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NAME

CGI::Application::Plugin::PageBuilder - Simplifies building pages with multiple templates.

SYNOPSIS

This module simplifies building complex web pages with many small piecemeal templates.

Instead of

 sub run_mode {
     my $self = shift;
     my $header = $self->load_tmpl( 'header.tmpl' )->output();
     my $html;

     my $start = $self->load_tmpl( 'view_start.tmpl' );
     $start->param( view_name => 'This View' );
     $html .= $start->output();

     my $db = MyApp::DB::Views->retrieve_all(); # Class::DBI
     while ( my $line = $db->next() ) {
         my $template = $self->load_tmpl( 'view_element.tmpl' );
         $template->param( name => $line->name() );
         $template->param( info => $line->info() );
         $html .= $template->output();
     }
     $html .= $self->load_tmpl( 'view_end.tmpl' )->output();
     $html .= $self->load_tmpl( 'footer.tmpl' )->output();
     return $html;
 }

You can do this:

 CGI:App subclass:

 sub run_mode {
     my $self = shift;

     $self->pb_template( 'header.tmpl' );
     $self->pb_template( 'view_start.tmpl' );

     my $db = MyApp::DB::Views->retrieve_all();
     while( my $line = $db->next() ) {
         $self->pb_template( 'view_row.tmpl' );
         $self->pb_param( name, $line->name() );
         $self->pb_param( info, $line->info() );
     }
     $self->pb_template( 'view_end.tmpl' );
     $self->pb_template( 'footer.tmpl' );
     return $self->pb_build();
 }

METHODS

pb_template

$self->pb_template( 'the_template_to_use.tmpl', ... );

Adds the template to the page. Any arguments past the template name are passed on to HTML::Template.

pb_param

$self->pb_param( name, value );

Sets the value for the param in the template. This applies to the last template loaded by pb_template().

pb_build

$self->pb_build();

Returns the combined page.

AUTHOR

Clint Moore <cmoore@cpan.org>

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2005, Clint Moore <cmoore@cpan.org>.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.