This page last modified: Jan 31 2013
title:HTML::Template notes and hints
description:Examples of Perl and HTML for using the HTML::Template Perl module
keywords:template,html,how,to,howto,mini
Some of these examples use code snippets copied directly from other
authors. Many thanks to those authors. I've extended their work here
to fill in questions they did not address, and which I found confusing
at the time.
You may have to install HTML::Template since it is often not part of the core distribution. If you are running
a SQL example, you may need some extra modules.
Linux
-----
sudo yum -y install perl-HTML-Template
sudo yum -y install perl-DBD-SQLite
Macintosh OSX MacOS
-------------------
Macintosh OSX aka MacOS lacks a package manager (such as yum or apt). Fortunately, Perl has its own package
management, so it is easy to install modules from CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network). Be aware: the
"cpan" command line may install a different (newer) version into /opt/local/bin/perl. The perl -MCPAN command
works with the standard Perl distribution in /System/Library/Perl (and so on).
You might have to "sudo rm -fr .cpan" to clear out the cache. The cache directory ".cpan" may be owned by root.
cd ~/
sudo rm -fr .cpan
sudo PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 perl -MCPAN -e 'install HTML::Template'
sudo PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 perl -MCPAN -e 'install HTML::FillInForm'
When prompted for "password:" enter your password. I suspect you must be an administrator in order to use the
"sudo" command.
YAML seems to be optional. However, if you try to install it, you might get this message:
Can't locate object method "install" via package "YAML" at -e line 1.
The solution is to prepend + to YAML since Perl incorrectly parses the command.
sudo PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 perl -MCPAN -e 'install +YAML'
Basic tags
----------
HTML::Template is pretty simple. There are three basic tags:
----------- Variables -------------
<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME=FOO --> : Simple variable substitution.
Ex (html).
<p>Hello and welcome to my site <b><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME=USER
--></b>!</p>
Ex (perl).
my %tmpl_hash;
$tmpl_hash{ 'USER' } = 'Timmy';
$template->param( \%tmpl_hash );
----------- If-then-elses -------------
<!-- TMPL_IF NAME=BAR --><!-- TMPL_ELSE --><!-- /TMPL_IF --> : Governs
what will and will not appear on a page.
Ex. (html):
<p>
There will
<!-- TMPL_IF NAME=IS_RAGNAROK -->not<!-- /TMPL_IF -->
be a tomorrow.
</p>
Ex. (perl):
%tmpl_hash;
$tmpl_hash{ 'IS_RAGANROK' } = 1;
$template->param( \%tmpl_hash );
N.B. If the TMPL_IF variable is not set, it is assumed to be false.
Also, there is no ELSE_IF, so you may have to nest TMPL_IF tags.
----------- Loops -------------
<!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME=BAZ --><!-- /TMPL_LOOP --> : Used for repeating data
Ex. (html)
<p>I am afraid of: <br>
<!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME=PHOBIAS -->
<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME=FEAR --><br>
<!-- /TMPL_LOOP -->
</p>
Ex. (perl)
my %tmpl_hash;
my @phobias;
my %phobia_hash_1;
$phobia_hash_1{ 'FEAR' } = 'pirates';
push(@phobias, \%phobia_hash_1);
my %phobia_hash_2;
$phobia_hash_2{ 'FEAR' } = 'jellybeans';
push(@phobias, \%phobia_hash_2);
$tmpl_hash{ 'PHOBIAS' } = \@phobias;
$template->param( \%tmpl_hash );
TMPL_IFs can go in TMPL_LOOPs, and vice-versa. TMPL_LOOPs can go inside
other TMPL_LOOPs. TMPL_IFs can go inside other TMPL IFs. TMPL_VARs can go
wherever they damn well please.
It's not hard. It's just a hash-o-rama in the perl.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use HTML::Template;
# open the html template
my $template = HTML::Template->new(filename => 'test.tmpl');
# fill in some parameters
$template->param(HOME => $ENV{HOME});
$template->param(PATH => $ENV{PATH});
# send the obligatory Content-Type and print the template output
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n", $template->output;