How can I correctly implement parse in a Backbone model to include collections?

Question

I have a backbone model called Member - this contains membership data such as first name, last name, email, phone, etc. It also includes multi-valued fields that I need to keep as collections - these are Degrees and Affiliations.

The issue I am running into when calling the fetch() method in my model is that there's an impedance mismatch of sorts between a basic array, and the collection objects I have in my model. Since parse by definition is supposed to return a hash to be used in set rather than actually setting values, it is impossible for me to set my collections this way. For instance - if I return a JavaScript object for Degrees that looks something like the following: {degrees: [{id: 1, title: "PhD"}]}, then this converts my degree collection into a flat array. Here is my code:

window.Models.Member = Backbone.Model.extend({

    url: '/api/member',

    initialize: function() {

        _.bindAll(this);

        this.set('degrees', new window.Collections.DegreesList());

        this.fetch();

    },

    parse: function(response) {

        var setHash = {};

        setHash.first_name = response.first_name;
        setHash.last_name = response.last_name;
        setHash.office_phone = response.office_phone;

        // When this is run, this.get('degrees') will now return a flat array rather than a DegreesList collection
        setHash.degrees = _(response.degrees).each(function(item) { 
                return {id: item.id, title: item.title} 
        });

        return setHash;

    }

});

I could manually set the collections in my parse function, but that seems like its subverting the Backbone way, and hacky.

EDIT: I've temporarily solved the problem by doing the following:

parse: function(response) {

    var setHash = {};

    setHash.first_name = response.first_name;
    setHash.last_name = response.last_name;
    setHash.office_phone = response.office_phone;

    this.get('degrees').reset( response.degrees );

    return setHash;     
}

I doubt this is the optimal solution, but it certainly works for now. I'm open to better suggestions.

Answer 1

I use exactly the same workaround you are proposing except with a few changes.

1. To avoid misunderstanding I call the collection in the JSON: degreesData
2. In the initialize I create the collection like this: this.degrees = new Degrees().reset( this.get( "degreesData" ) );