NAME Catalyst::View::TT - Template View Class SYNOPSIS # use the helper to create View myapp_create.pl view TT TT # configure in lib/MyApp.pm MyApp->config({ name => 'MyApp', root => MyApp->path_to('root');, 'V::TT' => { # any TT configurations items go here INCLUDE_PATH => [ MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'src' ), MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'lib' ), ], PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main', WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper', TEMPLATE_EXTENSION => '.tt', # two optional config items CATALYST_VAR => 'Catalyst', TIMER => 1, }, }); # render view from lib/MyApp.pm or lib/MyApp::C::SomeController.pm sub message : Global { my ( $self, $c ) = @_; $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2'; $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!'; $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT'); } # access variables from template The message is: [% message %]. # example when CATALYST_VAR is set to 'Catalyst' Context is [% Catalyst %] The base is [% Catalyst.req.base %] The name is [% Catalyst.config.name %] # example when CATALYST_VAR isn't set Context is [% c %] The base is [% base %] The name is [% name %] DESCRIPTION This is the Catalyst view class for the Template Toolkit. Your application should defined a view class which is a subclass of this module. The easiest way to achieve this is using the myapp_create.pl script (where myapp should be replaced with whatever your application is called). This script is created as part of the Catalyst setup. $ script/myapp_create.pl view TT TT This creates a MyApp::V::TT.pm module in the lib directory (again, replacing "MyApp" with the name of your application) which looks something like this: package FooBar::V::TT; use strict; use base 'Catalyst::View::TT'; __PACKAGE__->config->{DEBUG} = 'all'; Now you can modify your action handlers in the main application and/or controllers to forward to your view class. You might choose to do this in the end() method, for example, to automatically forward all actions to the TT view class. # In MyApp or MyApp::Controller::SomeController sub end : Private { my( $self, $c ) = @_; $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT'); } CONFIGURATION There are a three different ways to configure your view class. The first way is to call the "config()" method in the view subclass. This happens when the module is first loaded. package MyApp::V::TT; use strict; use base 'Catalyst::View::TT'; MyApp::V::TT->config({ INCLUDE_PATH => [ MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'lib' ), MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'src' ), ], PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main', WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper', }); The second way is to define a "new()" method in your view subclass. This performs the configuration when the view object is created, shortly after being loaded. Remember to delegate to the base class "new()" method (via "$self->NEXT::new()" in the example below) after performing any configuration. sub new { my $self = shift; $self->config({ INCLUDE_PATH => [ MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'lib' ), MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'src' ), ], PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main', WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper', }); return $self->NEXT::new(@_); } The final, and perhaps most direct way, is to define a class item in your main application configuration, again by calling the uniquitous "config()" method. The items in the class hash are added to those already defined by the above two methods. This happens in the base class new() method (which is one reason why you must remember to call it via "NEXT" if you redefine the "new()" method in a subclass). package MyApp; use strict; use Catalyst; MyApp->config({ name => 'MyApp', root => MyApp->path_to('root'), 'V::TT' => { INCLUDE_PATH => [ MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'lib' ), MyApp->path_to( 'root', 'templates', 'src' ), ], PRE_PROCESS => 'config/main', WRAPPER => 'site/wrapper', }, }); Note that any configuration items defined by one of the earlier methods will be overwritten by items of the same name provided by the latter methods. DYNAMIC INCLUDE_PATH It is sometimes needed to dynamically add additional paths to the INCLUDE_PATH variable of the template object. This can be done by setting 'additional_include_paths' on stash to a referrence to an array with additional paths: $c->stash->{additional_template_paths} = [$c->config->{root} . '/test_include_path']; RENDERING VIEWS The view plugin renders the template specified in the "template" item in the stash. sub message : Global { my ( $self, $c ) = @_; $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2'; $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT'); } If a class item isn't defined, then it instead uses the current match, as returned by "$c->match". In the above example, this would be "message". The items defined in the stash are passed to the Template Toolkit for use as template variables. sub message : Global { sub default : Private { my ( $self, $c ) = @_; $c->stash->{template} = 'message.tt2'; $c->stash->{message} = 'Hello World!'; $c->forward('MyApp::V::TT'); } A number of other template variables are also added: c A reference to the context object, $c base The URL base, from $c->req->base() name The application name, from $c->config->{ name } These can be accessed from the template in the usual way: : The message is: [% message %] The base is [% base %] The name is [% name %] The output generated by the template is stored in "$c->response->output". TEMPLATE PROFILING METHODS new The constructor for the TT view. Sets up the template provider, and reads the application config. process Renders the template specified in "$c->stash->{template}" or "$c->request->match". Template variables are set up from the contents of "$c->stash", augmented with "base" set to "$c->req->base", "c" to $c and "name" to "$c->config->{name}". Alternately, the "CATALYST_VAR" configuration item can be defined to specify the name of a template variable through which the context reference ($c) can be accessed. In this case, the "c", "base" and "name" variables are omitted. Output is stored in "$c->response->output". config This method allows your view subclass to pass additional settings to the TT configuration hash, or to set the options as below: "CATALYST_VAR" Allows you to change the name of the Catalyst context object. If set, it will also remove the base and name aliases, so you will have access them through . For example: MyApp->config({ name => 'MyApp', root => MyApp->path_to('root'), 'V::TT' => { CATALYST_VAR => 'Catalyst', }, }); message.tt2: The base is [% Catalyst.req.base %] The name is [% Catalyst.config.name %] "TIMER" If you have configured Catalyst for debug output, and turned on the TIMER setting, "Catalyst::View::TT" will enable profiling of template processing (using Template::Timer). This will embed HTML comments in the output from your templates, such as: .... "TEMPLATE_EXTENSION" a sufix to add when looking for templates bases on the "match" method in Catalyst::Request. For example: package MyApp::C::Test; sub test : Local { .. } Would by default look for a template in /test/test. If you set TEMPLATE_EXTENSION to '.tt', it will look for /test/test.tt. HELPERS The Catalyst::Helper::View::TT and Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite helper modules are provided to create your view module. There are invoked by the myapp_create.pl script: $ script/myapp_create.pl view TT TT $ script/myapp_create.pl view TT TTSite The Catalyst::Helper::View::TT module creates a basic TT view module. The Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite module goes a little further. It also creates a default set of templates to get you started. It also configures the view module to locate the templates automatically. SEE ALSO Catalyst, Catalyst::Helper::View::TT, Catalyst::Helper::View::TTSite, Template::Manual AUTHORS Sebastian Riedel, "sri@cpan.org" Marcus Ramberg, "mramberg@cpan.org" Jesse Sheidlower, "jester@panix.com" Andy Wardley, "abw@cpan.org" COPYRIGHT This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.