NAME Text::MicroMason - Simplified HTML::Mason Templating DESCRIPTION Text::MicroMason interpolates blocks of Perl code embedded into text strings, using the simplest features of HTML::Mason. Here's an example of Mason-style templating, taken from the HTML::Mason manpage: % my $noun = 'World'; Hello <% $noun %>! How are ya? Interpreting this template with Text::MicroMason produces the same output as it would in HTML::Mason: Hello World! How are ya? A complete discussion of the supported syntax and the way it is compiled is provided in the module's inline POD. MOTIVATION The HTML::Mason module provides a useful syntax for dynamic template interpretation (sometimes called embedded scripting): plain text (or HTML) containing occasional chunks of Perl code whose results are interpolated into the text when the template is "executed." However, HTML::Mason also provides a full-featured web application framework with mod_perl integration, a caching engine, and numerous other functions, and there are times in which I'd like to use the templating capability without configuring a full Mason installation. Thus, the Text::MicroMason module was born: it supports the core aspects of the HTML::Mason syntax ("<%...%>" expressions, "%...\n" and "<%perl>..." blocks, "<& file &>" includes, "%ARGS" and "$_out->()" ), and omits the features that are web specific (like autohandlers) or are less widely used (like "<%method>" blocks). 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 only 90 or so lines of Perl code. COMPATIBILITY WITH HTML::MASON See the HTML::Mason manpage 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. Unsupported Features The following sets of HTML::Mason features are not supported by Text::MicroMason: * No %attr, %shared, %method, %def, %init, or %args blocks. * No |h or |u options to escape the result of interpolated expressions. * No $m Mason interpreter context. * No $r request object * No shared files like autohandler and dhandler. * No mod_perl integration or configuration capability. INSTALLATION This module should work with any version of Perl 5, without platform dependencies or additional modules beyond the core distribution. Retrieve the current distribution from CPAN, or from the author's site: http://search.cpan.org/author/EVO/Text-MicroMason/ http://www.evoscript.com/Text-MicroMason/ Download and unpack the distribution, and execute the standard "perl Makefile.PL", "make test", "make install" sequence. VERSION This is version 1.06 of Text::MicroMason. Distribution Summary The CPAN DSLI entry reads: Name DSLIP Description -------------- ----- --------------------------------------------- Text:: ::MicroMason Rdpfp Simplified HTML::Mason Templating This module should be categorized under group 11, Text Processing (although there's also an argument for placing it 15 Web/HTML, where HTML::Mason appears). Discussion and Support Bug reports or general feedback would be welcomed by the author at simonm@cavalletto.org. 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 "@". CREDITS AND COPYRIGHT Developed By Developed by Matthew Simon Cavalletto at Evolution Softworks. You may contact the author directly at "simonm@cavalletto.org". More free Perl software is available at "www.evoscript.org". The Shoulders of Giants Inspired by Jonathan Swartz's HTML::Mason. Feedback and Suggestions My sincere thanks to the following users who have provided feedback: Pascal Barbedor Mark Hampton Philip King Daniel J. Wright William Kern Copyright Copyright 2002, 2003 Matthew Simon Cavalletto. Portions copyright 2001 Evolution Online Systems, Inc. License You may use, modify, and distribute this software under the same terms as Perl.