Changing basemaps from cartodb.js

Question

Is there a good way to change leaflet basemaps from cartodb.js or leaflet.js? I am able to grab the map object and basemap layer from the layers property in the done() promise.

cartodb.createVis(map, layerUrl, mapOptions)
      .done(function(vis, layers) {
          var map = vis.getNativeMap();
          var basemap = layers[0];
      })
      .error(function(err) {
        console.log("An error occurred: " + err);
      });

Right now I'm thinking I need to be able to grab tileLayer from the basemap object or the map object, then use leaflet's setUrl method as per http://leafletjs.com/reference.html#tilelayer-seturl, but so far no luck there.

Answer 1

Yeah, really close, you'll need to set it on the basemap, which is actually layer[0], when you are using createVis at least. So here is how it would work,

cartodb.createVis('map', layerUrl)
  .done(function(vis, layers) {
      var basemap = layers[0];
      basemap.setUrl('http://{s}.tile.osm.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png');
  })
  .error(function(err) {
    console.log("An error occurred: " + err);
  });

Of course, if you want to reference basemap outside the done promise, make sure it has a different scope. Otherwise you should be set.

If your visualization in CartoDB didn't have a basemap, you would need to add one to your layers instead of just updating layer[0].