Timplate

Tiny and fast templating engine, with a code small enough that anyone can hack at it. Works in all environments, browser, node, through globals, amd, or whatever.

Whyyyyyyyyyy

Hold on, I know there is approximately a million templating engines. Most of them would probably beat this one in terms of features. But after I used a whole damn lot of them (a lot), I couldn't find any that satisfied my own personal brand of logic. Furthermore, you do things because you can, for fun and profit.

Install

npm install timplate

Main Usage

    var timplate = require('timplate');

precompile:

    var template = timplate('Well, I say, {{greeting}}, {{subject}}!')

run:

    var content = template({greeting:'hello',subject:'world'})
    console.log(content);

Outputting a variable

just use a variable surrounded by opening and closing tags

    hello {{whatAreYouSayingHelloTo}}!

will render as (assuming whatAreYouSayingHelloTo = "world")

    hello world!

If you want unescaped (raw) output, use "!"

hello to you {{notADangerousString}} you
will render as (assuming notADangerousString = "")
hello to you & you

whereas
hello to you {{!notADangerousString}} you
will render as (assuming notADangerousString = "")
hello to you & you

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Tokens

They are all explained below, but here they are, in summary

* If: '?'
* Else, If Else: '?:'
* Iterator: '#'
* End Loop, End If: '/'
* Raw (unescaped) text: '!'
* Log to console:'l'
* Start Block:'>'
* Print Block:'>>'

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IF/Else

equalities require only one "=" You are free to use more, but one is enough. For example, the following paragraph

    you need {{?something=true}}only one "="{{?:}}a lot of "="{{/?}}.

renders as (assuming something==true):

    you need only one "=".

By default, if is denoted by "?" and else/elseif by "?:".

    the number of rabbits is {{? rabbits=3}}three{{?:rabbits=2}}two{{?:}}one or zero{{/?}}.

renders as (assuming rabbits==2):

    the number of rabbits is two.

If blocks end with "/", and you can append anything after the sign. It is practical to follow your nested if statements.

    this if block {{? matters=false}}doesn't matter{{?:}}matters{{/?}}

renders the same as

    this if block {{? matters=false}}doesn't matter{{?:}}matters{{/?matters}}

renders the same as

    this if block {{? matters=false}}doesn't matter{{?:}}matters{{/end of if matters block}}

renders as (assuming matters == false)

    this if block doesn't matter

LOOPS/ITERATIONS

Iterate by using #

    I really like {{# p in people}}{{p}}, {{/#}}
    renders as (assuming people = ['John','Jane','Ali']):
    I really like John, Jane, Ali,

You can get the key by doing that:

    I really like{{# p,i in people}}{{?i=people.length-1}}and{{/if}} {{p}}{{?i!=people.length-1}}, {{/if}}{{/#}}

renders as (assuming people = ['John','Jane','Ali']):

    I really like John, Jane, and Ali

There are some helper functions so you can do that:

    I really like {{# p,i in people}}{{?_last}} and{{?:_first}} my dear{{/if}} {{p}}{{?_middle}}, {{/if}}{{/#}}

renders as (assuming people = ['John','Jane','Ali']):

    I really like my dear John, Jane, and Ali

(of course, _first, _last and _middle operators work on arrays only, and only when you use the "x,y" notation.)

Like if/else blocks, loop closings take an optional string at the end

Blocks

    1 - also, you can render blocks
    {{> nameOfBlock}}
    2 - you can write whatever you want in a block
    {{/>}}
    3 - and blocks can be rendered later. you can also always append to them
    {{> nameOfBlock}}
    4 - As long as the same block name is specified, you can continue to add to it
    {{/>}}

    then output it:

    {{>> nameOfBlock}}

will render as:

    1 - also, you can render blocks

    3 - and blocks can be rendered later. you can also always append to them

    then output it:

    2 - you can write whatever you want in a block

    4 - As long as the same block name is specified, you can continue to add to it

the syntax is simple, just ">" followed by some block name of your choosing.

Others

You can log to console:

    {{l 'hello world'}} 

will render as

    console.log('hello world')

Variables that don't exist get silently removed

Hummm...I think that's it.

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Options

Tags

Don't like the {{tags}}? You can change them by using timplate.tagStart(new_tag) and timplate.tagEnd(new_tag)

Globals

Anything that you make available to the timplate.globals object will be available in all templates

timplate.extend

Just a convenience function for when you don't have jquery.extend or zepto.extend at hand. No deep copy though

Customizing template handling

The template returned has a property called "functionString". You can use that to whip up a different templates handling system, or to print them to a file to be used in the browser. There's an example in 'example/writeToFile.js';

If you want to do your own handling, this is the template signature:

    function(locals){
        var context = {escape: timplate.escape, line: 1, buffer : {ret:''}, locals: timplate.extend({},timplate.globals,locals)};
        return func.call(context);
    };

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Credit

Most of the original code comes from: https://github.com/cho45/micro-template.js

License

MIT