Defining a global App Namespace with Require.js and Backbone

Question

I'm new to Require.js, and I'm trying to do something which I thought would be simple but is starting to be a pain.

I'm trying to define a global namespace for my Backbone application, and load it as a module. Here is my namespace (main.js):

define(
['jquery',
  'underscore',
  'backbone',
  'GlobalRouter'
],
function($, _, Backbone) {
var App= {
    Models: {},
    Views: {},
    Collections: {},
    Routers: {},
    init: function() {
        new App.Routers.GlobalRouter();
        Backbone.history.start();
    }
}
return App;

});

and here is my config.js file:

require.config({
// your configuration key/values here
baseUrl: "js", // generally the same directory as the script used in a data-main attribute for the top level script
paths: {
    'jquery' : '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.0/jquery.min',
    'underscore': 'vendor/underscore-min',
    'backbone': 'vendor/backbone-min',
    'marionette': 'vendor/backbone.marionette',
    'main' : 'main'
}, // set up custom paths to libraries, or paths to RequireJS plugins
shim: {
    'underscore': {
        exports: '_'
    },

    'backbone': {
        deps: ['underscore', 'jquery'],
        exports: 'Backbone'
    },

    'main' : {
        deps: ['underscore', 'jquery', 'backbone', 'GlobalRouter'],
        exports: 'TEWC'
    }

} // used for setting up all Shims (see below for more detail)
});

define([
'jquery',
   'underscore',
  'backbone',
  'main'
],
function($, _, Backbone, App, GlobalRouter) {
console.log(App)
alert('hit ')
  $(function() {
       App.init();
    });
 }

);

and for good measure, here is my router:

define([
'jquery',
'underscore',
'backbone',
'main'
],
function($, _, Backbone, TEWC) {

TEWC.Routers.GlobalRouter = Backbone.Router.extend({
    routes: {
        "" : "index",
        "documents/:id" : "edit",
        "login" : "login"
    },

    edit: function(id) {
        alert('edit')
    },

    index: function() {
        alert('index')
    },

    login: function() {
        alert('login')
    }
});

});

In the past, I was getting a 'app is undefined error'. Now, I get a load timeout error after a few minutes that says this:

Uncaught Error: Load timeout for modules: main

However, the alert doesn't fire, and main.js doesn't seem to get loaded, but I believe router does, and it doesn't bark that TEWC is undefined -- so it may be loading even though it's not in my Network tab?

This is probably a rookie question -- does anyone have any insight on this?

Answer 1

The following code does not define GlobalRouter yet it get's passed to the define callback

define([
'jquery',
   'underscore',
  'backbone',
  'main'
],
function($, _, Backbone, App, GlobalRouter) {
console.log(App)
alert('hit ')
  $(function() {
       App.init();
    });
 }

add GlobalRouter to define

Secondly, when it fails to load main ..can you check from console what URL it is trying to access? It most probably is a mis-configuration.

Answer 2

If I'm not mistaken your problem is that in config.js, after the require.config(), your define() should be a require() instead.

Explaining further. You currently have:

define([
'jquery',
   'underscore',
  'backbone',
  'main'
...

This define should be a require because this is code you want executed; it is not a module definition.

This and of course the missing GlobalRouter dependency as noted earlier.