Grenade

A template engine for Node and Express, influenced by Taylor Otwell's "Blade" template engine for Laravel.

Why do we need another template engine?

We don't. I just wanted more flexibility with my template engine.

This was designed to work with the server and supports a number of features:

Natively supports Layouts.
Escaped variables, raw variables, or custom variable output.
Ability to call javascript functions and helpers, like EJS.
Ability to extend with custom tags.
Ability to write custom filter functions, like Angular.
Plugs easily into Express.
Easy to write and read.
Ability to precompile templates (coming soon).
Promise-based rendering, necessary for building UI components that rely on data.
Use your own delimiters, such as {{ }} or ${ }.

Installing

npm install grenade --save

Usage

Compiling from a file:

var grenade = require('grenade');
 
// All the available options.
var options = {
 
    // The root view path. Views are loaded relative to this directory.
    rootPath: __dirname+"/views/",
    
    // The path of your Component javascript classes.
    componentPath: __dirname+"/components/",
    
    // The file extension.
    extension: 'htm',
    
    // Pretty print the output? Useful for debugging.
    prettyPrint: false,
    
    //Uses js-beautify module.
    prettyPrintOptions: {}, 
    
    // Your variables are prepended with this. ie, ${data.varName}
    localsName: "data",
    
    // Enable template caching? True for production mode.
    enableCache: false,
    
    // Use promises for rendering?
    // This could make rendering slower, but allows more flexibility.
    promises: true,
    
    // This is a regex. Change to whatever.
    delimiters: grenade.utils.DELIM_HANDLEBARS
    //delimiters: grenade.utils.DELIM_JAVASCRIPT
};
 
// This will load and compile the file "./views/content.htm";
grenade.load('content', options, function(err,template) {
 
    var data = {title: "Hello World"};
    
    // You can do the promise way, or not.
    if (options.promises) {
        return template(data).then(result => {
            console.log(result);
        })
    }
    console.log(template(data));
});

Using with Express:

var grenade = require('grenade');
var express = require('express');
 
var app = express();
 
// This will set up the view engine.
grenade.express(app, {
    rootPath: './views',
    extension: 'frag'  
});

Syntax

Grenade's basic syntax looks very similar to Laravel's Blade syntax. Tags are denoted with a @ and have custom functionality. Variables are wrapped by whichever delimiters you specify.

<!-- ./views/index.frag -->
@extends(layouts/master)
 
@section(head)
    ${#This is a comment. And it's in the head section of my layout.}
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/styles.css"/>
@endsection
 
@section(body)
    @include(common/navigation)
 
    <h1>This is in my content section.</h1>
@endsection

<!-- ./views/layouts/master.frag -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>${=title}</title>
        @yield(head)
    </head>
    <body>
        @yield(body)
    </body>
</html>

Grenade compiles into pure javascript, which increases performance. For example:

This gets compiled to javascript, ${ data.buddy }!
@if(true)
I promise.
@endif

Compiles into:

__out.push("This gets compiled to javascript, ");
__out.push($$.val(data.buddy,data,['escape']));
__out.push("!");
if(true) {
    __out.push("I promise.");
}
return $$.q.all(__out).then(function(__out) { return __out.join("").trim(""); });

Variables

By default, variables have the javascript-esque syntax: ${variable}. You can, however, use other delimiters if you so desire.

${ data.variable } Escaped value.
${= data.variable } Raw value, good for HTML output.
${# data.variable } Comment. Not processed when rendered.
${: data.variable } Returns the literal string, ${ data.variable }. Useful if using the handlebars syntax with Angular applications.

Functions

Grenade allows you to call functions from your data object, like EJS:

${ data.myFunction(arg1,arg2,"string") }

Control structures, loops, and tags

Grenade comes with all the basic control structures, and some cool ones.

@if

Display the contents of the block if the expression is truthy.

@if(condition)
    <h1>It's true.</h1>
@elseif(condition)
    <h1>This condition is true.</h1>
@else
    <h1>None are true.</h1>
@endif

@unless

Displays the contents of the block if the expression is falsey.

@unless(condition)
    <h1>It's false.</h1>
@else
    <h1>It's true.</h1>
@endif

@for

Your basic for loop, just like javascript.

<ul>
@for(var i=0; i<=data.items.length; i++)
    <li>Item ${ i }</li>
@endfor
</ul>

@foreach

Loop through the given data array or hash object.

<ul>
@foreach(item in items)
    <li>${ item.name }</li>
@endforeach
</ul>
 
<ul>
@foreach([index,item] in items)
    <li>${ index } : ${ item }</li>
@endforeach
</ul>

@include

Include a file at the given location, relative to the rootPath.

@include(file/name)

@show

Shows the given strings if the expressions are truthy. Useful for creating classes.

<!-- Markup -->
<li class="@show(first: true, last: false)">Item</li>
<!-- Rendered -->
<li class="first">Item</li>

This is pretty common, so a prefix filter also works here:

<li class="${? first:true, last:false}">Item</li>

@verbatim

Display the contents of the block exactly how it's shown.

@verbatim
    @if(false)
    <h1>This whole thing shows up, including the @if.</h1>
    @endif
@endverbatim

@push and @stack

Collects the @push blocks and renders them all under the @stack tag. Useful for adding scripts or CSS links to the document head or footer.

@stack(links)
 
@push(links)
<link rel="stylesheet" href="..."/>
@endpush
 
...
 
@push(links)
<link rel="stylesheet" href="..."/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="..."/>
@endpush

@set

Sets a variable. When compiled to plain javascript, it merely sets a var by the specified name.

@set(name, "Hello World!")
 
<h1>${=name}</h1>

@with

When compiled to plain javascript, uses the with(object) syntax.

@with(data)
    <!-- This is actually data.title -->
    <h1>${= title }</h1>
@endwith

@extends

Extend the current document off of a layout. Any include or component file can use it's own layout. Works in conjunction with @yield and @section.

<!-- my-component.frag -->
@extends(layouts/component)
 
@section(body)
    <h1>The yield tag is filled in!</h1>
@endsection

<!-- layouts/component.frag -->
<div class="component">
    @yield(body)
</div>

@component and @block

This is a very special tag that allows you to create custom UI components off of Component classes. A component has a javascript class associated with it, which you should define in whatever directory you specified in componentPath.

@component(MyComponent, {title:"Hello"})
 
<!-- or the shorthand... -->
@cmp(MyComponent, {title:"Hello"})

A block is essentially the same as a component, only you can create a "transcluded" template that gets passed to your component.

@block(MyComponent, {title:"Hello"})
    <h1>This HTML gets past to my component class.</h1>
    <p>I can then print it using ${=data.$block} !!</p>
@endblock

The component declaration looks kind of like this:

// /componentPath/MyComponent.js
"use strict"
var grenade = require('grenade');
 
class MyComponent extends grenade.Component 
{
    constructor(tag) {
    
        // The tag argument is the matching tag, including any passed args.
        // If using @block, a tag will have a tag.scope template.
        super(tag);
        
        this.data = {
            title:"Default Title"
        }
        // Use another grenade template file...
        this.view = "components/example";
        
        // Or, use a string template.
        this.template = "<div> ${=data.$block} </div>";
    }
    
    render(data) {
        // Maybe call to the server? Returning a promise is ok!
        // return Users.find().then(...);
        
        return super.render(data);
    }
}
 
module.exports = MyComponent;

Filters

Filters are used in much the same way as Angular. They can be defined like so:

var grenade = require('grenade');
 
grenade.Filter.extend('toUpper', function(value,data) {
    return value.toUpperCase();
});
grenade.Filter.extend('bold', function(value,data) {
    return "<strong>"+value+"</strong>";
});

In the markup, they are applied in order (comma-separated)

<!-- Markup -->
<h1>${=data.title | toUpper,bold}</h1>
 
<!-- Rendered -->
<h1></strong>TITLE</strong></h1>

Prefix filters

Sometimes, filters or helpers are done so often, a custom prefix would be nice to have. One good example is using locales:

<!-- Instead of this... -->
${toLocale(data.variable)}
${toLocale("en_us.welcome")}
 
<!-- Let's do this -->
${>"en_us.welcome"}

To do this, add the following option when creating a filter:

grenade.Filter.extend('toLocale', {prefix:">", pushPrefix: false}, function(value,data) {
    return data.toLocale(value);
});

Note: Prefix filters are applied LAST by default, so be sure to include the pushPrefix: false in this case. So, our locale string is modified accordingly by other filters.

<h1>${>"en_us.welcome" | toUpper,bold}</h1>
<h1>${>"en_us.welcome" | escape}</h1>
 
<!-- This also works -->
<h1>${"en_us.welcome" | toLocale,toUpper,bold}</h1>

Creating Custom Tags

Custom tags look like @tagname(args). You can add your own to create custom UI components or control structures.

var grenade = require('grenade');
 
// This special tag will only display it's enclosed scope if a user has the given role.
 
grenade.Tag.extend('role', {
 
    // Declare this tag as a block, 
    // which means it contains a scope and a @endrole tag.
    block: true,
    
    // Parse the tag's arguments.
    // They were passed as a string, so we'll leave them alone.
    parse: function(args) {
        return args;
    },
    
    // Function that will be called 
    // when the template is rendered with data.
    render(data,done) {
    
        // If the user has the role, 
        // show the containing scope.
        if (data.user && data.user.role == this.args) {
            return this.scope.render(data).then(function(result) {
                return done(result);
            });
        }
        
        // Oh no. Didn't meet our criteria, 
        // so return empty string.
        return done("");
    }
})

And so our markup can be:

@role(superuser)
    <marquee>My user's role is a superuser!</marquee>
@endrole

Testing

mocha test

Notes

Why Not Use...

EJS? Performance, no native layout support, includes are relative, and I hate writing closing braces <% } %>.
Handlebars? Doesn't play nice with Angular front-ends, layouts require plugin.
Pug? Syntax is hard to read sometimes, can't copy/paste the source code into html files for use, and whitespace is annoying.
Marko? Writing HTML tags as control structures or inlining control structures doesn't seem right, doesn't play nice with some IDE's.

Also, a common theme is lack of extensibility. I want to be able to extend like crazy.

Performance

Performance is definitely a concern, so templates are compiled to plain javascript and the compiled templates are cached by filename.

Benchmark testing has been done with Marko's handsome Templating benchmark suite.

What's with the name?

Evolution of a name. "Blade-for-node" -> "Node-Blade" -> "Nade" -> "Grenade".

Contributing

Let me know if you want to help out.

grenade