Alloy MVC framework guide

Reference for building Titanium mobile applications with the Alloy MVC framework and Backbone.js.

Project detection

️ℹ️ AUTO-DETECTS ALLOY PROJECTS This skill automatically detects Alloy projects when invoked and provides framework-specific guidance.

Detection occurs automatically - no manual command needed.

Alloy project indicators:

• app/ folder (MVC structure)
• app/views/, app/controllers/ folders
• app/models/ folder

Behavior based on detection:

• Alloy detected → Provides Alloy MVC documentation, Backbone.js patterns, TSS styling, widgets
• Not detected → Indicates this skill is for Alloy projects only, does not suggest Alloy-specific features

Quick reference

Topic	Reference File
Core concepts, MVC, Backbone.js, conventions	CONCEPTS.md
Controllers, events, conditional code, arguments	CONTROLLERS.md
Models, collections, data binding, migrations	MODELS.md
XML markup, elements, attributes, events	VIEWS_XML.md
TSS styling, themes, platform-specific styles	VIEWS_STYLES.md
Dynamic styles, autostyle, runtime styling	VIEWS_DYNAMIC.md
Controllers-less views, patterns	VIEWS_WITHOUT_CONTROLLERS.md
Creating and using widgets	WIDGETS.md
CLI commands, code generation	CLI_TASKS.md
PurgeTSS integration (optional addon)	PURGETSS.md

Project structure

Standard Alloy project structure:

app/
├── alloy.js              # Initializer file
├── alloy.jmk             # Build configuration
├── config.json           # Project configuration
├── assets/               # Images, fonts, files (→ Resources/)
├── controllers/          # Controller files (.js)
├── i18n/                 # Localization strings (→ i18n/)
├── lib/                  # CommonJS modules
├── migrations/           # DB migrations (<DATETIME>_<name>.js)
├── models/               # Model definitions (.js)
├── platform/             # Platform-specific resources (→ platform/)
├── specs/                # Test-only files (dev/test only)
├── styles/               # TSS files (.tss)
├── themes/               # Theme folders
├── views/                # XML markup files (.xml)
└── widgets/              # Widget components

MVC quick start

Controller (app/controllers/index.js):

function doClick(e) {
    alert($.label.text);
}
$.index.open();

View (app/views/index.xml):

<Alloy>
    <Window class="container">
        <Label id="label" onClick="doClick">Hello, World</Label>
    </Window>
</Alloy>

Style (app/styles/index.tss):

".container": { backgroundColor: "white" }
"Label": { color: "#000" }

Key concepts

• Models/Collections: Backbone.js objects with sync adapters (sql, properties)
• Views: XML markup with TSS styling
• Controllers: JavaScript logic with $ reference to view components
• Data Binding: Bind collections to UI components automatically
• Widgets: Reusable components with MVC structure
• Conventions: File naming and placement drive code generation

Critical rules

Platform-specific properties in TSS

🚨 CRITICAL: Platform-specific properties require modifiers Using Ti.UI.iOS.* or Ti.UI.Android.* properties in TSS without platform modifiers causes cross-platform compilation failures.

Example of the failure:

// WRONG - Adds Ti.UI.iOS to Android project
"#mainWindow": {
  statusBarStyle: Ti.UI.iOS.StatusBar.LIGHT_CONTENT  // FAILS on Android!
}

Correct approach - use platform modifiers:

// CORRECT - Only adds to iOS
"#mainWindow[platform=ios]": {
  statusBarStyle: Ti.UI.iOS.StatusBar.LIGHT_CONTENT
}

// CORRECT - Only adds to Android
"#mainWindow[platform=android]": {
  actionBar: {
    displayHomeAsUp: true
  }
}

Properties that always require platform modifiers:

• iOS: statusBarStyle, modalStyle, modalTransitionStyle, any Ti.UI.iOS.*
• Android: actionBar config, any Ti.UI.Android.* constant

Available modifiers: [platform=ios], [platform=android], [formFactor=handheld], [formFactor=tablet], [if=Alloy.Globals.customVar]

For more platform-specific patterns, see Code conventions (ti-expert) or Platform UI guides (ti-ui).

Common patterns

Creating a model

alloy generate model book sql title:string author:string

Data binding

<Collection src="book" />
<TableView dataCollection="book">
    <TableViewRow title="{title}" />
</TableView>

Platform-specific code

if (OS_IOS) {
    // iOS-only code
}
if (OS_ANDROID) {
    // Android-only code
}

Widget usage

<Widget src="mywidget" id="foo" />

Compilation process

1. Cleanup: Resources folder cleaned
2. Build Config: alloy.jmk loaded (pre:load task)
3. Framework Files: Backbone.js, Underscore.js, sync adapters copied
4. MVC Generation: Models, widgets, views, controllers compiled to JS
5. Main App: app.js generated from template
6. Optimization: UglifyJS optimization, platform-specific code removal

References

Read detailed documentation from the reference files listed above based on your specific task.

Related skills

For tasks beyond Alloy MVC basics, use these complementary skills:

Task	Use This Skill
Modern architecture, services, patterns	ti-expert
Alloy CLI, config files, debugging errors	alloy-howtos
Utility-first styling with PurgeTSS (optional)	purgetss
Native features (location, push, media)	ti-howtos