From: messju mohr <messju@...>
Date: 2004-01-18T07:56:52+09:00
Subject: Re: HTML templating that works in more than one language?

On Sat, Jan 17, 2004 at 05:31:34AM +0900, jason r tibbetts wrote:
> Quoting messju mohr <messju@lammfellpuschen.de>:
> 
> > On Fri, Jan 16, 2004 at 11:46:14PM +0900, Lothar Scholz wrote:
> > > Hello Ruby,
> > > 
> > > Friday, January 16, 2004, 4:29:56 AM, you wrote:
> > > 
> > > RB> Do you think a Ruby class could ever parse Smarty templates,
> > > RB> including basic 'each' logic like this:?
> > > RB> http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.function.foreach.php
> > > 
> > > RB> Any other advice appreciated.
> > > RB> This is just for HTML templates, that need logic and loops,
> > > RB> but we might have a project that uses both Ruby and PHP,
> > > RB> and of course we don't want to re-write HTML templates
> > > RB> for each.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > I doubt that this is usefull because you must embedd a complete
> > > php interpreter in ruby.
> > 
> > smarty converts templates written in it's own language to php-code and
> > runs this php-code. there is no php-code in a smarty-template.
> > 
> > if a ruby class converts the same template to ruby-code no
> > php-interpreter is needed.
> > 
> > but smarty was written with 100% php in mind. the structures may not
> > map that nicely to ruby. but i'm sure it's possible if somebody want
> > to put the effort in it.
> 
> And it wouldn't have to be that much effort, especially if the OP's suggestion
> (foreach) is an indication of the complexity. In fact, the example that's listed
> on the OP's link is a dead-simple mapping to Ruby:
> 
> Smarty:
> {foreach name=outer item=contact from=$contacts}
>   {foreach key=key item=item from=$contact}
>     {$key}: {$item}<br>
>   {/foreach}
> {/foreach}
> 
> Ruby:
> contacts.each() do | contact |
>   contact.each_pair() do | key, item |
>     puts "#{ key }: #{ item }<br>"
>   end
> end
> 
> In fact, if this is as tough as it gets, writing a Ruby interpreter for Smarty's
> syntax should take no time at all, even for a beginner in the language (like me).

"no time at all"? that would be infinitely fast. even ruby doesn't
provide prototyping that rapid :)

with "effort" i didn't mean "complicated" or "challenging", i meant it
more in the sense of "tedious".

greetings
messju

> -- 
> jason