backbone_rails

backbone_rails does two things:

1. Tells active record to exclude the root element from the to_json response.
2. Adds a class method to ActionController::Base to initialize the backbone.js integration to prepare the params passed from backbone for consumption by rails.

Just add backbone_rails to your Gemfile

gem "backbone_rails"

Create a backbone Model and Collection with the correct corresponding url:

$(function(){
  var Movie = Backbone.Model;

  var Movies = Backbone.Collection.extend({
    model: Movie,
    url: '/movies'
  });
});

In your layout (application.html.erb) include the backbone js and all associated dependencies.

####In your layout:

<%= javascript_include_tag "jquery", "json2", "underscore", "backbone", "application" %>

In your controller add a call to backbone_controller_for and pass it the name of your model. Use respond_with to ensure sure your controller actions respond correctly to the json requests.

####In your controller:

class MoviesController < ApplicationController
  backbone_controller_for :movie

  def index
    @movies = Movie.all
    respond_with @movies
  end

  def show
    @movie = Movie.find(params[:id])
    respond_with @movie
  end

  def create
    @movie = Movie.new(params[:movie])

    if @movie.save
      respond_with @movie, :status => :created, :location => @movie
    else
      respond_with @movie, :status => :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end


  def update
    @movie = Movie.find(params[:id])

    if @movie.update_attributes(params[:movie])
      head :ok
    else
      respond_with @movie, :status => :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end

  def destroy
    @movie = Movie.find(params[:id])
    @movie.destroy

    head :ok
  end
end

• Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet
• Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it
• Fork the project
• Start a feature/bugfix branch
• Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution
• Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
• Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

Copyright (c) 2010 Chas Lemley. See LICENSE.txt for further details.