Provided by: libtemplate-declare-perl_0.47-3_all 
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:
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<p>Hello, world wide web!
</p>
</body>
</html>
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 "<img src="foo.png" />", "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:
<html>
<head>
<title>This is a webpage</title>
<meta generator="This is not your father's frontpage" />
</head>
<body>
<img src="hello.jpg" />
<p class="greeting">Hello, TD user!</p>
</body>
<div id="footer">Page last generated at Thu Sep 3 20:56:14 2009.</div>
</html>
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 "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 </main>, as you prefer. In either event,
the output would look like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet href="chrome://global/skin/" type="text/css"?>
<groupbox>
<caption label="Colors" />
<radiogroup>
<radio id="orange" label="Orange" />
<radio id="violet" label="Violet" selected="true" />
<radio id="yellow" label="Yellow" />
</radiogroup>
</groupbox>
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{_(.+?)_}{<em>$1</em>}g;
return $text;
}
As usual, we've told Template::Declare to dispatch to our template class. A new parameter
to "init()" is "postprocessor", which is a code reference that should expect the template
output as an argument. It can then transform that text however it sees fit before
returning it for final output. In this example, the "emphasize" subroutine looks for text
that's emphasized using _underscores_ and turns them into "<em>emphasis</em>" HTML
elements.
We then execute both the "before" and the "after" templates with the output ending up as:
<h1>Welcome to
<em>my</em> site. It's
<em>great</em>!</h1>
<h1>Welcome to <em>my</em> site. It's <em>great</em>!</h1>
<h2>This is _not_ emphasized.</h2>
<img src="/foo/_bar_baz.png" />
The thing to note here is that text passed to "outs_raw" is not passed through the
postprocessor, and neither are attribute values (like the "img"'s "src").
Inheritance
Templates are really just methods. You can subclass your template packages to override
some of those methods:
package MyApp::Templates::GenericItem;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template 'list' => sub {
my ($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::GenericItem". 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:
<div>
<span>foo</span>
<span>bar</span>
<span>baz</span>
</div>
<h1>Hello</h1>
<div>first post</div>
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:
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello, Jesse!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, Jesse, s'up?</h1>
<div>This is the end, my friend</div>
</body>
</html>
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 tags. 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:
<form action="edit.html" id="edit_prefs">
<label>Time Zone</label>
<input type="text" name="tz" />
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
</form>
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::Declare
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 $title;
};
};
As usual, you can use it like so:
my @template_classes = 'MyApp::UI::Standard';
Template::Declare->init( dispatch_to => \@template_classes );
print Template::Declare->show('image', 'foo.png', 'Foo');
We're explicitly using a reference to @template_classes so that we can manage this list
ourselves.
The output of this will be:
<div class="std">
<img src="foo.png" title="Foo" />
<p class="caption"></p>
</div>
But say that in some sections of your site you need to have a more formal treatment of
your photos. Maybe you publish photos from a wire service and need to provide an
appropriate credit. You might write the template class like so:
package MyApp::UI::Formal;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
template image => sub {
my ($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 comes in when you're mixing and
matching template classes to pass to "dispatch_to" before rendering a page. Maybe you
always pass "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, the formal "image" template will be found first, yielding this output:
<div class="formal">
<img src="ap.png" title="AP Photo" />
<p class="credit">Photo by Clark Kent</p>
<p class="caption">Big news</p>
</div>
At the end, we've shifted the formal template class off the "dispatch_to" list in order to
restore the template classes to 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:
<html>
<head>
<title>My Site: Kashmir</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Kashmir</h1>
<div id="content">
<p>fist paragraph</p>
<p>second paragraph</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
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 => $page );
We get output as you might expect:
<h1>My page title</h1>
<p>Page paragraph</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<img src="/ui/css/sidebar.png" />
<p>Sidebar paragraph</p>
<p>Another paragraph</p>
</div>
Now, let's say that you have political stuff that you want to use a different image for in
the sidebar. If that's the only difference, we can subclass "MyApp::UI::Stuff" and just
override the "img_path()" method:
package MyApp::UI::Stuff::Politics;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'MyApp::UI::Stuff';
sub img_path { '/politics/ui/css' }
Now let's mix that into a politics template class:
package MyApp::Render::Politics;
use Template::Declare::Tags;
use base 'Template::Declare';
alias MyApp::UI::Stuff::Politics under '/politics';
template page => sub {
my ($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:
<h1>My page title</h1>
<p>Page paragraph</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<img src="/politics/ui/css/sidebar.png" />
<p>Sidebar paragraph</p>
<p>Another paragraph</p>
</div>
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 you define this
template 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;
$Template::Declare::Tags::EOL = "";
say Template::Declare->show('main');
will render
<html><body><p>hi</p></body></html>
METHODS
init
This class method initializes the "Template::Declare" system.
dispatch_to
An array reference of classes to search for templates. Template::Declare will search
this list of classes in order to find a template path.
roots
Deprecated. Just like "dispatch_to", only the classes are searched in reverse order.
Maintained for backward compatibility and for the pleasure of those who want to
continue using Template::Declare the way that Jesse's "crack-addled brain" intended.
postprocessor
A coderef called to postprocess the HTML or XML output of your templates. This is to
alleviate using Tags for simple text markup.
around_template
A coderef called instead of rendering each template. The coderef will receive four
arguments: a coderef to invoke to render the template, the template's path, an
arrayref of the arguments to the template, and the coderef of the template itself. You
can use this for instrumentation. For example:
Template::Declare->init(around_template => sub {
my ($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 $output = Template::Declare->show('index');
Call "show" with a "template_name" and "Template::Declare" will render that template.
Subsequent arguments will be passed to the template. Content generated by "show()" can be
accessed via the "output()" method if the output method you've chosen returns content
instead of outputting it directly.
If called in scalar context, this method will also just return the content when available.
Template Composition
Sometimes you want to mix templates from one class into another class, or delegate
template execution to a class of templates. "alias()" and "mix()" are your keys to doing
so.
mix
mix Some::Clever::Mixin under '/mixin';
mix Some::Other::Mixin under '/otmix', setting { name => 'Larry' };
mix My::Mixin into My::View, under '/mymix';
Mixes templates from one template class into another class. When the mixed-in template is
called, its invocant will be the class into which it was mixed. This type of composition
is known as a "mixin" in object-oriented parlance. See Template Composition for extended
examples and a comparison to "alias".
The first parameter is the name of the template class to be mixed in. The "under" keyword
tells "mix" where to put the templates. For example, a "foo" template in
"Some::Clever::Mixin" will be mixed in as "mixin/foo".
The "setting" keyword specifies package variables available only to the mixed-in copies of
templates. These are available to the templates as "$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 templates 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:
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<P>WHEE!</P>
<P>HELLO, WORLD WIDE WEB!</P>
</body>
</html>
...or:
<html>
<head></head>
<body></body>
</html>
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
<p>
<em>world</em>
</p>
instead of the desired output
<p>
hello
<em>world</em>
</p>
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
<p>0</p>
instead of the more intuitive output:
<p></p>
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 <p> 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
"bug-template-declare@rt.cpan.org".
SEE ALSO
Template::Declare::Tags
Template::Declare::TagSet
Template::Declare::TagSet::HTML
Template::Declare::TagSet::XUL
Jifty
AUTHOR
Jesse Vincent <jesse@bestpractical.com>
LICENSE
Template::Declare is Copyright 2006-2010 Best Practical Solutions, LLC.
Template::Declare is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.