Marionette.Toolkit.StateMixin

A collection of opinionated Backbone.Marionette extensions for large scale application architecture.

Marionette.Toolkit.StateMixin

StateMixin is a public mixin for App or any Marionette class definition that uses a Backbone.Model for keeping state.

Use a StateMixin if your object/view needs to maintain information that isn’t business data. This provides a consistent method for storing and getting state, along with triggering related events.

Using StateMixin

While StateMixin comes pre-mixined with Marionette.Toolkit.App and Marionette.Toolkit.Component, you can extend your own class with StateMixin by calling initState in your class’s initialize passing any desired options.

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

const myClass = MnObject.extend({
  StateModel: MyStateModel

  initialize(options) {
    this.initState(options);
  }
});

_.extend(myClass.prototype, StateMixin)

You can also use Marionette.Toolkit.mixinState which is a utility to mixin the StateMixin into any Marionette.MnObjects or Marionette.Views. If there is no StateModel definition on your class then the StateModel will be defined as a vanilla Backbone.Model. However, if you have already defined StateModel on your class, your StateModel definition will not be overwritten.

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

const myClass = MnObject.extend({
  StateModel: MyStateModel

  initialize(options) {
    this.initState(options);
  }
});

mixinState(MyClass);

Setting default state

Because the StateModel of the StateMixin has to be a Backbone.Model, it has access to model defaults. defaults should be defined on the StateModel definition.

const MyToolKitApp = App.extend({
  StateModel: {
    defaults: {
      fooState: 'bar'
    }
  }
});

const myToolkitApp = new MyToolKitApp();

myToolkitApp.getState('fooState') === 'bar';

StateMixin’s `StateModel`

Define a StateModel on your class definition or pass as an option when calling initState(options). This must be a Backbone.Model object definition, not an instance. If you do not specify a StateModel, a vanilla Backbone.Model definition will be used.

Declared on Class

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

const MyClass = MnObject.extend({
  StateModel: MyStateModel

  initialize(options) {
    this.initState(options);
  }
});

Passed as Option on Initialization

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

const MyClass = MnObject.extend({
  initialize(options) {
    this.initState(options);
  }
});

const myClass = new MyClass({
  StateModel: MyStateModel
});

You can also define StateModel as a function. In this form, the value returned by this method is the StateModel class that will be instantiated. When defined as a function, it will receive the options passed to the constructor.

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

App.extend({
  StateModel(options){
    if(options.foo){
      return MyStateModel;
    }
    return Backbone.Model;
  }
});

Passed as Option on Initialization

Alternatively, you can specify a StateModel in the options for the constructor:

const MyToolKitApp = App.extend({...});

new MyToolKitApp({
  StateModel: MyStateModel
});

StateMixin’s `State`

Optionally define a state attributes object on your class initialization or pass as an option when calling initState(options).

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({});

const MyClass = MnObject.extend({
  StateModel: MyStateModel

  initialize(options) {
    this.initState(options);
  }
});

new MyClass({
  state: {
    foo: 'bar'
  }
});

StateMixin’s `stateEvents`

StateMixin can bind directly to state events in a declarative manner:

const MyToolKitApp = App.extend({
  stateEvents: {
    'change': 'stateChanged'
  },
  stateChanged(model, options){
    console.log('Changed!');
  }
});

const myToolkitApp = new MyToolKitApp();

// will log "Changed!"
myToolkitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

For more information on the various declarative options, see the implementations of modelEvents and collectionEvents in the Marionette.View documentation.

StateMixin API

Setting State

StateMixin has a setState method that exposes the Backbone.Model.set for the StateMixin’s attached StateModel. Implementation will match Backbone.Model.set documentation.

const myToolKitApp = new App({
    stateEvents: {
      'change:foo': 'alert'
    },
    alert(){
      console.log('alert!');
    }
});

// This will trigger the "change:foo" event and log "alert!" to the console.
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

Resetting State

StateMixin has a resetStateDefaults method that sets the StateModel instance attributes back to the defined defaults. Implementation will match Backbone.Model.defaults documentation.

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
  defaults: {
    foo: 'bar'
  }
});

const myToolKitApp = new App({
  StateModel: MyStateModel
});

// This will trigger the "change:foo" event and log "alert!" to the console.
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'hello');

console.log(this.getState('foo')); // hello

myToolKitApp.resetStateDefaults();

console.log(this.getState('foo')); // bar

Getting State

StateMixin has a getState method that exposes the Backbone.Model.get for the Statemixin’s attached StateModel. Implementation will match Backbone.Model.get documentation with the exception that not passing any attribute to “get” will return the state model instance.

const MyStateModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
  defaults: {
    foo: 'bar'
  }
});

const myToolKitApp = new App({
  StateModel: MyStateModel
});

myToolKitApp.start()

// returns "bar"
myToolKitApp.getState('foo');

// returns myToolKitApp's MyStateModel instance.
myToolKitApp.getState();

Toggling State

StateMixin has a toggleState method that sets the StateModel instance attribute to a boolean value. Attributes that do not exist on the state will be created. Not passing in a value will toggle the attribute’s current value, while non-boolean values will be coerced to true or false.

const myToolKitApp = new App();

myToolKitApp.setState('foo', true);

// sets "foo" attribute to false
myToolKitApp.toggleState('foo');

// coerces "bar" string into boolean, setting "foo" attribute to true
myToolKitApp.toggleState('foo', 'bar');

// sets a "baz" attribute on the state with a true value
myToolKitApp.toggleState('baz');

Checking State

StateMixin has a hasState method that checks the StateModel instance for a specified attribute. Passing an attribute that does not exist on the state will return false.

const myToolKitApp = new App();

// returns false
myToolKitApp.hasState('foo')

myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

// returns true
myToolKitApp.hasState('foo');

// coerces "bar" string into boolean, setting "foo" attribute to true
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', false);

// Still returns true
myToolKitApp.hasState('foo');

Binding State Events

StateMixin has a delegateStateEvents that will bind all events specified in the stateEvents option. Implementation matches Backbone.View.delegateEvents.

const myToolKitApp = new App({
    stateEvents: {
      'change:foo': 'alert'
    },
    alert(){
      console.log('alert!');
    }
});

// This will trigger the "change:foo" event and log "alert!" to the console.
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

myToolKitApp.undelegateStateEvents();

// This will still trigger the `change:foo` event, but will NOT log 'alert!'
// in the console
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'baz');

myToolKitApp.delegateStateEvents();

// This will trigger the "change:foo" event and log "alert!" to the console
// once again.
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

Unbinding State Events

StateMixin has a undelegateStateEvents that will unbind all event listeners specified on the StateModel option. Implementation matches Backbone.View.undelegateEvents.

const myToolKitApp = new App({
    stateEvents: {
      'change:foo': 'alert'
    },
    alert(){
      console.log('alert!');
    }
});

// This will trigger the "change:foo" event and log "alert!" to the console.
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'bar');

myToolKitApp.undelegateStateEvents();

// This will still trigger the `change:foo` event, but will NOT log 'alert!' in the console
myToolKitApp.setState('foo', 'baz');

Marionette.Toolkit.StateMixin

Documentation Index

Using StateMixin

Setting default state

StateMixin’s StateModel

Declared on Class

Passed as Option on Initialization

Passed as Option on Initialization

StateMixin’s State

StateMixin’s stateEvents

StateMixin API

Setting State

Resetting State

Getting State

Toggling State

Checking State

Binding State Events

Unbinding State Events

StateMixin’s `StateModel`

StateMixin’s `State`

StateMixin’s `stateEvents`