1 package Catalyst::View::TT;
6 use base qw/Catalyst::View/;
11 use Scalar::Util qw/blessed weaken/;
13 our $VERSION = '0.36';
14 $VERSION = eval $VERSION;
16 __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors('template');
17 __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors('expose_methods');
18 __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors('include_path');
20 *paths = \&include_path;
24 Catalyst::View::TT - Template View Class
28 # use the helper to create your View
30 myapp_create.pl view Web TT
32 # add custom configration in View/Web.pm
35 # any TT configuration items go here
37 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'src' ),
38 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'lib' ),
40 TEMPLATE_EXTENSION => '.tt',
44 PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main',
45 WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper',
46 render_die => 1, # Default for new apps, see render method docs
47 expose_methods => [qw/method_in_view_class/],
50 # render view from lib/MyApp.pm or lib/MyApp::Controller::SomeController.pm
52 sub message : Global {
53 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
54 $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2';
55 $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!';
56 $c->forward( $c->view('Web') );
59 # access variables from template
61 The message is: [% message %].
63 # example when CATALYST_VAR is set to 'Catalyst'
64 Context is [% Catalyst %]
65 The base is [% Catalyst.req.base %]
66 The name is [% Catalyst.config.name %]
68 # example when CATALYST_VAR isn't set
70 The base is [% base %]
71 The name is [% name %]
76 my ( $paths, $dlim ) = shift;
77 return () if ( !$paths );
78 return @{$paths} if ( ref $paths eq 'ARRAY' );
80 # tweak delim to ignore C:/
81 unless ( defined $dlim ) {
82 $dlim = ( $^O eq 'MSWin32' ) ? ':(?!\\/)' : ':';
84 return split( /$dlim/, $paths );
88 my ( $class, $c, $arguments ) = @_;
91 TEMPLATE_EXTENSION => '',
95 if ( ! (ref $config->{INCLUDE_PATH} eq 'ARRAY') ) {
96 my $delim = $config->{DELIMITER};
98 = _coerce_paths( $config->{INCLUDE_PATH}, $delim );
99 if ( !@include_path ) {
100 my $root = $c->config->{root};
101 my $base = Path::Class::dir( $root, 'base' );
102 @include_path = ( "$root", "$base" );
104 $config->{INCLUDE_PATH} = \@include_path;
107 # if we're debugging and/or the TIMER option is set, then we install
108 # Template::Timer as a custom CONTEXT object, but only if we haven't
109 # already got a custom CONTEXT defined
111 if ( $config->{TIMER} ) {
112 if ( $config->{CONTEXT} ) {
114 'Cannot use Template::Timer - a TT CONTEXT is already defined'
118 $config->{CONTEXT} = Template::Timer->new(%$config);
122 if ( $c->debug && $config->{DUMP_CONFIG} ) {
123 $c->log->debug( "TT Config: ", dump($config) );
126 my $self = $class->next::method(
130 # Set base include paths. Local'd in render if needed
131 $self->include_path($config->{INCLUDE_PATH});
133 $self->expose_methods($config->{expose_methods});
134 $self->config($config);
136 # Creation of template outside of call to new so that we can pass [ $self ]
137 # as INCLUDE_PATH config item, which then gets ->paths() called to get list
138 # of include paths to search for templates.
140 # Use a weakend copy of self so we dont have loops preventing GC from working
142 Scalar::Util::weaken($copy);
143 $config->{INCLUDE_PATH} = [ sub { $copy->paths } ];
145 if ( $config->{PROVIDERS} ) {
147 if ( ref($config->{PROVIDERS}) eq 'ARRAY') {
148 foreach my $p (@{$config->{PROVIDERS}}) {
149 my $pname = $p->{name};
150 my $prov = 'Template::Provider';
151 if($pname eq '_file_')
153 $p->{args} = { %$config };
157 if($pname =~ s/^\+//) {
164 # We copy the args people want from the config
167 if ($p->{copy_config}) {
168 map { $p->{args}->{$_} = $config->{$_} }
169 grep { exists $config->{$_} }
170 @{ $p->{copy_config} };
174 eval "require $prov";
176 push @providers, "$prov"->new($p->{args});
180 $c->log->warn("Can't load $prov, ($@)");
184 delete $config->{PROVIDERS};
186 $config->{LOAD_TEMPLATES} = \@providers;
191 Template->new($config) || do {
192 my $error = Template->error();
193 $c->log->error($error);
203 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
205 my $template = $c->stash->{template}
206 || $c->action . $self->config->{TEMPLATE_EXTENSION};
208 unless (defined $template) {
209 $c->log->debug('No template specified for rendering') if $c->debug;
214 my $output = eval { $self->render($c, $template) };
216 return $self->_rendering_error($c, $template . ': ' . $err);
218 if (blessed($output) && $output->isa('Template::Exception')) {
219 $self->_rendering_error($c, $output);
222 unless ( $c->response->content_type ) {
223 $c->response->content_type('text/html; charset=utf-8');
226 $c->response->body($output);
231 sub _rendering_error {
232 my ($self, $c, $err) = @_;
233 my $error = qq/Couldn't render template "$err"/;
234 $c->log->error($error);
240 my ($self, $c, $template, $args) = @_;
242 $c->log->debug(qq/Rendering template "$template"/) if $c && $c->debug;
246 (ref $args eq 'HASH' ? %$args : %{ $c->stash() }),
247 $self->template_vars($c)
250 local $self->{include_path} =
251 [ @{ $vars->{additional_template_paths} }, @{ $self->{include_path} } ]
252 if ref $vars->{additional_template_paths};
254 unless ( $self->template->process( $template, $vars, \$output ) ) {
255 if (exists $self->{render_die}) {
256 die $self->template->error if $self->{render_die};
257 return $self->template->error;
259 $c->log->debug('The Catalyst::View::TT render() method will start dying on error in a future release. Unless you are calling the render() method manually, you probably want the new behaviour, so set render_die => 1 in config for ' . blessed($self) . '. If you wish to continue to return the exception rather than throwing it, add render_die => 0 to your config.') if $c->debug;
260 return $self->template->error;
266 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
269 my $cvar = $self->config->{CATALYST_VAR};
271 my %vars = defined $cvar
275 base => $c->req->base,
276 name => $c->config->{name}
279 if ($self->expose_methods) {
280 my $meta = $self->meta;
281 foreach my $method_name (@{$self->expose_methods}) {
282 my $method = $meta->find_method_by_name( $method_name );
284 Catalyst::Exception->throw( "$method_name not found in TT view" );
286 my $method_body = $method->body;
290 $self->$method_body($weak_ctx, @_);
292 $vars{$method_name} = $sub;
304 This is the Catalyst view class for the L<Template Toolkit|Template>.
305 Your application should defined a view class which is a subclass of
306 this module. Throughout this manual it will be assumed that your application
307 is named F<MyApp> and you are creating a TT view named F<Web>; these names
308 are placeholders and should always be replaced with whatever name you've
309 chosen for your application and your view. The easiest way to create a TT
310 view class is through the F<myapp_create.pl> script that is created along
311 with the application:
313 $ script/myapp_create.pl view Web TT
315 This creates a F<MyApp::View::Web.pm> module in the F<lib> directory (again,
316 replacing C<MyApp> with the name of your application) which looks
319 package FooBar::View::Web;
324 use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';
326 __PACKAGE__->config(DEBUG => 'all');
328 Now you can modify your action handlers in the main application and/or
329 controllers to forward to your view class. You might choose to do this
330 in the end() method, for example, to automatically forward all actions
331 to the TT view class.
333 # In MyApp or MyApp::Controller::SomeController
336 my( $self, $c ) = @_;
337 $c->forward( $c->view('Web') );
340 But if you are using the standard auto-generated end action, you don't even need
343 # in MyApp::Controller::Root
344 sub end : ActionClass('RenderView') {} # no need to change this line
349 default_view => 'Web',
352 This will Just Work. And it has the advantages that:
358 If you want to use a different view for a given request, just set
359 << $c->stash->{current_view} >>. (See L<Catalyst>'s C<< $c->view >> method
364 << $c->res->redirect >> is handled by default. If you just forward to
365 C<View::Web> in your C<end> routine, you could break this by sending additional
370 See L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView> for more details.
374 There are a three different ways to configure your view class. The
375 first way is to call the C<config()> method in the view subclass. This
376 happens when the module is first loaded.
378 package MyApp::View::Web;
381 use base 'Catalyst::View::TT';
383 __PACKAGE__->config({
385 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'lib' ),
386 MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'src' ),
388 PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main',
389 WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper',
392 You may also override the configuration provided in the view class by adding
393 a 'View::Web' section to your application config (either in the application
394 main class, or in your configuration file). This should be reserved for
395 deployment-specific concerns. For example:
397 # MyApp_local.conf (Config::General format)
400 WRAPPER "custom_wrapper"
401 INCLUDE_PATH __path_to('root/templates/custom_site')__
402 INCLUDE_PATH __path_to('root/templates')__
405 might be used as part of a simple way to deploy different instances of the
406 same application with different themes.
408 =head2 DYNAMIC INCLUDE_PATH
410 Sometimes it is desirable to modify INCLUDE_PATH for your templates at run time.
412 Additional paths can be added to the start of INCLUDE_PATH via the stash as
415 $c->stash->{additional_template_paths} =
416 [$c->config->{root} . '/test_include_path'];
418 If you need to add paths to the end of INCLUDE_PATH, there is also an
419 include_path() accessor available:
421 push( @{ $c->view('Web')->include_path }, qw/path/ );
423 Note that if you use include_path() to add extra paths to INCLUDE_PATH, you
424 MUST check for duplicate paths. Without such checking, the above code will add
425 "path" to INCLUDE_PATH at every request, causing a memory leak.
427 A safer approach is to use include_path() to overwrite the array of paths
428 rather than adding to it. This eliminates both the need to perform duplicate
429 checking and the chance of a memory leak:
431 @{ $c->view('Web')->include_path } = qw/path another_path/;
433 If you are calling C<render> directly then you can specify dynamic paths by
434 having a C<additional_template_paths> key with a value of additonal directories
435 to search. See L<CAPTURING TEMPLATE OUTPUT> for an example showing this.
437 =head2 RENDERING VIEWS
439 The view plugin renders the template specified in the C<template>
442 sub message : Global {
443 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
444 $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2';
445 $c->forward( $c->view('Web') );
448 If a stash item isn't defined, then it instead uses the
449 stringification of the action dispatched to (as defined by $c->action)
450 in the above example, this would be C<message>, but because the default
451 is to append '.tt', it would load C<root/message.tt>.
453 The items defined in the stash are passed to the Template Toolkit for
454 use as template variables.
456 sub default : Private {
457 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
458 $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2';
459 $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!';
460 $c->forward( $c->view('Web') );
463 A number of other template variables are also added:
465 c A reference to the context object, $c
466 base The URL base, from $c->req->base()
467 name The application name, from $c->config->{ name }
469 These can be accessed from the template in the usual way:
473 The message is: [% message %]
474 The base is [% base %]
475 The name is [% name %]
478 The output generated by the template is stored in C<< $c->response->body >>.
480 =head2 CAPTURING TEMPLATE OUTPUT
482 If you wish to use the output of a template for some other purpose than
483 displaying in the response, e.g. for sending an email, this is possible using
484 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Email> and the L<render> method:
486 sub send_email : Local {
491 To => 'me@localhost',
492 Subject => 'A TT Email',
494 body => $c->view('Web')->render($c, 'email.tt', {
495 additional_template_paths => [ $c->config->{root} . '/email_templates'],
496 email_tmpl_param1 => 'foo'
500 # Redirect or display a message
503 =head2 TEMPLATE PROFILING
505 See L<C<TIMER>> property of the L<config> method.
511 The constructor for the TT view. Sets up the template provider,
512 and reads the application config.
516 Renders the template specified in C<< $c->stash->{template} >> or
517 C<< $c->action >> (the private name of the matched action). Calls L<render> to
518 perform actual rendering. Output is stored in C<< $c->response->body >>.
520 It is possible to forward to the process method of a TT view from inside
523 $c->forward('View::Web');
525 N.B. This is usually done automatically by L<Catalyst::Action::RenderView>.
527 =head2 render($c, $template, \%args)
529 Renders the given template and returns output. Throws a L<Template::Exception>
532 The template variables are set to C<%$args> if C<$args> is a hashref, or
533 C<< $c->stash >> otherwise. In either case the variables are augmented with
534 C<base> set to C<< $c->req->base >>, C<c> to C<$c>, and C<name> to
535 C<< $c->config->{name} >>. Alternately, the C<CATALYST_VAR> configuration item
536 can be defined to specify the name of a template variable through which the
537 context reference (C<$c>) can be accessed. In this case, the C<c>, C<base>, and
538 C<name> variables are omitted.
540 C<$template> can be anything that Template::process understands how to
541 process, including the name of a template file or a reference to a test string.
542 See L<Template::process|Template/process> for a full list of supported formats.
544 To use the render method outside of your Catalyst app, just pass a undef context.
545 This can be useful for tests, for instance.
547 It is possible to forward to the render method of a TT view from inside Catalyst
548 to render page fragments like this:
550 my $fragment = $c->forward("View::Web", "render", $template_name, $c->stash->{fragment_data});
552 =head3 Backwards compatibility note
554 The render method used to just return the Template::Exception object, rather
555 than just throwing it. This is now deprecated and instead the render method
556 will throw an exception for new applications.
558 This behaviour can be activated (and is activated in the default skeleton
559 configuration) by using C<< render_die => 1 >>. If you rely on the legacy
560 behaviour then a warning will be issued.
562 To silence this warning, set C<< render_die => 0 >>, but it is recommended
563 you adjust your code so that it works with C<< render_die => 1 >>.
565 In a future release, C<< render_die => 1 >> will become the default if
570 Returns a list of keys/values to be used as the catalyst variables in the
575 This method allows your view subclass to pass additional settings to
576 the TT configuration hash, or to set the options as below:
580 The list of paths TT will look for templates in.
582 =head2 expose_methods
584 The list of methods in your View class which should be made available to the templates.
588 expose_methods => [qw/uri_for_css/],
593 my ($self, $c, $filename) = @_;
595 # additional complexity like checking file exists here
597 return $c->uri_for('/static/css/' . $filename);
600 Then in the template:
602 [% uri_for_css('home.css') %]
604 =head2 C<CATALYST_VAR>
606 Allows you to change the name of the Catalyst context object. If set, it will also
607 remove the base and name aliases, so you will have access them through <context>.
609 For example, if CATALYST_VAR has been set to "Catalyst", a template might
612 The base is [% Catalyst.req.base %]
613 The name is [% Catalyst.config.name %]
617 If you have configured Catalyst for debug output, and turned on the TIMER setting,
618 C<Catalyst::View::TT> will enable profiling of template processing
619 (using L<Template::Timer>). This will embed HTML comments in the
620 output from your templates, such as:
622 <!-- TIMER START: process mainmenu/mainmenu.ttml -->
623 <!-- TIMER START: include mainmenu/cssindex.tt -->
624 <!-- TIMER START: process mainmenu/cssindex.tt -->
625 <!-- TIMER END: process mainmenu/cssindex.tt (0.017279 seconds) -->
626 <!-- TIMER END: include mainmenu/cssindex.tt (0.017401 seconds) -->
630 <!-- TIMER END: process mainmenu/footer.tt (0.003016 seconds) -->
633 =head2 C<TEMPLATE_EXTENSION>
635 a sufix to add when looking for templates bases on the C<match> method in L<Catalyst::Request>.
639 package MyApp::Controller::Test;
640 sub test : Local { .. }
642 Would by default look for a template in <root>/test/test. If you set TEMPLATE_EXTENSION to '.tt', it will look for
647 Allows you to specify the template providers that TT will use.
651 root => MyApp->path_to('root'),
657 DBI_DSN => 'dbi:DB2:books',
668 The 'name' key should correspond to the class name of the provider you
669 want to use. The _file_ name is a special case that represents the default
670 TT file-based provider. By default the name is will be prefixed with
671 'Template::Provider::'. You can fully qualify the name by using a unary
674 name => '+MyApp::Provider::Foo'
676 You can also specify the 'copy_config' key as an arrayref, to copy those keys
677 from the general config, into the config for the provider:
679 DEFAULT_ENCODING => 'utf-8',
683 copy_config => [qw(DEFAULT_ENCODING INCLUDE_PATH)]
687 This can prove useful when you want to use the additional_template_paths hack
688 in your own provider, or if you need to use Template::Provider::Encoding
692 The L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TT> and
693 L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite> helper modules are provided to create
694 your view module. There are invoked by the F<myapp_create.pl> script:
696 $ script/myapp_create.pl view Web TT
698 $ script/myapp_create.pl view Web TTSite
700 The L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TT> module creates a basic TT view
701 module. The L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite> module goes a little
702 further. It also creates a default set of templates to get you
703 started. It also configures the view module to locate the templates
708 If you are using the L<CGI> module inside your templates, you will
709 experience that the Catalyst server appears to hang while rendering
710 the web page. This is due to the debug mode of L<CGI> (which is
711 waiting for input in the terminal window). Turning off the
712 debug mode using the "-no_debug" option solves the
715 [% USE CGI('-no_debug') %]
719 L<Catalyst>, L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TT>,
720 L<Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite>, L<Template::Manual>
724 Sebastian Riedel, C<sri@cpan.org>
726 Marcus Ramberg, C<mramberg@cpan.org>
728 Jesse Sheidlower, C<jester@panix.com>
730 Andy Wardley, C<abw@cpan.org>
732 Luke Saunders, C<luke.saunders@gmail.com>
736 This program is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it
737 under the same terms as Perl itself.