NAME

NAME
Template::Plugin::Cycle - Cyclically insert into a Template from a
sequence of values

SYNOPSIS
[% USE cycle('row', 'altrow') %]

<table border="1">
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>First row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>Second row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>Third row</td>
</tr>
</table>

###################################################################
# Alternatively, you might want to make it available to all templates
# throughout an entire application.

use Template::Plugin::Cycle;

# Create a Cycle object and set some values
my $Cycle = Template::Plugin::Cycle->new;
$Cycle->init('normalrow', 'alternaterow');

# Bind the Cycle object into the Template
$Template->process( 'tablepage.html', class => $Cycle );

#######################################################
# Later that night in a Template

<table border="1">
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>First row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>Second row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>Third row</td>
</tr>
</table>

[% class.reset %]
<table border="1">
<tr class="[% class %]">
<td>Another first row</td>
</tr>
</table>

#######################################################
# Which of course produces

<table border="1">
<tr class="normalrow">
<td>First row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alternaterow">
<td>Second row</td>
</tr>
<tr class="normalrow">
<td>Third row</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table border="1">
<tr class="normalrow">
<td>Another first row</td>
</tr>
</table>

DESCRIPTION
Sometimes, apparently almost exclusively when doing alternating table
row backgrounds, you need to print an alternating, cycling, set of
values into a template.

Template::Plugin::Cycle is a small, simple, and hopefully DWIM solution
to these sorts of tasks.

It can be used either as a normal Template::Plugin, or can be created
directly and passed in as a template argument, so that you can set up
situations where it is implicitly available in every page.

METHODS
new [ $Context ] [, @list ]
The "new" constructor creates and returns a new
"Template::Plugin::Cycle" object. It can be optionally passed an initial
set of values to cycle through.

When called from within a Template, the new constructor will be passed
the current Template::Context as the first argument. This will be
ignored.

By doing this, you can use it both directly, AND from inside a Template.

init @list
If you need to set the values for a new empty object, of change the
values to cycle through for an existing object, they can be passed to
the "init" method.

The method always returns the '' null string, to avoid inserting
anything into the template.

elements
The "elements" method returns the number of items currently set for the
"Template::Plugin::Cycle" object.

list
The "list" method returns the current list of values for the
"Template::Plugin::Cycle" object.

This is also the prefered method for getting access to a value at a
particular position within the list of items being cycled to.

[%# Access a variety of things from the list %]
The first item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.first %].
The second item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.[1] %].
The last item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.last %].

next
The "next" method returns the next value from the Cycle. If the end of
the list of valuese is reached, it will "cycle" back the first object
again.

This method is also the one called when the object is stringified. That
is, when it appears on its own in a template. Thus, you can do something
like the following.


<table border="1">

<tr class="[% rowclass.next %]">
<td>First row</td>
</tr>

<tr class="[% rowclass %]">
<td>Second row</td>
</tr>
</table>

value
The "value" method is an analogy for the "next" method.

reset
If a single "Template::Plugin::Cycle" object is to be used it multiple
places within a template, and it is important that the same value be
first every time, then the "reset" method can be used.

The "reset" method resets the Cycle, so that the next value returned
will be the first value in the Cycle object.

SUPPORT
Bugs should be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker, located at

<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Template-Plugin-Cycle>

For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the
author..

AUTHOR
Adam Kennedy <[email protected]>

Thank you to Phase N Australia (<http://phase-n.com/>) for permitting
the open sourcing and release of this distribution as a spin-off from a
commercial project.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004 - 2008 Adam Kennedy.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included
with this module.