dataType = "xml";
        return Backbone.Collection.prototype.fetch.call(this, options);
    }
});

var bookListView = Backbone.View.extend({
    initialize: function () {
        this.listenTo(this.collection, "sync", this.render);
    },

    render: function () {
        console.log(this.collection.toJSON());
    }
});

var bks = new Books();
new bookListView({collection: bks});
bks.fetch();

And a demo http://jsfiddle.net/ULK7q/73/