Add "set" tag with syntax {{set(variable) value}} to set variable without affecting template output

[alekstorm]

This functionality is present in at least the Tornado template engine; I'm sure there are others. This syntax is quite non-standard, but I was hesitant to add a new construct to jQuery Templates myself. Current workaround is ${variable = value, ''}, which requires above-beginner Javascript knowledge to guess.

[trans]

+1

without it some code can get a lot more complex then need be, because you have pre-collect all the data you plan to use up front rather than as the template is being rendered.

[drewwells]

It may be cool to do something like this on the fly inside templates, but I don't believe templates are meant as a replacement for JavaScript code.

Is there an example of a time that it would be more suitable to be setting variables on the fly inside a template rather than organizing your data in a template/html friendly way prior to rendering?

[trans]

Here is small piece of code I am working on:

<!-- Included Modules -->
{{if includes}}
<div id="includes-section" class="section">
  <h3 class="section-header">Included Modules</h3>
  <ul class="link-list">
  {{each(i,x) includes}}
    ${doc = Rebecca.documentation_by_key[x],''}
    <li class="module">
      <a class="include" href="${doc.id}">${doc.name}</a>
    </li>
  {{/each}}
  </ul>
</div>
{{/if}}

<!-- Constants -->
{{if constants}}
<div id="constants-list" class="section">
  <h3 class="section-header">Constants</h3>
  <dl>
  {{each(i,x) constants}}
    ${doc = Rebecca.documentation_by_key[x],''}
    <dt><a name="${doc.id}" href="${doc.id}">${doc.name}</a></dt>
    <dd class="description">${doc.comment}</dd>
  {{/each}}
  </dl>
</div>
{{/if}}

And it goes on like this for a few more sets.

If I had to collect all these doc upfront, it would require building and storing arrays that I don't really need to keep and it would also require that I write a special method to handle it, adding more complexity then is really required.

I certainly do not recommend that anyone put hefty chunks of logic in their templates, but for a temporary variable, being able to do this is invaluable.

[drewwells]

In this example, I personally would remove the duplicated code in template and pass along a title field. That way the first two lines of the template will use the same code. Then you can branch the ul, dl stuff with the following code. I try to setup up my templates to expand an array and remove the {{each}} too, but it's not always possible.

For instance,

//var data = { lots, of, stuff };
data.name = data.includes? 'includes' : 'constants';
data.title = data.includes ? 'Includes' : 'Constants';
data.arr = $.map( /* same named array, or data[ name ] */, function( n ){
    return Rebecca.documentation_by_key[ n ];
});

Now for the the minor HTML things that are repeated/slightly different. You could use data.name or use data.title. Throwing a lot of ifs in there makes templates look very ugly, so your preferred solution may be to do {{if name === 'includes'}} and {{ else }} and continue to use the repeated code.

My two cents,

[rdworth]

Thanks for taking the time to submit this pull request. Unfortunately this plugin is no longer being actively developed or maintained by the jQuery team. See README for more info.

[drewwells]

Hmm... that was 6 months ago. We are heavily depending on this plugin, that is quite unfortunate. If I had known it was DOA in April, I wouldn't have touched this thing.

[rdworth]

Knowing that you can invest in and depend on a plugin that is well supported by the jQuery Team is precisely the reason we felt this change was necessary (that was unfortunately not the case with jquery-tmpl as no sub-team within the jQuery project took ownership of it). I'm sorry we took as long as we did to make the decision final and communicate it more widely.

[trans]

So now how/where does one submit this issue/patch?

[rdworth]

Not here and if there is another place today, I don't know of it. This repo is no longer accepting or reviewing issues/patches. Any of the 166 current forks or a future fork could take that on. I don't know if any has such an interest. If one does, I'd be happy to point people to it from this repo.

[BorisMoore]

Hi Steven,

See this post for a jQuery conference where I spoke of the roadmap for jQuery Templates, and JsViews, as I see it.

http://www.borismoore.com/2011/10/jsviews-presentation-at-jquery.html

I hope to post specifically on the roadmap aspect, probably tomorrow.

The short answer is that I won't be working on jquery.tmpl, as such, given jQuery UI's ownerships and plans. But my work on templates is by no means 'dying', but is moving forward with JsRender and JsViews...

I hope also to be able to change the readme on jquery.tmpl to something providing a bit more context...

Boris

-----Original Message----- From: Steven Black [mailto:reply@reply.github.com] Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 4:22 PM To: Boris Rivers-Moore (MOORE) Subject: Re: [jquery-tmpl] Add "set" tag with syntax {{set(variable) value}} to set variable without affecting template output (#128)

@BorisMoore are you still maintaining jquery-tmpl at https://github.com/BorisMoore/jquery-tmpl or is that dead as well?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/jquery/jquery-tmpl/pull/128#issuecomment-2333666