NAME

Text::Template::Preprocess - Expand template text with embedded Perl

VERSION

This file documents Text::Template::Preprocess version 1.42

SYNOPSIS

 use Text::Template::Preprocess;

 my $t = Text::Template::Preprocess->new(...);  # identical to Text::Template

 # Fill in template, but preprocess each code fragment with pp().
 my $result = $t->fill_in(..., PREPROCESSOR => \&pp);

 my $old_pp = $t->preprocessor(\&new_pp);

DESCRIPTION

Text::Template::Preprocess provides a new PREPROCESSOR option to fill_in. If the PREPROCESSOR option is supplied, it must be a reference to a preprocessor subroutine. When filling out a template, Text::Template::Preprocessor will use this subroutine to preprocess the program fragment prior to evaluating the code.

The preprocessor subroutine will be called repeatedly, once for each program fragment. The program fragment will be in $_. The subroutine should modify the contents of $_ and return. Text::Template::Preprocess will then execute contents of $_ and insert the result into the appropriate part of the template.

Text::Template::Preprocess objects also support a utility method, preprocessor(), which sets a new preprocessor for the object. This preprocessor is used for all subsequent calls to fill_in except where overridden by an explicit PREPROCESSOR option. preprocessor() returns the previous default preprocessor function, or undefined if there wasn't one. When invoked with no arguments, preprocessor() returns the object's current default preprocessor function without changing it.

In all other respects, Text::Template::Preprocess is identical to Text::Template.

WHY?

One possible purpose: If your files contain a lot of JavaScript, like this:

        Plain text here...
        { perl code }
        <script language=JavaScript>
     	      if (br== "n3") { 
	  	  // etc.
	      }
        </script>
        { more perl code }
        More plain text...

You don't want Text::Template to confuse the curly braces in the JavaScript program with executable Perl code. One strategy:

        sub quote_scripts {
          s(<script(.*?)</script>)(q{$1})gsi;
        }

Then use PREPROCESSOR => \&quote_scripts. This will transform

AUTHOR

Mark-Jason Dominus, Plover Systems

Please send questions and other remarks about this software to mjd-perl-template+@plover.com

You can join a very low-volume (<10 messages per year) mailing list for announcements about this package. Send an empty note to mjd-perl-template-request@plover.com to join.

For updates, visit http://www.plover.com/~mjd/perl/Template/.

LICENSE

    Text::Template::Preprocess version 1.42
    Copyright (C) 2001 Mark Jason Dominus

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
    published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
    License, or (at your option) any later version.  You may also can
    redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Perl
    Artistic License.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received copies of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.