One Page App Development With Backbone.js

Backbone framework maturity does not lie only in its release date. It is just a matter of utility and popularity. How many projects have been completed for it? How does this progress the growth process? And how does it help to bring an end to huge, complex apps? Ultimately, it concerns frequent updates, culture, and evolution.

So, in web apps and website development, Backbone is simply an incredible choice to solve and avoid most of the issues and pitfalls hidden in unorganized codes.

Backbone.Js

Backbone.Js: It 'is a JavaScript framework that focuses on the web application's structural code by developing the MVC model and connecting it via the RESTful JSON interface to the existing API.

⦿ Models with binding key-value and custom events.

⦿ Views with declarative handling of events.

⦿ Collections of enumerable functions with a rich API.

⦿ Backbone Model

Models are the critical component of all JavaScript applications and include an inner table of data attributes and trigger events if any modifications are found there. Immersive data and a considerable part of the code logic around them are also finished:

⦿ conversion.

⦿ Validity.

⦿ Computer properties.

⦿ Access control.

⦿ Backbone View

Views are engineered to render the data from models required. Even so, empty data-less tablets may also be autonomous of the user interface. Models, meanwhile, should generally be linked to opinions. Besides, thoughts should react to those change-related models, and respond and render themselves according to action tasks.

The main idea of logical framework views is the interface of apps. They are also supported by models that can be updated individually if any modifications occur, without the need to rework the entire page in total. This saves a developer from searching for JSON objects in the app code when it is necessary to find DOM elements. The view, therefore, displays all pinned models and where they are shown in the UI.

Backbone Collection

With groups of models, collections are involved and help to manage them conveniently. Collections offer control over the loading and saving of new models to the server for web app developers and simplify performance aggregation or copulation in the model lists. They allow notification by a developer:

⦾ Event of "change" where one of the models has been modified.

⦾ The "add" and "remove" events retrieve the entire collection of models from the server-side.

⦾ Note any specific changes to the selected models or for the whole group.

⦾ Also, they may all be affected by any model events, despite the formal collection events.

Backbone Events

The events are a limited but efficient execution of the JavaScript object observer design pattern. They link together and make the web app interactive. So, each of the Backbone objects has an event system that allows them to induce and manage events. All events can, in the end, be categorized into:

⦾ On event.

⦾ Off event.

⦾ Trigger event.

⦾ The router of the Backbone

The router provides options for routing and managing the client-side of the web app with actions and events. A few years earlier, only hash fragments like # page were created by that function. But now, when many browsers support Backbone History APIs, all URLs can be easily used in their standard forms. One single API routes all links.

⚫ URL links.

⚫ Bookmarks.

⚫ Shareable links.

⚫ Backbone History

Backbone History provides developers with a history tracking feature and matches the appropriate route, as we have mentioned above. To control events, it launches callbacks and allows routing within the web app. There is no need for developers to create any special events in this case, because history already has them:

⚪ Hashchange events.

⚪ PushState.

⚪ Callbacks.

⚪ Backbone Sync

Sync is the basic function of Backbone that allows the model to be checked and saved to a web app's server site. Ajax action would normally be used to make a RESTful JSON request to return jqXHR. On the other hand, to use another suitable app for project strategies, a developer may override it:

➡ XML transport.

➡ Local Storage.

➡ WebSocket.

So, Backbone Sync consists of:

➡ Methods such as 'read," create," update,' or 'delete.'

➡ A model that ought to be saved.

➡ Options-as well as any other jQuery request options, successful and error callbacks.

When do you use Backbone.js?

Backbone would come in hand as you need to develop a one-page Java app. The framework for Model View would help much more than just structuring your Javascript architecture to avoid modeling spaghetti code. Backbone would solve many annoying problems that you may face at the end of large apps' development. So, when is it necessary to use Backbone. JS?

◙ When HTTP requests on the server need to be reduced.

Usually, the server-side contains most web app information. As a result, HTML is pushed to reload the page completely, while any UI action that has occurred is taken. Client-side JavaScript, meanwhile, has limited solutions to address this issue. But things have altered with Backbone. Js. It downloads raw information from the web app's server-side and renders it whatever it needs in the browser.

Simplify complex UI design

To manage various sub-views that partake needed models, Backbone uses one view. This helps to save time, improve code readability, and simplify any future recording. As a result, when developers are trying to create complex projects with a large interactive and multifunctional user interface, it gets in hand.

Avoid spaghetti code

Backbone traditionally does not push developers to separate the layers of data and views in concerns. In the meantime, except for models that are not created concerning their opinions, most developers strongly suggest doing that in all cases. So, in the end, all models and collections, all data layers should be separated from the opinions to which they belong. Keeping a strict division of concerns would help prevent the whole work of the developer from turning into spaghetti code. Therefore, it would assist in code navigation and save time if any recording or bug fixing is needed in the future.

Summary: A designed application would, therefore, download only one payload, which includes all the scripts, styles, and marks required. There would be everything a user needs in one place to take simple actions. As a result, for any additional background activity, there are no requirements. For instance, Gmail is easy to switch between reading and responding to your revenue mails because there is no other server request.

Why use Backbone.Js?

So, as mentioned above, an app developer is strongly needed to structure code while constructing one page to save time in the end. Consequently, developers with some JavaScript experience will start looking for any MVC framework sooner or later. And the first thing they notice is the Backbone. With a strong community and documentation behind it, it is a small, mature framework.

But, in the first place, why is any Backbone-like framework required? Because a developer would start receiving issues from many things without it:

Testing and bug fixing, while an app code grows without any control, is becoming a real issue.

➊ Any code data doesn't teach DOM.

➋ It isn't easy to keep large, scalable applications structured.

➌  There are no limited events in Jquery.

➍ Mixing and manipulating data and views is difficult to avoid.

Finally, the Backbone.Js essentially offers comfortable options for better structuring code. It distinguishes between data and its views that render information. That is all about it.

Advantages of Backbone JS

◘ Lightweight. When we speak of downloading speed and mobile responsive web applications, project weight is significant. In this case, for sure, Less is More. So, in all web development fields, Backbone is a perspective framework.

◘ Tunable. Extensible. The sole reason and the core idea of the whole Backbone framework is extensibility. Thus, tonnes of small libraries are included that are appropriate for specialized needs. Besides, the possibility of creating your own MVC framework is always available.

There are heaps of documents and guides available on the internet for free.

For this framework, the Creator of Backbone was published in a comprehensive tutorial.

Different Todo applications were well tested and supported.

◘ MV Structure. The use of Backbone allows JavaScript to be structured more easily. The fundamentals of Object Oriented Programming are also incorporated. As a result, it moves to the RESTful API from DOM usage to retrieve JSON and save all data in the models' format. Finally, the connection between the view and the models enables any HTML changes to be seen.

◘ Abstract app code. Abstracting is one of three things in programming that matters. The better it is, the better the code is. Besides for relevant data about an object, it covers everything. Navigation in complex projects needs to be simplified, and efficiency increased.

In simple terms, Backbone enables a developer to separate the logic of an app from the UI. As a result, both can be easily changed, updated, and maintained when needed. Thanks to this separation, it is clearer where changes are required and what should be written for the unit test.

Wrapping Up

Although there are prominent examples of how companies use Backbone.js, they can not provide a complete picture of this framework. Apart from business, Backbone is used by many companies and freelance developers to design their projects, and this is what matters. Similarly, in other fields, only finished statistics can shed light on the full picture.

Up to 180,000 live websites use Backbone.js, according to Build With statistics data. But what is more significant, 11 percent of the top million sites are shared. Not so much at first glance, but there are 370 million websites on the entire internet. That means that high-quality performance options are provided by Backbone.

As time passes, old frameworks evolve as new frameworks appear. All of this provides developers with new tools, methods, and options on a case-by-case basis to solve their tasks. And sometimes, developers have to rework the entire project entirely from the fundamentals because it needs to be appropriate for current needs. It requires time and resources for customers to make wise decisions.