gistfile1.txt

// backbone collections lack a search functionality. This adds it to all collections.
// fuse.js is the library that powers the fuzzy search and requires being downloaded and included into your app
// http://kiro.me/projects/fuse.html


_.extend(Backbone.Collection.prototype, {
  searchableFields: null,
  buildSearchIndex: function(options) {
    options = (typeof options !== 'undefined') ? options : {};

    var defaultOptions = {
      keys: this.searchableFields,
      id: 'id'
    };
   
    return this.fuse = new Fuse(_.pluck(this.models, 'attributes'), _.defaults(options, defaultOptions));
  },
  // returns copy of collection with search results
  search: function(query) {
    var searchResults = this.fuse.search(query);
    // returned in the order of the collection
    // return this.filter(function(model) {
    //   return _.contains(searchResults, model.get('id'));
    // },this);

    //returned in the order of the search result
    return _.filter(searchResults, function(modelID) {
      return _.contains(this.pluck("id"), modelID);
    },this);
  }
});

// Example usage:
// collection1 is a collection and is populated. attName is an attribute on the models inside the collection.
// the console.log will return the models that match the search term.

collection1.searchableFields = ['attName'];
collection1.buildSearchIndex();
var result = collection1.search('test');
console.log(result);