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annotate doc/xml-templates.txt @ 242:71062601458a trunk
Implement comments and directive escaping for text templates.
author | cmlenz |
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date | Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:44:12 +0000 |
parents | 4d81439bc097 |
children | fa07ab5a7e53 |
rev | line source |
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226 | 1 .. -*- mode: rst; encoding: utf-8 -*- |
2 | |
3 ============================ | |
230 | 4 Genshi XML Template Language |
226 | 5 ============================ |
6 | |
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7 Genshi provides a XML-based template language that is heavily inspired by Kid_, |
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8 which in turn was inspired by a number of existing template languages, namely |
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9 XSLT_, TAL_, and PHP_. |
226 | 10 |
11 .. _kid: http://kid-templating.org/ | |
12 .. _python: http://www.python.org/ | |
13 .. _xslt: http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt | |
14 .. _tal: http://www.zope.org/Wikis/DevSite/Projects/ZPT/TAL | |
15 .. _php: http://www.php.net/ | |
16 | |
17 This document describes the template language and will be most useful as | |
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18 reference to those developing Genshi XML templates. Templates are XML files of |
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19 some kind (such as XHTML) that include processing directives_ (elements or |
226 | 20 attributes identified by a separate namespace) that affect how the template is |
21 rendered, and template expressions_ that are dynamically substituted by | |
22 variable data. | |
23 | |
24 | |
25 .. contents:: Contents | |
26 :depth: 3 | |
27 .. sectnum:: | |
28 | |
29 ---------- | |
30 Python API | |
31 ---------- | |
32 | |
230 | 33 The Python code required for templating with Genshi is generally based on the |
226 | 34 following pattern: |
35 | |
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36 * Attain a ``MarkupTemplate`` object from a string or file object containing |
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37 the template XML source. This can either be done directly, or through a |
226 | 38 ``TemplateLoader`` instance. |
39 * Call the ``generate()`` method of the template, passing any data that should | |
40 be made available to the template as keyword arguments. | |
41 * Serialize the resulting stream using its ``render()`` method. | |
42 | |
43 For example:: | |
44 | |
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45 from genshi.template import MarkupTemplate |
226 | 46 |
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47 tmpl = MarkupTemplate('<h1>$title</h1>') |
226 | 48 stream = tmpl.generate(title='Hello, world!') |
49 print stream.render('xhtml') | |
50 | |
51 That code would produce the following output:: | |
52 | |
53 <h1>Hello, world!</h1> | |
54 | |
55 However, if you want includes_ to work, you should attain the template instance | |
56 through a ``TemplateLoader``, and load the template from a file:: | |
57 | |
230 | 58 from genshi.template import TemplateLoader |
226 | 59 |
60 loader = TemplateLoader([templates_dir]) | |
61 tmpl = loader.load('test.html') | |
62 stream = tmpl.generate(title='Hello, world!') | |
63 print stream.render('xhtml') | |
64 | |
65 | |
66 .. _`expressions`: | |
67 | |
68 -------------------- | |
69 Template Expressions | |
70 -------------------- | |
71 | |
72 Python_ expressions can be used in text and attribute values. An expression is | |
73 substituted with the result of its evaluation against the template data. | |
74 Expressions need to prefixed with a dollar sign (``$``) and usually enclosed in | |
75 curly braces (``{…}``). | |
76 | |
77 If the expression starts with a letter and contains only letters and digits, | |
78 the curly braces may be omitted. In all other cases, the braces are required so | |
79 that the template processors knows where the expression ends:: | |
80 | |
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81 >>> from genshi.template import MarkupTemplate |
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82 >>> tmpl = MarkupTemplate('<em>${items[0].capitalize()} item</em>') |
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83 >>> print tmpl.generate(items=['first', 'second']) |
226 | 84 <em>First item</em> |
85 | |
86 Expressions support the full power of Python. In addition, it is possible to | |
87 access items in a dictionary using “dotted notation” (i.e. as if they were | |
88 attributes), and vice-versa (i.e. access attributes as if they were items in a | |
89 dictionary):: | |
90 | |
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91 >>> from genshi.template import MarkupTemplate |
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92 >>> tmpl = MarkupTemplate('<em>${dict.foo}</em>') |
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93 >>> print tmpl.generate(dict={'foo': 'bar'}) |
226 | 94 <em>bar</em> |
95 | |
96 | |
97 .. _`directives`: | |
98 | |
99 ------------------- | |
100 Template Directives | |
101 ------------------- | |
102 | |
103 Directives are elements and/or attributes in the template that are identified | |
230 | 104 by the namespace ``http://genshi.edgewall.org/``. They can affect how the |
105 template is rendered in a number of ways: Genshi provides directives for | |
226 | 106 conditionals and looping, among others. |
107 | |
108 To use directives in a template, the namespace should be declared, which is | |
109 usually done on the root element:: | |
110 | |
111 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" | |
230 | 112 xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/" |
226 | 113 lang="en"> |
114 ... | |
115 </html> | |
116 | |
117 In this example, the default namespace is set to the XHTML namespace, and the | |
230 | 118 namespace for Genshi directives is bound to the prefix “py”. |
226 | 119 |
120 All directives can be applied as attributes, and some can also be used as | |
121 elements. The ``if`` directives for conditionals, for example, can be used in | |
122 both ways:: | |
123 | |
124 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" | |
230 | 125 xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/" |
226 | 126 lang="en"> |
127 ... | |
128 <div py:if="foo"> | |
129 <p>Bar</p> | |
130 </div> | |
131 ... | |
132 </html> | |
133 | |
134 This is basically equivalent to the following:: | |
135 | |
136 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" | |
230 | 137 xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/" |
226 | 138 lang="en"> |
139 ... | |
140 <py:if test="foo"> | |
141 <div> | |
142 <p>Bar</p> | |
143 </div> | |
144 </py:if> | |
145 ... | |
146 </html> | |
147 | |
148 The rationale behind the second form is that directives do not always map | |
149 naturally to elements in the template. In such cases, the ``py:strip`` | |
150 directive can be used to strip off the unwanted element, or the directive can | |
151 simply be used as an element. | |
152 | |
153 | |
237 | 154 Conditional Sections |
226 | 155 ==================== |
156 | |
235 | 157 .. _`py:if`: |
226 | 158 |
235 | 159 ``py:if`` |
237 | 160 --------- |
226 | 161 |
235 | 162 The element is only rendered if the expression evaluates to a truth value:: |
226 | 163 |
235 | 164 <div> |
165 <b py:if="foo">${bar}</b> | |
166 </div> | |
226 | 167 |
235 | 168 Given the data ``foo=True`` and ``bar='Hello'`` in the template context, this |
169 would produce:: | |
170 | |
171 <div> | |
172 <b>Hello</b> | |
173 </div> | |
174 | |
175 This directive can also be used as an element:: | |
176 | |
177 <div> | |
178 <py:if test="foo"> | |
179 <b>${bar}</b> | |
180 </py:if> | |
181 </div> | |
226 | 182 |
183 .. _`py:choose`: | |
184 .. _`py:when`: | |
185 .. _`py:otherwise`: | |
186 | |
237 | 187 ``py:choose`` |
188 ------------- | |
226 | 189 |
237 | 190 The ``py:choose`` directive, in combination with the directives ``py:when`` |
191 and ``py:otherwise`` provides advanced contional processing for rendering one | |
226 | 192 of several alternatives. The first matching ``py:when`` branch is rendered, or, |
193 if no ``py:when`` branch matches, the ``py:otherwise`` branch is be rendered. | |
194 | |
195 If the ``py:choose`` directive is empty the nested ``py:when`` directives will | |
196 be tested for truth:: | |
197 | |
198 <div py:choose=""> | |
199 <span py:when="0 == 1">0</span> | |
200 <span py:when="1 == 1">1</span> | |
201 <span py:otherwise="">2</span> | |
202 </div> | |
203 | |
204 This would produce the following output:: | |
205 | |
206 <div> | |
207 <span>1</span> | |
208 </div> | |
209 | |
210 If the ``py:choose`` directive contains an expression the nested ``py:when`` | |
211 directives will be tested for equality to the parent ``py:choose`` value:: | |
212 | |
213 <div py:choose="1"> | |
214 <span py:when="0">0</span> | |
215 <span py:when="1">1</span> | |
216 <span py:otherwise="">2</span> | |
217 </div> | |
218 | |
219 This would produce the following output:: | |
220 | |
221 <div> | |
222 <span>1</span> | |
223 </div> | |
224 | |
225 | |
235 | 226 Looping |
237 | 227 ======= |
226 | 228 |
235 | 229 .. _`py:for`: |
226 | 230 |
235 | 231 ``py:for`` |
237 | 232 ---------- |
235 | 233 |
234 The element is repeated for every item in an iterable:: | |
226 | 235 |
236 <ul> | |
235 | 237 <li py:for="item in items">${item}</li> |
226 | 238 </ul> |
239 | |
235 | 240 Given ``items=[1, 2, 3]`` in the context data, this would produce:: |
226 | 241 |
242 <ul> | |
235 | 243 <li>1</li><li>2</li><li>3</li> |
226 | 244 </ul> |
245 | |
235 | 246 This directive can also be used as an element:: |
226 | 247 |
235 | 248 <ul> |
249 <py:for each="item in items"> | |
250 <li>${item}</li> | |
251 </py:for> | |
252 </ul> | |
253 | |
254 | |
255 Snippet Reuse | |
237 | 256 ============= |
226 | 257 |
258 .. _`py:def`: | |
259 .. _`macros`: | |
260 | |
261 ``py:def`` | |
237 | 262 ---------- |
226 | 263 |
264 The ``py:def`` directive can be used to create macros, i.e. snippets of | |
265 template code that have a name and optionally some parameters, and that can be | |
266 inserted in other places:: | |
267 | |
268 <div> | |
269 <p py:def="greeting(name)" class="greeting"> | |
270 Hello, ${name}! | |
271 </p> | |
272 ${greeting('world')} | |
273 ${greeting('everyone else')} | |
274 </div> | |
275 | |
276 The above would be rendered to:: | |
277 | |
278 <div> | |
279 <p class="greeting"> | |
280 Hello, world! | |
281 </p> | |
282 <p class="greeting"> | |
283 Hello, everyone else! | |
284 </p> | |
285 </div> | |
286 | |
287 If a macro doesn't require parameters, it can be defined as well as called | |
288 without the parenthesis. For example:: | |
289 | |
290 <div> | |
291 <p py:def="greeting" class="greeting"> | |
292 Hello, world! | |
293 </p> | |
294 ${greeting} | |
295 </div> | |
296 | |
297 The above would be rendered to:: | |
298 | |
299 <div> | |
300 <p class="greeting"> | |
301 Hello, world! | |
302 </p> | |
303 </div> | |
304 | |
305 This directive can also be used as an element:: | |
306 | |
307 <div> | |
308 <py:def function="greeting(name)"> | |
309 <p class="greeting">Hello, ${name}!</p> | |
310 </py:def> | |
311 </div> | |
312 | |
313 | |
235 | 314 .. _Match Templates: |
226 | 315 .. _`py:match`: |
316 | |
317 ``py:match`` | |
237 | 318 ------------ |
226 | 319 |
320 This directive defines a *match template*: given an XPath expression, it | |
321 replaces any element in the template that matches the expression with its own | |
322 content. | |
323 | |
324 For example, the match template defined in the following template matches any | |
325 element with the tag name “greeting”:: | |
326 | |
327 <div> | |
328 <span py:match="greeting"> | |
329 Hello ${select('@name')} | |
330 </span> | |
331 <greeting name="Dude" /> | |
332 </div> | |
333 | |
334 This would result in the following output:: | |
335 | |
336 <div> | |
337 <span> | |
338 Hello Dude | |
339 </span> | |
340 </div> | |
341 | |
342 Inside the body of a ``py:match`` directive, the ``select(path)`` function is | |
343 made available so that parts or all of the original element can be incorporated | |
230 | 344 in the output of the match template. See [wiki:GenshiStream#UsingXPath] for |
226 | 345 more information about this function. |
346 | |
347 This directive can also be used as an element:: | |
348 | |
349 <div> | |
350 <py:match path="greeting"> | |
351 <span>Hello ${select('@name')}</span> | |
352 </py:match> | |
353 <greeting name="Dude" /> | |
354 </div> | |
355 | |
356 | |
235 | 357 Variable Binding |
237 | 358 ================ |
226 | 359 |
360 .. _`with`: | |
361 | |
362 ``py:with`` | |
237 | 363 ----------- |
226 | 364 |
365 The ``py:with`` directive lets you assign expressions to variables, which can | |
366 be used to make expressions inside the directive less verbose and more | |
367 efficient. For example, if you need use the expression ``author.posts`` more | |
368 than once, and that actually results in a database query, assigning the results | |
369 to a variable using this directive would probably help. | |
370 | |
371 For example:: | |
372 | |
373 <div> | |
374 <span py:with="y=7; z=x+10">$x $y $z</span> | |
375 </div> | |
376 | |
377 Given ``x=42`` in the context data, this would produce:: | |
378 | |
379 <div> | |
380 <span>42 7 52</span> | |
381 </div> | |
382 | |
383 This directive can also be used as an element:: | |
384 | |
385 <div> | |
386 <py:with vars="y=7; z=x+10">$x $y $z</py:with> | |
387 </div> | |
388 | |
389 Note that if a variable of the same name already existed outside of the scope | |
390 of the ``py:with`` directive, it will **not** be overwritten. Instead, it | |
391 will have the same value it had prior to the ``py:with`` assignment. | |
230 | 392 Effectively, this means that variables are immutable in Genshi. |
226 | 393 |
394 | |
235 | 395 Structure Manipulation |
237 | 396 ====================== |
235 | 397 |
398 .. _`py:attrs`: | |
399 | |
400 ``py:attrs`` | |
237 | 401 ------------ |
235 | 402 |
403 This directive adds, modifies or removes attributes from the element:: | |
404 | |
405 <ul> | |
406 <li py:attrs="foo">Bar</li> | |
407 </ul> | |
408 | |
409 Given ``foo={'class': 'collapse'}`` in the template context, this would | |
410 produce:: | |
411 | |
412 <ul> | |
413 <li class="collapse">Bar</li> | |
414 </ul> | |
415 | |
416 Attributes with the value ``None`` are omitted, so given ``foo={'class': None}`` | |
417 in the context for the same template this would produce:: | |
418 | |
419 <ul> | |
420 <li>Bar</li> | |
421 </ul> | |
422 | |
423 This directive can only be used as an attribute. | |
424 | |
425 | |
426 .. _`py:content`: | |
427 | |
428 ``py:content`` | |
237 | 429 -------------- |
235 | 430 |
431 This directive replaces any nested content with the result of evaluating the | |
432 expression:: | |
433 | |
434 <ul> | |
435 <li py:content="bar">Hello</li> | |
436 </ul> | |
437 | |
438 Given ``bar='Bye'`` in the context data, this would produce:: | |
439 | |
440 <ul> | |
441 <li>Bye</li> | |
442 </ul> | |
443 | |
444 This directive can only be used as an attribute. | |
445 | |
446 | |
447 .. _`py:replace`: | |
448 | |
449 ``py:replace`` | |
237 | 450 -------------- |
235 | 451 |
452 This directive replaces the element itself with the result of evaluating the | |
453 expression:: | |
454 | |
455 <div> | |
456 <span py:replace="bar">Hello</span> | |
457 </div> | |
458 | |
459 Given ``bar='Bye'`` in the context data, this would produce:: | |
460 | |
461 <div> | |
462 Bye | |
463 </div> | |
464 | |
465 This directive can only be used as an attribute. | |
466 | |
467 | |
468 .. _`py:strip`: | |
469 | |
470 ``py:strip`` | |
237 | 471 ------------ |
235 | 472 |
473 This directive conditionally strips the top-level element from the output. When | |
474 the value of the ``py:strip`` attribute evaluates to ``True``, the element is | |
475 stripped from the output:: | |
476 | |
477 <div> | |
478 <div py:strip="True"><b>foo</b></div> | |
479 </div> | |
480 | |
481 This would be rendered as:: | |
482 | |
483 <div> | |
484 <b>foo</b> | |
485 </div> | |
486 | |
487 As a shorthand, if the value of the ``py:strip`` attribute is empty, that has | |
488 the same effect as using a truth value (i.e. the element is stripped). | |
489 | |
490 | |
226 | 491 .. _order: |
492 | |
493 Processing Order | |
494 ================ | |
495 | |
496 It is possible to attach multiple directives to a single element, although not | |
497 all combinations make sense. When multiple directives are encountered, they are | |
498 processed in the following order: | |
499 | |
500 #. `py:def`_ | |
501 #. `py:match`_ | |
502 #. `py:when`_ | |
503 #. `py:otherwise`_ | |
504 #. `py:for`_ | |
505 #. `py:if`_ | |
506 #. `py:choose`_ | |
507 #. `py:with`_ | |
508 #. `py:replace`_ | |
509 #. `py:content`_ | |
510 #. `py:attrs`_ | |
511 #. `py:strip`_ | |
512 | |
513 | |
514 .. _includes: | |
515 | |
516 -------- | |
517 Includes | |
518 -------- | |
519 | |
520 To reuse common snippets of template code, you can include other files using | |
521 XInclude_. | |
522 | |
523 .. _xinclude: http://www.w3.org/TR/xinclude/ | |
524 | |
525 For this, you need to declare the XInclude namespace (commonly bound to the | |
526 prefix “xi”) and use the ``<xi:include>`` element where you want the external | |
527 file to be pulled in:: | |
528 | |
529 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" | |
230 | 530 xmlns:py="http://genshi.edgewall.org/" |
226 | 531 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"> |
532 <xi:include href="base.html" /> | |
533 ... | |
534 </html> | |
535 | |
536 Include paths are relative to the filename of the template currently being | |
537 processed. So if the example above was in the file "``myapp/index.html``" | |
538 (relative to the template search path), the XInclude processor would look for | |
539 the included file at "``myapp/base.html``". You can also use Unix-style | |
540 relative paths, for example "``../base.html``" to look in the parent directory. | |
541 | |
542 Any content included this way is inserted into the generated output instead of | |
543 the ``<xi:include>`` element. The included template sees the same context data. | |
544 `Match templates`_ and `macros`_ in the included template are also available to | |
545 the including template after the point it was included. | |
546 | |
547 By default, an error will be raised if an included file is not found. If that's | |
548 not what you want, you can specify fallback content that should be used if the | |
549 include fails. For example, to to make the include above fail silently, you'd | |
550 write: | |
551 | |
552 <xi:include href="base.html"><xi:fallback /></xi:include> | |
553 | |
230 | 554 See the XInclude_ for more about fallback content. Note though that Genshi |
226 | 555 currently only supports a small subset of XInclude. |
556 | |
230 | 557 Incudes in Genshi are fully dynamic: Just like normal attributes, the `href` |
226 | 558 attribute accepts expressions_, and directives_ can be used on the |
559 ``<xi:include />`` element just as on any other element, meaning you can do | |
560 things like conditional includes:: | |
561 | |
562 <xi:include href="${name}.html" py:if="not in_popup" | |
563 py:for="name in ('foo', 'bar', 'baz')" /> | |
564 | |
565 | |
566 .. _comments: | |
567 | |
568 -------- | |
569 Comments | |
570 -------- | |
571 | |
572 Normal XML/HTML comment syntax can be used in templates:: | |
573 | |
574 <!-- this is a comment --> | |
575 | |
576 However, such comments get passed through the processing pipeline and are by | |
577 default included in the final output. If that's not desired, prefix the comment | |
578 text with an exclamation mark:: | |
579 | |
580 <!-- !this is a comment too, but one that will be stripped from the output --> | |
581 | |
582 Note that it does not matter whether there's whitespace before or after the | |
583 exclamation mark, so the above could also be written as follows:: | |
584 | |
585 <!--! this is a comment too, but one that will be stripped from the output --> |