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https://github.com/bestpractical/template-declare
https://github.com/bestpractical/template-declare
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- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/bestpractical/template-declare
- Owner: bestpractical
- Created: 2009-10-16T22:24:00.000Z (about 15 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2014-12-17T04:27:10.000Z (about 10 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2023-04-13T18:31:30.124Z (over 1 year ago)
- Language: Perl
- Homepage:
- Size: 408 KB
- Stars: 8
- Watchers: 7
- Forks: 4
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README
- Changelog: Changes
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README
NAME
Template::Declare - Perlish declarative templates
SYNOPSIS
Here's an example of basic HTML usage:
package MyApp::Templates;
use Template::Declare::Tags; # defaults to 'HTML'
use base 'Template::Declare';
template simple => sub {
html {
head {}
body {
p { 'Hello, world wide web!' }
}
}
};
package main;
use Template::Declare;
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates'] );
print Template::Declare->show( 'simple' );
And here's the output:
Hello, world wide web!
DESCRIPTION
"Template::Declare" is a pure-Perl declarative HTML/XUL/RDF/XML
templating system.
Yes. Another one. There are many others like it, but this one is ours.
A few key features and buzzwords:
* All templates are 100% pure Perl code
* Simple declarative syntax
* No angle brackets
* "Native" XML namespace and declaration support
* Mixins
* Inheritance
* Delegation
* Public and private templates
GLOSSARY
template class
A subclass of Template::Declare in which one or more templates are
defined using the "template" keyword, or that inherits templates
from a super class.
template
Created with the "template" keyword, a template is a subroutine that
uses "tags" to generate output.
attribute
An XML element attribute. For example, in "
",
"src" is an attribute of the "img" element.
tag A subroutine that generates XML element-style output. Tag
subroutines execute blocks that generate the output, and can call
other tags to generate a properly hierarchical structure.
tag set
A collection of related tags defined in a subclass of
Template::Declare::TagSet for a particular purpose, and which can be
imported into a template class. For example,
Template::Declare::TagSet::HTML defines tags for emitting HTML
elements.
wrapper
A subroutine that wraps the output from a template. Useful for
wrapping template output in common headers and footers, for example.
dispatch class
A template class that has been passed to "init()" via the
"dispatch_to" parameter. When show is called, only templates defined
in or mixed into the dispatch classes will be executed.
path
The name specified for a template when it is created by the
"template" keyword, or when a template is mixed into a template
class.
mixin
A template mixed into a template class via "mix". Mixed-in templates
may be mixed in under prefix paths to distinguish them from the
templates defined in the dispatch classes.
alias
A template aliased into a template class via "alias". Aliased
templates may be added under prefix paths to distinguish them from
the templates defined in the dispatch classes.
package variable
Variables defined when mixing templates into a template class. These
variables are available only to the mixed-in templates; they are not
even accessible from the template class in which the templates were
defined.
helper
A subroutine used in templates to assist in the generation of
output, or in template classes to assist in the mixing-in of
templates. Output helpers include "outs()" for rending text output
and "xml_decl()" for rendering XML declarations. Mixin helpers
include "into" for specifying a template class to mix into, and
"under" for specifying a path prefix under which to mix templates.
USAGE
Like other Perl templating systems, there are two parts to
Template::Declare: the templates and the code that loads and executes
the templates. Unlike other template systems, the templates are written
in Perl classes. A simple HTML example is in the "SYNOPSIS".
A slightly more advanced example
In this example, we'll show off how to set attributes on HTML tags, how
to call other templates, and how to declare a *private* template that
can't be called directly. We'll also show passing arguments to
templates. First, the template class:
package MyApp::Templates;
use base 'Template::Declare';
use Template::Declare::Tags;
private template 'util/header' => sub {
head {
title { 'This is a webpage' };
meta {
attr { generator => "This is not your father's frontpage" }
}
}
};
private template 'util/footer' => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $time = shift || gmtime;
div {
attr { id => "footer"};
"Page last generated at $time."
}
};
template simple => sub {
my $self = shift;
my $user = shift || 'world wide web';
html {
show('util/header');
body {
img { src is 'hello.jpg' }
p {
attr { class => 'greeting'};
"Hello, $user!"
};
};
show('util/footer', 'noon');
}
};
A few notes on this example:
* Since no parameter was passed to "use Template::Declare::Tags", the
HTML tags are imported by default.
* The "private" keyword indicates that a template is private. That
means that it can only be executed by other templates within the
template class in which it's declared. By default,
"Template::Declare->show" will not dispatch to it.
* The two private templates have longer paths than we've seen before:
"util/header" and "util/footer". They must of course be called by
their full path names. You can put any characters you like into
template names, but the use of Unix filesystem-style paths is the
most common (following on the example of HTML::Mason).
* The first argument to a template is a class name. This can be useful
for calling methods defined in the class.
* The "show" sub executes another template. In this example, the
"simple" template calls "show('util/header')" and
"show('util/footer')" in order to execute those private templates in
the appropriate places.
* Additional arguments to "show" are passed on to the template being
executed. here, "show('util/footer', 'noon')" is passing "noon" to
the "util/footer" template, with the result that the "last generated
at" string will display "noon" instead of the default "gmtime".
* In the same way, note that the "simple" template expects an
additional argument, a user name.
* In addition to using "attr" to declare attributes for an element,
you can use "is", as in
img { src is 'hello.jpg' }
Now for executing the template:
package main;
use Template::Declare;
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates'] );
print Template::Declare->show( '/simple', 'TD user');
We've told Template::Declare to dispatch to templates defined in our
template class. And note how an additional argument is passed to
"show()"; that argument, "TD user", will be passed to the "simple"
template, where it will be used in the $user variable.
The output looks like this:
This is a webpage
Hello, TD user!
Page last generated at Thu Sep 3 20:56:14 2009.
Note that the single quote in "father's" was quoted for you. We sanitize
your output for you to help prevent cross-site scripting attacks.
XUL
Template::Declare isn't limited to just HTML. Let's do XUL!
package MyApp::Templates;
use base 'Template::Declare';
use Template::Declare::Tags 'XUL';
template main => sub {
xml_decl { 'xml', version => '1.0' };
xml_decl {
'xml-stylesheet',
href => "chrome://global/skin/",
type => "text/css"
};
groupbox {
caption { attr { label => 'Colors' } }
radiogroup {
for my $id ( qw< orange violet yellow > ) {
radio {
attr {
id => $id,
label => ucfirst($id),
$id eq 'violet' ? (selected => 'true') : ()
}
}
} # for
}
}
};
The first thing to do in a template class is to subclass
Template::Declare itself. This is required so that Template::Declare
always knows that it's dealing with templates. The second thing is to
"use Template::Declare::Tags" to import the set of tag subroutines you
need to generate the output you want. In this case, we've imported tags
to support the creation of XUL. Other tag sets include HTML (the
default), and RDF.
Templates are created using the "template" keyword:
template main => sub { ... };
The first argument is the name of the template, also known as its
*path*. In this case, the template's path is "main" (or "/main", both
are allowed (to keep both PHP and HTML::Mason fans happy). The second
argument is an anonymous subroutine that uses the tag subs (and any
other necessary code) to generate the output for the template.
The tag subs imported into your class take blocks as arguments, while a
number of helper subs take other arguments. For example, the "xml_decl"
helper takes as its first argument the name of the XML declaration to be
output, and then a hash of the attributes of that declaration:
xml_decl { 'xml', version => '1.0' };
Tag subs are used by simply passing a block to them that generates the
output. Said block may of course execute other tag subs in order to
represent the hierarchy required in your output. Here, the "radiogroup"
tag calls the "radio" tag for each of three different colors:
radiogroup {
for my $id ( qw< orange violet yellow > ) {
radio {
attr {
id => $id,
label => ucfirst($id),
$id eq 'violet' ? (selected => 'true') : ()
}
}
} # for
}
Note the "attr" sub. This helper function is used to add attributes to
the element created by the tag in which they appear. In the previous
example, the the "id", "label", and "selected" attributes are added to
each "radio" output.
Once you've written your templates, you'll want to execute them. You do
so by telling Template::Declare what template classes to dispatch to and
then asking it to show you the output from a template:
package main;
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates'] );
print Template::Declare->show( 'main' );
The path passed to "show" can be either "main" or , as you
prefer. In either event, the output would look like this:
Postprocessing
Sometimes you just want simple syntax for inline elements. The following
shows how to use a postprocessor to emphasize text _like this_.
package MyApp::Templates;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template before => sub {
h1 {
outs "Welcome to ";
em { "my" };
outs " site. It's ";
em { "great" };
outs "!";
};
};
template after => sub {
h1 { "Welcome to _my_ site. It's _great_!" };
h2 { outs_raw "This is _not_ emphasized." };
img { src is '/foo/_bar_baz.png' };
};
Here we've defined two templates in our template class, with the paths
"before" and "after". The one new thing to note is the use of the "outs"
and "outs_raw" subs. "outs" XML-encodes its argument and outputs it. You
can also just specify a string to be output within a tag call, but if
you need to mix tags and plain text within a tag call, as in the
"before" template here, you'll need to use "outs" to get things to
output as you would expect. "outs_raw" is the same, except that it does
no XML encoding.
Now let's have a look at how we use these templates with a
post-processor:
package main;
use Template::Declare;
Template::Declare->init(
dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates'],
postprocessor => \&emphasize,
strict => 1,
);
print Template::Declare->show( 'before' );
print Template::Declare->show( 'after' );
sub emphasize {
my $text = shift;
$text =~ s{_(.+?)_}{$1}g;
return $text;
}
As usual, we've told Template::Declare to dispatch to our template
class. A new parameter to "init()" is "postprocessor", which is a code
reference that should expect the template output as an argument. It can
then transform that text however it sees fit before returning it for
final output. In this example, the "emphasize" subroutine looks for text
that's emphasized using _underscores_ and turns them into
"emphasis" HTML elements.
We then execute both the "before" and the "after" templates with the
output ending up as:
Welcome to
my site. It's
great!
Welcome to my site. It's great!
This is _not_ emphasized.
The thing to note here is that text passed to "outs_raw" is not passed
through the postprocessor, and neither are attribute values (like the
"img"'s "src").
Inheritance
Templates are really just methods. You can subclass your template
packages to override some of those methods:
package MyApp::Templates::GenericItem;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template 'list' => sub {
my ($self, @items) = @_;
div {
show('item', $_) for @items;
}
};
template 'item' => sub {
my ($self, $item) = @_;
span { $item }
};
package MyApp::Templates::BlogPost;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'MyApp::Templates::GenericItem';
template 'item' => sub {
my ($self, $post) = @_;
h1 { $post->title }
div { $post->body }
};
Here we have two template classes; the second,
"MyApp::Templates::BlogPost", inherits from the first,
"MyApp::Templates::GeniricItem". Note also that
"MyApp::Templates::BlogPost" overrides the "item" template. So execute
these templates:
package main;
use Template::Declare;
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates::GenericItem'] );
print Template::Declare->show( 'list', 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' );
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates::BlogPost'] );
my $post = My::Post->new(title => 'Hello', body => 'first post');
print Template::Declare->show( 'item', $post );
First we execute the "list" template in the base class, passing in some
items, and then we re-"init()" Template::Declare and execute *its*
"list" template with an appropriate argument. Here's the output:
foo
bar
baz
Hello
first post
So the override of the "list" template in the subclass works as
expected. For another example, see Jifty::View::Declare::CRUD.
Wrappers
There are two levels of wrappers in Template::Declare: template wrappers
and smart tag wrappers.
Template Wrappers
"create_wrapper" declares a wrapper subroutine that can be called like a
tag sub, but can optionally take arguments to be passed to the wrapper
sub. For example, if you wanted to wrap all of the output of a template
in the usual HTML headers and footers, you can do something like this:
package MyApp::Templates;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
BEGIN {
create_wrapper wrap => sub {
my $code = shift;
my %params = @_;
html {
head { title { outs "Hello, $params{user}!"} };
body {
$code->();
div { outs 'This is the end, my friend' };
};
}
};
}
template inner => sub {
wrap {
h1 { outs "Hello, Jesse, s'up?" };
} user => 'Jesse';
};
Note how the "wrap" wrapper function is available for calling after it
has been declared in a "BEGIN" block. Also note how you can pass
arguments to the function after the closing brace (you don't need a
comma there!).
The output from the "inner" template will look something like this:
Hello, Jesse!
Hello, Jesse, s'up?
This is the end, my friend
Tag Wrappers
Tag wrappers are similar to template wrappers, but mainly function as
syntax sugar for creating subroutines that behave just like tags but are
allowed to contain arbitrary Perl code and to dispatch to other tag. To
create one, simply create a named subroutine with the prototype "(&)" so
that its interface is the same as tags. Within it, use
"smart_tag_wrapper" to do the actual execution, like so:
package My::Template;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
sub myform (&) {
my $code = shift;
smart_tag_wrapper {
my %params = @_; # set using 'with'
form {
attr { %{ $params{attr} } };
$code->();
input { attr { type => 'submit', value => $params{value} } };
};
};
}
template edit_prefs => sub {
with(
attr => { id => 'edit_prefs', action => 'edit.html' },
value => 'Save'
), myform {
label { 'Time Zone' };
input { type is 'text'; name is 'tz' };
};
};
Note in the "edit_prefs" template that we've used "with" to set up
parameters to be passed to the smart wrapper. "smart_tag_wrapper()" is
the device that allows you to receive those parameters, and also handles
the magic of making sure that the tags you execute within it are
properly output. Here we've used "myform" similarly to "form", only
"myform" does something different with the "with()" arguments and
outputs a submit element.
Executing this template:
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['My::Template'] );
print Template::Declare->show('edit_prefs');
Yields this output:
Time Zone
Class Search Dispatching
The classes passed via the "dispatch_to" parameter to "init()" specify
all of the templates that can be executed by subsequent calls to
"show()". Template searches through these classes in order to find those
templates. Thus it can be useful, when you're creating your template
classes and determining which to use for particular class to "show()",
to have templates that override other templates. This is similar to how
an operating system will search all the paths in the $PATH environment
variable for a program to run, and to HTML::Mason component roots or
Template::Toolkit's "INCLUDE_PATH" parameter.
For example, say you have this template class that defines a template
that you'll use for displaying images on your Web site.
package MyApp::UI::Standard;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template image => sub {
my ($self, $src, $title) = @_;
img {
src is $src;
title is $title;
};
};
As usual, you can use it like so:
my @template_classes = 'MyApp::UI::Standard';
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => \@template_classes );
print Template::Declare->show('image', 'foo.png', 'Foo');
We're explicitly using a reference to @template_classes so that we can
manage this list ourselves.
The output of this will be:
But say that in some sections of your site you need to have a more
formal treatment of your photos. Maybe you publish photos from a wire
service and need to provide an appropriate credit. You might write the
template class like so:
package MyApp::UI::Formal;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template image => sub {
my ($self, $src, $title, $credit, $caption) = @_;
div {
class is 'formal';
img {
src is $src;
title is $title;
};
p {
class is 'credit';
outs "Photo by $credit";
};
p {
class is 'caption';
outs $caption;
};
};
};
This, too, will work as expected, but the useful bit that comes in when
you're mixing and matching template classes to pass to "dispatch_to"
before rendering a page. Maybe you always pass have MyApp::UI::Standard
to "dispatch_to" because it has all of your standard formatting
templates. But when the code realizes that a particular page needs the
more formal treatment, you can prepend the formal class to the list:
unshift @template_classes, 'MyApp::UI::Formal';
print Template::Declare->show(
'image',
'ap.png',
'AP Photo',
'Clark Kent',
'Big news'
);
shift @template_classes;
In this way, made the formal "image" template will be found first,
yielding this output:
Photo by Clark Kent
Big news
At the end, we've shifted the formal template class off the
"dispatch_to" list in order to restore the template classes the default
configuration, ready for the next request.
Template Composition
There are two methods of template composition: mixins and delegation.
Their interfaces are very similar, the only difference being the
template invocant.
Mixins
Let's start with a mixin.
package MyApp::UtilTemplates;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template content => sub {
my $self = shift;
my @paras = @_;
h1 { $self->get_title };
div {
id is 'content';
p { $_ } for @paras;
};
};
package MyApp::Templates;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
mix MyApp::UtilTemplates under '/util';
sub get_title { 'Kashmir' }
template story => sub {
my $self = shift;
html {
head {
title { "My Site: " . $self->get_title };
};
body {
show( 'util/content' => 'first paragraph', 'second paragraph' );
};
};
};
The first template class, "MyApp::UtilTemplates", defines a utility
template, called "content", for outputting the contents of page. Note
its call to "$self->get_title" even though it doesn't have a "get_title"
method. This is part of the mixin's "contract": it requires that the
class it's mixed into have a "get_title()" method.
The second template class, "MyApp::Templates", mixes
"MyApp::UtilTemplates" into itself under the path "/util" and defines a
"get_title()" method as required by the mixin. Then, its "story"
template calls the mixed-in template as "util/content", because the
"content" template was mixed into the current template under "/util".
Get it?
Now we can use the usual template invocation:
package main;
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Templates'] );
print Template::Declare->show('story');
To appreciate our output:
My Site: Kashmir
Kashmir
fist paragraph
second paragraph
Mixins are a very useful tool for template authors to add reusable
functionality to their template classes. But it's important to pay
attention to the mixin contracts so that you're sure to implement the
required API in your template class (here, the "get_title()" method).
Aliases
Aliases are very similar to mixins, but implement delegation as a
composition pattern, rather than mixins. The upshot is that there is no
contract provided by an aliased class: it just works. This is because
the invocant is the class from which the aliases are imported, and
therefore it will dispatch to methods defined in the aliased class.
For example, say that you wanted to output a sidebar on pages that need
one (perhaps your CMS has sidebar things). We can define a template
class that has a template for that:
package MyApp::UI::Stuff;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
sub img_path { '/ui/css' }
template sidebar => sub {
my ($self, $thing) = @_;
div {
class is 'sidebar';
img { src is $self->img_path . '/sidebar.png' };
p { $_->content } for $thing->get_things;
};
};
Note the use of the "img_path()" method defined in the template class
and used by the "sidebar" template. Now let's use it:
package MyApp::Render;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
alias MyApp::UI::Stuff under '/stuff';
template page => sub {
my ($self, $page) = @_;
h1 { $page->title };
for my $thing ($page->get_things) {
if ($thing->is('paragraph')) {
p { $thing->content };
} elsif ($thing->is('sidebar')) {
show( '/stuff/sidebar' => $thing );
}
}
};
Here our rendering template class has aliased "MyApp::UI::Stuff" under
"/stuff". So the "page" template calls "show('/stuff/sidebar')" to
invoke the sidebar template. If we run this:
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Render'] );
print Template::Declare->show( page => $page );
We get output as you might expect:
My page title
Page paragraph
Sidebar paragraph
Another paragraph
Now, let's say that you have political stuff that you want to use a
different image for in the sidebar. If that's the only difference, we
can subclass "MyApp::UI::Stuff" and just override the "img_path()"
method:
package MyApp::UI::Stuff::Politics;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'MyApp::UI::Stuff';
sub img_path { '/politics/ui/css' }
Now let's mix that into a politics template class:
package MyApp::Render::Politics;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
alias MyApp::UI::Stuff::Politics under '/politics';
template page => sub {
my ($self, $page) = @_;
h1 { $page->title };
for my $thing ($page->get_things) {
if ($thing->is('paragraph')) {
p { $thing->content };
} elsif ($thing->is('sidebar')) {
show( '/politics/sidebar' => $thing );
}
}
};
The only difference between this template class and "MyApp::Render" is
that it aliases "MyApp::UI::Stuff::Politics" under "/politics", and then
calls "show('/politics/sidebar')" in the "page" template. Running this
template:
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => ['MyApp::Render::Politics'] );
print Template::Declare->show( page => $page );
Yields output using the value of the subclass's "img_path()" method --
that is, the sidebar image is now /politics/ui/css/sidebar.png instead
of /ui/css/sidebar.png:
My page title
Page paragraph
Sidebar paragraph
Another paragraph
Other Tricks
The delegation behavior of "alias" actually makes it a decent choice for
template authors to mix and match libraries of template classes as
appropriate, without worrying about side effects. You can even alias
templates in one template class into another template class if you're
not the author of that class by using the "into" keyword:
alias My::UI::Widgets into Your::UI::View under '/widgets';
Now the templates defined in "Your::UI::View" are available in
"My::UI::Widgets" under "/widgets". The "mix" method supports this
syntax as well, though it's not necessarily recommended, given that you
would not be able to fulfill any contracts unless you re-opened the
class into which you mixed the templates. But in any case, authors of
framework view classes might find this functionality useful for
automatically aliasing template classes into a single dispatch template
class.
Another trick is to alias or mix your templates with package variables
specific to the composition. Do so via the "setting" keyword:
package My::Templates;
mix Some::Mixin under '/mymix', setting { name => 'Larry' };
The templates mixed from "Some::Mixin" into "My::Templates" have package
variables set for them that are accessible *only* from their mixed-in
paths. For example, if this template was defined in "Some::Mixin":
template howdy => sub {
my $self = shift;
outs "Howdy, " . $self->package_variable('name') || 'Jesse';
};
Then "show('mymix/howdy')" called on "My::Templates" will output "Howdy,
Larry", while the output from "show('howdy')" will output "Howdy,
Jesse". In other words, package variables defined for the mixed-in
templates are available only to the mixins and not to the original. The
same functionality exists for "alias" as well.
Indentation configuration
by default, Template::Declare renders a readable XML adding end of lines
and a one column indentation. This behavior could break a webpage design
or add a significant amount of chars to your XML output. This could be
changed by overwriting the default values. so
$Template::Declare::Tags::TAG_INDENTATION = 0;
$Template::Declare::Tags::EOL = "";
say Template::Declare->show('main');
will render
hi
METHODS
init
This *class method* initializes the "Template::Declare" system.
dispatch_to
An array reference of classes to search for templates.
Template::Declare will search this list of classes in order to find
a template path.
roots
Deprecated. Just like "dispatch_to", only the classes are searched
in reverse order. Maintained for backward compatibility and for the
pleasure of those who want to continue using Template::Declare the
way that Jesse's "crack-addled brain" intended.
postprocessor
A coderef called to postprocess the HTML or XML output of your
templates. This is to alleviate using Tags for simple text markup.
around_template
A coderef called instead of rendering each template. The coderef
will receive three arguments: a coderef to invoke to render the
template, the template's path, an arrayref of the arguments to the
template, and the coderef of the template itself. You can use this
for instrumentation. For example:
Template::Declare->init(around_template => sub {
my ($orig, $path, $args, $code) = @_;
my $start = time;
$orig->();
warn "Rendering $path took " . (time - $start) . " seconds.";
});
strict
Die in exceptional situations, such as when a template can't be
found, rather than just warn. False by default for backward
compatibility. The default may be changed in the future, so
specifying the value explicitly is recommended.
show TEMPLATE_NAME
Template::Declare->show( 'howdy', name => 'Larry' );
my $output = Template::Declare->show('index');
Call "show" with a "template_name" and "Template::Declare" will render
that template. Subsequent arguments will be passed to the template.
Content generated by "show()" can be accessed via the "output()" method
if the output method you've chosen returns content instead of outputting
it directly.
If called in scalar context, this method will also just return the
content when available.
Template Composition
Sometimes you want to mix templates from one class into another class,
or delegate template execution to a class of templates. "alias()" and
"mix()" are your keys to doing so.
mix
mix Some::Clever::Mixin under '/mixin';
mix Some::Other::Mixin under '/otmix', setting { name => 'Larry' };
mix My::Mixin into My::View, under '/mymix';
Mixes templates from one template class into another class. When the
mixed-in template is called, its invocant will be the class into which
it was mixed. This type of composition is known as a "mixin" in
object-oriented parlance. See Template Composition for extended examples
and a comparison to "alias".
The first parameter is the name of the template class to be mixed in.
The "under" keyword tells "mix" where to put the templates. For example,
a "foo" template in "Some::Clever::Mixin" will be mixed in as
"mymixin/foo".
The "setting" keyword specifies package variables available only to the
mixed-in copies of templates. These are available to the templates as
"$self->package_variable($varname)".
The "into" keyword tells "mix" into what class to mix the templates.
Without this keyword, "mix" will mix them into the calling class.
For those who prefer a direct OO syntax for mixins, just call "mix()" as
a method on the class to be mixed in. To replicate the above three
examples without the use of the sugar:
Some::Clever::Mixin->mix( '/mixin' );
Some::Other::Mixin->mix( '/otmix', { name => 'Larry' } );
My::Mixin->mix( 'My::View', '/mymix' );
alias
alias Some::Clever:Templates under '/delegate';
alias Some::Other::Templates under '/send_to', { name => 'Larry' };
alias UI::Stuff into My::View, under '/mystuff';
Aliases templates from one template class into another class. When an
alias called, its invocant will be the class from which it was aliased.
This type of composition is known as "delegation" in object-oriented
parlance. See Template Composition for extended examples and a
comparison to "mix".
The first parameter is the name of the template class to alias. The
"under" keyword tells "alias" where to put the templates. For example, a
"foo" template in "Some::Clever::Templates" will be aliased as
"delegate/foo".
The "setting" keyword specifies package variables available only to the
aliases. These are available to the templates as
"$self->package_variable($varname)".
The "into" keyword tells "alias" into what class to alias the templates.
Without this keyword, "alias" will alias them into the calling class.
For those who prefer a direct OO syntax for mixins, just call "alias()"
as a method on the class to be mixed in. To replicate the above three
examples without the use of the sugar:
Some::Clever:Templates->alias( '/delegate' );
Some::Other::Templates->alias( '/send_to', { name => 'Larry' } );
UI::Stuff->alias( 'My::View', '/mystuff' );
package_variable( VARIABLE )
$td->package_variable( $varname => $value );
$value = $td->package_variable( $varname );
Returns a value set for a mixed-in template's variable, if any were
specified when the template was mixed-in. See "mix" for details.
package_variables( VARIABLE )
$td->package_variables( $variables );
$variables = $td->package_variables;
Get or set a hash reference of variables for a mixed-in template. See
"mix" for details.
Templates registration and lookup
resolve_template TEMPLATE_PATH INCLUDE_PRIVATE_TEMPLATES
my $code = Template::Declare->resolve_template($template);
my $code = Template::Declare->has_template($template, 1);
Turns a template path ("TEMPLATE_PATH") into a "CODEREF". If the boolean
"INCLUDE_PRIVATE_TEMPLATES" is true, resolves private template in
addition to public ones. "has_template()" is an alias for this method.
First it looks through all the valid Template::Declare classes defined
via "dispatch_to". For each class, it looks to see if it has a template
called $template_name directly (or via a mixin).
has_template TEMPLATE_PATH INCLUDE_PRIVATE_TEMPLATES
An alias for "resolve_template".
register_template( TEMPLATE_NAME, CODEREF )
MyApp::Templates->register_template( howdy => sub { ... } );
This method registers a template called "TEMPLATE_NAME" in the calling
class. As you might guess, "CODEREF" defines the template's
implementation. This method is mainly intended to be used internally, as
you use the "template" keyword to create templates, right?
register_private_template( TEMPLATE_NAME, CODEREF )
MyApp::Templates->register_private_template( howdy => sub { ... } );
This method registers a private template called "TEMPLATE_NAME" in the
calling class. As you might guess, "CODEREF" defines the template's
implementation.
Private templates can't be called directly from user code but only from
other templates.
This method is mainly intended to be used internally, as you use the
"private template" expression to create templates, right?
buffer
Gets or sets the String::BufferStack object; this is a class method.
You can use it to manipulate the output from tags as they are output.
It's used internally to make the tags nest correctly, and be output to
the right place. We're not sure if there's ever a need for you to frob
it by hand, but it does enable things like the following:
template simple => sub {
html {
head {}
body {
Template::Declare->buffer->set_filter( sub {uc shift} );
p { 'Whee!' }
p { 'Hello, world wide web!' }
Template::Declare->buffer->clear_top if rand() < 0.5;
}
}
};
...which outputs, with equal regularity, either:
WHEE!
HELLO, WORLD WIDE WEB!
...or:
We'll leave it to you to judge whether or not that's actually useful.
Helpers
You don't need to call any of this directly.
into
$class = into $class;
"into" is a helper method providing semantic sugar for the "mix" method.
All it does is return the name of the class on which it was called.
Old, deprecated or just better to avoid
import_templates
import_templates MyApp::Templates under '/something';
Like "mix()", but without support for the "into" or "setting" keywords.
That is, it mixes templates into the calling template class and does not
support package variables for those mixins.
Deprecated in favor of "mix". Will be supported for a long time, but new
code should use "mix()".
new_buffer_frame
$td->new_buffer_frame;
# same as
$td->buffer->push( private => 1 );
Creates a new buffer frame, using "push" in String::BufferStack with
"private".
Deprecated in favor of dealing with "buffer" directly.
end_buffer_frame
my $buf = $td->end_buffer_frame;
# same as
my $buf = $td->buffer->pop;
Deletes and returns the topmost buffer, using "pop" in
String::BufferStack.
Deprecated in favor of dealing with "buffer" directly.
path_for $template
my $path = Template::Declare->path_for('index');
Returns the path for the template name to be used for show, adjusted
with paths used in "mix". Note that this will only work for the last
class into which you imported the template. This method is, therefore,
deprecated.
PITFALLS
We're reusing the perl interpreter for our templating language, but Perl
was not designed specifically for our purpose here. Here are some known
pitfalls while you're scripting your templates with this module.
* It's quite common to see tag sub calling statements without trailing
semi-colons right after "}". For instance,
template foo => sub {
p {
a { attr { src => '1.png' } }
a { attr { src => '2.png' } }
a { attr { src => '3.png' } }
}
};
is equivalent to
template foo => sub {
p {
a { attr { src => '1.png' } };
a { attr { src => '2.png' } };
a { attr { src => '3.png' } };
};
};
But "xml_decl" is a notable exception. Please always put a trailing
semicolon after "xml_decl { ... }", or you'll mess up the order of
output.
* Another place that requires trailing semicolon is the statements
before a Perl looping statement, an if statement, or a "show" call.
For example:
p { "My links:" };
for (@links) {
with ( src => $_ ), a {}
}
The ";" after " p { ... } " is required here, or Perl will complain
about syntax errors.
Another example is
h1 { 'heading' }; # this trailing semicolon is mandatory
show 'tag_tag'
* The "is" syntax for declaring tag attributes also requires a
trailing semicolon, unless it is the only statement in a block. For
example,
p { class is 'item'; id is 'item1'; outs "This is an item" }
img { src is 'cat.gif' }
* Literal strings that have tag siblings won't be captured. So the
following template
p { 'hello'; em { 'world' } }
produces
world
instead of the desired output
hello
world
You can use "outs" here to solve this problem:
p { outs 'hello'; em { 'world' } }
Note you can always get rid of "outs" if the string literal is the
only element of the containing block:
p { 'hello, world!' }
* Look out! If the if block is the last block/statement and the
condition part is evaluated to be 0:
p { if ( 0 ) { } }
produces
0
instead of the more intuitive output:
This is because "if ( 0 )" is the last expression, so 0 is returned
as the value of the whole block, which is used as the content of
tag.
To get rid of this, just put an empty string at the end so it
returns empty string as the content instead of 0:
p { if ( 0 ) { } '' }
BUGS
Crawling all over, baby. Be very, very careful. This code is so cutting
edge, it can only be fashioned from carbon nanotubes. But we're already
using this thing in production :) Make sure you have read the "PITFALLS"
section above :)
Some specific bugs and design flaws that we'd love to see fixed.
Output isn't streamy.
If you run into bugs or misfeatures, please report them to
"[email protected]".
SEE ALSO
Template::Declare::Tags
Template::Declare::TagSet
Template::Declare::TagSet::HTML
Template::Declare::TagSet::XUL
Jifty
AUTHOR
Jesse Vincent
LICENSE
Template::Declare is Copyright 2006-2010 Best Practical Solutions, LLC.
Template::Declare is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.