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1 .. -*- mode: rst; encoding: utf-8 -*-
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2
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3 ===========================
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4 Using the Templating Plugin
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5 ===========================
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6
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7 While you can easily use Genshi templating through the APIs provided directly
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8 by Genshi, in some situations you may want to use Genshi through the template
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9 engine plugin API. Note though that this considerably limits the power and
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10 flexibility of Genshi templates (for example, there's no good way to use filters
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11 such as Genshi's `HTMLFormFiller`_ when the plugin
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12 API is sitting between your code and Genshi).
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13
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14 .. _`HTMLFormFiller`: filters.html>#html-form-filler
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15
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16
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17 .. contents:: Contents
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18 :depth: 2
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19 .. sectnum::
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20
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21
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22 Introduction
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23 ============
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24
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25 Most Python web frameworks (with the notable exception of Django_) support
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26 a variety of different templating engines through the `Template Engine Plugin
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27 API`_, which was first developed by the Buffet_ and TurboGears_ projects.
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28
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29 .. _`Template Engine Plugin API`: http://docs.turbogears.org/1.0/TemplatePlugins
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30 .. _`Django`: http://www.djangoproject.com/
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31 .. _`Buffet`: http://projects.dowski.com/projects/buffet
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32 .. _`TurboGears`: http://www.turbogears.org/
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33
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34 Genshi supports this API out of the box, so you can use it in frameworks like
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35 TurboGears or `Pylons`_ without installing any additional packages. A small
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36 example TurboGears application is included in the ``examples`` directory of
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37 source distributions of Genshi.
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38
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39 .. _`Pylons`: http://pylonshq.com/
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40
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41
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42 Usage
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43 =====
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44
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45 The way you use Genshi through the plugin API depends very much on the framework
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46 you're using. In general, the approach will look something like the following:
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47
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48 (1) Configure Genshi as the default (or an additional) template engine
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49 (2) Optionally specify Genshi-specific `configuration options`_
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50 (3) For any given *view* or *controller* (or whatever those are called in your
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51 framework of choice), specify the name of the template to use and which data
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52 should be made available to it.
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53
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54 For point 1, you'll have to specify the *name* of the template engine plugin.
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55 For Genshi, this is **"genshi"**. However, because Genshi supports both markup
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56 and text templates, it also provides two separate plugins, namely
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57 **"genshi-markup"** and **"genshi-text"** (the "genshi" name is just an
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58 alias for "genshi-markup").
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59
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60 Usually, you can choose a default template engine, but also use a different
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61 engine on a per-request basis. So to use markup templates in general, but a text
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62 template in a specific controller, you'd configure "genshi" as the default
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63 template engine, and specify "genshi-text" for the controllers that should use
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64 text templates. How exactly this works depends on the framework in use.
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65
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66 When rendering a specific template in a controller (point 3 above), you may also
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67 be able to pass additional options to the plugin. This includes the ``format``
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68 keyword argument, which Genshi will use to override the configured default
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69 serialization method. In combination with specifying the "genshi-text" engine
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70 name as explained above, you would use this to specify the "text" serialization
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71 method when you want to use a text template. Or you'd specify "xml" for the
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72 format when you want to produce an Atom feed or other XML content.
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73
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74
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75 Extra Implicit Objects
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76 ======================
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77
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78 The "genshi-markup" template engine plugin adds some extra functions that are
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79 made available to all templates implicitly, namely:
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80
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81 ``HTML(string)``
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82 Parses the given string as HTML and returns a markup stream.
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83 ``XML(string)``
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84 Parses the given string as XML and returns a markup stream.
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85 ``ET(tree)``
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86 Adapts the given `ElementTree`_ object to a markup stream.
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87
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88 The framework may make additional objects available by default. Consult the
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89 documentation of your framework for more information.
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90
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91 .. _elementtree: http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm
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92
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93
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94 .. _`configuration options`:
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95
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96 Configuration Options
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97 =====================
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98
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99 The plugin API allows plugins to be configured using a dictionary of strings.
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100 The following is a list of configuration options that Genshi supports. These may
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101 or may not be made available by your framework. TurboGears 1.0, for example,
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102 only passes a fixed set of options to all plugins.
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103
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104 ``genshi.auto_reload``
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105 ----------------------
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106 Whether the template loader should check the last modification time of template
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107 files, and automatically reload them if they have been changed. Specify "yes"
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108 to enable this reloading (which is the default), or "no" to turn it off.
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109
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110 .. note:: You may want to disable reloading in a production environment to gain
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111 a slight (and possible even negligible) improvement in loading
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112 performance, but then you'll have to manually restart the server
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113 process anytime the templates are updated.
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114
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115 ``genshi.default_doctype``
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116 --------------------------
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117 The default ``DOCTYPE`` declaration to use in generated markup. Valid values
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118 are:
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119
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120 **html-strict** (or just **html**)
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121 HTML 4.01 Strict
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122 **html-transitional**
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123 HTML 4.01 Transitional
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124 **xhtml-strict** (or just **xhtml**)
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125 XHTML 1.0 Strict
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126 **xhtml-transitional**
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127 XHTML 1.0 Transitional
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128 **html5**
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129 HTML5 (as `proposed`_ by the WHAT-WG)
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130
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131 .. _proposed: http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/
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132
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133 .. note:: While using the Genshi API directly allows you to specify document
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134 types not in that list, the *dictionary-of-strings* based
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135 configuration utilized by the plugin API unfortunately limits your
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136 choices to those listed above.
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137
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138 The default behavior is to not do any prepending/replacing of a ``DOCTYPE``, but
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139 rather pass through those defined in the templates (if any). If this option is
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140 set, however, any ``DOCTYPE`` declarations in the templates are replaced by the
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141 specified document type.
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142
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143 Note that with (X)HTML, the presence and choice of the ``DOCTYPE`` can have a
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144 more or less dramatic impact on how modern browsers render pages that use CSS
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145 style sheets. In particular, browsers may switch to *quirks rendering mode* for
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146 certain document types, or when the ``DOCTYPE`` declaration is missing
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147 completely.
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148
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149 For more information on the choice of the appropriate ``DOCTYPE``, see:
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150
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151 * `Recommended DTDs to use in your Web document <http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html>`_
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152 * `Choosing a DOCTYPE <http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html>`_
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153
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154 ``genshi.default_encoding``
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155 ---------------------------
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156 The default output encoding to use when serializing a template. By default,
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157 Genshi uses UTF-8. If you need to, you can choose a different charset by
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158 specifying this option, although that rarely makes sense.
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159
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160 As Genshi is not in control over what HTTP headers are being sent together with
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161 the template output, make sure that you (or the framework you're using)
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162 specify the chosen encoding as part of the outgoing ``Content-Type`` header.
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163 For example::
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164
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165 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
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166
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167 .. note:: Browsers commonly use ISO-8859-1 by default for ``text/html``, so even
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168 if you use Genshi's default UTF-8 encoding, you'll have to let the
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169 browser know about that explicitly
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170
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171 ``genshi.default_format``
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172 -------------------------
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173 Determines the default serialization method to use. Valid options are:
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174
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175 **xml**
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176 Serialization to XML
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177 **xhtml**
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178 Serialization to XHTML in a way that should be compatible with HTML (i.e. the
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179 result can be sent using the ``text/html`` MIME type, but can also be handled
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180 by XML parsers if you're careful).
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181 **html**
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182 Serialization to HTML
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183 **text**
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184 Plain text serialization
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185
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186 See `Understanding HTML, XML and XHTML`_ for an excellent description of the
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187 subtle differences between the three different markup serialization options. As
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188 a general recommendation, if you don't have a special requirement to produce
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189 well-formed XML, you should probably use the **html** option for your web sites.
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190
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191 .. _`Understanding HTML, XML and XHTML`: http://webkit.org/blog/?p=68
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192
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193 ``genshi.lookup_errors``
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194 ------------------------
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195 The error handling style to use in template expressions. Can be either
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196 **lenient** (the default) or **strict**. See the `Error Handling`_ section for
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197 detailled information on the differences between these two modes.
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198
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199 .. _`Error Handling`: templates.html#template-expressions-and-code-blocks
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200
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201 ``genshi.max_cache_size``
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202 -------------------------
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203 The maximum number of templates that the template loader will cache in memory.
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204 The default value is **25**. You may want to choose a higher value if your web
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205 site uses a larger number of templates, and you have enough memory to spare.
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206
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207 ``genshi.search_path``
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208 ----------------------
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209 A colon-separated list of file-system path names that the template loader should
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210 use to search for templates.
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