Binding data to the DOM in Backbone

Question

Here's my Backbone.js:

(function() {
    window.App = {
        Models: {},
        Collections: {},
        Views: {},
        Router: {}
    };

    window.template = function(id) {
        return _.template( $('#' + id).html() );
    };

    var vent = _.extend({}, Backbone.Events);

    App.Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
        routes: {
            '' : 'index',
            '*other' : 'other'
        },
        index: function() {

        },
        other: function() {

        }
    });


    App.Models.Main = Backbone.Model.extend({
        defaults : {
            FName: ''
        }
    });

    App.Collections.Mains = Backbone.Collection.extend({
        model: App.Models.Main,
        initialize: function() {
            this.fetch({
                success: function(data) {
                    console.log(data.models);
                }
            });
        },
        url: '../leads/main_contact'
    });

    App.Views.Mains = Backbone.View.extend({
        tagName: 'ul',
        initialize: function() {
            this.collection.on('reset', this.render, this);
            console.log(this.collection);
        },
        render: function() {
            return this.collection.each(this.addOne, this);
        },
        addOne: function(main) {
            var mainC = new App.Views.Main({ model: main});
            this.$el.append(mainC.render().el);
            return this;
        }
    });

    App.Views.Main = Backbone.View.extend({
        tagName: 'li',
        template: template('mainContactTemplate'),
        render: function () {
            this.$el.html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));
            return this;
        }

    });

    mains = new App.Collections.Mains();
    main = new App.Views.Main({ collection: mains});

    new App.Router;
    Backbone.history.start();
})();

What I want to do is have the data returned in the ul to be bound to a DOM element called $('#web-leads'). How do I do that, given this code? Incidentally, I've already posted about this here and tried to follow the first answer and the second answer combined. But I still don't get HTML and data bound to the DOM. The data is returning from the server correctly in my collection, so I know that's not the problem. Don't worry about the router stuff. That's for later.

Answer 1

Generally in Backbone you don't put data on DOM elements: you put it in views that wrap that DOM element.

That being said, if you really want to store data on the element, jQuery has a function for that:

$('#web-leads').data('someKey', 'yourData');

Then you can retrieve that data with:

$('#web-leads').data('someKey');

* EDIT *

In a comments discussion with the OP it became apparent that the real goal was simply to append a view's element to an element on the page. If the element being appended to is #web-leads, then this can be accomplished with:

$('#web-leads').append(theView.render().el);