Just a few things I’ve picked up about Batman.RestStorage and Batman.RailsStorage.
Use Model.url for hooking up to your API
You can set the URL for a model:
class App.SomeModel extends Batman.Model
@persist Batman.RestStorage # or Batman.RailsStorage
@resourceName: "some_model"
@url: "/api/v1/some_models" # will be used for REST actions (instead of plain `/some_models`)
or for an instance:
parent.url = "/api/v1/some_models/somewhere_special"
parent.url.load ->
console.log("I loaded from a special place!")
Use autoload carefully
Say you have an association:
class App.Parent extends Batman.Model
@hasMany 'children', autoload: trueOrFalse, saveInline: trueOrFalse
If autoload is true, parent.get('children') will send a request to get children items. By default this is /children.json?parent_id=#{parentId}.
You can do a nested url with:
class App.Child extends Batman.Model
@persist Batman.RestStorage
@belongsTo 'parent'
@urlNestsUnder 'parent' # will request /parents/:parent_id/children/:id/
saveInline and accepts_nested_nested_attributes_for
saveInline goes nicely with Rails accepts_nested_attributes_for, except that Rails expects a parameter called children_attributes, but batman.js sends children. You can work around it in a couple ways:
class App.Parent extends Batman.Model
@hasMany 'children', saveInline: true, encoderKey: 'children_attributes' # this expects children_attributes in JSON from the server, too
And I confess I have done this:
class App.Parent extends Batman.Model
@hasMany 'children', saveInline: true
toJSON: ->
builtJSON = super
builtJSON.children_attributes = builtJSON.children
delete builtJSON.children
builtJSON
Take advantage of Rails Validation Errors
When Rails responds with 422 and a JSON object with { "errors" : { ... } }, they’ll be added to your model’s errors. data-formfor has a built-in thing for that, so make sure you have an errors div in your form:
<form data-formfor-somemodel='currentSomeModel' data-event-submit='saveSomeModel'>
<div class='errors'><!-- will be automatically populated --></div>
</form>