merb-in-file-templates ALPHA

WARNING: This plugin isn't stable yet! Feel free to try it out and send patches though.

A plugin for the Merb framework that allows templates (views) to be defined in the same file as the controller (Sinatra style). Especially useful for --very-flat apps (making them truly flat), apps that have litle/small view code, and for rapid prototyping.

==== Features

• Seamless integration with #render, #display
• Respects template reloading
• Very simple to use
• Flexible

==== Dependencies

• Merb > 0.9.4 (?)
• Rspec to run the specs

==== Examples #example for --very-flat app (single file app)

#... class Application < Merb::Controller; end class Products < Application def index @products = Product.all render end def show @product = Product[params[:id]] render end end

END @@ index.html.erb

<h1>Product List</h1> <ul> <% for product in @products -%> <li><%= product.name %></li> <% end -%> </ul>

@@ show.html.erb

<h1><%= @product.name %></h1>

In-file templates cohabit peacefully with regular external templates. So in the above example, show.html.erb could be defined in views/products/show.html.erb and both templates will still be picked up normally. In case of a name conflict between an in-file and an external template, the external one will take precedence and won't be overwritten, keeping it safe from data loss.

Template names follow the same rules as regular templates (usually action.mime_type.templating_engine).

Layouts, stylesheets and javascript can also be placed in in-file templates.

#...

END @@ layout/application.css #...

@@ layout/products.css #...

@@ stylesheets/application.css #...

@@ javascripts/jquery.js #...

==== Tweaking In order to be fed into merb's templating system, in-file templates need to be written to external files. This means you will see dynamically created view files inside your Merb.dir_for(:view) directory/subdirectories.

The directory in which files are stored is chosen based on the templating system's native mechanisms, and so merb-in-file-templates will respect any changes to it. Therefore if you want to change where template files are stored, you can play with Merb.push_path(:view, ...) and the controller's #_template_location method.

Merb.push_path(:view, Merb.root / 'views') class Application def _template_location(context, type=nil, controller = controller_name) "#{controller}.#{action_name}.#{type}" end end

This will tell Merb to look under the /views directory, for a template named products.index.html.erb.

want even flatter?

Merb.push_path(:view, Merb.root) class Application def _template_location(context, type=nil, controller=controller_name) "view.#{controller}.#{action_name}.#{type}" end end

will give you a template under the root dir called view.products.index.html.erb (adding a common prefix, 'view.' in the example above, causes template files to show up nicely grouped with ls, file managers, etc, so they look organized even without being placed in a subdirectory).

If you mix in-file and external templates and you don't want them to be mixed in the same directories, you can tell merb-in-file-templates to store its templates somewhere else. This is done through the config hash:

Merb::Plugins.config[:in_file_templates] = { :view_root => '...', :stylesheets_root => '...', :javascripts_root => '...', }

For example, you could set

:view_root => Merb.root / 'tmp' / 'ift_views'

to store your files in merb-root/tmp/ift_views, or

:view_root => '/tmp'

to store files in your system's tmp directory.

Same goes for stylesheets and javascripts, but remember that those need to be placed in a public directory, and that they need to be referenced properly from within your html header. You can use the controller's #ift_dir_for(:stylesheets) and #ift_dir_for(:javascripts) methods to find their locations.

==== Rake Task TODO (cleanup rake task before deployment..)

==== Installation TODO

==== Contact If you have suggestions, comments, a patch, a git pull request, rants, doc fixes/improvements, etc., feel free to contact me: mynyml at gmail, irc.freenode.net #rubyonrails, #merb

Happy Hacking!

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Copyright (c) 2008 Martin Aumont (mynyml), released under the MIT license