How to clone a backbone collection

Question

Is there a way to easily clone Backbone Collection? I wonder why there is no build in method like for models. My problem is that I have a model holding a collection of childs. W

Answer 1

Another option, if you need the following (which is what I was looking for when I found this question ;) ):

• The copy of the collection should be of the same type as the original collection (e.g. you've created your own collection type that extends Backbone.Collection)
• The copy of the collection should be created with the same options as the original
• The models in the copy of the collection should be created using the model.clone() method

Code:

var models = original.map(function (model) { return model.clone(); });    
var options = _.clone(original.options);    
var copy = new original.constructor(models, options);

A generic clone method on Backbone.Collection would be awkward because there are always going to be subtleties around whether models and their nested objects get copied by reference or are themselves cloned. Requirements will vary wildly according to your scenario, so it's been left for you to write what you need.