How do I get templates inserted from custom block helpers to be individually rerendered in Meteor? - meteor

Question

When I use the built-in block helper #each, book templates are rerendered individually when changed:
users =
_id: 'foo'
books: [
{name: 'book1'}
{name: 'book2'}
]
<template name="user">
{{#each books}}
{{> book}}
{{/each}}
</template>
<template name="book">
<div>{{name}}</div>
</template>
When the data is changed - the first book name is set to 'bookone' instead of 'book1' - only the book template (the div containing 'book1') is rerendered. This is the desired behavior. When I use a custom block helper, the behavior is different:
<template name="user">
{{#each_with_id}}
{{> book}}
{{/each}}
</template>
<template name="book">
<div data-id="{{_id}}">{{name}}</div>
</template>
Templates.user.each_with_id = (options) ->
html = "
for book, i in this.books
this.name = book.name
html += Spark.labelBranch i.toString(), ->
options.fn this
html
Now when the name of the first book changes, the whole user template is rerendered.

Answer 1

It does not work as you expect, because the implementation of built-in each is based on the cursor.observeChanges feature. You will not be able to achieve the same exact result without using an auxiliary collection of some sort. The idea is quite simple. It seems that you don't have a "books" collection but you can create a client-side-only cache:
Books = new Meteor.Collection(null);
where you will need to put some data dynamically like this:
Users.find({/* probably some filtering here */}).observeCanges({
added: function (id, fields) {
_.each(fields.books, function (book, index) {
Books.insert(_.extend(book, {
owner: id,
index: index,
}));
}
},
changed: function (id, fields) {
Books.remove({
owner:id, name:{
$nin:_.pluck(fields.books, 'name')
},
});
_.each(fields.books, function (book, index) {
Books.update({
owner : id,
name : book.name,
}, {$set:_.extend(book, {
owner : id,
index : index,
})}, {upsert:true});
}
},
removed: function (id) {
Books.remove({owner:id});
},
});
Then instead of each_with_id you will be able to the built-in each with appropriate cursor, e.g.
Books.find({owner:Session.get('currentUserId')}, {sort:{index:1}});
You may also look at this other topic which basically covers the same problem you're asking about.