Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW VERSION: HTML::Template 0.02
From: Sam Tregar <[email-masked]>
Date: 6 Jun 1999 14:56:24 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.announce,comp.lang.perl.modules

ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW VERSION: HTML::Template 0.02

NAME

   HTML::Template - a Perl module to use HTML Templates

CHANGES

   0.02  Mon May 31 12:47:00 1999
        - a few minor bugs fixed
        - die on multiple source parameters in new()
        - tries to preserve newlines in loop body
        - copies in array contents from array refs on param call
          i.e. allows for reuse of scratch arrays on calling side
        - Added a CREDITS section to the docs, inaugurated it with
          Richard Chen for his many fixes.
        - Added type => 'sometype', source => 'source' new() syntax.
        - made "NAME=" in tags optional.  Added a test.pl to check for
          this.

DESCRIPTION

   This module attempts to make using HTML templates simple and
   natural.  It extends standard HTML with a few new tags - <TMPL_VAR>
   and <TMPL_LOOP>.  The file written with HTML and these new tags is
   called a template.  It is usually saved separate from your script -
   possibly even created by someone else!  Using this module you fill
   in the values for the variables and loops declared in the template.
   This allows you to seperate design - the HTML - from the data,
   which you generate in the Perl script.

   This module is licenced under the GPL.  See the LICENCE section
   of the README.

AVAILABILITY

   The module is available on CPAN.  You can get it using CPAN.pm or
   go to:

http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/S/SA/SAMTREGAR/HTML_Template-0.01.tar.gz

MOTIVATION

   It is true that there are a number of packages out there to do HTML
   templates.  On the one hand you have things like HTML::Embperl
   which allows you freely mix Perl with HTML.  On the other hand lie
   home-grown variable substitution solutions.  Hopefully the module
   can find a place between the two.

   One advantage of this module over a full HTML::Embperl-esque
   solution is that it enforces an important divide - design and
   programming.  By limiting the programmer to just using simple
   variables and loops in the HTML, the template remains accessible to
   designers and other non-perl people.  The use of HTML-esque syntax
   goes further to make the format understandable to others.  In the
   future this similarity could be used to extend existing HTML
   editors/analyzers to support this syntax.

   An advantage of this module over home-grown tag-replacement schemes
   is the support for loops.  In my work I am often called on to
   produce tables of data in html.  Producing them using simplistic
   HTML templates results in CGIs containing lots of HTML since the
   HTML itself could not represent loops.  The introduction of loop
   statements in the HTML simplifies this situation considerably.  The
   designer can layout a single row and the programmer can fill it in
   as many times as necessary - all they must agree on is the
   parameter names.

   For all that, I think the best thing about this module is that it
   does just one thing and it does it quickly and carefully.  It
   doesn't try to replace Perl and HTML, it just augments them to
   interact a little better.  And it's pretty fast.

DOCUMENTATION

   The documentation is in Template.pm in the form of POD format
   perldocs.  Even the above text might be out of date, so be sure to
   check the perldocs for the straight truth.

CONTACT INFO

   This module was written by Sam Tregar ([email-masked]) for Vanguard
   Media (http://www.vm.com).

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