Javascript – backbone.js – events, knowing what was clicked

backbone.jsjavascriptjqueryunderscore.js

In one of my backbone.js view classes, I have something like:

...

events: {
  'click ul#perpage span' : 'perpage'
},

perpage: function() {
  // Access the text of the span that was clicked here
  // Something like: alert($(element).text())
},

...

because my per page markup might have something like:

<ul id="perpage">
  <li><span>5</span></li>
  <li><span>10</span></li>
</ul>

So how exactly can I find information about the element that caused the event? Or in this instance, that was clicked?

Best Answer

Normally on an event bind, you would just use $(this), but I'm fairly sure Backbone views are set up so that this always refer to the view, so try this:

perpage: function(ev) {
   alert($(ev.target).text());
}

REALLY LATE EDIT: You probably want to use $(ev.currentTarget). See dicussion on pawlik's answer below

Native deep cloning

It's called "structured cloning", works experimentally in Node 11 and later, and hopefully will land in browsers. See this answer for more details.

Fast cloning with data loss - JSON.parse/stringify

If you do not use Dates, functions, undefined, Infinity, RegExps, Maps, Sets, Blobs, FileLists, ImageDatas, sparse Arrays, Typed Arrays or other complex types within your object, a very simple one liner to deep clone an object is:

JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(object))

const a = {
  string: 'string',
  number: 123,
  bool: false,
  nul: null,
  date: new Date(),  // stringified
  undef: undefined,  // lost
  inf: Infinity,  // forced to 'null'
  re: /.*/,  // lost
}
console.log(a);
console.log(typeof a.date);  // Date object
const clone = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(a));
console.log(clone);
console.log(typeof clone.date);  // result of .toISOString()

See Corban's answer for benchmarks.

Reliable cloning using a library

Since cloning objects is not trivial (complex types, circular references, function etc.), most major libraries provide function to clone objects. Don't reinvent the wheel - if you're already using a library, check if it has an object cloning function. For example,

lodash - cloneDeep; can be imported separately via the lodash.clonedeep module and is probably your best choice if you're not already using a library that provides a deep cloning function
AngularJS - angular.copy
jQuery - jQuery.extend(true, { }, oldObject); .clone() only clones DOM elements
just library - just-clone; Part of a library of zero-dependency npm modules that do just do one thing. Guilt-free utilities for every occasion.

ES6 (shallow copy)

For completeness, note that ES6 offers two shallow copy mechanisms: Object.assign() and the spread syntax. which copies values of all enumerable own properties from one object to another. For example:

var A1 = {a: "2"};
var A2 = Object.assign({}, A1);
var A3 = {...A1};  // Spread Syntax

Javascript – How to guarantee that the enums definition doesn’t change in JavaScript

Since 1.8.5 it's possible to seal and freeze the object, so define the above as:

const DaysEnum = Object.freeze({"monday":1, "tuesday":2, "wednesday":3, ...})

const DaysEnum = {"monday":1, "tuesday":2, "wednesday":3, ...}
Object.freeze(DaysEnum)

and voila! JS enums.

However, this doesn't prevent you from assigning an undesired value to a variable, which is often the main goal of enums:

let day = DaysEnum.tuesday
day = 298832342 // goes through without any errors

One way to ensure a stronger degree of type safety (with enums or otherwise) is to use a tool like TypeScript or Flow.

Quotes aren't needed but I kept them for consistency.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Javascript – the most efficient way to deep clone an object in JavaScript

Native deep cloning

Fast cloning with data loss - JSON.parse/stringify

Reliable cloning using a library

ES6 (shallow copy)

Javascript – How to guarantee that the enums definition doesn’t change in JavaScript

Related Topic