Example of a backbone controller with methods which wait for initialisation before running

gistfile1.js

MapPageController = Backbone.Controller.extend(
	{
		initialized: false,
		routes: {
			'' : 'index',
			'/trip/:id' : 'trip'
		},
		initialize: function()
		{
			var c = this;

			Trips = new TripList();
			Trips.fetch({
				error: function(collection, xhr)
				{
					alert('Error loading data. Sorry!');
				},
				success: function(collection, xhr)
				{
					// Do stuff with the loaded data then...
					c.initialized = true;
					c.trigger('initialized');
				}
			});
		},
		index: function()
		{
			
		},
		trip: function(tripId)
		{
			var trip,
			    args = arguments;
			if (this.initialized) {
				// Do stuff which relies on Trips being populated
			} else {
				this.bind(
					'initialized',
					function()
					{
						this.unbind('initialized');
						args.callee.apply(this, args);
					}
				);
			}
		}
	}
);