Re: [htmltmpl] extra whitespace

[Mark A. F. <mar...@ea...>]

From: Alex Teslik <al...@ac...>
>Is there a switch (feature request?) that will tell HTMLTMPL to replace a
>TMPL followed by [\n\r]+ with nothing - even better replace the whole line=
 if
>the only thing on the line is a TMPL tag?=20

I raised this issue a year or two ago and it wasn't well-received. It seems=
 like it's common for newcomers (as I was) to spot this and believe it's a =
shortcoming in H::T. Among experienced users, they believe it's easier and =
faster to use the "filter" option to strip *all* linefeeds if wasted bandwi=
dth is your motivation to remove some. If the performance overhead of using=
 the "filter" option is a concern, then preprocess your templates to load, =
filter and output them to another file which will be your template to be us=
ed at run-time.=20

I do this for other reasons, like if there is common processing to be appli=
ed to parts of the page once. For example: international language substitut=
ion of headings, labels, etc. I use tags prefixed as "PREPROC-" in my *mast=
er* template to differentiate things that need to be preprocessed versus th=
e tags that are dynamically set at run time. I use a batch script to load t=
he template and "filter" the TMPL- tags to "HOLD-" tags, change the "PREPRO=
C-" tags to "TMPL-" tags. I don't strip the linefeeds in this filter. I do =
my preprocessing to set TMPL-VARS and LOOPS as necessary for one-time initi=
alization of the page (for example, language substitution). I output the H:=
:T object to a variable and perform a regex on the variable to change all t=
he "HOLD-" tags to "TMPL-" tags. This is where I strip the linefeeds. Then =
print this variable to a file which will be the template used at runtime. S=
o, I have a master template (with includes, etc.) and a run-time template t=
hat needs no run-time processing except the actual variables that can chang=
e at run time (messages, dynamically generated lists, etc.).

That's probably a much more complicated example than what you need just to =
strip linefeeds. The filter option will work for you. I just wanted to demo=
nstrate that there's a lot of ways to solve a problem with H::T if you real=
ize you're not stuck with just one preconceived way to use it. It took me a=
while to get that through my head. In the end I agreed that it's superior t=
o use features like I described above than to burden H::T with indicators a=
bout what is essentially formatting (retention or removal).

Hope that helps.

Mark