#!perl -w
# run this document through perl to check its syntax
use Pod::Checker;
podchecker(\*DATA);
__END__

=head1 NAME

HOWTO-Templates - How to write Slash templates

=head1 QUESTIONS

=head2 What is a template?

A template is a bit of text that is parsed by Perl, using the Template
Toolkit.  Template Toolkit has support for variables, control structures,
and more.  It is more easily understood and edited by non-programmers
than is Perl, and it is much safer than executing raw Perl code.

Templates are compiled into Perl functions and the resulting compiled
code is cached.  Templates are fast and convenient and easy.

For more information on how templates are written, see the man pages
for Slash::Display and Template, and the Template Toolkit web page
at E<lt>URL:http://www.template-toolkit.org/E<gt>.


=head2 How do I get my template into a running site?

Use the Template Editor via the admin menu on the site, or use
template-tool on the command line. You can find out information
on it by calling it with the "-h" option.


=head2 How do I get my template installed with a plugin/theme?

For a plugin it has to be added to the PLUGIN file (see
F<HOWTO-Plugins>). For a theme it just needs to be in the templates
directory for the theme (see F<HOWTO-Themes>).


=head2 What language encoding are the templates using?

There is a language field for templates, which is, by
default, "en_US".  However, it is not currently used by the
code.  We have not entirely decided how to handle languages yet.

Currently, the language is based on the same method used to determine
locales on Unix: two-letter, lowercase, ISO 639 codes for language;
two-letter, uppercase, ISO 3166 codes for country; joined with an
underscore.  e.g., en_US, en_CA, de_DE, zh_CN, ja_JP.


=head2 How do I generate a blank template?

Use template-tool:

	template-tool -g filename


=head2 Can I set my own Template options?

You can change some of the configuration options of Template,
(PRE_CHOMP, POST_CHOMP, and CACHE_SIZE) via the vars table.
Most options cannot be changed, however, except by editing
the Slash::Display module directly.


=head2 What can I do about whitespace between template tags?

The TRIM option (which removes whitespace before and after templates)
is on by default.  Many things in Slash will fail if TRIM is not true,
because it is expected that whitespace will be removed before and after
a returned template.

PRE_CHOMP and POST_CHOMP (which remove whitespace before and
after individual tags) are off by default, but may be turned on
via the template_pre_chomp and template_post_chomp entries in the vars
table.  In an upcoming version of Template, there will be a third
option, other than just "on" and "off": "collapse".  This will
collapse whitespace between tags down to a single space, and will
most likely be ideal for use in Slash, since runs of whitespace in HTML
is the same as a single space, in most situations.

You can enable and disable chomping of whitespace for individual
tags with "+" and "-".  To enable chomping, write a tag like this:

	[% num %] comment
		[%- IF num != 1 ; 's' ; END %]

That will push the "s" character up against the end of "comment",
if it is printed.

If CHOMP is enabled, you can disable it in the same way, with "+"
instead of "-".  See L<Template::Parser>.


=head2 I have a really cool template for a theme/plugin, and I would like to see it added to the Slash distribution. Will you distribute mine?

Maybe. We don't have any rules concerning this at the moment, so it will be
on a case by case basis. At some point in the future we will come up
with a much better answer. If the theme or plugin is one not included with
the Slash distribution, you should contact the theme's or plugin's creator
directly.

=head1 SEE ALSO

Slash::Display(3).

=head1 VERSION

$Id: HOWTO-Templates.pod,v 1.3.2.3 2001/10/10 16:06:26 pudge Exp $
