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in reply to RFC - Template::Empty
It seems that there is always a knee-jerk reaction to not having control flow in your HTML - and sometimes rightfully so. I very often see posters decrying systems such as Template::Toolkit because it has its own language - which it does - which may or may not be a problem. But that is a separate issue from that introduced by the Tal, Seamstress, and now the "Empty" concept.
The problem introduced by Tal, Seamstress, this new "Empty", and sometimes even HTML::Template with its "LOOP" construct - is that the Perl code has to know too much about the template.
Obviously the Perl code has to know which variables the template is going to need. However the Tal and Seamstress models go a little further - the Perl code for these has to know a little (sometimes a lot) about how the template is going to present the data. We've made sure the logic is out of the presentation layer - but now we've made the code layer manipulate the presentation layer. I think this is worse than having control flow in the template.
The nice thing about template systems with at least a minimal amount of language capability (such as Template::Toolkit) is that my Perl layer can generate data and pass it to the presentation layer. The presentation layer is then free to manipulate the data into a form suitable for presentation.
In the end, it really is developer preference. But for myself I've found that Template::Toolkit syntax and particularly Template::Alloy (which I authored) if used properly are the perfect separation between model and view. And it is the perfect separation from both directions.
my @a=qw(random brilliant braindead); print $a[rand(@a)];
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Re^2: RFC - Template::Empty
by fergal (Chaplain) on Feb 25, 2008 at 18:15 UTC
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The problem introduced by Tal, Seamstress, this new "Empty", and sometimes even HTML::Template with its "LOOP" construct - is that the Perl code has to know too much about the template.
In TAL, Perl builds the data and TAL renders it. Quite like TT but just with less generality built into the template language (generality that often just gets you into trouble). If you need to transform data for display (eg reorient a table, turning rows into columns and vice versa), the template can actually call out to perl helpers. This continues the separation of coding and presentation while giving almost as much flexibility as having a fully programmable template language.
However the Tal and Seamstress models go a little further...
now we've made the code layer manipulate the presentation layer.
This is just simply not true at all, the perl layer cannot manipulate the presentation layer, TAL is nothing like Seamstress or Empty in this respect.
The second comment makes me wonder if you actually know TAL at all. Perhaps you have been misled by the comments above into thinking that it is similar to Seamstress and Empty.
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Paul, I'm enjoying this discussion. i think it is useful for both of us as well as the perl community at large... so dont think I'm making any personal attacks. The more we compare and contrast, the stronger our respective camps can become.
In TT and Template::Alloy - you can call into perl to manipulate your data - but the language has enough flexibility that you don't have to.
In terms of separation of concerns where do you think data manipulation should be done:
- model
- view
- controller
In Seamstress, the answer is clear and my code backs it up. Data manipulation, in any way shape or form belongs in the MODEL
your comments about sticking template code in the database almost gave me a heart attack..
What you call "flexibility" I call "confusion of concerns
Taking a presentation tool and involving it in data manipulation... it is bound to fall short. At one point, TT was released and didnt even have numeric comparison... essential for data manipulation.
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object-oriented composition of model-view with HTML::Seamstress
by metaperl (Curate) on Feb 25, 2008 at 17:22 UTC
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my $records = Data::Object->load(welcome_data => $cookie->user) ;
accessing the view and storing in a seamstress object (a subclass of HTML::Tree)
my $tree = html::welcome->new;
executing presentation logic
$tree->replace_content(user_name => $records->[0]{user_name});
That is clear, clean and simple and allows maximum independence of HTML developer and Perl programmer... I have zero need to touch the HTML. and complete ability to swap model loading and presentation logic using any of a number of object oriented techniques...
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Thanks for the softball.
Here is your job. I will give you an array of text strings. Without manipulating the data in the perl layer, please provide one template that shows them in a bullet list and another template that shows them in a table with three columns with data oriented in columns with one item per cell. On the column oriented version fill in wherever there isn't a defined value. Be sure external whitespace is nice and consistent.
For extra credit - make the template decide conditionally that if you have less than n items use the bullet list - otherwise use the table.
For extra extra credit - do this exercise - but do it in a text-only based email that will be sent to a user (ie - no html tags).
----- bullet.tt ---------
<ul>
[%- FOREACH i IN items %]
<li>[% i %]</li>
[%- END %]
</ul>
----- columns.tt --------
[%- cols = 3;
rows = items.size div cols;
rows = rows+1 IF items.size % cols %]
[%- FOR i IN [0 .. rows - 1] %]
<tr>
[%- FOR j IN [0 .. cols -1] %]
<td>[% items.${ i + rows * j } %]</td>
[%- END %]
</tr>
[%- END %]
</table>
------ optional.tt
[% PROCESS ${ items.size > 10 ? "columns.tt" : "bullet.tt" } %]
------ my_perl.pl ------
use Template::Alloy;
my $t = Template::Alloy->new;
my $data = {
items => [1 .. 10],
};
$t->process("bullet.tt", $data) || die $t->error;
$t->process("columns.tt", $data) || die $t->error;
__END__
prints
<ul>
<li>1</li>
<li>2</li>
<li>3</li>
<li>4</li>
<li>5</li>
<li>6</li>
<li>7</li>
<li>8</li>
<li>9</li>
<li>10</li>
</ul>
<table>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>7</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>8</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
Update To me the code layer would be your perl modules and your cgi script (or your mod_perl application). The example given is simplified and contrived - but represents real life situations.
Update 2 s/specifying/manipulating the data/
my @a=qw(random brilliant braindead); print $a[rand(@a)];
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my $model = Model->new;
@$model < $n ? render_bullets($model) : render_table($model);
For extra extra credit - do this exercise - but do it in a text-only based email that will be sent to a user (ie - no html tags).
Well you didnt do it. I'm not sure how I would do that. Maybe an html2text tool?
To me the code layer would be your perl modules and your cgi script (or your mod_perl application). The example given is simplified and contrived - but represents real life situations.
It's a good example. But once you see my code, please point out the perrin-rhandom syndrome in the push-style approach or recant the criticism.
Update 2 s/specifying/manipulating the data/
Again a request I cannot comply with. I will never forget the time that Ovid tried to justify things like this, by calling it "presentation logic" and saying that a "presentation tool" like tt would be good for it. I disagreed with him then and with you now. No one should request data processing anywhere but a data processing giant (Perl).
Now, it has taken me probably 1 hour to write that code. I'm sure it took you less than 5 minutes. I'm a bit rusty in Perl, since I mainly convert Perl ETL scripts to Ab Initio data flow graphs these days. But I would not have been much faster. Push-style development is much slower. And I am grateful to have had a chance to shake the rust off myself :)
Code post follows.
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Here is your job.
And
here is the code
obtainable via hg clone http://hg.metaperl.com/seamstress
Driver script
use strict;
use warnings;
use Model;
use View::bullet;
use View::table;
my $model = Model->new;
# View 1
my $view = View::bullet->new;
$view->render($model);
warn $view->as_HTML;
# View 2
my $cols = 3;
my $tabular_model = $model->reform_data($cols);
my $view = View::table->new;
$view->render($tabular_model);
warn $view->as_HTML;
Model package
package Model;
use Array::Group;
use Data::Dumper;
# A model is overkill for this example, but lets plan for
# scaleability
sub new {
my $data = [1 .. 10] ;
bless $data, __PACKAGE__ ;
return $data;
}
sub reform_data {
my $aref = shift;
my $cols = shift;
my $tabdata = Array::Group::ngroup $cols => $aref ;
# This filling of the last row should be an option to
# Array::Group...
my $last_row = $tabdata->[$#$tabdata] ;
my $diff = $cols - @$last_row;
my @nbsp = (' ') x $diff;
push @$last_row, @nbsp;
return $tabdata;
}
1 ;
View code
bullet
package View::bullet;
use base qw(HTML::Seamstress);
my $file = 'html/bullet.html';
sub new {
__PACKAGE__->new_from_file($file);
}
sub render {
my $tree = shift;
my $model = shift;
my $li = $tree->look_down(class => 'nums');
$tree->iter($li => @$model) ;
return $tree;
}
1;
table
package View::table;
use base qw(HTML::Seamstress);
my $file = 'html/table.html';
sub new {
__PACKAGE__->new_from_file($file);
}
sub render {
my $tree = shift;
my $data = shift;
$tree->table2
(
table_data => $data,
td_proc => sub {
my ($tr, $data) = @_;
my @td = $tr->look_down('_tag' => 'td');
for my $i (0..$#td) {
$td[$i]->splice_content(0, 1, $data->[$i]);
}
}
)
;
return $tree;
}
1;
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