* Allow preprocessor directives to contain python-like triple-quoted

[ikiwiki.git] / doc / plugins / template.mdwn

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+[[template id=plugin name=template included=1 author="""[[Joey]]"""]]
+[[tag type/format]]
+
+With this plugin, you can set up templates, and cause them to be filled out
+and inserted into pages in the wiki. Using a template works like this:
+
+       \[[template id=foo name="Charley" color="red" age=11]]
+
+This fills out the template `templates/foo`, filling in the `color` and `age`
+fields on it with the specified values, and inserts the result into the page.
+
+If a value is triple-quoted, it can include any markup that would be
+allowed in the wiki page outside the template. Combined with multi-line
+quoted values, this allows for large chunks of marked up text to be
+embedded into a template:
+
+       \[[template id=foo name="Sally" color="green" age=8 notes="""
+       * \[[Charley]]'s sister.
+       * Really 8 and a half.
+       * Wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.
+       """]]
+
+To create a template, make a page in the wiki named `template/foo`. Note
+that this is a different location than the directory used for the
+[[templates]] used to build the wiki itself, which is not inside the wiki.
+
+The template uses the syntax used by the HTML::Template perl module, which
+allows for some fairly complex things to be done. Consult its documentation
+for the full syntax, but all you really need to know are a few things:
+
+* To insert the value of a variable, use `<TMPL_VAR variable>`.
+* To make a block of text conditional on a variable being set use
+  `<TMPL_IF NAME="variable">text</TMPL_IF>`.
+
+Here's a sample template:
+
+       <span class="infobox">
+       Name: <TMPL_VAR name><br />
+       Age: <TMPL_VAR age><br />
+       <TMPL_IF NAME="color">
+       Favorite color: <TMPL_VAR color><br />
+       <TMPL_ELSE>
+       No favorite color.<br />
+       </TMPL_IF>
+       <TMPL_IF NAME="notes">
+       <hr />
+       <TMPL_VAR notes>
+       </TMPL_IF>
+       </span>