Marionette Events

The Marionette Event system provides a system for objects to communicate with each other in a uniform way. In Marionette, this typically involves objects (models, collections, and views) triggering events that other objects (typically views) listen to and act on.

This section will mostly deal with View events and the semantics and methods of responding to events.

This section will not cover events from models and collections. See the documentation for View.

Documentation Index

• Triggering and Listening to Events
  • View triggerMethod
  • Listening to Events
    • onEvent Binding
  • View events and triggers
• Child View Events
  • Event Bubbling
    • Using CollectionView
  • A Child View's Event Prefix
  • Explicit Event Listeners
    • Attaching Functions
    • Using CollectionView's childViewEvents
  • Triggering Events on Child Events
    • Using CollectionView's childViewTriggers
• Lifecycle Events

Triggering and Listening to Events

The traditional event handling system in Backbone is also supported in Marionette. Marionette, however, provides an alternative event system using the triggerMethod method on Marionette.Object - the key difference between the two is that triggerMethod triggers magically named event handlers on views. This section covers how triggerMethod works and how listeners are set up to handle it.

View triggerMethod

The triggerMethod method fires the named event on the view - any listeners will then be triggered on the event. If there are no listeners, this call will still succeed. All arguments after the first argument will be passed to all event handlers.

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  callMethod: function(myString) {
    console.log(myString + ' was passed');
  }
});

var myView = new MyView();
/* See Backbone.listenTo */
myView.on('something:happened', myView.callMethod, myView);

/* Calls callMethod('foo'); */
myView.triggerMethod('something:happened', 'foo');

Live example

The triggerMethod call comes from the trigger-method mixin that is also part of Marionette.Object and its subclasses like Marionette.Application. This documentation also applies.

Listening to Events

Marionette's event triggers work just like regular Backbone events - you can use view.on and view.listenTo to act on events:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  initialize: function() {
    this.on('event:happened', this.logCall);
  },

  logCall: function(myVal) {
    console.log(myVal);
  }
});

Live example

You can also use listenTo as in Backbone:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var OtherView = Mn.View.extend({
  initialize: function(someView) {
    this.listenTo(someView, 'event:happened', this.logCall);
  },

  logCall: function(myVal) {
    console.log(myVal);
  }
});

var MyView = Mn.View.extend();

var myView = new MyView();

var otherView = new OtherView(myView);

Live examples

As in Backbone, listenTo will pass the object it is called on in as the context variable. These behave exactly as in Backbone, so using object.on will require you to unhook any event handlers yourself to prevent memory leaks. Marionette, however, does provide extra helpers as part of the view lifecycle that bind and unbind event handlers for you. this is the core of onEvent Binding.

onEvent Binding

The major difference between Backbone.trigger and View.triggerMethod is that triggerMethod can fire specially named events on the attached view. For instance, a view that has been rendered will fire view.triggerMethod('render') and call onRender - providing a handy way to add behavior to your views.

Determining what method an event will call is easy, we will outline this with an example using before:dom:refresh though this also works with any custom events you want to fire:

1. Split the words around the : characters - so before, dom, refresh
2. Capitalize the first letter of each word - Before, Dom, Refresh
3. Add a leading on - on, Before, Dom, Refresh
4. Mash it into a single call - onBeforeDomRefresh

Using this process, before:dom:refresh will call the onBeforeDomRefresh method. Let's see it in action with a custom event:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  onMyEvent: function(myVal) {
    console.log(myVal);
  }
});

var myView = new MyView();

myView.triggerMethod('my:event', 'someValue'); // Logs 'someValue'

Live example

As before, all arguments passed into triggerMethod will make their way into the event handler. Using this method ensures there will be no unexpected memory leaks.

View events and triggers

Views can automatically bind DOM events to methods and View events with events and triggers respectively:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  events: {
    'click a': 'showModal'
  },

  triggers: {
    'keyup input': 'data:entered'
  },

  showModal: function(event) {
    console.log('Show the modal');
  },

  onDataEntered: function(view, event) {
    console.log('Data was entered');
  }
});

Live example

For more information, see the view documentation.

Child View Events

The View and CollectionView are able to monitor and act on events on any children they own. Any events fired on a view are automatically propagated to their direct parents as well. Let's see a quick example:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var Item = Mn.View.extend({
  tagName: 'li',

  triggers: {
    'click a': 'select:item'
  }
});

var Collection = Mn.CollectionView.extend({
  tagName: 'ul',

  childViewEvents: {
    'select:item': 'itemSelected'
  },

  itemSelected: function(childView) {
    console.log('item selected: ' + childView.model.id);
  }
});

Live example

Event Bubbling

Events fired on a view bubble up to their direct parent views, calling any event methods using the childview: prefix (more on that shortly) and any methods bound to the childViewEvents attribute. This works for built-in events, custom events fired with triggerMethod and bound events using triggers.

Note: Automatic event bubbling can be disabled by setting childViewEventPrefix to false.

When using implicit listeners, the childview:* event prefix is used which needs to be included as part of the handler:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  triggers: {
    click: 'click:view'
  },

  doSomething: function() {
    this.triggerMethod('did:something');
  }
});

var ParentView = Mn.View.extend({
  regions: {
    foo: '.foo-hook'
  },

  onRender: function() {
    this.showChildView('foo', new MyView());
  },

  onChildviewClickView: function(childView) {
    console.log('View clicked ' + childView);
  },

  onChildviewDidSomething: function(childView) {
    console.log('Something was done to ' + childView);
  }
})

Live example

The view gets passed into the handlers as the first argument.

Using CollectionView

This works exactly the same way for the CollectionView and its childView:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyChild = Mn.View.extend({
  triggers: {
    click: 'click:child'
  }
});

var MyList = Mn.CollectionView.extend({
  onChildviewClickChild: function(childView) {
    console.log('Childview ' + childView + ' was clicked');
  }
});

Live examples

Just like with the View and its regions, the event handler will receive the view that triggered the event as its first argument.

A Child View's Event Prefix

You can customize the event prefix for events that are forwarded through the view. To do this, set the childViewEventPrefix on the view or collectionview. For more information on the childViewEventPrefix see Event bubbling.

The default value for childViewEventPrefix is childview. Setting this property to false will disable automatic event bubbling.

var Bb = require('backbone');
var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var myCollection = new Bb.Collection([{}]);

var CollectionView = Mn.CollectionView.extend({
  childViewEventPrefix: 'some:prefix'
});

var collectionView = new CollectionView({
  collection: myCollection
});

collectionView.on('some:prefix:render', function(){
  // child view was rendered
});

collectionView.render();

Live example

The childViewEventPrefix can be provided in the view definition or in the constructor function call, to get a view instance.

Explicit Event Listeners

To call specific functions on event triggers, use the childViewEvents attribute to map child events to methods on the parent view. This takes events fired on child views - without the childview: prefix - and calls the method referenced or attached function.

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  triggers: {
    click: 'view:clicked'
  }
});

var ParentView = Mn.View.extend({
  regions: {
    foo: '.foo-hook'
  },

  childViewEvents: {
    'view:clicked': 'displayMessage'
  },

  onRender: function() {
    this.showChildView('foo', new MyView());
  },

  displayMessage: function(childView) {
    console.log('Displaying message for ' + childView);
  }
});

Live example

Attaching Functions

The childViewEvents attribute can also attach functions directly to be event handlers:

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

var MyView = Mn.View.extend({
  triggers: {
    click: 'view:clicked'
  }
});

var ParentView = Mn.View.extend({
  regions: {
    foo: '.foo-hook'
  },

  childViewEvents: {
    'view:clicked': function(childView) {
      console.log('Function called for ' + childView);
    }
  },

  onRender: function() {
    this.showChildView('foo', new MyView());
  }
});

Live example

Using CollectionView's childViewEvents

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

// childViewEvents can be specified as a hash...
var MyCollectionView = Mn.CollectionView.extend({

  childViewEvents: {
    // This callback will be called whenever a child is rendered or emits a `render` event
    render: function() {
      console.log('A child view has been rendered.');
    }
  }
});

Live example

Triggering Events on Child Events

A childViewTriggers hash or method permits proxying of child view events without manually setting bindings. The values of the hash should be a string of the event to trigger on the parent.

childViewTriggers is sugar on top of childViewEvents much in the same way that View triggers are sugar for View events.

// The child view fires a custom event, `show:message`
var ChildView = Marionette.View.extend({

  // Events hash defines local event handlers that in turn may call `triggerMethod`.
  events: {
    'click .button': 'onClickButton'
  },

  triggers: {
    'submit form': 'submit:form'
  },

  onClickButton: function () {
    // Both `trigger` and `triggerMethod` events will be caught by parent.
    this.trigger('show:message', 'foo');
    this.triggerMethod('show:message', 'bar');
  }
});

// The parent uses childViewEvents to catch the child view's custom event
var ParentView = Marionette.CollectionView.extend({
  childView: ChildView,

  childViewTriggers: {
    'show:message': 'child:show:message',
    'submit:form': 'child:submit:form'
  },

  onChildShowMessage: function (message) {
    console.log('A child view fired show:message with ' + message);
  },

  onChildSubmitForm: function (childView) {
    console.log('A child view fired submit:form');
  }
});

var GrantParentView = Marionette.View.extend({
  regions: {
    list: '.list'
  },

  onRender: function() {
    this.showChildView('list', new ParentView({
      collection: this.collection
    }));
  },

  childViewEvents: {
    'child:show:message': 'showMessage'
  },

  showMessage: function(childView) {
    console.log('A child (' + childView + ') fired an event');
  }
});

Live example

Using CollectionView's childViewTriggers

var Mn = require('backbone.marionette');

// The child view fires a custom event, `show:message`
var ChildView = Mn.View.extend({

  // Events hash defines local event handlers that in turn may call `triggerMethod`.
  events: {
    'click .button': 'onClickButton'
  },

  // Triggers hash converts DOM events directly to view events catchable on the parent.
  // Note that `triggers` automatically pass the first argument as the child view.
  triggers: {
    'submit form': 'submit:form'
  },

  onClickButton: function () {
    // Both `trigger` and `triggerMethod` events will be caught by parent.
    this.trigger('show:message', 'foo');
    this.triggerMethod('show:message', 'bar');
  }
});

// The parent uses childViewEvents to catch the child view's custom event
var ParentView = Mn.CollectionView.extend({

  childView: ChildView,

  childViewTriggers: {
    'show:message': 'child:show:message',
    'submit:form': 'child:submit:form'
  },

  onChildShowMessage: function (message) {
    console.log('A child view fired show:message with ' + message);
  },

  onChildSubmitForm: function (childView) {
    console.log('A child view fired submit:form');
  }
});

Live example

Lifecycle Events

Marionette Views fire events during their creation and destruction lifecycle. For more information see the documentation covering the View Lifecycle.