Re: [PHP Template] dynamic blocks

I like Monte's option #2, with the curly braces (the $$ thing could lead to
mistakes that might be confusing to the designer if s/he forgot to use two
dollar signs).


Sanford


At 11:17 AM 2/16/2000 -0600, Monte Ohrt wrote:
>Ludovico Magnocavallo wrote:
>> 
>> > No, they will be removed by the engine and will not appear on the page
>> > at all.
>> 
>> Andrei, my point is that designers will work on BARE templates, and open
>> them up in netscape or ie to test layout, etc. indipendently from any
>> engine or script. At least, that's what our designers do, they edit the
>> templates indipendently from me, or other developers, and they edit them
>> as STATIC HTML files.
>> 
>> So the engine will NOT be there to process templates for them, and they
>> WILL see the dynblocks declarations on the page, unless the developer
>> masks them inside HTML comments.
>> 
>> L.
>> 
>
>Good point. We've never run into this problem, our designers always
>edit the templates in a text editing program and view the pages in
>their browser as seen generated by php.
>
>So what would be a good syntax to cover this issue? I'll just
>throw a couple ideas out, you can shoot them down as you see fit :-)
>
>OPTION #1: hide the tags in HTML comments
>
><!-- {dynamic: row } -->
>
><!-- {/dynamic} -->
>
>Pros: will hide the contents from browsers when displayed directly
>
>Cons: A little messy looking, and a bit more info for the
>	template engine to parse out, a little more syntax
>	for a designer to learn.
>
>
>OPTION #2: use normal HTML markup for template tags
>
><dynamic: row>
>	<tr>
>		<td>{title}</td>
>	</tr>
></dynamic>
>
><if title != "foo">
>	{title}
></if>
>
>Pros: it keeps the template clean and easy to read, and the tags
>will be hidden when brought up by the browser. This is also nice
>for the designer, they are mostly likely familiar with how HTML
>markup works, so no new tag syntax to learn.
>
>Cons: It has a possiblity of conflicting with browser tags, like
>if someone makes a CSS element called "dynamic"
>
>
>Yet another idea that goes along with OPTION #2, get rid of
>curly braces altogether, and use a '$' to denote variables:
>
><if $title != "foo">
>	<b>$title</b> is $$5.00
></if>
>
>
>Notice double $$ to escape a literal '$'
>Any other ideas?
>
>Monte
>
>
-------
Sanford Redlich
[email protected]