# NAME Template::Twostep - Compile templates into a subroutine # SYNOPSIS use Template::Twostep; my $tt = Template::Twostep->new; my $sub = $tt->compile($template, $subtemplate); my $output = $sub->($hash); # DESCRIPTION This module simplifies the job of producing html text output by letting you put data into a template. Templates support the control structures in Perl: "for" and "while" loops, "if-else" blocks, and some others. Creating output is a two step process. First you generate a subroutine from one or more templates, then you call the subroutine with your data to generate the output. The template format is line oriented. Commands occupy a single line and continue to the end of line. By default commands are enclosed in html comments (), but the command start and end strings are configurable via the new method. A command may be preceded by white space. If a command is a block command, it is terminated by the word "end" followed by the command name. For example, the "for" command is terminated by an "endfor" command and the "if" command by an "endif" command. All lines may contain variables. As in Perl, variables are a sigil character ('$,' '@,' or '%') followed by one or more word characters. For example, `$name` or `@names`. To indicate a literal character instead of a variable, precede the sigil with a backslash. When you run the subroutine that this module generates, you pass it a reference, usually a reference to a hash, containing some data. The subroutine replaces variables in the template with the value in the field of the same name in the hash. If the types of the two disagree, the code will coerce the data to the type of the sigil. You can pass a reference to an array instead of a hash to the subroutine this module generates. If you do, the template will use `@data` to refer to the array. There are several other template packages. I wrote this one to have the specific set of features I want in a template package. First, I wanted templates to be compiled into code. This approach has the advantage of speeding things up when the same template is used more than once. However, it also poses a security risk because code you might not want executed may be included in the template. For this reason if the script using this module can be run from the web, make sure the account that runs it cannot write to the template. I made the templates command language line oriented rather than tag oriented to prevent spurious white space from appearing in the output. Template commands and variables are similar to Perl for familiarity. The power of the template language is limited to the essentials for the sake of simplicity and to prevent mixing code with presentation. # METHODS This module has two public methods. The first, new, changes the module defaults. Compile generates a subroutine from one or more templates. You Tthen call this subroutine with a reference to the data you want to substitute into the template to produce output. Using subtemplates along with a template allows you to place the common design elements in the template. You indicate where to replace parts of the template with parts of the subtemplate by using the "section" command. If the template contains a section block with the same name as a section block in the subtemplates it replaces the contents inside the section block in the template with the contents of the corresponding block in the subtemplate. - `$obj = Template::Twostep->new(command_start => '::', command_end => '');` Create a new parser. The configuration allows you to set a set of characters to escape when found in the data (escaped\_chars), the string which starts a command (command\_start), the string which ends a command (command\_end), and whether section commands are kept in the output (keep\_sections). All commands end at the end of line. However, you may wish to place commends inside comments and comments may require a closing string. By setting command\_end, the closing string will be stripped from the end of the command. - `$sub = $obj->compile($template, $subtemplate);` Generate a subroutine used to render data from a template and optionally from one or more subtemplates. It can be invoked by an object created by a call to new, or you can invoke it using the package name (Template::Twostep), in which case it will first call new for you. If the template string does not contain a newline, the method assumes it is a filename and it reads the template from that file. # TEMPLATE SYNTAX If the first non-white characters on a line are the command start string, the line is interpreted as a command. The command name continues up to the first white space character. The text following the initial span of white space is the command argument. The argument continues up to the command end string, or if this is empty, to the end of the line. Variables in the template have the same format as ordinary Perl variables, a string of word characters starting with a sigil character. for example, $SUMMARY @data %dictionary are examples of variables. The subroutine this module generates will substitute values in the data it is passed for the variables in the template. New variables can be added with the "set" command. Arrays and hashes are rendered as unordered lists and definition lists when interpolating them. This is done recursively, so arbitrary structures can be rendered. This is mostly intended for debugging, as it does not provide fine control over how the structures are rendered. For finer control, use the commands described below so that the scalar fields in the structures can be accessed. Scalar fields have the characters '<' and '>' escaped before interpolating them. This set of characters can be changed by setting the configuration parameter escaped chars. Undefined fields are replaced with the empty string when rendering. If the type of data passed to the subroutine differs from the sigil on the variable the variable is coerced to the type of the sigil. This works the same as an assignment. If an array is referenced as a scalar, the length of the array is output. The following commands are supported in templates: - do The remainder of the line is interpreted as Perl code. For assignments, use the set command. - if The text until the matching `endif` is included only if the expression in the "if" command is true. If false, the text is skipped. The "if" command can contain an `else`, in which case the text before the "else" is included if the expression in the "if" command is true and the text after the "else" is included if it is false. You can also place an "elsif" command in the "if" block, which includes the following text if its expression is true. $text $text - for Expand the text between the "for" and "endfor" commands several times. The "for" command takes a name of a field in a hash as its argument. The value of this name should be a reference to a list. It will expand the text in the for block once for each element in the list. Within the "for" block, any element of the list is accessible. This is especially useful for displaying lists of hashes. For example, suppose the data field name PHONELIST points to an array. This array is a list of hashes, and each hash has two entries, NAME and PHONE. Then the code

$NAME
$PHONE

displays the entire phone list. - section If a template contains a section, the text until the endsection command will be replaced by the section block with the same name in one the subtemplates. For example, if the main template has the code
and the subtemplate has the lines
This template is copyright with a Creative Commons License.
The text will be copied from a section in the subtemplate into a section of the same name in the template. If there is no block with the same name in the subtemplate, the text is used unchanged. - set Adds a new variable or updates the value of an existing variable. The argument following the command name looks like any Perl assignment statement minus the trailing semicolon. For example, - while Expand the text between the `while` and `endwhile` as long as the expression following the `while` is true.

Countdown ...
$i
- with Lists within a hash can be accessed using the "for" command. Hashes within a hash are accessed using the "with" command. For example:

$street
$city, $state $zip
# ERRORS What to check when this module throws an error - Couldn't read template The template is in a file and the file could not be opened. Check the filename and permissions on the file. Relative filenames can cause problems and the web server is probably running another account than yours. - Illegal type conversion The sigil on a variable differs from the data passed to the subroutine and conversion. between the two would not be legal. Or you forgot to escape the '@' in an email address by preceding it with a backslash. - Unknown command Either a command was spelled incorrectly or a line that is not a command begins with the command start string. - Missing end The template contains a command for the start of a block, but not the command for the end of the block. For example an "if" command is missing an "endif" command. - Mismatched block end The parser found a different end command than the begin command for the block it was parsing. Either an end command is missing, or block commands are nested incorrectly. - Syntax error The expression used in a command is not valid Perl. # LICENSE Copyright (C) Bernie Simon. This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. # AUTHOR Bernie Simon