backbone handlebars helper, allows child views to be initialised from templates ala Ember

view-helper.coffee

Handlebars.registerHelper 'view', (viewPath, options) ->
  # use Backbone.View if not supplied a backbone view subclass
  unless viewPath
    viewPath = 'Backbone.View'
    return 'No View'
  View = viewPath.split('.').reduce (previous, current) ->
    return previous[current]
  , window

  view = new View(options.hash)
  el = view.el
  id = el.id
  # collect references to views so we can manage lifecycle
  View._instances = View._instances || []
  View._instances.push(view)

  unless id
    # get id from view path
    id = 'view-' + viewPath.split('.').map (e) ->
      e.toLowerCase()
    .join('-')
    id += '-' + View._instances.length
  #TODO: implement a rendering queue rather than relying on setTimeout render order
  setTimeout(((id, view) ->
    # swap out handlebars rendered placeholder with actual view element
    $("##{id}").replaceWith(view.el)
    view.render()
  ).bind(this, id, view), 0)
  tagName = options.hash.tagName || 'div'
  className = options.hash.tagName || ''
  return new Handlebars.SafeString("<#{tagName} class='placeholder #{className}' id='#{id}'></#{tagName}>")