KiTE template defintion language

Here is an example of KiTE template: ```

{{#contacts}}
• {{firstName}} {{lastName}}
{{/contacts}}

```

When given by the following JS data: { contacts:[ { firstName: "Ernest", lastName:"Hemingway", role:"writer" }, { firstName: "Scott", lastName:"Fitzgerald", role:"writer" }, { firstName: "Charlie",lastName:"Chaplin", role:"actor" } ] }

the template will be instantiated as this list: * Ernest Hemingway * Scott Fitzgerald * Charlie Chaplin

KiTE directives (tags)

KiTE uses three types of directives: * Variables with optional formatting * Block sections * Conditional sections

Variables

Variable placeholder is indicated by enclosing variable name in '{{' and '}}' brackets. There are two forms of variable declarations: * {{varname}}

simple form, value of the variable will be inserted as it is and without any kind of escapment;

• {{varname|formatname}}

  value insertion with the name of formatting function separated by the pipe '|' symbol . Formatting function will receive variable value and shall produce string - formatted representation of the value for the output.

While instantiating the template the KiTE will try to find the varname in current context (current JavaScript object). If the name is not found (undefined) then no result is produced.

Block sections

Blocks designate sections that will repeat enclosed content one or more times. There are two forms of block declarations: * {{#varname}} ... section text ... {{/varname}}

simple block.

• {{#varname}} ... section text ... {{^varname}} ... alternative text ... {{/varname}}

  block with alternative section that will be rendered if the varname resolves to an empty array or to false.

If the varname resolves to an array then the block gets repeated in output for each element of the array. The context of the block will be set to the current item in each iteration. If the value of varname is an object then it will be set as a current context and content will be rendered once for the object.

Conditional sections

Conditional sections get rendered if their expression evaluates to true in runtime. There are three forms of conditional sections: * {{? expr }} ... section text ... {{/?}}

simple conditional, expr here is a valid JavaScript expression. If it evaluates to true the section will be rendered. If result of the expression is false then the section will be skipped.

• {{? expr }} ... section text ... {{^?}} ... "else" section {{/?}}

  conditional section with "else" part that gets rendered if the expr evaluates to false.

• {{? expr1 }} section1 {{? expr2}} section2 ... {{^?}} ... "else" section {{/?}}

  that are "chained" conditional sections. They follow statndard if-elseif-elseif-else-fi logic used in almost all programming languages.

There are two predefined variables at and set that you can use in conditional expressions:

• set - reference to current array of records.
• at - current index in that array.

These two variables allow to express conditions like "at last record", "at first record", "at even/odd record". Conditions like "if previous record has that" and "if next record has that" are also feasible with the change.