Backbone.aio

A super-simple plugin which replaces Backbone's default AJAX transport with Socket.io. It hooks into Backbone.ajax - not Backbone.sync - leaving the sync layer untouched for easier integration with other libraries.

Features

• Drop-in replacement which doesn't necessitate any changes to your front-end code.
• Simple, explicit push and pull behaviour.
• ~2kb minified, even without compression.

Usage

Usable in both an AMD and non-AMD context. Once loaded into your runtime, you must first provide your socket.io socket instance:

var socket = io(window.location.origin);
Backbone.Aio.setSocket(socket);

Please see the code in /docs for an example of usage, including additional features suchs as .link().

What it does

• Transforms all Backbone AJAX requests into socket.io events and emits them from the client.
• Channels server responses to client-side events through Backbone's event mechanisms.
• Lets you invoke client-side methods by emitting server-side events using the link method.
• Assumes that all Backbone model IDs are numerical (a caveat of only having the AJAX request URL to work with).

What it doesn't do

• Provide any automatic synchronisation between server and client instances of Backbone models and collections. There is no requirement to use Backbone server-side.