NAME
Template::Alloy - TT2/3, HT, HTE, Tmpl, and Velocity Engine
SYNOPSIS
Template::Toolkit style usage
my $t = Template::Alloy->new(
INCLUDE_PATH => ['/path/to/templates'],
);
my $swap = {
key1 => 'val1',
key2 => 'val2',
code => sub { 42 },
hash => {a => 'b'},
};
# print to STDOUT
$t->process('my/template.tt', $swap)
|| die $t->error;
# process into a variable
my $out = '';
$t->process('my/template.tt', $swap, \$out);
### Alloy uses the same syntax and configuration as Template::Toolkit
HTML::Template::Expr style usage
my $t = Template::Alloy->new(
filename => 'my/template.ht',
path => ['/path/to/templates'],
);
my $swap = {
key1 => 'val1',
key2 => 'val2',
code => sub { 42 },
hash => {a => 'b'},
};
$t->param($swap);
# print to STDOUT (errors die)
$t->output(print_to => \*STDOUT);
# process into a variable
my $out = $t->output;
### Alloy can also use the same syntax and configuration as HTML::Template
Text::Tmpl style usage
my $t = Template::Alloy->new;
my $swap = {
key1 => 'val1',
key2 => 'val2',
code => sub { 42 },
hash => {a => 'b'},
};
$t->set_delimiters('#[', ']#');
$t->set_strip(0);
$t->set_values($swap);
$t->set_dir('/path/to/templates');
my $out = $t->parse_file('my/template.tmpl');
my $str = "Foo #[echo $key1]# Bar";
my $out = $t->parse_string($str);
### Alloy uses the same syntax and configuration as Text::Tmpl
Velocity (VTL) style usage
my $t = Template::Alloy->new;
my $swap = {
key1 => 'val1',
key2 => 'val2',
code => sub { 42 },
hash => {a => 'b'},
};
my $out = $t->merge('my/template.vtl', $swap);
my $str = "#set($foo 1 + 3) ($foo) ($bar) ($!baz)";
my $out = $t->merge(\$str, $swap);
DESCRIPTION
"An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more elements"
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy).
Template::Alloy represents the mixing of features and capabilities from
all of the major mini-language based template systems (support for
non-mini-language based systems will happen eventually). With
Template::Alloy you can use your favorite template interface and syntax
and get features from each of the other major template systems. And
Template::Alloy is fast - whether your using mod_perl, cgi, or running
from the commandline. There is even Template::Alloy::XS for getting a
little more speed when that is necessary.
Template::Alloy happened by accident (accidentally on purpose). The
Template::Alloy (Alloy hereafter) was originally a part of the CGI::Ex
suite that performed simple variable interpolation. It used TT2 style
variables in TT2 style tags "[% foo.bar %]". That was all the original
Template::Alloy did. This was fine and dandy for a couple of years. In
winter of 2005-2006 Alloy was revamped to add a few features. One thing
led to another and soon Alloy provided for most of the features of TT2
as well as some from TT3. Template::Alloy now provides a full-featured
implementation of the Template::Toolkit language.
After a move to a new company that was using HTML::Template::Expr and
Text::Tmpl templates, support was investigated and interfaces for
HTML::Template, HTML::Template::Expr, Text::Tmpl, and Velocity (VTL)
were added. All of the various engines offer the same features - just
using different syntaxes and interfaces.
Template::Toolkit brought the most to the table. HTML::Template brought
the LOOP directive. HTML::Template::Expr brough more vmethods and using
vmethods as top level functions. Text::Tmpl brought the COMMENT
directive and encouraged speed matching (Text::Tmpl is almost entirely C
based and is very fast). The Velocity engine brought AUTO_EVAL and
SHOW_UNDEFINED_INTERP.
Most of the standard Template::Toolkit documentation covering
directives, variables, configuration, plugins, filters, syntax, and
vmethods should apply to Alloy just fine (This pod tries to explain
everything - but there is too much). See Template::Alloy::TT for a
listing of the differences between Alloy and TT.
Most of the standard HTML::Template and HTML::Template::Expr
documentation covering methods, variables, expressions, and syntax will
apply to Alloy just fine as well.
Most of the standard Text::Tmpl documentation applies, as does the
documentation covering Velocity (VTL).
So should you use Template::Alloy ? Well, try it out. It may give you no
visible improvement. Or it could.
BACKEND
Template::Alloy uses a recursive regex based grammar (early versions
during the CGI::Ex::Template phase did not). This allows for the
embedding of opening and closing tags inside other tags (as in [% a =
"[% 1 + 2 %]" ; a|eval %]). The individual methods such as parse_expr
and play_expr may be used by external applications to add TT style
variable parsing to other applications.
The regex parser returns an AST (abstract syntax tree) of the text,
directives, variables, and expressions. All of the different template
syntaxes compile to the same AST format. The AST is composed only of
scalars and arrayrefs and is suitable for sending to JavaScript via JSON
or sharing with other languages. The parse_tree method is used for
returning this AST.
Once at the AST stage, there are two modes of operation. Alloy can
either operate directly on the AST using the Play role, or it can
compile the AST to perl code via the Compile role, and then execute the
code. To use the perl code route, you must set the COMPILE_PERL flag to
1. If you are running in a cached-in-memory environment such as
mod_perl, this is the fastest option. If you are running in a
non-cached-in-memory environment, then using the Play role to run the
AST is generally faster. The AST method is also more secure as cached
AST won't ever eval any "perl" (assuming PERL blocks are disabled -
which is the default).
ROLES
Template::Alloy has split out its functionality into discrete roles. In
Template::Toolkit, this functionality is split into separate classes.
The roles in Template::Alloy simply add on more methods to the main
class. When Perl 6 arrives, these roles will be translated into true
Roles.
The following is a list of roles used by Template::Alloy.
Template::Alloy::Compile - Compile-to-perl role
Template::Alloy::HTE - HTML::Template::Expr role
Template::Alloy::Operator - Operator role
Template::Alloy::Parse - Parse-to-AST role
Template::Alloy::Play - Play-AST role
Template::Alloy::Stream - Stream output role
Template::Alloy::Tmpl - Text::Tmpl role
Template::Alloy::TT - Template::Toolkit role
Template::Alloy::Velocity - Velocity role
Template::Alloy::VMethod - Virtual methods role
Template::Alloy automatically loads the roles when they are needed or
requested - but not sooner (with the exception of the Operator role and
the VMethod role which are always needed and always loaded). This is
good for a CGI environment. In mod_perl you may want to preload a role
to make the most of shared memory. You may do this by passing either the
role name or a method supplied by that role.
# import roles necessary for running TT
use Template::Alloy qw(Parse Play Compile TT);
# import roles based on methods
use Template::Alloy qw(parse_tree play_tree compile_tree process);
Note: importing roles by method names does not import them into that
namespace - it is autoloading the role and methods into the
Template::Alloy namespace. To help make this more clear you may use the
following syntax as well.
# import roles necessary for running TT
use Template::Alloy load => qw(Parse Play Compile TT);
# import roles based on methods
use Template::Alloy load => qw(process parse_tree play_tree compile_tree);
# import roles based on methods
use Template::Alloy
Parse => 1,
Play => 1,
Compile => 1,
TT => 1;
Even with all roles loaded Template::Alloy is still relatively small.
You can load all of the roles by pass "all" to the use statement.
use Template::Alloy 'all';
# or
use Template::Alloy load => 'all';
# or
use Template::Alloy all => 1;
As a final option, Template::Alloy also includes the ability to stand-in
for other template modules. It is able to do this because it supports
the majority of the interface of the other template systems. You can do
this in the following way:
use Template::Alloy qw(Text::Tmpl HTML::Template);
# or
use Template::Alloy load => qw(Text::Tmpl HTML::Template);
# or
use Template::Alloy
'Text::Tmpl' => 1,
'HTML::Template' => 1;
Note that the use statement will die if any of the passed module names
are already loaded and not subclasses of Template::Alloy. This will
avoid thinking that you are using Template::Alloy when you really
aren't. Using the 'all' option won't automatically do this - you must
mention the "stood-in" modules by name.
The following modules may be "stood-in" for:
Template
Text::Tmpl
HTML::Template
HTML::Template::Expr
This feature is intended to make using Template::Alloy with existing
code easier. Most cases should work just fine. Almost all syntax will
just work (except Alloy may make some things work that were previously
broken). However Template::Alloy doesn't support 100% of the interface
of any of the template systems. If you are using "features-on-the-edge"
then you may need to re-write portions of your code that interact with
the template system.
PUBLIC METHODS
The following section lists most of the publicly available methods. Some
less commonly used public methods are listed later in this document.
"new"
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new({
INCLUDE_PATH => ['/my/path/to/content', '/my/path/to/content2'],
});
Arguments may be passed as a hash or as a hashref. Returns a
Template::Alloy object.
There are currently no errors during Template::Alloy object
creation. If you are using the HTML::Template interface, this is
different behavior. The document is not parsed until the output or
process methods are called.
"process"
This is the TT interface for starting processing. Any errors that
result in the template processing being stopped will be stored and
available via the ->error method.
my $t = Template::Alloy->new;
$t->process($in, $swap, $out)
|| die $t->error;
Process takes three arguments.
The $in argument can be any one of:
String containing the filename of the template to be processed. The filename should
be relative to INCLUDE_PATH. (See INCLUDE_PATH, ABSOLUTE, and RELATIVE configuration items).
In memory caching and file side caching are available for this type.
A reference to a scalar containing the contents of the template to be processed.
A coderef that will be called to return the contents of the template.
An open filehandle that will return the contents of the template when read.
The $swap argument should be hashref containing key value pairs that
will be available to variables swapped into the template. Values can
be hashrefs, hashrefs of hashrefs and so on, arrayrefs, arrayrefs of
arrayrefs and so on, coderefs, objects, and simple scalar values
such as numbers and strings. See the section on variables.
The $out argument can be any one of:
undef - meaning to print the completed template to STDOUT.
String containing a filename. The completed template will be placed in the file.
A reference to a string. The contents will be appended to the scalar reference.
A coderef. The coderef will be called with the contents as a single argument.
An object that can run the method "print". The contents will be passed as
a single argument to print.
An arrayref. The contents will be pushed onto the array.
An open filehandle. The contents will be printed to the open handle.
Additionally - the $out argument can be configured using the OUTPUT
configuration item.
The process method defaults to using the "cet" syntax which will
parse TT3 and most TT2 documents. To parse HT or HTE documents, you
must pass the SYNTAX configuration item to the "new" method. All
calls to process would then default to HTE syntax.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(SYNTAX => 'hte');
"process_simple"
Similar to the process method but with the following restrictions:
The $in parameter is limited to a filename or a reference a string
containing the contents.
The $out parameter may only be a reference to a scalar string that
output will be appended to.
Additionally, the following configuration variables will be ignored:
VARIABLES, PRE_DEFINE, BLOCKS, PRE_PROCESS, PROCESS, POST_PROCESS,
AUTO_RESET, OUTPUT.
"error"
Should something go wrong during a "process" command, the error that
occurred can be retrieved via the error method.
$obj->process('somefile.html', {a => 'b'}, \$string_ref)
|| die $obj->error;
"output"
HTML::Template way to process a template. The output method requires
that a filename, filehandle, scalarref, or arrayref argument was
passed to the new method. All of the HT calling conventions for new
are supported. The key difference is that Alloy will not actually
process the template until the output method is called.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(filename => 'myfile.html');
$obj->param(\%swap);
print $obj->output;
See the HTML::Template documentation for more information.
The output method defaults to using the "hte" syntax which will
parse HTE and HT documents. To parse TT3 or TT2 documents, you must
pass the SYNTAX configuration item to the "new" method. All calls to
process would then default to TT3 syntax.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(SYNTAX => 'tt3');
Any errors that occur during the output method will die with the
error as the die value.
"param"
HTML::Template way to get or set variable values that will be used
by the output method.
my $val = $obj->param('key'); # get one value
$obj->param(key => $val); # set one value
$obj->param(key => $val, key2 => $val2); # set multiple
$obj->param({key => $val, key2 => $val2}); # set multiple
See the HTML::Template documentation for more information.
Note: Alloy does not support the die_on_bad_params configuration.
This is because Alloy does not resolve variable names until the
output method is called.
"define_vmethod"
This method is available for defining extra Virtual methods or
filters. This method is similar to Template::Stash::define_vmethod.
Template::Alloy->define_vmethod(
'text',
reverse => sub { my $item = shift; return scalar reverse $item },
);
"register_function"
This is the HTML::Template way of defining text vmethods. It is the
same as calling define_vmethod with "text" as the first argument.
Template::Alloy->register_function(
reverse => sub { my $item = shift; return scalar reverse $item },
);
"define_directive"
This method can be used for adding new directives or overridding
existing ones.
Template::Alloy->define_directive(
MYDIR => {
parse_sub => sub {}, # parse additional items in the tag
play_sub => sub {
my ($self, $ref, $node, $out_ref) = @_;
$$out_ref .= "I always say the same thing!";
return;
},
is_block => 1, # is this block like
is_postop => 0, # not a post operative directive
no_interp => 1, # no interpolation in this block
continues => undef, # it doesn't "continue" any other directives
},
);
Now with a template like:
my $str = "([% MYDIR %]This is something[% END %])";
Template::Alloy->new->process(\$str);
You will get:
(I always say the same thing!)
We'll add more details in later revisions of this document.
"define_syntax"
This method can be used for adding other syntaxes to or overridding
existing ones in the list of choices available in Alloy. The syntax
can be chosen by the SYNTAX configuration item.
Template::Alloy->define_syntax(
my_uber_syntax => sub {
my $self = shift;
local $self->{'V2PIPE'} = 0;
local $self->{'V2EQUALS'} = 0;
local $self->{'PRE_CHOMP'} = 0;
local $self->{'POST_CHOMP'} = 0;
local $self->{'NO_INCLUDES'} = 0;
return $self->parse_tree_tt3(@_);
},
);
The subroutine that is used must return an opcode tree (AST) that
can be played by the execute_tree method.
"define_operator"
This method allows for adding new operators or overriding existing
ones.
Template::Alloy->define_operator({
type => 'right', # can be one of prefix, postfix, right, left, none, ternary, assign
precedence => 84, # relative precedence for resolving multiple operators without parens
symbols => ['foo', 'FOO'], # any mix of chars can be used for the operators
play_sub => sub {
my ($one, $two) = @_;
return "You've been foo'ed ($one, $two)";
},
});
You can then use it in a template as in the following:
my $str = "[% 'ralph' foo 1 + 2 * 3 %]";
Template::Alloy->new->process(\$str);
You will get:
You've been foo'ed (ralph, 7)
Future revisions of this document will include more samples. This is
an experimental feature and the api will probably change.
"dump_parse_tree"
This method allows for returning a Data::Dumper dump of a parsed
template. It is mainly used for testing.
"dump_parse_expr"
This method allows for returning a Data::Dumper dump of a parsed
variable. It is mainly used for testing.
"import"
All of the arguments that can be passed to "use" that are listed
above in the section dealing with ROLES, can be used with the import
method.
# import by role
Template::Alloy->import(qw(Compile Play Parse TT));
# import by method
Template::Alloy->import(qw(compile_tree play_tree parse_tree process));
# import by "stand-in" class
Template::Alloy->import('Text::Tmpl', 'HTML::Template::Expr');
As mentioned in the ROLE section - arguments passed to import are
not imported into current namespace. Roles and methods are only
imported into the Template::Alloy namespace.
VARIABLES
This section discusses how to use variables and expressions in the TT
mini-language.
A variable is the most simple construct to insert into the TT mini
language. A variable name will look for the matching value inside
Template::Alloys internal stash of variables which is essentially a hash
reference. This stash is initially populated by either passing a hashref
as the second argument to the process method, or by setting the
"VARIABLES" or "PRE_DEFINE" configuration variables.
If you are using the HT and HTE syntaxes, the VAR, IF, UNLESS, LOOP, and
INCLUDE directives will accept a NAME attribute which may only be a
single level (non-chained) HTML::Template variable name, or they may
accept an EXPR attribute which may be any valid TT3 variable or
expression.
The following are some sample ways to access variables.
### some sample variables
my %vars = (
one => '1.0',
foo => 'bar',
vname => 'one',
some_code => sub { "You passed me (".join(', ', @_).")" },
some_data => {
a => 'A',
bar => 3234,
c => [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9],
vname => 'one',
},
my_list => [20 .. 50],
cet => Template::Alloy->new,
);
### pass the variables into the Alloy process
$cet->process($template_name, \%vars)
|| die $cet->error;
### pass the variables during object creation (will be available to every process call)
my $cet = Template::Alloy->new(VARIABLES => \%vars);
GETTING VARIABLES
Once you have variables defined, they can be used directly in the
template by using their name in the stash. Or by using the GET
directive.
[% foo %]
[% one %]
[% GET foo %]
Would print when processed:
bar
1.0
bar
To access members of a hashref or an arrayref, you can chain together
the names using a ".".
[% some_data.a %]
[% my_list.0] [% my_list.1 %] [% my_list.-1 %]
[% some_data.c.2 %]
Would print:
A
20 21 50
4
If the value of a variable is a code reference, it will be called. You
can add a set of parenthesis and arguments to pass arguments. Arguments
are variables and can be as complex as necessary.
[% some_code %]
[% some_code() %]
[% some_code(foo) %]
[% some_code(one, 2, 3) %]
Would print:
You passed me ().
You passed me ().
You passed me (bar).
You passed me (1.0, 2, 3).
If the value of a variable is an object, methods can be called using the
"." operator.
[% cet %]
[% cet.dump_parse_expr('1 + 2').replace('\s+', ' ') %]
Would print something like:
Template::Alloy=HASH(0x814dc28)
$VAR1 = [ [ undef, '+', '1', '2' ], 0 ];
Each type of data (string, array and hash) have virtual methods
associated with them. Virtual methods allow for access to functions that
are commonly used on those types of data. For the full list of built in
virtual methods, please see the section titled VIRTUAL METHODS
[% foo.length %]
[% my_list.size %]
[% some_data.c.join(" | ") %]
Would print:
3
31
3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9
It is also possible to "interpolate" variable names using a "$". This
allows for storing the name of a variable inside another variable. If a
variable name is a little more complex it can be embedded inside of "${"
and "}".
[% $vname %]
[% ${vname} %]
[% ${some_data.vname} %]
[% some_data.$foo %]
[% some_data.${foo} %]
Would print:
1.0
1.0
1.0
3234
3234
In Alloy it is also possible to embed any expression (non-directive) in
"${" and "}" and it is possible to use non-integers for array access.
(This is not available in TT2)
[% ['a'..'z'].${ 2.3 } %]
[% {ab => 'AB'}.${ 'a' ~ 'b' } %]
[% color = qw/Red Blue/; FOR [1..4] ; color.${ loop.index % color.size } ; END %]
Would print:
c
AB
RedBlueRedBlue
SETTING VARIABLES.
To define variables during processing, you can use the = operator. In
most cases this is the same as using the SET directive.
[% a = 234 %][% a %]
[% SET b = "Hello" %][% b %]
Would print:
234
Hello
It is also possible to create arrayrefs and hashrefs.
[% a = [1, 2, 3] %]
[% b = {key1 => 'val1', 'key2' => 'val2'} %]
[% a.1 %]
[% b.key1 %] [% b.key2 %]
Would print:
2
val1 val2
It is possible to set multiple values in the same SET directive.
[% SET a = 'A'
b = 'B'
c = 'C' %]
[% a %] [% b %] [% c %]
Would print:
A B C
It is also possible to unset variables, or to set members of nested data
structures.
[% a = 1 %]
[% SET a %]
[% b.0.c = 37 %]
([% a %])
[% b.0.c %]
Would print
()
37
LITERALS AND CONSTRUCTORS
The following are the types of literals (numbers and strings) and
constructors (hash and array constructs) allowed in Alloy. They can be
used as arguments to functions, in place of variables in directives, and
in place of variables in expressions. In Alloy it is also possible to
call virtual methods on literal values.
Integers and Numbers.
[% 23423 %] Prints an integer.
[% 3.14159 %] Prints a number.
[% pi = 3.14159 %] Sets the value of the variable.
[% 3.13159.length %] Prints 7 (the string length of the number)
Scientific notation is supported.
[% 314159e-5 + 0 %] Prints 3.14159.
[% .0000001.fmt('%.1e') %] Prints 1.0e-07
Hexidecimal input is also supported.
[% 0xff + 0 %] Prints 255
[% 48875.fmt('%x') %] Prints beeb
Single quoted strings.
Returns the string. No variable interpolation happens.
[% 'foobar' %] Prints "foobar".
[% '$foo\n' %] Prints "$foo\\n". # the \\n is a literal "\" and an "n"
[% 'That\'s nice' %] Prints "That's nice".
[% str = 'A string' %] Sets the value of str.
[% 'A string'.split %] Splits the string on ' ' and returns the list.
Note: virtual methods can only be used on literal strings in Alloy,
not in TT.
You may also embed the current tags in strings (Alloy only).
[% '[% 1 + 2 %]' | eval %] Prints "3"
Double quoted strings.
Returns the string. Variable interpolation happens.
[% "foobar" %] Prints "foobar".
[% "$foo" %] Prints "bar" (assuming the value of foo is bar).
[% "${foo}" %] Prints "bar" (assuming the value of foo is bar).
[% "foobar\n" %] Prints "foobar\n". # the \n is a newline.
[% str = "Hello" %] Sets the value of str.
[% "foo".replace('foo','bar') %] Prints "bar".
Note: virtual methods can only be used on literal strings in Alloy,
not in TT.
You may also embed the current tags in strings (Alloy only).
[% "[% 1 + 2 %]" | eval %] Prints "3"
Array Constructs.
[% [1, 2, 3] %] Prints something like ARRAY(0x8309e90).
[% array1 = [1 .. 3] %] Sets the value of array1.
[% array2 = [foo, 'a', []] %] Sets the value of array2.
[% [4, 5, 6].size %] Prints 3.
[% [7, 8, 9].reverse.0 %] Prints 9.
Note: virtual methods can only be used on array contructs in Alloy,
not in TT.
Quoted Array Constructs.
[% qw/1 2 3/ %] Prints something like ARRAY(0x8309e90).
[% array1 = qw{Foo Bar Baz} %] Sets the value of array1.
[% qw[4 5 6].size %] Prints 3.
[% qw(Red Blue).reverse.0 %] Prints Blue.
Note: this works in Alloy and is planned for TT3.
Hash Constructs.
[% {foo => 'bar'} %] Prints something like HASH(0x8305880)
[% hash = {foo => 'bar', c => {}} %] Sets the value of hash.
[% {a => 'A', b => 'B'}.size %] Prints 2.
[% {'a' => 'A', 'b' => 'B'}.size %] Prints 2.
[% name = "Tom" %]
[% {Tom => 'You are Tom',
Kay => 'You are Kay'}.$name %] Prints You are Tom
Note: virtual methods can only be used on hash contructs in Alloy,
not in TT.
Regex Constructs.
[% /foo/ %] Prints (?-xism:foo)
[% a = /(foo)/i %][% "FOO".match(a).0 %] Prints FOO
Note: this works in Alloy and is planned for TT3.
VIRTUAL METHODS
Virtual methods (vmethods) are a TT feature that allow for operating
on the swapped template variables.
This document shows some samples of using vmethods. For a full
listing of available virtual methods, see Template::Alloy::VMethod.
EXPRESSIONS
Expressions are one or more variables or literals joined together
with operators. An expression can be used anywhere a variable can be
used with the exception of the variable name in the SET directive,
and the filename of PROCESS, INCLUDE, WRAPPER, and INSERT.
For a full listing of operators, see Template::Alloy::Operator.
The following section shows some samples of expressions. For a full
list of available operators, please see the section titled
OPERATORS.
[% 1 + 2 %] Prints 3
[% 1 + 2 * 3 %] Prints 7
[% (1 + 2) * 3 %] Prints 9
[% x = 2 %] # assignments don't return anything
[% (x = 2) %] Prints 2 # unless they are in parens
[% y = 3 %]
[% x * (y - 1) %] Prints 4
DIRECTIVES
This section contains the alphabetical list of DIRECTIVES available
in Alloy. DIRECTIVES are the "functions" and control structures that
work in the various mini-languages. For further discussion and
examples beyond what is listed below, please refer to the TT
directives documentation or to the appropriate documentation for the
particular directive.
The examples given in this section are done using the
Template::Toolkit syntax, but can be done in any of the various
syntaxes. See Template::Alloy::TT, Template::Alloy::HTE,
Template::Alloy::Tmpl, and Template::Alloy::Velocity.
[% IF 1 %]One[% END %]
[% FOREACH a = [1 .. 3] %]
a = [% a %]
[% END %]
[% SET a = 1 %][% SET a = 2 %][% GET a %]
In TT multiple directives can be inside the same set of '[%' and
'%]' tags as long as they are separated by space or semi-colons (;)
(The Alloy version of Tmpl allows multiple also - but none of the
other syntaxes do). Any block directive that can also be used as a
post-operative directive (such as IF, WHILE, FOREACH, UNLESS,
FILTER, and WRAPPER) must be separated from preceding directives
with a semi-colon if it is being used as a block directive. It is
more safe to always use a semi-colon. Note: separating by space is
only available in Alloy but is a planned TT3 feature.
[% SET a = 1 ; SET a = 2 ; GET a %]
[% SET a = 1
SET a = 2
GET a
%]
[% GET 1
IF 0 # is a post-operative
GET 2 %] # prints 2
[% GET 1;
IF 0 # it is block based
GET 2
END
%] # prints 1
The following is the list of directives.
"BLOCK"
Saves a block of text under a name for later use in PROCESS,
INCLUDE, and WRAPPER directives. Blocks may be placed anywhere
within the template being processed including after where they
are used.
[% BLOCK foo %]Some text[% END %]
[% PROCESS foo %]
Would print
Some text
[% INCLUDE foo %]
[% BLOCK foo %]Some text[% END %]
Would print
Some text
Anonymous BLOCKS can be used for capturing.
[% a = BLOCK %]Some text[% END %][% a %]
Would print
Some text
Anonymous BLOCKS can be used with macros.
"BREAK"
Alias for LAST. Used for exiting FOREACH and WHILE loops.
"CALL"
Calls the variable (and any underlying coderefs) as in the GET
method, but always returns an empty string.
"CASE"
Used with the SWITCH directive. See the "SWITCH" directive.
"CATCH"
Used with the TRY directive. See the "TRY" directive.
"CLEAR"
Clears any of the content currently generated in the innermost
block or template. This can be useful when used in conjunction
with the TRY statement to clear generated content if an error
occurs later.
"COMMENT"
Will comment out any text found between open and close tags.
Note, that the intermediate items are still parsed and END tags
must align - but the parsed content will be discarded.
[% COMMENT %]
This text won't be shown.
[% IF 1 %]And this won't either.[% END %]
[% END %]
"CONFIG"
Allow for changing the value of some compile time and runtime
configuration options.
[% CONFIG
ANYCASE => 1
PRE_CHOMP => '-'
%]
The following compile time configuration options may be set:
ANYCASE
AUTO_EVAL
CACHE_STR_REFS
ENCODING
INTERPOLATE
POST_CHOMP
PRE_CHOMP
SEMICOLONS
SHOW_UNDEFINED_INTERP
SYNTAX
V1DOLLAR
V2EQUALS
V2PIPE
The following runtime configuration options may be set:
ADD_LOCAL_PATH
CALL_CONTEXT
DUMP
VMETHOD_FUNCTIONS
If non-named parameters as passed, they will show the current
configuration:
[% CONFIG ANYCASE, PRE_CHOMP %]
CONFIG ANYCASE = undef
CONFIG PRE_CHOMP = undef
"DEBUG"
Used to reset the DEBUG_FORMAT configuration variable, or to
turn DEBUG statements on or off. This only has effect if the
DEBUG_DIRS or DEBUG_ALL flags were passed to the DEBUG
configuration variable.
[% DEBUG format '($file) (line $line) ($text)' %]
[% DEBUG on %]
[% DEBUG off %]
"DEFAULT"
Similar to SET, but only sets the value if a previous value was
not defined or was zero length.
[% DEFAULT foo = 'bar' %][% foo %] => 'bar'
[% foo = 'baz' %][% DEFAULT foo = 'bar' %][% foo %] => 'baz'
"DUMP"
DUMP inserts a Data::Dumper printout of the variable or
expression. If no argument is passed it will dump the entire
contents of the current variable stash (with private keys
removed).
The output also includes the current file and line number that
the DUMP directive was called from.
See the DUMP configuration item for ways to customize and
control the output available to the DUMP directive.
[% DUMP %] # dumps everything
[% DUMP 1 + 2 %]
"ELSE"
Used with the IF directive. See the "IF" directive.
"ELSIF"
Used with the IF directive. See the "IF" directive.
"END"
Used to end a block directive.
"EVAL"
Same as the EVALUATE directive.
"EVALUATE"
Introduced by the Velocity templating language. Parses and
processes the contents of the passed item. This is similar to
the eval filter, but Velocity needs a directive. Named arguments
may be used for reconfiguring the parser. Any of the items that
can be passed to the CONFIG directive may be passed here.
[% EVALUATE "[% 1 + 3 %]" %]
[% foo = "bar" %]
[% EVALUATE "<TMPL_VAR foo>" SYNTAX => 'ht' %]
"FILTER"
Used to apply different treatments to blocks of text. It may
operate as a BLOCK directive or as a post operative directive.
Alloy supports all of the filters in Template::Filters. The
lines between scalar virtual methods and filters is blurred (or
non-existent) in Alloy. Anything that is a scalar virtual method
may be used as a FILTER.
TODO - enumerate the at least 7 ways to pass and use filters.
'|' Alias for the FILTER directive. Note that | is similar to the
'.' in Template::Alloy. Therefore a pipe cannot be used directly
after a variable name in some situations (the pipe will act only
on that variable). This is the behavior employed by TT3. To get
the TT2 behavior for a PIPE, use the V2PIPE configuration item.
"FINAL"
Used with the TRY directive. See the "TRY" directive.
"FOR"
Alias for FOREACH
"FOREACH"
Allows for iterating over the contents of any arrayref. If the
variable is not an arrayref, it is automatically promoted to
one.
[% FOREACH i IN [1 .. 3] %]
The variable i = [% i %]
[%~ END %]
[% a = [1 .. 3] %]
[% FOREACH j IN a %]
The variable j = [% j %]
[%~ END %]
Would print:
The variable i = 1
The variable i = 2
The variable i = 3
The variable j = 1
The variable j = 2
The variable j = 3
You can also use the "=" instead of "IN" or "in".
[% FOREACH i = [1 .. 3] %]
The variable i = [% i %]
[%~ END %]
Same as before.
Setting into a variable is optional.
[% a = [1 .. 3] %]
[% FOREACH a %] Hi [% END %]
Would print:
hi hi hi
If the item being iterated is a hashref and the FOREACH does not
set into a variable, then values of the hashref are copied into
the variable stash.
[% FOREACH [{a => 1}, {a => 2}] %]
Key a = [% a %]
[%~ END %]
Would print:
Key a = 1
Key a = 2
The FOREACH process uses the Template::Alloy::Iterator class to
handle iterations (It is compatible with Template::Iterator).
During the FOREACH loop an object blessed into the iterator
class is stored in the variable "loop".
The loop variable provides the following information during a
FOREACH:
index - the current index
max - the max index of the list
size - the number of items in the list
count - index + 1
number - index + 1
first - true if on the first item
last - true if on the last item
next - return the next item in the list
prev - return the previous item in the list
The following:
[% FOREACH [1 .. 3] %] [% loop.count %]/[% loop.size %] [% END %]
Would print:
1/3 2/3 3/3
The iterator is also available using a plugin. This allows for
access to multiple "loop" variables in a nested FOREACH
directive.
[%~ USE outer_loop = Iterator(["a", "b"]) %]
[%~ FOREACH i = outer_loop %]
[%~ FOREACH j = ["X", "Y"] %]
[% outer_loop.count %]-[% loop.count %] = ([% i %] and [% j %])
[%~ END %]
[%~ END %]
Would print:
1-1 = (a and X)
1-2 = (a and Y)
2-1 = (b and X)
2-2 = (b and Y)
FOREACH may also be used as a post operative directive.
[% "$i" FOREACH i = [1 .. 5] %] => 12345
"GET"
Return the value of a variable or expression.
[% GET a %]
The GET keyword may be omitted.
[% a %]
[% 7 + 2 - 3 %] => 6
See the section on VARIABLES.
"IF (IF / ELSIF / ELSE)"
Allows for conditional testing. Expects an expression as its
only argument. If the expression is true, the contents of its
block are processed. If false, the processor looks for an ELSIF
block. If an ELSIF's expression is true then it is processed.
Finally it looks for an ELSE block which is processed if none of
the IF or ELSIF's expressions were true.
[% IF a == b %]A equaled B[% END %]
[% IF a == b -%]
A equaled B
[%- ELSIF a == c -%]
A equaled C
[%- ELSE -%]
Couldn't determine that A equaled anything.
[%- END %]
IF may also be used as a post operative directive.
[% 'A equaled B' IF a == b %]
Note: If you are using HTML::Template style documents, the
TMPL_IF tag parses using the limited HTML::Template parsing
rules. However, you may use EXPR="" to embed a TT3 style
expression.
"INCLUDE"
Parse the contents of a file or block and insert them. Variables
defined or modifications made to existing variables are
discarded after a template is included.
[% INCLUDE path/to/template.html %]
[% INCLUDE "path/to/template.html" %]
[% file = "path/to/template.html" %]
[% INCLUDE $file %]
[% BLOCK foo %]This is foo[% END %]
[% INCLUDE foo %]
Arguments may also be passed to the template:
[% INCLUDE "path/to/template.html" a = "An arg" b = "Another arg" %]
Filenames must be relative to INCLUDE_PATH unless the ABSOLUTE
or RELATIVE configuration items are set.
Multiple filenames can be passed by separating them with a plus,
a space, or commas (TT2 doesn't support the comma). Any supplied
arguments will be used on all templates.
[% INCLUDE "path/to/template.html",
"path/to/template2.html" a = "An arg" b = "Another arg" %]
On Perl 5.6 on some platforms there may be some issues with the
variable localization. There is no problem on 5.8 and greater.
"INSERT"
Insert the contents of a file without template parsing.
Filenames must be relative to INCLUDE_PATH unless the ABSOLUTE
or RELATIVE configuration items are set.
Multiple filenames can be passed by separating them with a plus,
a space, or commas (TT2 doesn't support the comma).
[% INSERT "path/to/template.html",
"path/to/template2.html" %]
"LAST"
Used to exit out of a WHILE or FOREACH loop.
"LOOP"
This directive operates similar to the HTML::Template loop
directive. The LOOP directive expects a single variable name.
This variable name should point to an arrayref of hashrefs. The
keys of each hashref will be added to the variable stash when it
is iterated.
[% var a = [{b => 1}, {b => 2}, {b => 3}] %]
[% LOOP a %] ([% b %]) [% END %]
Would print:
(1) (2) (3)
If Alloy is in HT mode and GLOBAL_VARS is false, the contents of
the hashref will be the only items available during the loop
iteration.
If LOOP_CONTEXT_VARS is true, and $QR_PRIVATE is false (default
when called through the output method), then the variables
__first__, __last__, __inner__, __odd__, and __counter__ will be
set. See the HTML::Template loop_context_vars configuration item
for more information.
"MACRO"
Takes a directive and turns it into a variable that can take
arguments.
[% MACRO foo(i, j) BLOCK %]You passed me [% i %] and [% j %].[% END %]
[%~ foo("a", "b") %]
[% foo(1, 2) %]
Would print:
You passed me a and b.
You passed me 1 and 2.
Another example:
[% MACRO bar(max) FOREACH i = [1 .. max] %]([% i %])[% END %]
[%~ bar(4) %]
Would print:
(1)(2)(3)(4)
Starting with version 1.012 of Template::Alloy there is also a
macro operator.
[% foo = ->(i,j){ "You passed me $i and $j" } %]
[% bar = ->(max){ FOREACH i = [1 .. max]; i ; END } %]
See the Template::Alloy::Operator documentation for more
examples.
"META"
Used to define variables that will be available via either the
template or component namespace.
Once defined, they cannot be overwritten.
[% template.foobar %]
[%~ META foobar = 'baz' %]
[%~ META foobar = 'bing' %]
Would print:
baz
"NEXT"
Used to go to the next iteration of a WHILE or FOREACH loop.
"PERL"
Only available if the EVAL_PERL configuration item is true
(default is false).
Allow eval'ing the block of text as perl. The block will be
parsed and then eval'ed.
[% a = "BimBam" %]
[%~ PERL %]
my $a = "[% a %]";
print "The variable \$a was \"$a\"";
$stash->set('b', "FooBar");
[% END %]
[% b %]
Would print:
The variable $a was "BimBam"
FooBar
During execution, anything printed to STDOUT will be inserted
into the template. Also, the $stash and $context variables are
set and are references to objects that mimic the interface
provided by Template::Context and Template::Stash. These are
provided for compatibility only. $self contains the current
Template::Alloy object.
"PROCESS"
Parse the contents of a file or block and insert them. Unlike
INCLUDE, no variable localization happens so variables defined
or modifications made to existing variables remain after the
template is processed.
[% PROCESS path/to/template.html %]
[% PROCESS "path/to/template.html" %]
[% file = "path/to/template.html" %]
[% PROCESS $file %]
[% BLOCK foo %]This is foo[% END %]
[% PROCESS foo %]
Arguments may also be passed to the template:
[% PROCESS "path/to/template.html" a = "An arg" b = "Another arg" %]
Filenames must be relative to INCLUDE_PATH unless the ABSOLUTE
or RELATIVE configuration items are set.
Multiple filenames can be passed by separating them with a plus,
a space, or commas (TT2 doesn't support the comma). Any supplied
arguments will be used on all templates.
[% PROCESS "path/to/template.html",
"path/to/template2.html" a = "An arg" b = "Another arg" %]
"RAWPERL"
Only available if the EVAL_PERL configuration item is true
(default is false). Similar to the PERL directive, but you will
need to append to the $output variable rather than just calling
PRINT.
"RETURN"
Used to exit the innermost block or template and continue
processing in the surrounding block or template.
There are two changes from TT2 behavior. First, In Alloy, a
RETURN during a MACRO call will only exit the MACRO. Second, the
RETURN directive takes an optional variable name or expression,
if passed, the MACRO will return this value instead of the
normal text from the MACRO. The process_simple method will also
return this value.
You can also use the item, list, and hash return vmethods.
[% RETURN %] # just exits
[% RETURN "foo" %] # return value is foo
[% "foo".return %] # same thing
"SET"
Used to set variables.
[% SET a = 1 %][% a %] => "1"
[% a = 1 %][% a %] => "1"
[% b = 1 %][% SET a = b %][% a %] => "1"
[% a = 1 %][% SET a %][% a %] => ""
[% SET a = [1, 2, 3] %][% a.1 %] => "2"
[% SET a = {b => 'c'} %][% a.b %] => "c"
"STOP"
Used to exit the entire process method (out of all blocks and
templates). No content will be processed beyond this point.
"SWITCH"
Allow for SWITCH and CASE functionality.
[% a = "hi" %]
[% b = "bar" %]
[% SWITCH a %]
[% CASE "foo" %]a was foo
[% CASE b %]a was bar
[% CASE ["hi", "hello"] %]You said hi or hello
[% CASE DEFAULT %]I don't know what you said
[% END %]
Would print:
You said hi or hello
"TAGS"
Change the type of enclosing braces used to delineate template
tags. This remains in effect until the end of the enclosing
block or template or until the next TAGS directive. Either a
named set of tags must be supplied, or two tags themselves must
be supplied.
[% TAGS html %]
[% TAGS <!-- --> %]
The named tags are (duplicated from TT):
asp => ['<%', '%>' ], # ASP
default => ['\[%', '%\]' ], # default
html => ['<!--', '-->' ], # HTML comments
mason => ['<%', '>' ], # HTML::Mason
metatext => ['%%', '%%' ], # Text::MetaText
php => ['<\?', '\?>' ], # PHP
star => ['\[\*', '\*\]' ], # TT alternate
template => ['\[%', '%\]' ], # Normal Template Toolkit
template1 => ['[\[%]%', '%[%\]]'], # allow TT1 style
tt2 => ['\[%', '%\]' ], # TT2
If custom tags are supplied, by default they are escaped using
quotemeta. You may also pass explicitly quoted strings, or
regular expressions as arguments as well (if your regex begins
with a ', ", or / you must quote it.
[% TAGS [<] [>] %] matches "[<] tag [>]"
[% TAGS '[<]' '[>]' %] matches "[<] tag [>]"
[% TAGS "[<]" "[>]" %] matches "[<] tag [>]"
[% TAGS /[<]/ /[>]/ %] matches "< tag >"
[% TAGS ** ** %] matches "** tag **"
[% TAGS /**/ /**/ %] Throws an exception.
You should be sure that the start tag does not include grouping
parens or INTERPOLATE will not function properly.
"THROW"
Allows for throwing an exception. If the exception is not caught
via the TRY DIRECTIVE, the template will abort processing of the
directive.
[% THROW mytypes.sometime 'Something happened' arg1 => val1 %]
See the TRY directive for examples of usage.
"TRY"
The TRY block directive will catch exceptions that are thrown
while processing its block (It cannot catch parse errors unless
they are in included files or evaltt'ed strings. The TRY block
will then look for a CATCH block that will be processed. While
it is being processed, the "error" variable will be set with the
thrown exception as the value. After the TRY block - the FINAL
block will be ran whether or not an error was thrown (unless a
CATCH block throws an error).
Note: Parse errors cannot be caught unless they are in an eval
FILTER, or are in a separate template being INCLUDEd or
PROCESSed.
[% TRY %]
Nothing bad happened.
[% CATCH %]
Caught the error.
[% FINAL %]
This section runs no matter what happens.
[% END %]
Would print:
Nothing bad happened.
This section runs no matter what happens.
Another example:
[% TRY %]
[% THROW "Something happened" %]
[% CATCH %]
Error: [% error %]
Error.type: [% error.type %]
Error.info: [% error.info %]
[% FINAL %]
This section runs no matter what happens.
[% END %]
Would print:
Error: undef error - Something happened
Error.type: undef
Error.info: Something happened
This section runs no matter what happens.
You can give the error a type and more information including
named arguments. This information replaces the "info" property
of the exception.
[% TRY %]
[% THROW foo.bar "Something happened" "grrrr" foo => 'bar' %]
[% CATCH %]
Error: [% error %]
Error.type: [% error.type %]
Error.info: [% error.info %]
Error.info.0: [% error.info.0 %]
Error.info.1: [% error.info.1 %]
Error.info.args.0: [% error.info.args.0 %]
Error.info.foo: [% error.info.foo %]
[% END %]
Would print something like:
Error: foo.bar error - HASH(0x82a395c)
Error.type: foo.bar
Error.info: HASH(0x82a395c)
Error.info.0: Something happened
Error.info.1: grrrr
Error.info.args.0: Something happened
Error.info.foo: bar
You can also give the CATCH block a type to catch. And you can
nest TRY blocks. If types are specified, Alloy will try and find
the closest matching type. Also, an error object can be
re-thrown using $error as the argument to THROW.
[% TRY %]
[% TRY %]
[% THROW foo.bar "Something happened" %]
[% CATCH bar %]
Caught bar.
[% CATCH DEFAULT %]
Caught default - but rethrew.
[% THROW $error %]
[% END %]
[% CATCH foo %]
Caught foo.
[% CATCH foo.bar %]
Caught foo.bar.
[% CATCH %]
Caught anything else.
[% END %]
Would print:
Caught default - but rethrew.
Caught foo.bar.
"UNLESS"
Same as IF but condition is negated.
[% UNLESS 0 %]hi[% END %] => hi
Can also be a post operative directive.
"USE"
Allows for loading a Template::Toolkit style plugin.
[% USE iter = Iterator(['foo', 'bar']) %]
[%~ iter.get_first %]
[% iter.size %]
Would print:
foo
2
Note that it is possible to send arguments to the new object
constructor. It is also possible to omit the variable name being
assigned. In that case the name of the plugin becomes the
variable.
[% USE Iterator(['foo', 'bar', 'baz']) %]
[%~ Iterator.get_first %]
[% Iterator.size %]
Would print:
foo
3
Plugins that are loaded are looked up for in the namespace
listed in the PLUGIN_BASE directive which defaults to
Template::Plugin. So in the previous example, if
Template::Toolkit was installed, the iter object would loaded by
the class Template::Plugin::Iterator. In Alloy, an effective way
to disable plugins is to set the PLUGIN_BASE to a non-existent
base such as "_" (In TT it will still fall back to look in
Template::Plugin).
Note: The iterator plugin will fall back and use
Template::Alloy::Iterator if Template::Toolkit is not installed.
No other plugins come installed with Template::Alloy.
The names of the Plugin being loaded from PLUGIN_BASE are case
insensitive. However, using case insensitive names is bad as it
requires scanning the @INC directories for any module matching
the PLUGIN_BASE and caching the result (OK - not that bad).
If the plugin is not found and the LOAD_PERL directive is set,
then Alloy will try and load a module by that name (note: this
type of lookup is case sensitive and will not scan the @INC dirs
for a matching file).
# The LOAD_PERL directive should be set to 1
[% USE ta = Template::Alloy %]
[%~ ta.dump_parse_expr('2 * 3') %]
Would print:
[[undef, '*', 2, 3], 0];
See the PLUGIN_BASE, and PLUGINS configuration items.
See the documentation for Template::Manual::Plugins.
"VIEW"
Implement a TT style view. For more information, please see the
Template::View documentation. This DIRECTIVE will correctly
parse the arguments and then pass them along to a newly created
Template::View object. It will fail if Template::View can not be
found.
"WHILE"
Will process a block of code while a condition is true.
[% WHILE i < 3 %]
[%~ i = i + 1 %]
i = [% i %]
[%~ END %]
Would print:
i = 1
i = 2
i = 3
You could also do:
[% i = 4 %]
[% WHILE (i = i - 1) %]
i = [% i %]
[%~ END %]
Would print:
i = 3
i = 2
i = 1
Note that (f = f - 1) is a valid expression that returns the
value of the assignment. The parenthesis are not optional.
WHILE has a built in limit of 1000 iterations. This is
controlled by the global variable $WHILE_MAX in Template::Alloy.
WHILE may also be used as a post operative directive.
[% "$i" WHILE (i = i + 1) < 7 %] => 123456
"WRAPPER"
Block directive. Processes contents of its block and then passes
them in the [% content %] variable to the block or filename
listed in the WRAPPER tag.
[% WRAPPER foo b = 23 %]
My content to be processed ([% b %]).[% a = 2 %]
[% END %]
[% BLOCK foo %]
A header ([% a %]).
[% content %]
A footer ([% a %]).
[% END %]
This would print.
A header (2).
My content to be processed (23).
A footer (2).
The WRAPPER directive may also be used as a post operative
directive.
[% BLOCK baz %]([% content %])[% END -%]
[% "foobar" WRAPPER baz %]
Would print
(foobar)');
Multiple filenames can be passed by separating them with a plus,
a space, or commas (TT2 doesn't support the comma). Any supplied
arguments will be used on all templates. Wrappers are processed
in reverse order, so that the first wrapper listed will surround
each subsequent wrapper listed. Variables from inner wrappers
are available to the next wrapper that surrounds it.
[% WRAPPER "path/to/outer.html",
"path/to/inner.html" a = "An arg" b = "Another arg" %]
DIRECTIVES (HTML::Template Style)
HTML::Template templates use directives that look similar to the
following:
<TMPL_VAR NAME="foo">
<TMPL_IF NAME="bar">
BAR
</TMPL_IF>
The normal set of HTML::Template directives are TMPL_VAR, TMPL_IF,
TMPL_ELSE, TMPL_UNLESS, TMPL_INCLUDE, and TMPL_LOOP. These tags
should have either a NAME attribute, an EXPR attribute, or a bare
variable name that is used to specify the value to be operated. If a
NAME is specified, it may only be a single level value (as opposed
to a TT chained variable). In the case of the TMPL_INCLUDE
directive, the NAME is the file to be included.
In Alloy, the EXPR attribute can be used with any of these types to
specify TT compatible variable or expression that will be used for
the value.
<TMPL_VAR NAME="foo"> Prints the value contained in foo
<TMPL_VAR foo> Prints the value contained in foo
<TMPL_VAR EXPR="foo"> Prints the value contained in foo
<TMPL_VAR NAME="foo.bar.baz"> Prints the value contained in {'foo.bar.baz'}
<TMPL_VAR EXPR="foo.bar.baz"> Prints the value contained in {foo}->{bar}->{baz}
<TMPL_IF foo> Prints FOO if foo is true
FOO
</TMPL_IF
<TMPL_UNLESS foo> Prints FOO unless foo is true
FOO
</TMPL_UNLESS
<TMPL_INCLUDE NAME="foo.ht"> Includes the template in "foo.ht"
<TMPL_LOOP foo> Iterates on the arrayref foo
<TMPL_VAR name>
</TMPL_LOOP>
Template::Alloy makes all of the other TT3 directives available in
addition to the normal set of HTML::Template directives. For
example, the following is valid in Alloy.
<TMPL_MACRO bar(n) BLOCK>You said <TMPL_VAR n></TMPL_MACRO>
<TMPL_GET bar("hello")>
The TMPL_VAR tag may also include an optional ESCAPE attribute. This
specifies how the value of the tag should be escaped prior to
substituting into the template.
Escape value | Type of escape
---------------------------------
HTML, 1 | HTML encoding
URL | URL encoding
JS | basic javascript encoding (\n, \r, and \")
NONE, 0 | No encoding (default).
The TMPL_VAR tag may also include an optional DEFAULT attribute that
contains a string that will be used if the variable returns false.
<TMPL_VAR foo DEFAULT="Foo was false">
CHOMPING
Chomping refers to the handling of whitespace immediately before and
immediately after template tags. By default, nothing happens to this
whitespace. Modifiers can be placed just inside the opening and just
before the closing tags to control this behavior.
Additionally, the PRE_CHOMP and POST_CHOMP configuration variables
can be set and will globally control all chomping behavior for tags
that do not have their own chomp modifier. PRE_CHOMP and POST_CHOMP
can be set to any of the following values:
none: 0 + Template::Constants::CHOMP_NONE
one: 1 - Template::Constants::CHOMP_ONE
collapse: 2 = Template::Constants::CHOMP_COLLAPSE
greedy: 3 ~ Template::Constants::CHOMP_GREEDY
CHOMP_NONE
Don't do any chomping. The "+" sign is used to indicate
CHOMP_NONE.
Hello.
[%+ "Hi." +%]
Howdy.
Would print:
Hello.
Hi.
Howdy.
CHOMP_ONE (formerly known as CHOMP_ALL)
Delete any whitespace up to the adjacent newline. The "-" is
used to indicate CHOMP_ONE.
Hello.
[%- "Hi." -%]
Howdy.
Would print:
Hello.
Hi.
Howdy.
CHOMP_COLLAPSE
Collapse adjacent whitespace to a single space. The "=" is used
to indicate CHOMP_COLLAPSE.
Hello.
[%= "Hi." =%]
Howdy.
Would print:
Hello. Hi. Howdy.
CHOMP_GREEDY
Remove all adjacent whitespace. The "~" is used to indicate
CHOMP_GREEDY.
Hello.
[%~ "Hi." ~%]
Howdy.
Would print:
Hello.Hi.Howdy.
CONFIGURATION
The following configuration variables are supported (in
alphabetical order). Note: for further discussion you can refer
to the TT config documentation.
Items may be passed in upper or lower case. If lower case names
are passed they will be resolved to uppercase during the "new"
method.
All of the variables in this section can be passed to the "new"
constructor.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(
VARIABLES => \%hash_of_variables,
AUTO_RESET => 0,
TRIM => 1,
POST_CHOMP => "=",
PRE_CHOMP => "-",
);
ABSOLUTE
Boolean. Default false. Are absolute paths allowed for
included files.
ADD_LOCAL_PATH
If true, allows calls include_filename to temporarily add
the directory of the current template being processed to the
INCLUDE_PATHS arrayref. This allows templates to refer to
files in the local template directory without specifying the
local directory as part of the filename. Default is 0. If
set to a negative value, the current directory will be added
to the end of the current INCLUDE_PATHS.
This property may also be set in the template using the
CONFIG directive.
[% CONFIG ADD_LOCAL_PATH => 1 %]
ANYCASE
Allow directive matching to be case insensitive.
[% get 23 %] prints 23 with ANYCASE => 1
AUTO_RESET
Boolean. Default 1. Clear blocks that were set during the
process method.
AUTO_EVAL
Boolean. Default 0 (default 1 in Velocity syntax). If set to
true, double quoted strings will automatically be passed to
the eval filter.
BLOCKS
Only available via when using the process interface.
A hashref of blocks that can be used by the process method.
BLOCKS => {
block_1 => sub { ... }, # coderef that returns a block
block_2 => 'A String', # simple string
},
Note that a Template::Document cannot be supplied as a value
(TT supports this). However, it is possible to supply a
value that is equal to the hashref returned by the
load_template method.
CACHE_SIZE
Number of compiled templates to keep in memory. Default
undef. Undefined means to allow all templates to cache. A
value of 0 will force no caching. The cache mechanism will
clear templates that have not been used recently.
CACHE_STR_REFS
Default 1. If set, any string refs will have an MD5 sum
taken that will then be used for caching the document - both
in memory and on the file system (if configured). This will
give a significant speed boost. Note that this affects
strings passed to the EVALUATE directive or eval filters as
well. It may be set using the CONFIG directive.
CALL_CONTEXT (Not in TT)
Can be one of 'item', 'list', or 'smart'. The default type
is 'smart'. The CALL_CONTEXT configuration specifies in what
Perl context coderefs and methods used in the processed
templates will be called. TT historically has avoided the
distinction of item (scalar) vs list context. To avoid
worrying about this, TT introduced 'smart' context. The
"@()" and "$()" context specifiers make it easier to use
CALL_CONTEXT in some situations.
The following table shows the relationship between the
various contexts:
return values smart context list context item context
------------- ------------- ------------ ------------
A 'foo' 'foo' ['foo'] 'foo'
B undef undef [undef] undef
C (no return value) undef [] undef
D (7) 7 [7] 7
E (7,8,9) [7,8,9] [7,8,9] 9
F @a = (7) 7 [7] 1
G @a = (7,8,9) [7,8,9] [7,8,9] 3
H ({b=>"c"}) {b=>"c"} [{b=>"c"}] {b=>"c"}
I ([1]) [1] [[1]] [1]
J ([1],[2]) [[1],[2]] [[1],[2]] [2]
K [7,8,9] [7,8,9] [[7,8,9]] [7,8,9]
L (undef, "foo") die "foo" [undef, "foo"] "foo"
M wantarray?1:0 1 1 0
Cases F, H, I and M are common sticking points of the the
smart context in TT2. Note that list context always returns
an arrayref from a method or function call. Smart context
can give confusing results sometimes, especially the I and J
cases. Case L for smart match is very surprising.
The list and item context provide another feature for method
calls. In smart context, TT will look for a hash key in the
object by the same name as the method, if a method by that
name doesn't exist. In item and list context Alloy will die
if a method by that name cannot be found.
The CALL_CONTEXT configuration item can be passed to new or
it may also be set during runtime using the CONFIG
directive. The following method call would be in list
context:
[% CONFIG CALL_CONTEXT => 'list';
results = my_obj.get_results;
CONFIG CALL_CONTEXT => 'smart'
%]
Note that we needed to restore CALL_CONTEXT to the default
'smart' value. Template::Alloy has added the "@()" (list)
and the "$()" (item) context specifiers. The previous
example could be written as:
[% results = @( my_obj.get_results ) %]
To call that same method in item (scalar) context you would
do the following:
[% results = $( my_obj.get_results ) %]
The "@()" and "$()" operators are based on the Perl 6
counterpart.
COMPILE_DIR
Base directory to store compiled templates. Default undef.
Compiled templates will only be stored if one of COMPILE_DIR
and COMPILE_EXT is set.
If set, the AST of parsed documents will be cached. If
COMPILE_PERL is set, the compiled perl code will also be
stored.
COMPILE_EXT
Extension to add to stored compiled template filenames.
Default undef.
If set, the AST of parsed documents will be cached. If
COMPILE_PERL is set, the compiled perl code will also be
stored.
COMPILE_PERL
Default false.
If set to 1 or 2, will translate the normal AST into a perl
5 code document. This document can then be executed
directly, cached in memory, or cached on the file system
depending upon the configuration items set.
If set to 1, a perl code document will always be generated.
If set to 2, a perl code document will only be generated if
an AST has already been cached for the document. This should
give a speed benefit and avoid extra compilation unless the
document has been used more than once.
If Alloy is running in a cached environment such as
mod_perl, then using compile_perl can offer some speed
benefit and makes Alloy faster than Text::Tmpl and as fast
as HTML::Template::Compiled (but Alloy has more features).
If you are not running in a cached environment, such as from
commandline, or from CGI, it is generally faster to only run
from the AST (with COMPILE_PERL => 0).
CONSTANTS
Hashref. Used to define variables that will be "folded" into
the compiled template. Variables defined here cannot be
overridden.
CONSTANTS => {my_constant => 42},
A template containing:
[% constants.my_constant %]
Will have the value 42 compiled in.
Constants defined in this way can be chained as in [%
constant.foo.bar.baz %].
CONSTANT_NAMESPACE
Allow for setting the top level of values passed in
CONSTANTS. Default value is 'constants'.
DEBUG
Takes a list of constants |'ed together which enables
different debugging modes. Alternately the lowercase names
may be used (multiple values joined by a ",").
The only supported TT values are:
DEBUG_UNDEF (2) - debug when an undefined value is used.
DEBUG_DIRS (8) - debug when a directive is used.
DEBUG_ALL (2047) - turn on all debugging.
Either of the following would turn on undef and directive debugging:
DEBUG => 'undef, dirs', # preferred
DEBUG => 2 | 8,
DEBUG => DEBUG_UNDEF | DEBUG_DIRS, # constants from Template::Constants
DEBUG_FORMAT
Change the format of messages inserted when DEBUG has
DEBUG_DIRS set on. This essentially the same thing as
setting the format using the DEBUG directive.
DEFAULT
The name of a default template file to use if the passed one
is not found.
DELIMITER
String to use to split INCLUDE_PATH with. Default is :. It
is more straight forward to just send INCLUDE_PATH an
arrayref of paths.
DUMP
Configures the behavior of the DUMP tag. May be set to 0, a
hashref, or another true value. Default is true.
If set to 0, all DUMP directives will do nothing. This is
useful if you would like to turn off the DUMP directives
under some environments.
IF set to a true value (or undefined) then DUMP directives
will operate.
If set to a hashref, the values of the hash can be used to
configure the operation of the DUMP directives. The
following are the values that can be set in this hash.
EntireStash
Default 1. If set to 0, then the DUMP directive will not
print the entire contents of the stash when a DUMP
directive is called without arguments.
handler
Defaults to an internal coderef. If set to a coderef,
the DUMP directive will pass the arguments to be dumped
and expects a string with the dumped data. This gives
complete control over the dump process.
Note 1: The default handler makes sure that values
matching the private variable regex are not included. If
you install your own handler, you will need to take care
of these variables if you intend for them to not be
shown.
Note 2: If you would like the name of the variable to be
dumped, include the string '$VAR1' and the DUMP
directive will interpolate the value. For example, to
dump all output as YAML - you could do the following:
DUMP => {
handler => sub {
require YAML;
return "\$VAR1 =\n".YAML::Dump(shift);
},
}
header
Default 1. Controls whether a header is printed for each
DUMP directive. The header contains the file and line
number the DUMP directive was called from. If set to 0
the headers are disabled.
html
Defaults to 1 if $ENV{'REQUEST_METHOD'} is set - 0
otherwise. If set to 1, then the output of the DUMP
directive is passed to the html filter and encased in
"pre" tags. If set to 0 no html encoding takes place.
Sortkeys, Useqq, Ident, Pad, etc
Any of the Data::Dumper configuration items may be
passed.
ENCODING
Default undef. If set, and if Perl version is greater than
or equal to 5.7.3 (when Encode.pm was first included), then
Encode::decode will be called everytime a template file is
processed and will be passed the value of ENCODING and text
from the template.
This item can also be set using [% CONFIG ENCODING =>
encoding %] before calling INCLUDE or PROCESS directives to
change encodings on the fly.
END_TAG
Set a string to use as the closing delimiter for TT. Default
is "%]".
ERROR
Used as a fall back when the processing of a template fails.
May either be a single filename that will be used in all
cases, or may be a hashref of options where the keynames
represent error types that will be handled by the filename
in their value. A key named default will be used if no other
matching keyname can be found. The selection process is
similar to that of the TRY/CATCH/THROW directives (see those
directives for more information).
my $t = Template::Alloy->new({
ERROR => 'general/catch_all_errors.html',
});
my $t = Template::Alloy->new({
ERROR => {
default => 'general/catch_all_errors.html',
foo => 'catch_all_general_foo_errors.html',
'foo.bar' => 'catch_foo_bar_errors.html',
},
});
Note that the ERROR handler will only be used for errors
during the processing of the main document. It will not
catch errors that occur in templates found in the
PRE_PROCESS, POST_PROCESS, and WRAPPER configuration items.
ERRORS
Same as the ERROR configuration item. Both may be used
interchangably.
EVAL_PERL
Boolean. Default false. If set to a true value, PERL and
RAWPERL blocks will be allowed to run. This is a potential
security hole, as arbitrary perl can be included in the
template. If Template::Toolkit is installed, a true
EVAL_PERL value also allows the perl and evalperl filters to
be used.
FILTERS
Allow for passing in TT style filters.
my $filters = {
filter1 => sub { my $str = shift; $s =~ s/./1/gs; $s },
filter2 => [sub { my $str = shift; $s =~ s/./2/gs; $s }, 0],
filter3 => [sub { my ($context, @args) = @_; return sub { my $s = shift; $s =~ s/./3/gs; $s } }, 1],
};
my $str = q{
[% a = "Hello" %]
1 ([% a | filter1 %])
2 ([% a | filter2 %])
3 ([% a | filter3 %])
};
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(FILTERS => $filters);
$obj->process(\$str) || die $obj->error;
Would print:
1 (11111)
2 (22222)
3 (33333)
Filters passed in as an arrayref should contain a coderef
and a value indicating if they are dynamic or static (true
meaning dynamic). The dynamic filters are passed the pseudo
context object and any arguments and should return a coderef
that will be called as the filter. The filter coderef is
then passed the string.
GLOBAL_CACHE
Default 0. If true, documents will be cached in
$Template::Alloy::GLOBAL_CACHE. It may also be passed a
hashref, in which case the documents will be cached in the
passed hashref.
The TT, Tmpl, and velocity will automatically cache
documents in the object. The HTML::Template interface uses a
new object each time. Setting the HTML::Template's CACHE
configuration is the same as setting GLOBAL_CACHE.
INCLUDE_PATH
A string or an arrayref or coderef that returns an arrayref
that contains directories to look for files included by
processed templates. Defaults to "." (the current
directory).
INCLUDE_PATHS
Non-TT item. Same as INCLUDE_PATH but only takes an
arrayref. If not specified then INCLUDE_PATH is turned into
an arrayref and stored in INCLUDE_PATHS. Overrides
INCLUDE_PATH.
INTERPOLATE
Boolean. Specifies whether variables in text portions of the
template will be interpolated. For example, the $variable
and ${var.value} would be substituted with the appropriate
values from the variable cache (if INTERPOLATE is on).
[% IF 1 %]The variable $variable had a value ${var.value}[% END %]
LOAD_PERL
Indicates if the USE directive can fall back and try and
load a perl module if the indicated module was not found in
the PLUGIN_BASE path. See the USE directive. This
configuration has no bearing on the COMPILE_PERL directive
used to indicate using compiled perl documents.
MAX_EVAL_RECURSE (Alloy only)
Will use $Template::Alloy::MAX_EVAL_RECURSE if not present.
Default is 50. Prevents runaway on the following:
[% f = "[% f|eval %]" %][% f|eval %]
MAX_MACRO_RECURSE (Alloy only)
Will use $Template::Alloy::MAX_MACRO_RECURSE if not present.
Default is 50. Prevents runaway on the following:
[% MACRO f BLOCK %][% f %][% END %][% f %]
NAMESPACE
No Template::Namespace::Constants support. Hashref of
hashrefs representing constants that will be folded into the
template at compile time.
Template::Alloy->new(NAMESPACE => {constants => {
foo => 'bar',
}});
Is the same as
Template::Alloy->new(CONSTANTS => {
foo => 'bar',
});
Any number of hashes can be added to the NAMESPACE hash.
NEGATIVE_STAT_TTL (Not in TT)
Defaults to STAT_TTL which defaults to $STAT_TTL which
defaults to 1.
Similar to STAT_TTL - but represents the time-to-live
seconds until a document that was not found is checked again
against the system for modifications. Setting this number
higher will allow for fewer file system accesses. Setting it
to a negative number will allow for the file system to be
checked every hit.
NO_INCLUDES
Default false. If true, calls to INCLUDE, PROCESS, WRAPPER
and INSERT will fail. This option is also available when
using the process method.
OUTPUT
Alternate way of passing in the output location for
processed templates. If process is not passed an output
argument, it will look for this value.
See the process method for a listing of possible values.
OUTPUT_PATH
Base path for files written out via the process method or
via the redirect and file filters. See the redirect virtual
method and the process method for more information.
PLUGINS
A hashref of mappings of plugin modules.
PLUGINS => {
Iterator => 'Template::Plugin::Iterator',
DBI => 'MyDBI',
},
See the USE directive for more information.
PLUGIN_BASE
Default value is Template::Plugin. The base module namespace
that template plugins will be looked for. See the USE
directive for more information. May be either a single
namespace, or an arrayref of namespaces.
POST_CHOMP
Set the type of chomping at the ending of a tag. See the
section on chomping for more information.
POST_PROCESS
Only available via when using the process interface.
A list of templates to be processed and appended to the
content after the main template. During this processing the
"template" namespace will contain the name of the main file
being processed.
This is useful for adding a global footer to all templates.
PRE_CHOMP
Set the type of chomping at the beginning of a tag. See the
section on chomping for more information.
PRE_DEFINE
Same as the VARIABLES configuration item.
PRE_PROCESS
Only available via when using the process interface.
A list of templates to be processed before and pre-pended to
the content before the main template. During this processing
the "template" namespace will contain the name of the main
file being processed.
This is useful for adding a global header to all templates.
PROCESS
Only available via when using the process interface.
Specify a file to use as the template rather than the one
passed in to the ->process method.
RECURSION
Boolean. Default false. Indicates that INCLUDED or PROCESSED
files can refer to each other in a circular manner. Be
careful about recursion.
RELATIVE
Boolean. Default false. If true, allows filenames to be
specified that are relative to the currently running
process.
SEMICOLONS
Boolean. Default fast. If true, then the syntax will require
that semi-colons separate multiple directives in the same
tag. This is useful for keeping the syntax a little more
clean as well as trouble shooting some errors.
SHOW_UNDEFINED_INTERP (Not in TT)
Default false (default true in Velocity). If INTERPOLATE is
true, interpolated dollar variables that return undef will
be removed. With SHOW_UNDEFINED_INTERP set, undef values
will leave the variable there.
[% CONFIG INTERPOLATE => 1 %]
[% SET foo = 1 %][% SET bar %]
($foo)($bar) ($!foo)($!bar)
Would print:
(1)() (1)()
But the following:
[% CONFIG INTERPOLATE => 1, SHOW_UNDEFINED_INTERP => 1 %]
[% SET foo = 1 %][% SET bar %]
($foo)($bar) ($!foo)($!bar)
Would print:
(1)($bar) (1)()
Note that you can use an exclamation point directly after
the the dollar to make the variable silent. This is similar
to how Velocity works.
START_TAG
Set a string or regular expression to use as the opening
delimiter for TT. Default is "[%". You should be sure that
the tag does not include grouping parens or INTERPOLATE will
not function properly.
STASH
Template::Alloy manages its own stash of variables. You can
pass a Template::Stash or Template::Stash::XS object, but
Template::Alloy will copy all of values out of the object
into its own stash. Template::Alloy won't use any of the
methods of the passed STASH object. The STASH option is only
available when using the process method.
STAT_TTL
Defaults to $STAT_TTL which defaults to 1. Represents
time-to-live seconds until a cached in memory document is
compared to the file system for modifications. Setting this
number higher will allow for fewer file system accesses.
Setting it to a negative number will allow for the file
system to be checked every hit.
STREAM
Defaults to false. If set to true, generated template
content will be printed to the currently selected filehandle
(default is STDOUT) as soon as it is ready - there will be
no buffering of the output.
The Stream role uses the Play role's directives
(non-compiled_perl).
All directives and configuration work, except for the
following exceptions:
CLEAR directive
Because the output is not buffered - the CLEAR directive
would have no effect. The CLEAR directive will throw an
error when STREAM is on.
TRIM configuration
Because the output is not buffered - trim operations
cannot be played on the output buffers.
WRAPPER configuration/directive
The WRAPPER configuration and directive items
effectively turn off STREAM since the WRAPPERS are
generated in reverse order and because the content is
inserted into the middle of the WRAPPERS. WRAPPERS will
still work, they just won't stream.
VARIOUS errors
Because the template is streaming, items that cause
errors my result in partially printed pages - since the
error would occur part way through the print.
All output is printed directly to the currently selected
filehandle (defaults to STDOUT) via the CORE::print
function. Any output parameter passed to process or
process_simple will be ignored.
If you would like the output to go to another handle, you
will need to select that handle, process the template, and
re-select STDOUT.
SYNTAX (not in TT)
Defaults to "cet". Indicates the syntax that will be used
for parsing included templates or eval'ed strings. You can
use the CONFIG directive to change the SYNTAX on the fly (it
will not affect the syntax of the document currently being
parsed).
The syntax may be passed in upper or lower case.
The available choices are:
alloy - Template::Alloy style - the same as TT3
tt3 - Template::Toolkit ver3 - same as Alloy
tt2 - Template::Toolkit ver2 - almost the same as TT3
tt1 - Template::Toolkit ver1 - almost the same as TT2
ht - HTML::Template - same as HTML::Template::Expr without EXPR
hte - HTML::Template::Expr
Passing in a different syntax allows for the process method
to use a non-TT syntax and for the output method to use a
non-HT syntax.
The following is a sample of HTML::Template interface usage
parsing a Template::Toolkit style document.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(filename => 'my/template.tt'
syntax => 'cet');
$obj->param(\%swap);
print $obj->output;
The following is a sample of Template::Toolkit interface
usage parsing a HTML::Template::Expr style document.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(SYNTAX => 'hte');
$obj->process('my/template.ht', \%swap);
You can use the define_syntax method to add another custom
syntax to the list of available options.
TAG_STYLE
Allow for setting the type of tag delimiters to use for
parsing the TT. See the TAGS directive for a listing of the
available types.
TRIM
Remove leading and trailing whitespace from blocks and
templates. This operation is performed after all enclosed
template tags have been executed.
UNDEFINED_ANY
This is not a TT configuration option. This option expects
to be a code ref that will be called if a variable is
undefined during a call to play_expr. It is passed the
variable identity array as a single argument. This is most
similar to the "undefined" method of Template::Stash. It
allows for the "auto-defining" of a variable for use in the
template. It is suggested that UNDEFINED_GET be used instead
as UNDEFINED_ANY is a little to general in defining
variables.
You can also sub class the module and override the
undefined_any method.
UNDEFINED_GET
This is not a TT configuration option. This option expects
to be a code ref that will be called if a variable is
undefined during a call to GET. It is passed the variable
identity array as a single argument. This is more useful
than UNDEFINED_ANY in that it is only called during a GET
directive rather than in embedded expressions (such as [% a
|| b || c %]).
You can also sub class the module and override the
undefined_get method.
V1DOLLAR
This allows for some compatibility with TT1 templates. The
only real behavior change is that [% $foo %] becomes the
same as [% foo %]. The following is a basic table of changes
invoked by using V1DOLLAR.
With V1DOLLAR Equivalent Without V1DOLLAR (Normal default)
"[% foo %]" "[% foo %]"
"[% $foo %]" "[% foo %]"
"[% ${foo} %]" "[% ${foo} %]"
"[% foo.$bar %]" "[% foo.bar %]"
"[% ${foo.bar} %]" "[% ${foo.bar} %]"
"[% ${foo.$bar} %]" "[% ${foo.bar} %]"
"Text: $foo" "Text: $foo"
"Text: ${foo}" "Text: ${foo}"
"Text: ${$foo}" "Text: ${foo}"
V2EQUALS
Default 1 in TT syntaxes, defaults to 0 in HTML::Template
syntaxes.
If set to 1 then "==" is an alias for "eq" and "!= is an
alias for "ne".
[% CONFIG V2EQUALS => 1 %][% ('7' == '7.0') || 0 %]
[% CONFIG V2EQUALS => 0 %][% ('7' == '7.0') || 0 %]
Prints
0
1
V2PIPE
Restores the behavior of the pipe operator to be compatible
with TT2.
With V2PIPE = 1
[%- BLOCK a %]b is [% b %]
[% END %]
[%- PROCESS a b => 237 | repeat(2) %]
# output of block "a" with b set to 237 is passed to the repeat(2) filter
b is 237
b is 237
With V2PIPE = 0 (default)
[%- BLOCK a %]b is [% b %]
[% END %]
[% PROCESS a b => 237 | repeat(2) %]
# b set to 237 repeated twice, and b passed to block "a"
b is 237237
VARIABLES
A hashref of variables to initialize the template stash
with. These variables are available for use in any of the
executed templates. See the section on VARIABLES for the
types of information that can be passed in.
VMETHOD_FUNCTIONS
Defaults to 1. All scalar virtual methods are available as
top level functions as well. This is not true of TT2. In
Template::Alloy the following are equivalent:
[% "abc".length %]
[% length("abc") %]
You may set VMETHOD_FUNCTIONS to 0 to disable this behavior.
WRAPPER
Only available via when using the process interface.
Operates similar to the WRAPPER directive. The option can be
given a single filename, or an arrayref of filenames that
will be used to wrap the processed content. If an arrayref
is passed the filenames are processed in reverse order, so
that the first filename specified will end up being on the
outside (surrounding all other wrappers).
my $t = Template::Alloy->new(
WRAPPER => ['my/wrappers/outer.html', 'my/wrappers/inner.html'],
);
Content generated by the PRE_PROCESS and POST_PROCESS will
come before and after (respectively) the content generated
by the WRAPPER configuration item.
See the WRAPPER direcive for more examples of how wrappers
are construted.
CONFIGURATION (HTML::Template STYLE)
The following HTML::Template and HTML::Template::Expr
configuration variables are supported (in HTML::Template
documentation order). Note: for further discussion you can refer
to the HT documentation. Many of the variables mentioned in the
TT CONFIGURATION section apply here as well. Unless noted, these
items only apply when using the output method.
Items may be passed in upper or lower case. All passed items are
resolved to upper case.
These variables should be passed to the "new" constructor.
my $obj = Template::Alloy->new(
type => 'filename',
source => 'my/template.ht',
die_on_bad_params => 1,
loop_context_vars => 1,
global_vars => 1
post_chomp => "=",
pre_chomp => "-",
);
TYPE
Can be one of filename, filehandle, arrayref, or scalarref.
Indicates what type of input is in the "source"
configuration item.
SOURCE
Stores where to read the input file. The type is specified
in the "type" configuration item.
FILENAME
Indicates a filename to read the template from. Same as
putting the filename in the "source" item and setting "type"
to "filename".
Must be set to enable caching.
FILEHANDLE
Should contain an open filehandle to read the template from.
Same as putting the filehandle in the "source" item and
setting "type" to "filehandle".
Will not be cached.
ARRAYREF
Should contain an arrayref whose values are the lines of the
template. Same as putting the arrayref in the "source" item
and setting "type" to "arrayref".
Will not be cached.
SCALARREF
Should contain an reference to a scalar that contains the
template. Same as putting the scalar ref in the "source"
item and setting "type" to "scalarref".
Will not be cached.
CACHE
If set to one, then Alloy will use a global, in-memory
document cache to store compiled templates in between calls.
This is generally only useful in a mod_perl environment. The
document is checked for a different modification time at
each request.
BLIND_CACHE
Same as with cache enabled, but will not check if the
document has been modified.
FILE_CACHE
If set to 1, will cache the compiled document on the file
system. If true, file_cache_dir must be set.
FILE_CACHE_DIR
The directory where to store cached documents when
file_cache is true. This is similar to the TT compile_dir
option.
DOUBLE_FILE_CACHE
Uses a combination of file_cache and cache.
PATH
Same as INCLUDE_PATH when using the process method.
ASSOCIATE
May be a single CGI object or an arrayref of objects. The
params from these objects will be added to the params during
the output call.
CASE_SENSITIVE
Allow passed variables set through the param method, or the
associate configuration to be used case sensitively. Default
is off. It is highly suggested that this be set to 1.
LOOP_CONTEXT_VARS
Default false. When true, calls to the loop directive will
create the following variables that give information about
the current iteration of the loop:
__first__ - True on first iteration only
__last__ - True on last iteration only
__inner__ - True on any iteration that isn't first or last
__odd__ - True on odd iterations
__counter__ - The iteration count
These variables are also available to LOOPs run under TT
syntax if loop_context_vars is set and if QR_PRIVATE is set
to 0.
GLOBAL_VARS.
Default true in HTE mode. Default false in HT. Allows top
level variables to be used in LOOPs. When false, only
variables defined in the current LOOP iteration hashref will
be available.
DEFAULT_ESCAPE
Controls the type of escape used on named variables in
TMPL_VAR directives. Can be one of HTML, URL, or JS. The
values of TMPL_VAR directives will be encoded with this type
unless they specify their own type via an ESCAPE attribute.
NO_TT
Default false in 'hte' syntax. Default true in 'ht' syntax.
If true, no extended TT directives will be allowed.
The output method uses 'hte' syntax by default.
SEMI PUBLIC METHODS
The following list of methods are other interesting methods of
Alloy that may be re-implemented by subclasses of Alloy.
"exception"
Creates an exception object blessed into the package listed
in Template::Alloy::Exception.
"execute_tree"
Executes a parsed tree (returned from parse_tree)
"play_expr"
Play the parsed expression. Turns a variable identity array
into the parsed variable. This method is also responsible
for playing operators and running virtual methods and
filters. The variable identity array may also contain
literal values, or operator identity arrays.
"include_filename"
Takes a file path, and resolves it into the full filename
using paths from INCLUDE_PATH or INCLUDE_PATHS.
"_insert"
Resolves the file passed, and then returns its contents.
"list_filters"
Dynamically loads the filters list from Template::Filters
when a filter is used that is not natively implemented in
Alloy.
"list_plugins"
Returns an arrayref of modules that are under a base
Namespace.
my @modules = @{ $self->list_plugins({base => 'Template::Plugins'}) }:
Provided by the Play role.
"load_template"
Given a filename or a string reference will return a
"document" hashref hash that contains the parsed tree.
my $doc = $self->load_template($file); # errors die
This method handles the in-memory caching of the document.
"load_tree"
Given the "document" hashref, will either load the parsed
AST from file (if configured to do so), or will load the
content, parse the content using the Parse role, and will
return the tree. File based caching of the parsed AST
happens here.
"load_perl"
Only used if COMPILE_PERL is true (default is false).
Given the "document" hashref, will either load the compiled
perl from file (if configured to do so), or will load the
AST using "load_tree", will compile a new perl code document
using the Compile role, and will return the perl code. File
based caching of the compiled perl happens here.
"parse_tree"
Parses the passed string ref with the appopriate template
syntax.
See Template::Alloy::Parse for more details.
"parse_expr"
Parses the passed string ref for a variable or expression.
See Template::Alloy::Parse for more details.
"parse_args"
See Template::Alloy::Parse for more details.
"set_variable"
Used to set a variable. Expects a variable identity array
and the value to set. It will autovifiy as necessary.
"throw"
Creates an exception object from the arguments and dies.
"undefined_any"
Called during play_expr if a value is returned that is
undefined. This could be used to magically create variables
on the fly. This is similar to Template::Stash::undefined.
It is suggested that undefined_get be used instead. Default
behavior returns undef. You may also pass a coderef via the
UNDEFINED_ANY configuration variable. Also, you can try
using the DEBUG => 'undef', configuration option which will
throw an error on undefined variables.
"undefined_get"
Called when a variable is undefined during a GET directive.
This is useful to see if a value that is about to get
inserted into the text is undefined. undefined_any is a
little too general for most cases. Also, you may pass a
coderef via the UNDEFINED_GET configuration variable.
OTHER UTILITY METHODS
The following is a brief list of other methods used by Alloy.
Generally, these shouldn't be overwritten by subclasses.
"context"
Used to create a "pseudo" context object that allows for
portability of TT plugins, filters, and perl blocks that
need a context object. Uses the Template::Alloy::Context
class.
"debug_node"
Used to get debug info on a directive if DEBUG_DIRS is set.
"get_line_number_by_index"
Used to turn string index position into line number
"interpolate_node"
Used for parsing text nodes for dollar variables when
interpolate is on.
"play_operator"
Provided by the Operator role. Allows for playing an
operator AST.
See Template::Alloy::Operator for more details.
"apply_precedence"
Provided by the Parse role. Allows for parsed operator array
to be translated to a tree based upon operator precedence.
"_process"
Called by process and the PROCESS, INCLUDE and other
directives.
"slurp"
Reads contents of passed filename - throws file exception on
error.
"split_paths"
Used to split INCLUDE_PATH or other directives if an
arrayref is not passed.
"_vars"
Return a reference to the current stash of variables. This
is currently only used by the pseudo context object and may
disappear at some point.
THANKS
Thanks to Andy Wardley for creating Template::Toolkit.
Thanks to Sam Tregar for creating HTML::Template.
Thanks to David Lowe for creating Text::Tmpl.
Thanks to the Apache Velocity guys.
Thanks to Ben Grimm for a patch to allow passing a parsed
document to the ->process method.
Thanks to David Warring for finding a parse error in HTE syntax.
Thanks to Carl Franks for adding the base ENCODING support.
AUTHOR
Paul Seamons <paul at seamons dot com>
LICENSE
This module may be distributed under the same terms as Perl
itself.
