Backbone-Handlebars View Template

gistfile1.js

/* base view template */
var ViewTemplate = Backbone.View.extend({
	
	// containing element	
	el: $('body'),
	
	// events
	events: {},
	
	// initialize
	initialize: function(){
		_.bindAll(this, 'render', 'template', 'html');
		
		throw "Error: trying to instantiate ViewTemplate - templates must be overridden sir"
	},
	
        // this overwrites all content in the element - override with append() if thats not what you're going for
	render: function(){
		$(this.el).html(this.html());
	},
	
	// id of the handlebars template element
	template_id: '#template',
	
	// template rendering function
	template: function(id, context){
		var src = $( id || this.template_id ).html();
		var templ = Handlebars.compile(src);
		return templ(context || this.context());
	},
	
	// contest function
	context: function(){
		var that = this;
		// returns a handlebars context object
		return {
			title: 'Template View'
		}
	},
	
	// returns the html for the view
	html: function(){
		return this.template();
	}
	
});