NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

This module is built on the idea that building complex web pages with the default CGI::Application method can get to be a real mess if you prefer to load many smaller templates to create your pages.

Now 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_element.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();
 }

Which arguably looks much cleaner.

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 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();

Builds the page and returns the resulting HTML.

TODO

Passing options to HTML::Template needs more testing.

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.