How to handle dates in Backbone?

Question

I store dates in the DATETIME format in a MySQL database. When a model is fetched from the database, dates (in the DATETIME format) are converted to date objects in the model\'s

Answer 1

I'd do it one of two places:

• On the server:

  This probably makes the most sense, since your server-side implementation is really the one that needs the DATETIME representation; your client code shouldn't have to care at all.

• In toJSON() on your model:

  If you must do it on the client, override Backbone.Model's toJSON() for your model and update it there. Example:

  toJSON: function () {
      var json = Backbone.Model.prototype.toJSON.call(this);
      json.date = convertDate(this.get('date'));
      return json;
  }
  

  If you do this, you'll need to convert the date back, either in your model's initialize() or parse() function.