[htmltmpl] RFC: external caching

[Carl F. <ca...@fi...>]

Hi all,

I've coded and tested a new feature for the 'new' and 'output' methods 
and would like people's feedback on whether it might be accepted.

This feature request allows a parsed template structure to be output 
as a scalar ref, which can be fed back to the new method again.
Effectively this allows external caching.

USAGE
-----
You can obtain a template to be saved externally as such:

$cache = $t->output( cache_ref => 1 );

The externally saved template can be loaded as such:

my $t = HTML::Template->new( cacheref => $cache );
or 
my $t = HTML::Template->new_cache_ref( $cache );
or 
my $t = HTML::Template->new( type => 'cacheref', source => $cache );

REASON
------
I'm writing a web-app in which all configuration and data is saved in 
a database (excluding db connection vars).
The application allows an admin to (online) edit existing templates 
and create new templates for new 'themes'.
I have no desire to introduce the typical security hole of 
requiring '777' permission directories, just for the sake of the 
templating. Though I would like the benefit of some caching.

I would be using the above to save the pre-parsed template in the 
database, which would be fed to all 'new' method calls.

Before I post code, would it be best to submit a diff against the 
latest cpan release or the latest sourceforge cvs release?

Cheers,
Carl