Convenience methods for Backbone.js

convenienceBackbone.js

//gets value if field exists, and returns empty string otherwise
Backbone.Model.prototype.getValue = function(field) {
  if (this.attributes[field] != undefined) {
    return this.attributes[field];
  }
  else {
    return '';
  }

};

//return an array composed of the values of 'field' for each of the models in the collection; useful for e.g. autocomplete
Backbone.Collection.prototype.toArray = function(field) {
  var array = [];
  for (var i = 0; i <= this.size()-1; i++) {
    array.push(this.models[i].get(field));
  }
  return array;
};

// FYI this gives you the second function
collection.pluck("fieldName");