Re: [Webmacro-devel] Whitespace :(

[Marc P. <ma...@an...>]

On Fri, 1 Aug 2003 13:40:58 -0400 (GMT), Keats <ke...@su...> wrote:

> Stripping the previous newline is definitely a major point of confusion, 
> but it makes sense once you grok it.  Making more special cases would, 
> IMHO, not only make the parser more complicated, but also make it harder 
> to learn and remember the rules.
>
> To make your example work you just need to add a blank line:
>
> [
>
> #if ($someCondition)
> #begin
> #if ($someOtherCondition)
> #begin
> This is a line
> This is another line
> #end
> #end
> ]

Yes I know that...

> Yes it's confusing, but once you understand it it works fine and it is 
> consistent.

...but it is not consistent with $xxx expansion:

[

$somethingHere
]

Would produce a superfluous blank line. I know WE know var expansion and 
directives are completely different, but to the average user why should 
whitespace handling be any different.

> If you want a bunch of stuff without newlines you can write:
[snip]
>
> to get
>
> [10, (20), 50, (100)]
>
> Writing this all on one line would really suck.

Perhaps...

> (Note: I haven't tested this example, but it's something like that.)

This is exactly my point though! It should be obvious from the template 
what the output should be. It definitely isn't, unless you are ready to 
meticulously apply the WS rules.

At least if #xxx expands exactly where the "#" is, and you write it on one 
line, you know you will get ONE line. :)

-- 
Marc Palmer
Contract Java Consultant/Developer
			
                        w a n g j a m m e r s

                 java and web software design
              experts with an ethical outlook

                   http://www.wangjammers.org