NAME

Text::MicroMason::ReadMe - About the MicroMason Distribution

MOTIVATION

The HTML::Mason module provides a useful syntax for dynamic template interpretation (sometimes called embedded scripting): plain text (or HTML) containing occasional chunks of Perl code whose results are interpolated into the text when the template is "executed."

However, HTML::Mason also provides a full-featured web application framework with mod_perl integration, a caching engine, and numerous other functions, and there are times in which I'd like to use the templating capability without configuring a full Mason installation.

Thus, the Text::MicroMason module was born: it supports the core aspects of the HTML::Mason syntax ("<%...%>" expressions, "%...\n" and "<%perl>...</%perl>" blocks, "<& file &>" includes, "%ARGS" and "$_out->()" ), and omits the features that are web specific (like autohandlers) or are less widely used (like "<%method>" blocks).

Related Modules

You may well be thinking "yet another dynamic templating module? Sheesh!" And you'd have a good point. There certainly are a variety of templating toolkits on CPAN already; even restricting ourselves to those which use Perl syntax for both interpolated expressions and flow control (as opposed to "little languages") there's a fairly crowded field, including Template::Toolkit, Template::Perl, Text::Template, and Text::ScriptTemplate, as well as those that are part of full-blown web application frameworks like Apache::ASP, ePerl, HTML::Embperl, and HTML::Mason.

Nonetheless, I think this module occupies a useful niche: it provides a reasonable subset of HTML::Mason syntax in a very light-weight fashion. In comparison to the other modules listed, MicroMason aims to be fairly lightweight, using one eval per parse, converting the template to an cacheable unblessed subroutine ref, eschewing method calls, and containing just a few hundred lines of Perl code in the core, with optional features activated only if requested.

Compatibility with HTML::Mason

See HTML::Mason for a much more full-featured version of the capabilities provided by this module.

If you've already got HTML::Mason installed, configured, and loaded into your process, you're probably better off using it rather than this package. HTML::Mason's $interp->make_component() method allows you to parse a text string without saving it to disk first.

The following sets of HTML::Mason features are supported by Text::MicroMason:

• Template interpolation with <% expr %>

• Literal Perl lines with leading %

• Named %args, %perl, %once, %init, %cleanup, and %doc blocks

• The $m mason object, although with many fewer methods

• Expression filtering with |h and |u (via -Filter mixin)

The following sets of HTML::Mason features are not supported by Text::MicroMason:

• No %attr, %shared, %method, or %def blocks.

• No $r request object

• No shared files like autohandler and dhandler.

• No mod_perl integration or configuration capability.

DISTRIBUTION

This is version 1.93_0 of Text::MicroMason.

This is an EXPERIMENTAL release on a development track for a 2.0 release.

This module has been available on CPAN for over two years, with a relatively stable interface and feature set. If you encounter any problems, please inform the author and I'll endeavor to patch them promptly.

This module's CPAN registration should read:

  Name            DSLIP  Description
  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------
  Text::
  ::MicroMason    Rdpfp  Simplified HTML::Mason Templating

This module should be categorized under group 11, Text Processing.

INSTALLATION

This module should work with any version of Perl 5, without platform dependencies or additional modules beyond the core distribution.

You should be able to install this module using the CPAN shell interface:

  perl -MCPAN -e 'install Text::MicroMason'

Alternately, you may retrieve this package from CPAN (http://search.cpan.org/~evo/) or from the author's site (http://www.evoscript.org/Text-MicroMason).

After downloading the distribution, follow the normal procedure to unpack and install it, using the commands shown below or their local equivalents on your system:

  tar xzf Text-MicroMason-*.tar.gz
  cd Text-MicroMason-*
  perl Makefile.PL
  make test && sudo make install

Tested Platforms

This release has been tested succesfully on the following platforms:

  5.6.1 on darwin

Earlier releases have also tested OK on a wide variety of platforms. You may review the current test results from CPAN-Testers:

• http://testers.cpan.org/show/Text-MicroMason.html

SUPPORT

If you have questions or feedback about this module, please feel free to contact the author at the below address. Although there is no formal support program, I do attempt to answer email promptly.

I would be particularly interested in any suggestions towards improving the documentation, correcting any Perl-version or platform dependencies, as well as general feedback and suggested additions.

Bug reports that contain a failing test case are greatly appreciated, and suggested patches will be promptly considered for inclusion in future releases.

To report bugs via the CPAN web tracking system, go to http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Text-MicroMason or send mail to Dist=Text-MicroMason#rt.cpan.org, replacing # with @.

If you've found this module useful or have feedback about your experience with it, consider sharing your opinion with other Perl users by posting your comment to CPAN's ratings system (http://cpanratings.perl.org/rate/?distribution=Text-MicroMason).

For more general discussion, you may wish to post a message on PerlMonks (http://perlmonks.org/?node=Seekers%20of%20Perl%20Wisdom) or on the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup (http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.perl.misc).

AUTHOR

Developed by Matthew Simon Cavalletto at Evolution Softworks. You may contact the author directly at evo#cpan.org or simonm#cavalletto.org, replacing # with @.

Custom development and technical consulting are available at www.evolutionsoftworks.com. More free Perl software is available at www.evoscript.org.

THANKS

Based on the superb HTML::Mason, originally developed by Jonathan Swartz.

My sincere thanks to the following users for their feedback:

  Pascal Barbedor
  Mark Hampton
  Philip King
  Daniel J. Wright
  William Kern
  Tommi Maekitalo
  Alan Ferrency

LICENSE

Copyright 2002, 2003, 2004 Matthew Simon Cavalletto.

Portions copyright 2001 Evolution Online Systems, Inc.

You may use, modify, and distribute this software under the same terms as Perl.

cpanm Text::MicroMason

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Text::MicroMason