new Template system

[releasedj]

A new template system is in town.

vTemplate is a php class that is intended to make splitting PHP from HTML a simple and natural task.

It has easily understandable syntax that is alot easier to use than other template classes.
It compiles a template into native PHP code using 1 (one) pcre call.
It also has powerful caching and debugging classes to extend the functionality.

Take a look at http://www.activefish.com/vlib/ and try downloading this new template system.
It's really easy to use and could save you alot of time.

Regards,
Kelvin

[van__]

I think just about everyone has a template engine or two.

Though yours seems to have embodied quite a bit of work, I don't think I'll be using it.
Seems like you didn't take into account the fact that what you just created is basically XSLT, which already has a class built in with PHP.

I mean, a loop condition to be declared as part of an HTML file? I think your class would cause more headache than anything since you are doubling up and recreating what doesn't need to be recreated.

In fact, you are still essentially coding inside the HTML, and thus creating yet another layer of debugging and compatability issues.

My template parser is very simple, it allows me to read and write variables to and from the GLOBAL scope and constants. It's not glorious and only took me a day to write. But, it does a great job of parsing out data into HTML templates and building very complex pages very rapidly without adding any additional abstraction or syntax hassles.

I would never want to create or use an object such as yours since I see no benefit and only more headache than it's really worth, especially since XSLT already does all those functions and more from XML files where that kind of procedures should be kept.

Nice work though and you had a viscious regex in there, musta took a week to get that one just right.

[releasedj]

I see your point.

If you were just needing basic variable interpolation, vTemplate does this very quickly and easily.

The use of if statements within the template is of course a maintenance issue in certain cases.. it all depends on how you use it.
For example, if you have a form that you want someone to fill in. If the user is a memebr of your site and has already given you certain information i.e. e-mail address you may want to hide these fields from the user.
If statements in the template allow you to decide exactly what to show.

In any case, thanks for your comments.
The more feedback the better.

Kelvin

[releasedj]

ps. the loop is just a block of code that is repeated and is controlled from the PHP.
Template systems that have this functionality like to call them [dynamic] blocks. TMPL_LOOP's are the same. And how else could you do it without embedding HTML (the point of templates)?

Kelvin