Re: smarty custom functions namespaces

Hi Andrei,

Obviously this namespace syntax won't make it into the Smarty core, but 
on the topic of "Every template language evolves until it turns into 
PHP"... I take it that you are talking about the template syntax. I 
don't think any of Smarty's syntax has evolved in over two years. The 
last addition was object method access. We wanted to add this ability 
without *any* new syntax, but due to the underlying Smarty code 
structure this was inevitable (and there are two ways to handle objects, 
one that is more secure and syntax friendly but can't be looped.) Smarty 
3 (which is in its initial stages) will likely be making a step toward 
resolving some syntax complexities. Example, consolidation of current 
syntax where {$foo.bar} could be either access to an array key or an 
object method, something the template designer shouldn't be concerned 
with. There are also some not-so-great legacy syntax decisions that may 
get a cleanup as well.

And of course, the #1 purpose of a template engine (or at least Smarty) 
is the separation of application code from its presentation. Smarty is 
merely a toolbox to make the presentation assembly as painless as 
possible, which is why it is regarded as being a "framework" for 
application presentation control, and not just a tag replacement engine. 
The templates are an abstraction from the PHP language syntax itself, 
something that is safer and easier for a template designer to visualize 
and use within embedded HTML tags, and as a bonus they are insulated 
from PHP functions and PHP variable namespace.

Anyways, my two cents on the template evolution topic ;)

Monte

Andrei Zmievski wrote:

> Do you people realize that you are proving Rasmus's theorem with every 
> such thing? I am speaking of "Every template language evolves until it 
> turns into PHP".
>
> -Andrei
>
> On Jul 21, 2005, at 3:19 AM, Michael Davey wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've added a crude form of namespaces to my private copy of Smarty.  A
>> template function like:
>>
>> {namespace:test}
>>
>> ...causes the test() function in the smarty_function_namespace class to
>> be called.
>>
>> I'm planning to use this feature in TikiWiki to provide accessor-like
>> template functions to access various data: article::title,
>> article::description and so on.  I though that this might be of more
>> general use, so here is a patch for this morning's CVS snapshot of 
>> Smarty.
>>
>> -- 
>> Michael
>> <smarty_namespace_patch.tar.gz>--
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>
>

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