title: Updating a Backbone.js collection without wiping old models
body: <p>I have an application which consists of a Backbone.js collection and real-time connection to the server.</p>
  
  <p>Every time any client adds / removes / updates a model in the collection, the updated collection is broadcasted to all other clients (not the delta; the whole collection).</p>
  
  <p>When handling this update event from the other clients, the only way I've found of updating the collection is a reset().  Unfortunately, this wipes the old models and creates new ones, along with all the view-related side-effects.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a Backbone-sanctioned way of updating a collection that maintains and updates the original models (comparing by id), creating / deleting them only if necessary?</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong> Backbone has added the <a href="http://backbonejs.org/#Collection-set" rel="nofollow">Collection.set</a> method, which is capable of updating existing models.</p>