XML::Template
v3.20
Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Jonathan A. Waxman. All rights reserved.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
OVERVIEW
--------
XML::Template is an X(HT)ML-based document processing framework written in
Perl designed specifically for constructing web sites and web
applications. The essential framework of XML::Template provides XML
document parsing and caching services; scalar, array, and nested
variables; and XPath support. Plug-in modules written in Perl may be
easily added to extend the available tag set using XML namespace
conventions. XML::Template comes with numerous standard plug-in modules
including modules for variable iteration, conditionals, exception
handling, and performing abstract database queries and iterations.
The intention of XML::Template is to provide a simple and consistent
framework for developing dynamic web sites and web applications entirely
in XHTML. There are many excellent options available that can
approximately do this; however, at the time I started writing this, I was
unable to find anything that offered exactly what I wanted and what
XML::Template provides. Even today, I am still unsatisfied with all the
other alternatives, but that is another discussion.
Because of its modularity, no particular design strategy or tagset is
imposed on the user, however, the standard modules that come with
XML::Template provide suggestive design elements. In particular, special
attention is given to database integration and modular design strategies.
XML::Template comes with a web site administrator and content management
application, siteadmin, designed entirely using the XML::Template
framework and standard modules. It offers a powerful example of the kind
of web application that XML::Template can be used to create.
FEATURES
--------
o Written entirely in Perl.
o Highly modular and extensible design.
o Templates are converted to Perl code and cached to files resulting in
extremely fast performance.
o Supports scalar, array, nested (hash), and XPath variables and variable
subroutines.
o Support variable tags. This feature allows variable substitution in
an actual tagname itself, so the tag that gets used can be defined
dynamically.
o Easy to extend the tagset using XML namespace conventions.
o Highly configurable via system-wide and host-specific XML configuration
files. Multiple virtual hosts and data sources can be defined.
Namespace configuration supports alternate attribute parsers, attribute
type checking, nested and "related" tag specification, and body content
attributes.
o Standard modules include support for conditionals, mail, exceptions,
file inclusion and IO, variables, variable and abstract iterators,
forms, and DBI database queries. The database modules include support
for data items, groups, XHTML blocks, and users.
o Special attention given to database support - very little if any SQL is
necessary to perform the most common kinds of database queries.
Related database table queries are supported using the concept of
related namespaces.
o Exception handling and exception XHTML template support.
INSTALLATION
------------
The latest version of XML::Template can be obtained from:
http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/XML-Template/
See INSTALL for detailed installation instructions.
BRIEF TUTORIAL
--------------
1. X(HT)ML
-----------
XML Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml
XML in 10 Points: http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
XHTML Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/
XML::Template is an X(HT)ML framework for developing dynamic web sites and
applications written entirely in Perl. The format of XML::Template
documents is entirely XML. XML::Template provides the basic XML document
parsing and caching services.
2. Namespaces
--------------
Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/
XML namespaces provides the means by which the tag set available to an
XML::Template document is extended. The details of the namespace are
defined in the XML::Template configuration file. For instance, here is an
example namespace definition from an XML::Template configuration file:
<namespaces>
<namespace name="http://syrme.net/xml-template/test/v1">
<prefix>test</prefix>
<title>Test</title>
<description>Test elements.</description>
<module>XML::Template::Element::Test</module>
<element name="testel1">
<content>empty</content>
<attrib name="testatt1">
<required>yes</required>
<parse>no</parse>
<type>^\d+$</type>
</attrib>
</element>
<element name="test2">
<nestedin name="test"/>
<attrib name="testatt2">
<parser>XML::Template::Parser::TestAtt2</parser>
</attrib>
</element>
</namespace>
</namespaces>
The configuration defines variious attributes of the namespace, such as
the description and the actual Perl module that provides the
implementation. You can also define optional attributes and constraints
on the elements in the namespace and on the attributes of the elements.
More detailed documentation is provides in the sample configuration file
that comes with the XML::Template distribution, or in the POD document
XML::Template::xml-template.conf.
Here's an example of an XML::Template document that uses the above
namespace:
<xml xmlns:test="http://syrme.net/xml-template/test/v1">
<font size="-1">
The following are elements from the <kbd>test</kbd> namespace:
</font>
<p/>
<test:testel1 testatt1="123456789">
<test:testel2 testatt2="This is testatt2"/>
</test:testel1>
</xml>
3. XML::Template Variables
---------------------------
XML::Template provides scalar, array, nested, and XPath variables.
Additionally, subroutines can be defined which operate on variable values.
Scalar Variables
----------------
Scalar variables are simple variables that contain a single value. They
look like this: ${<varname>}, where <varname> is the name of the scalar
variable. For instance,
<xml>
The value of the variable named <kbd>name</kbd>: ${name}
</xml>
To set the value of a scalar variable, you need to use the set element
from the var namespace:
<xml xmlns:var="http://syrme.net/xml-template/var/v1">
<var:set name="name">Jonathan Waxman</var:set>
</xml>
Array Variables
---------------
Array variables contain a sequence or array of values. They look like:
${<varname>[<index>]}, where <varname> is the name of the array
variable and <index> is an integer index. For instance,
<xml>
First name: ${names[0]}<br/>
Second name: ${names[1]}<br/>
Third name: ${names[2]}<br/>
Fourth name: ${names[3]}
...
</xml>
To set an array variable, you need to use the set and element elements of
the var namespace:
<xml xmlns:var="http://syrme.net/xml-template/var/v1">
<var:set name="names">
<var:element>Goose</var:element>
<var:element>Kristina Clair</var:element>
<var:element>Josh Marcus</var:element>
<var:element>Jonathan Waxman</var:element>
</var:set>
</xml>
Nested Variables
----------------
A nested variable is a named variable nested in another named variable.
They look like: ${<varname1>.<varname2>}, where <varname2> is the name of
the variable nested within the variable named <varname1>. Variables can
be nested to an arbitrary depth. For instance,
<xml>
First name: ${name.first}<br/>
Last name: ${name.last}<br/>
Street address: ${name.address.street}
</xml>
To set a nest variable, you need to use the name and element elements from
the var namespace:
<xml xmlns:var="http://syrme.net/xml-template/var/v1">
<var:set name="name">
<var:element name="first">Jonathan</var:element>
<var:element name="last">Waxman</var:element>
<var:element name="address">
<var:element name="street">123 Street Road</var:element>
</var:element>
</var:set>
</xml>
XPath Variables
---------------
An XPath variable is a variable that extracts a part of an XML document
using an XPath query. They look like: ${<varname>/<xpath>}, where
<varname> is the name of the variable that contains the XML document and
<xpath> is an XPath query.
Suppose you set the value of a variable to some XML:
<set xmlns="http://syrme.net/xml-template/var/v1"
name="xml">
<person username="jowaxman">
<firstname>Jonathan</firstname>
<lastname>Waxman</lastname>
<address>
<street>123 Street Road</street>
<city>Philadelphia</city>
</address>
</person>
</set>
You can access different parts of the XML document stored in the variable
"xml" using XPath expressions. Some examples:
${xml/person[@username="jowaxman"/firstname}
${xml/person/@username}
Mixed Variables
---------------
You can mix all the different variable types. You can also use
variables inside of variables. For instance,
<xml>
${person[${index}].xml/info[@type="personal"]}
${person.${names[1]}.address}
</xml>
If a variable name contains "." or "/", you can either backslash them, or
surround the text they are embedded within by curly braces. This is
especially useful if the variable name comes from another variable. For
instance,
<xml>
${person.Jonathan\.Waxman.address}<br/>
${person.{Jon/athan.Waxman}.address}<br/>
${person.{${name}}.address}
</xml>
Subroutines
-----------
Subroutines can be defined to operate on the values of variables. They
look like: ${<varname>}.<subroutine> or ${<varname>}.<subroutine>
(<params>), where <varname> is some variable, <subroutine> is the
subroutine name, and <params> is an optional comma-separated list of
parameters to the subroutine. For instance,
<xml xmlns:cond="http://syrme.net/xml-template/cond/v1"
xmlns:var="http://syrme.net/xml-template/var/v1">
<cond:if cond="${date}.defined">
Today's date: ${date}.format ("%D %T")
</conf:if>
${array}.push ("element")
last element: ${array}.pop
</xml>
Subroutines are defined in the XML::Template configuration file. Here is
an example:
<subroutines>
<subroutine name="defined">
<description>Whether a value is defined.</description>
<module>XML::Template::Util</module>
</subroutine>
<subroutine name="format">
<description>Format a date.</description>
<module>XML::Template::Util</module>
</subroutine>
<subroutine name="push">
<description>Push onto an array.</description>
<module>XML::Template::Element::Var</module>
</subroutine>
<subroutine name="pop">
<description>Pop off an array.</description>
<module>XML::Template::Element::Var</module>
</subroutine>
</subroutines>