Accessing Marionette Apps from Views (using Require.js) - requirejs

Question

I'm trying to share a Marionette App with some of its Views. I've read the wiki here, but the example leaves me with a question.
I've got a file with a couple of views in it that will all need to use the request/response system and possibly the commands. I don't want to do var MyApp = require('app'); in all of the Views in the file. I came up with the following, but I think there's probably a better way to do it.
Example:
//Views.js
define( ["marionette"], function (Marionette) {
var App = function(){
return require('app');
};
var ExampleItemView = Marionette.ItemView.extend({
initialize: function(){
App().request("getInfo", "aboutStuff");
}
});
return Marionette.CollectionView.extend({
itemView: ExampleItemView,
initialize: function(){
App().request("getInfo", "aboutStuff");
}
});
Is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

I'd definitely not inject your app into your views since it can create circular dependencies which are ALWAYS a code smell (regardless of whether they can be solved or not) The simples solution by far is to create a separate (singleton) reqres object which is handled by the app and injected into the views.
//reqres.js
define(['backbone.wreqr'], function( Wreqr ){
return new Wreqr.RequestResponse();
});
//app
define(['reqres'], function(reqres){
reqres.setHandlers({
'getInfo' : function(){
return 'foo';
}
});
});
//Views.js
define( ["marionette", "reqres"], function (Marionette, reqres) {
var ExampleItemView = Marionette.ItemView.extend({
initialize: function(){
reqres.request("getInfo", "aboutStuff");
}
});
return Marionette.CollectionView.extend({
itemView: ExampleItemView,
initialize: function(){
reqres.request("getInfo", "aboutStuff");
}
});

Answer 2

Backbone Wreqr is to be replaced by Backbone Radio in the next major release of Marionette, v3.
To use Backbone Radio you could create a channel and do the following:
/**
* App.js (for example)
*/
var Radio = require('backbone.radio');
// Use the 'data' channel - this could be whatever channel name you want
var dataChannel = Radio.channel('data');
// Handler for a request
dataChannel.reply('getMessage', function(name) {
return 'Hello ' + name + '. Alba gu brath!';
});
/**
* View.js (for example)
*/
var Radio = require('backbone.radio');
var dataChannel = Radio.channel('data');
// Make the request
console.log( dataChannel.request('getMessage', 'Craig') ); // -> Hello Craig. Alba gu brath!