Handling tree-like layouts in Backbone

gistfile1.js

var TreeItemView = Backbone.View.extend({
  tagName: 'div',
  className: 'tree-item',

  render: function() {
    var self = this;
    // Some function that retrieves an array of children for this model
    var children = TreeCollection.children(this.model.get('id'));

    // Render this tree item
    $(this.el).html(this.template({ this.model.toJSON(); }));

    // Render all the children of this tree item
    _.each(children, function(child) {
      var view = new TreeItemView({ model: child });
      $(self.el).append(view.render().el);
    });

    return this;
  }
});