readme.md

This is a port of jQuery's Template Engine to nodejs

http://github.com/jquery/jquery-tmpl

Full API documentation of the original plugin

http://api.jquery.com/category/plugins/templates/

Note: currently not implemented: wrap tag and tmplItem method.

Philosophy is similar to django

http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/templates/

• no program logic in templates
• no embeded script language like in ejs
  1. this is evil because it enables program logic in templates
  2. bad usability
  3. because of the "var" problem in javascript - very evil

Features

• jquery tmpl plugin conform
• extendable - you can implement new statements
• html escaping per default
• simple syntax
• tiny and fast

Installation via npm

npm install jqtpl

Run tests

$ node test/test.js

Usage

require the module

var jqtpl = require( "jqtpl" );

Want to use it with Express?

app.set( "view engine", "html" );
app.register( ".html", require( "jqtpl" ) );

Following options are supported by render method

• locals Local variables object
• cache Compiled functions are cached, requires filename
• filename Used by cache to key caches
• scope Function execution context
• debug Output generated function body

Code example

jqtpl.render('your template', {
	locals: {
		// your data here
	},
	cache: true, // default
	filename: 'file-name',
	scope: {} // default to {}
	debug: false // will output generated function to the console, false is default
});

Simple output (escaped per default)

Template

<div>${a}</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {a:123});

Output

<div>123</div>

Simple output but with array as data argument (escaped per default)

Template

<div>${a}</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, [{a:1},{a:2},{a:3}]);

Output

<div>1</div><div>2</div><div>3</div>

If property is a function - it will be called automatically (escaped per default)

Template

<div>${a}</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {
    a:function() {
        return 1 + 5;
    }
});

Output

<div>6</div>

"if" statement

Template

{{if a == 6}}
    <div>${a}</div>
{{else a == 5}}
	<div>5</div>
{{else}}
    <div>a is not 6 and not 5</div>    
{{/if}}

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {a:6});

Output

<div>6</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {a:5});

Output

<div>a is not 6</div>

"each" statement

Template

{{each(i, name) names}}
    <div>${i}.${name}</div>
{{/each}}        

or {{each names}}

${$index}.${$value}

{{/each}}

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {names: ["A", "B"]});

Output

<div>0.A</div><div>1.B</div>

There is a way to avoid escaping if you know what you do :)

Template

<div>{{html a}}</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {a:'<div id="123">2</div>'});

Output

<div id="123">2</div>    

Named templates - there is a way to precompile the template using a string, so you can render this template later using its name

Template

<div>${a}</div>

Code

// precompile an cache it
jte.template( "templateName", tpl );
jqtpl.tmpl( "templateName", {a:1} );

// you can also delete the template from cache
delete jte.template["templateName"];

Output

<div>1</div>       

Local variables

• $data - data object passed to render method
• $item - contains $data via $item.data as well as user options - an optional map of user-defined key-value pairs.

Template

<div>${ $item.someMethod() }</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl, {a:1}, {
	someMethod: function(){ return 1; }
});

Output

<div>1</div> 	

Template

<div>${a}</div>

Code

// precompile an cache it
jte.template( "templateName", tpl );
jqtpl.tmpl( "templateName", {a:1} );

// you can also delete the template from cache
delete jte.template["templateName"];

Output

<div>1</div>    

Comments

Template

<div>{{! its a comment}}</div>

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl );

Output

<div></div>  

Partials

There are 2 ways supported.

Template

// The first way is jquery-tmpl compatible and preferred:
<div>{{tmpl({name: "Test"}) "mypartial"}}</div>

// The second way is provided by express and is not jquery-tmpl compatible:
<div>${partial("mypartial", {name: "Test"})}</div>

Partial template "mypartial"

${name}

Code

jqtpl.tmpl( tpl );

Output

<div>Test</div>