in Meteor, how do i update a property on only one instance of a template? - meteor

Question

If I have an {{# each}} binding in Meteor, and I want to update a property on only one instance of the template inside the #each. How would I do that? I've tried setting a value on the "template" object inside the events map, but that doesn't seem to be reactive. I've also tried binding to a Session property, but that will cause every instance to update instead of just the one I want...
for example:
{{#each dates}}
{{> dateTemplate}}
{{/each}}
<template name="dateTemplate">
{{date}}
<span style="color: red;">{{errorMsg}}</span> <--- how do i update errorMsg?
</template>
Template.dateTemplate.events({
'click': function(event, template) {
template.errorMsg = 'not valid'; <--- this doesn't do anything
}
});
EDIT TO ADDRESS ANSWER BELOW:
Template.dateTemplate.events({
'click': function(event, template) {
template.errorMsg = function() { return 'not valid';} <--- this also doesn't do anything
}
});

Answer 1

You don't have to use handlebars for this, because its not something that needs reactivity to pass the message through, reactive variables work best with db data, or data that would be updated by another client over the air.
You could use JQuery (included by default) to update it, it can also get a bit fancier:
<template name="dateTemplate">
{{date}}
<span style="color: red;display: none" class="errorMessage"></span>
</template>
Template.dateTemplate.events({
'click': function(event, template) {
$(template.find('.errorMessage')).html('Your Error Message').slideDown();
}
});
Ive edited it so the error is hidden by default, and slides down with an animation

Answer 2

I'm experimenting handling this by passing a different reactive object to each instance of the template. Then the template can bind to the reactive object (which is unique per instance) and we don't have any extra boilerplate.
It ends up looking like this:
Initial render:
Template.firstTemplateWithPoll(ContextProvider.getContext())
Template.secondTemplateWithPoll(ContextProvider.getContext())
// (I actually pass getContext an identifier so I always get the same context for the same template)
JS:
Template.poll.events = {
'click .yes' : function() {
this.reactive.set('selection', 'yes');
},
'click .no' : function() {
this.reactive.set('selection', 'no');
}
};
Template.poll.selection = function(arg) {
return this.reactive.get('selection');
}
Template:
<template name="poll">
<blockquote>
<p>
Your selection on this poll is {{selection}}
</p>
</blockquote>
<button class='yes'>YES</button>
<button class='no'>NO</button>
</template>

Answer 3

template.errorMsg should be a function that returns your error.
Template.dateTemplate.events({
'click': function(event, template) {
template.errorMsg = function() { return 'not valid'; };
}
});