An Express view engine for using ES2015 Template Literals.
$ npm i backticks
- Learning new syntax is not required
- Niceties like automatic escaping & automatic array joining
- Layout as a generator function
The basics required to integrate backticks renderer are:
var express = require('express'),
backticks = require('backticks'),
app = express();
app.engine('html', backticks());
app.set('views', 'views');
app.set('view engine', 'html');
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.render('index', {title: 'Welcome', message: "Hello World"});
});
app.listen(3000);
Before Express can render template files, the following application settings must be set:
- views, the directory where the template files are located. Eg: app.set('views', './views')
- view engine, the template engine to use. Eg: app.set('view engine', 'html')
HTML template file named index.html in the views directory is needed, with the following content:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>${title}</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>${message}</h1>
</body>
</html>
Backticks supports the usage of a layout file. The layout is processed in a generator function, so you have access to yield
Within it.
By default, Backticks will try to load a "layout" file using the same folder and extension of your views.
Example:
var express = require('express'),
backticks = require('backticks'),
app = express();
app.engine('html', backticks({
caching: true
}));
app.set('views', 'views');
app.set('view engine', 'html');
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.render('index', {message: "Hello World"});
});
app.listen(3000);
views/layout.html
:
<html>
<head>
<title>Hey, up here!</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="page">
${yield}
</div>
</body>
</html>
Template:
<div>
<h1>${message}</h1>
</div>
These are the available options when instantiating backticks:
Option | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
caching | Wheter or not Backticks should cache views | false |
layoutFile | File to use as layout for views | [views folder]/layout.[view engine] |
fnWhitelist | By default, values returned from functions provided in locals are automatically escaped. You can whitelist functions to avoid auto escaping | [Array.prototype] |
Use Backticks if you need something quick and simple. It is not as readable as the template syntax supported by Handlebars.js and similar templating engines. On the other hand, it is lightweight and new syntax is introduced: It's just JavaScript.