templates

System for creating and managing template collections, and rendering templates with any node.js template engine. Can be used as the basis for creating a static site generator or blog framework.

Table of Contents

• Install
• Features
• Usage
  • Example
• API
  • Common
    • .option
    • .use
  • App
  • Engines
  • Helpers
  • Built-in helpers
  • View
    • View Data
  • Item
    • Item Data
  • Views
    • Views Data
    • Lookup methods
  • Collections
  • List
  • Group
  • Lookups
  • Rendering
  • Context
  • Middleware
  • is
• More examples
• History
• About

(TOC generated by verb using markdown-toc)

Install

Install with npm:

1$ npm install --save templates

Features

• templates are vinyl files
• rich plugin support, use any base plugin!
• render templates with any template engine, including nunjucks, handlebars, lodash and any consolidate engine!
• helpers: support for sync and async
• templates collections support
• partials and includes
• layouts
• pages
• custom template "types"
• pagination
• permalinks
• middleware can be used to tranform files at any stage in the render cycle
• pagination
• Much more!

Usage

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();

Example

1// register an engine to automatically render `md` files
2app.engine('md', require('engine-lodash'));
3
4// create a template collection
5app.create('pages');
6
7// add a template to the collection
8app.page('post.md', {content: 'This is the <%= title %> page'});
9
10// render it
11app.render('post.md', {title: 'Home'}, function(err, view) {
12  console.log(view.content);
13  //=> 'This is the Home page'
14});

API

Common

This section describes API features that are shared by all Templates classes.

.option

Set or get an option value.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining.

Example

1app.option('a', 'b');
2app.option({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.options);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.use

Run a plugin on the given instance. Plugins are invoked immediately upon instantiating in the order in which they were defined.

Example

The simplest plugin looks something like the following:

1app.use(function(inst) {
2  // do something to `inst`
3});

Note that inst is the instance of the class you're instantiating. So if you create an instance of Collection, inst is the collection instance.

Params

• fn {Function}: Plugin function. If the plugin returns a function it will be passed to the use method of each item created on the instance.
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining.

Usage

1collection.use(function(items) {
2  // `items` is the instance, as is `this`
3
4  // optionally return a function to be passed to
5  // the `.use` method of each item created on the
6  // instance
7  return function(item) {
8    // do stuff to each `item`
9  };
10});

App

The Templates class is the main export of the templates library. All of the other classes are exposed as static properties on Templates:

• Item: Collection item, powered by vinyl-item.
• View: Collection item, powered by vinyl-view.
• List
• Views:
• Collection: Base collections class. Use this if you need to customize the render cycle, middleware stages, and so on.
• Group

Templates

This function is the main export of the templates module. Initialize an instance of templates to create your application.

Params

• options {Object}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();

.list

Create a new list. See the list docs for more information about lists.

Params

• opts {Object}: List options
• returns {Object}: Returns the list instance for chaining.

Example

1var list = app.list();
2list.addItem('abc', {content: '...'});
3
4// or, create list from a collection
5app.create('pages');
6var list = app.list(app.pages);

.collection

Create a new collection. Collections are decorated with special methods for getting and setting items from the collection. Note that, unlike the create method, collections created with .collection() are not cached.

See the collection docs for more information about collections.

Params

• opts {Object}: Collection options
• returns {Object}: Returns the collection instance for chaining.

.create

Create a new view collection to be stored on the app.views object. See the create docs for more details.

Params

• name {String}: The name of the collection to create. Plural or singular form may be used, as the inflections are automatically resolved when the collection is created.
• opts {Object}: Collection options
• returns {Object}: Returns the collection instance for chaining.

.setup

Expose static setup method for providing access to an instance before any other code is run.

Params

• app {Object}: Application instance
• name {String}: Optionally pass the constructor name to use.
• returns {undefined}

Example

1function App(options) {
2  Templates.call(this, options);
3  Templates.setup(this);
4}
5Templates.extend(App);

---

.engine

Register a view engine callback fn as ext. Calls .setEngine and .getEngine internally.

Params

• exts {String|Array}: String or array of file extensions.
• fn {Function|Object}: or settings
• settings {Object}: Optionally pass engine options as the last argument.

Example

1app.engine('hbs', require('engine-handlebars'));
2
3// using consolidate.js
4var engine = require('consolidate');
5app.engine('jade', engine.jade);
6app.engine('swig', engine.swig);
7
8// get a registered engine
9var swig = app.engine('swig');

.setEngine

Register engine ext with the given render fn and/or settings.

Params

• ext {String}: The engine to set.

Example

1app.setEngine('hbs', require('engine-handlebars'), {
2  delims: ['<%', '%>']
3});

.getEngine

Get registered engine ext.

Params

• ext {String}: The engine to get.

Example

1app.engine('hbs', require('engine-handlebars'));
2var engine = app.getEngine('hbs');

---

.helper

Register a template helper.

Params

• name {String}: Helper name
• fn {Function}: Helper function.

Example

1app.helper('upper', function(str) {
2  return str.toUpperCase();
3});

.helpers

Register multiple template helpers.

Params

• helpers {Object|Array}: Object, array of objects, or glob patterns.

Example

1app.helpers({
2  foo: function() {},
3  bar: function() {},
4  baz: function() {}
5});

.asyncHelper

Register an async helper.

Params

• name {String}: Helper name.
• fn {Function}: Helper function

Example

1app.asyncHelper('upper', function(str, next) {
2  next(null, str.toUpperCase());
3});

.asyncHelpers

Register multiple async template helpers.

Params

• helpers {Object|Array}: Object, array of objects, or glob patterns.

Example

1app.asyncHelpers({
2  foo: function() {},
3  bar: function() {},
4  baz: function() {}
5});

.getHelper

Get a previously registered helper.

Params

• name {String}: Helper name
• returns {Function}: Returns the registered helper function.

Example

1var fn = app.getHelper('foo');

.getAsyncHelper

Get a previously registered async helper.

Params

• name {String}: Helper name
• returns {Function}: Returns the registered helper function.

Example

1var fn = app.getAsyncHelper('foo');

.hasHelper

Return true if sync helper name is registered.

Params

• name {String}: sync helper name
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if the sync helper is registered

Example

1if (app.hasHelper('foo')) {
2  // do stuff
3}

.hasAsyncHelper

Return true if async helper name is registered.

Params

• name {String}: Async helper name
• returns {Boolean}: Returns true if the async helper is registered

Example

1if (app.hasAsyncHelper('foo')) {
2  // do stuff
3}

.helperGroup

Register a namespaced helper group.

Params

• helpers {Object|Array}: Object, array of objects, or glob patterns.

Example

1// markdown-utils
2app.helperGroup('mdu', {
3  foo: function() {},
4  bar: function() {},
5});
6
7// Usage:
8// <%= mdu.foo() %>
9// <%= mdu.bar() %>

Built-in helpers

---

View

API for the View class.

View

Create an instance of View. Optionally pass a default object to use.

Params

• view {Object}

Example

1var view = new View({
2  path: 'foo.html',
3  contents: new Buffer('...')
4});

.compile

Synchronously compile a view.

Params

• locals {Object}: Optionally pass locals to the engine.
• returns {Object} View: instance, for chaining.

Example

1var view = page.compile();
2view.fn({title: 'A'});
3view.fn({title: 'B'});
4view.fn({title: 'C'});

.renderSync

Synchronously render templates in view.content.

Params

• locals {Object}: Optionally pass locals to the engine.
• returns {Object} View: instance, for chaining.

Example

1var view = new View({content: 'This is <%= title %>'});
2view.renderSync({title: 'Home'});
3console.log(view.content);

.render

Asynchronously render templates in view.content.

Params

• locals {Object}: Context to use for rendering templates.

Example

1view.render({title: 'Home'}, function(err, res) {
2  //=> view object with rendered `content`
3});

.context

Create a context object from locals and the view.data and view.locals objects. The view.data property is typically created from front-matter, and view.locals is used when a new View() is created.

This method be overridden either by defining a custom view.options.context function to customize context for a view instance, or static View.context function to customize context for all view instances.

Params

• locals {Object}: Optionally pass a locals object to merge onto the context.
• returns {Object}: Returns the context object.

Example

1var page = new View({path: 'a/b/c.txt', locals: {a: 'b', c: 'd'}});
2var ctx = page.context({a: 'z'});
3console.log(ctx);
4//=> {a: 'z', c: 'd'}

.isType

Returns true if the view is the given viewType. Returns false if no type is assigned. When used with vinyl-collections, types are assigned by their respective collections.

Params

• type {String}: (renderable, partial, layout)

Example

1var view = new View({path: 'a/b/c.txt', viewType: 'partial'})
2view.isType('partial');

.View.context

Define a custom static View.context function to override default .context behavior. See the context docs for more info.

Params

• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}

Example

1// custom context function
2View.context = function(locals) {
3  // `this` is the view being rendered
4  return locals;
5};

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

Item

API for the Item class.

Item

Create an instance of Item. Optionally pass a default object to use. See vinyl docs for API details and additional documentation.

Params

• item {Object}

Example

1var item = new Item({
2  path: 'foo.html',
3  contents: new Buffer('...')
4});

.content

Normalize the content and contents properties on item. This is done to ensure compatibility with the vinyl convention of using contents as a Buffer, as well as the assemble convention of using content as a string. We will eventually deprecate the content property.

Example

1var item = new Item({path: 'foo/bar.hbs', contents: new Buffer('foo')});
2console.log(item.content);
3//=> 'foo'

.engine

Getter/setter to resolve the name of the engine to use for rendering.

Example

1var item = new Item({path: 'foo/bar.hbs'});
2console.log(item.engine);
3//=> '.hbs'

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

Views

API for the Views class.

Views

Create an instance of Views with the given options.

Params

• options {Object}

Example

1var collection = new Views();
2collection.addView('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.addView

Add a view to collection.views. This is identical to addView except setView returns the collection instance, and addView returns the item instance.

Params

• key {String|Object}: View key or object
• value {Object}: If key is a string, value is the view object.
• next {Function}: Optionally pass a callback function as the last argument to load the view asynchronously. This will also ensure that .onLoad middleware is executed asynchronously.
• returns {Object}: returns the view instance.

Example

1collection.setView('foo', {content: 'bar'});
2
3// or, optionally async
4collection.setView('foo', {content: 'bar'}, function(err, view) {
5  // `err` errors from `onLoad` middleware
6  // `view` the view object after `onLoad` middleware has run
7});

.setView

Set a view on the collection. This is identical to addView except setView does not emit an event for each view.

Params

• key {String|Object}: View key or object
• value {Object}: If key is a string, value is the view object.
• returns {Object}: returns the view instance.

Example

1collection.setView('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.getView

Get view name from collection.views.

Params

• key {String}: Key of the view to get.
• fn {Function}: Optionally pass a function to modify the key.
• returns {Object}

Example

1collection.getView('a.html');

.deleteView

Delete a view from collection views.

Params

• key {String}
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining

Example

1views.deleteView('foo.html');

.addViews

Load multiple views onto the collection.

Params

• views {Object|Array}
• returns {Object}: returns the collection object

Example

1collection.addViews({
2  'a.html': {content: '...'},
3  'b.html': {content: '...'},
4  'c.html': {content: '...'}
5});

.addList

Load an array of views onto the collection.

Params

• list {Array}
• returns {Object}: returns the views instance

Example

1collection.addList([
2  {path: 'a.html', content: '...'},
3  {path: 'b.html', content: '...'},
4  {path: 'c.html', content: '...'}
5]);

.groupBy

Group all collection views by the given property, properties or compare functions. See group-array for the full range of available features and options.

• returns {Object}: Returns an object of grouped views.

Example

1var collection = new Collection();
2collection.addViews(...);
3var groups = collection.groupBy('data.date', 'data.slug');

.isType

Return true if the collection belongs to the given view type.

Params

• type {String}: (renderable, partial, layout)

Example

1collection.isType('partial');

.viewTypes

Alias for viewType

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

.find

Find a view by name, optionally passing a collection to limit the search. If no collection is passed all renderable collections will be searched.

Params

• name {String}: The name/key of the view to find
• colleciton {String}: Optionally pass a collection name (e.g. pages)
• returns {Object|undefined}: Returns the view if found, or undefined if not.

Example

1var page = app.find('my-page.hbs');
2
3// optionally pass a collection name as the second argument
4var page = app.find('my-page.hbs', 'pages');

.getView

Get view key from the specified collection.

Params

• collection {String}: Collection name, e.g. pages
• key {String}: Template name
• fn {Function}: Optionally pass a renameKey function
• returns {Object}

Example

1var view = app.getView('pages', 'a/b/c.hbs');
2
3// optionally pass a `renameKey` function to modify the lookup
4var view = app.getView('pages', 'a/b/c.hbs', function(fp) {
5  return path.basename(fp);
6});

.getViews

Get all views from a collection using the collection's singular or plural name.

Params

• name {String}: The collection name, e.g. pages or page
• returns {Object}

Example

1var pages = app.getViews('pages');
2//=> { pages: {'home.hbs': { ... }}
3
4var posts = app.getViews('posts');
5//=> { posts: {'2015-10-10.md': { ... }}

---

Collections

API for the Collections class.

Collection

Create an instance of Collection with the given options.

Params

• options {Object}

Example

1var collection = new Collection();
2collection.addItem('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.addItem

Add an item to the collection.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Item name or object
• val {Object}: Item object, when key is a string.
• returns {Object}: returns the item instance.

Events

• emits: item With the created item and collection instance as arguments.

Example

1collection.addItem('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.setItem

Identical to .addItem, except the collection instance is returned instead of the item, to allow chaining.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Item name or object
• val {Object}: Item object, when key is a string.
• returns {Object}: returns the collection instance.

Events

• emits: item With the created item and collection instance as arguments.

Example

1collection.setItem('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.getItem

Get an item from collection.items.

Params

• key {String}: Key of the item to get.
• returns {Object}

Example

1collection.getItem('a.html');

.deleteItem

Remove an item from collection.items.

Params

• key {String}
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining

Example

1items.deleteItem('abc');

.addItems

Load multiple items onto the collection.

Params

• items {Object|Array}
• returns {Object}: returns the instance for chaining

Example

1collection.addItems({
2  'a.html': {content: '...'},
3  'b.html': {content: '...'},
4  'c.html': {content: '...'}
5});

.addList

Load an array of items onto the collection.

Params

• items {Array}: or an instance of List
• fn {Function}: Optional sync callback function that is called on each item.
• returns {Object}: returns the Collection instance for chaining

Example

1collection.addList([
2  {path: 'a.html', content: '...'},
3  {path: 'b.html', content: '...'},
4  {path: 'c.html', content: '...'}
5]);

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

List

API for the List class.

List

Create an instance of List with the given options. Lists differ from collections in that items are stored as an array, allowing items to be paginated, sorted, and grouped.

Params

• options {Object}

Example

1var list = new List();
2list.addItem('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.addItem

Add an item to list.items. This is identical to setItem except addItem returns the item, add setItem returns the instance of List.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Item key or object
• value {Object}: If key is a string, value is the item object.
• returns {Object}: returns the item instance.

Example

1collection.addItem('foo', {content: 'bar'});

.setItem

Add an item to list.items. This is identical to addItem except addItem returns the item, add setItem returns the instance of List.

Params

• key {String}
• value {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance of List to support chaining.

Example

1var items = new Items(...);
2items.setItem('a.html', {path: 'a.html', contents: '...'});

.addItems

Load multiple items onto the collection.

Params

• items {Object|Array}
• returns {Object}: returns the instance for chaining

Example

1collection.addItems({
2  'a.html': {content: '...'},
3  'b.html': {content: '...'},
4  'c.html': {content: '...'}
5});

.addList

Load an array of items or the items from another instance of List.

Params

• items {Array}: or an instance of List
• fn {Function}: Optional sync callback function that is called on each item.
• returns {Object}: returns the List instance for chaining

Example

1var foo = new List(...);
2var bar = new List(...);
3bar.addList(foo);

.hasItem

Return true if the list has the given item (name).

Params

• key {String}
• returns {Object}

Example

1list.addItem('foo.html', {content: '...'});
2list.hasItem('foo.html');
3//=> true

.getIndex

Get a the index of a specific item from the list by key.

Params

• key {String}
• returns {Object}

Example

1list.getIndex('foo.html');
2//=> 1

.getItem

Get a specific item from the list by key.

Params

• key {String}: The item name/key.
• returns {Object}

Example

1list.getItem('foo.html');
2//=> '<Item <foo.html>>'

.getView

Proxy for getItem

Params

• key {String}: Pass the key of the item to get.
• returns {Object}

Example

1list.getItem('foo.html');
2//=> '<Item "foo.html" <buffer e2 e2 e2>>'

.deleteItem

Remove an item from the list.

Params

• key {Object|String}: Pass an item instance (object) or item.key (string).

Example

1list.deleteItem('a.html');

.deleteItems

Remove one or more items from the list.

Params

• items {Object|String|Array}: List of items to remove.

Example

1list.deleteItems(['a.html', 'b.html']);

.extendItem

Decorate each item on the list with additional methods and properties. This provides a way of easily overriding defaults.

Params

• item {Object}
• returns {Object}: Instance of item for chaining

.filter

Filters list items using the given fn and returns a new array.

• returns {Object}: Returns a filtered array of items.

Example

1var items = list.filter(function(item) {
2  return item.data.title.toLowerCase() !== 'home';
3});

.sortBy

Sort all list items using the given property, properties or compare functions. See array-sort for the full range of available features and options.

• returns {Object}: Returns a new List instance with sorted items.

Example

1var list = new List();
2list.addItems(...);
3var result = list.sortBy('data.date');
4//=> new sorted list

.groupBy

Group all list items using the given property, properties or compare functions. See group-array for the full range of available features and options.

• returns {Object}: Returns the grouped items.

Example

1var list = new List();
2list.addItems(...);
3var groups = list.groupBy('data.date', 'data.slug');

.paginate

Paginate all items in the list with the given options, See paginationator for the full range of available features and options.

• returns {Object}: Returns the paginated items.

Example

1var list = new List(items);
2var pages = list.paginate({limit: 5});

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

Group

API for the Group class.

Group

Create an instance of Group with the given options.

Params

• options {Object}

Example

1var group = new Group({
2  'foo': { items: [1,2,3] }
3});

---

.find

Find a view by name, optionally passing a collection to limit the search. If no collection is passed all renderable collections will be searched.

Params

• name {String}: The name/key of the view to find
• colleciton {String}: Optionally pass a collection name (e.g. pages)
• returns {Object|undefined}: Returns the view if found, or undefined if not.

Example

1var page = app.find('my-page.hbs');
2
3// optionally pass a collection name as the second argument
4var page = app.find('my-page.hbs', 'pages');

.getView

Get view key from the specified collection.

Params

• collection {String}: Collection name, e.g. pages
• key {String}: Template name
• fn {Function}: Optionally pass a renameKey function
• returns {Object}

Example

1var view = app.getView('pages', 'a/b/c.hbs');
2
3// optionally pass a `renameKey` function to modify the lookup
4var view = app.getView('pages', 'a/b/c.hbs', function(fp) {
5  return path.basename(fp);
6});

.getViews

Get all views from a collection using the collection's singular or plural name.

Params

• name {String}: The collection name, e.g. pages or page
• returns {Object}

Example

1var pages = app.getViews('pages');
2//=> { pages: {'home.hbs': { ... }}
3
4var posts = app.getViews('posts');
5//=> { posts: {'2015-10-10.md': { ... }}

---

.compile

Compile content with the given locals.

Params

• view {Object|String}: View object.
• locals {Object}
• isAsync {Boolean}: Load async helpers
• returns {Object}: View object with compiled view.fn property.

Example

1var indexPage = app.page('some-index-page.hbs');
2var view = app.compile(indexPage);
3// view.fn => [function]
4
5// you can call the compiled function more than once
6// to render the view with different data
7view.fn({title: 'Foo'});
8view.fn({title: 'Bar'});
9view.fn({title: 'Baz'});

.compileAsync

Asynchronously compile content with the given locals and callback. (fwiw, this method name uses the unconventional "*Async" nomenclature to allow us to preserve the synchronous behavior of the view.compile method as well as the name).

Params

• view {Object|String}: View object.
• locals {Object}
• isAsync {Boolean}: Pass true to load helpers as async (mostly used internally)
• callback {Function}: function that exposes err and the view object with compiled view.fn property

Example

1var indexPage = app.page('some-index-page.hbs');
2app.compileAsync(indexPage, function(err, view) {
3  // view.fn => compiled function
4});

.render

Render a view with the given locals and callback.

Params

• view {Object|String}: Instance of View
• locals {Object}: Locals to pass to template engine.
• callback {Function}

Example

1var blogPost = app.post.getView('2015-09-01-foo-bar');
2app.render(blogPost, {title: 'Foo'}, function(err, view) {
3  // `view` is an object with a rendered `content` property
4});

---

.data

Set, get and load data to be passed to templates as context at render-time.

Params

• key {String|Object}: Pass a key-value pair or an object to set.
• val {any}: Any value when a key-value pair is passed. This can also be options if a glob pattern is passed as the first value.
• returns {Object}: Returns an instance of Templates for chaining.

Example

1app.data('a', 'b');
2app.data({c: 'd'});
3console.log(app.cache.data);
4//=> {a: 'b', c: 'd'}

.context

Build the context for the given view and locals.

Params

• view {Object}: The view being rendered
• locals {Object}
• returns {Object}: The object to be passed to engines/views as context.

setHelperOptions

Update context in a helper so that this.helper.options is the options for that specific helper.

Params

• context {Object}
• key {String}

.mergePartials

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• returns {Object}: Merged partials

.mergePartialsAsync

Merge "partials" view types. This is necessary for template engines have no support for partials or only support one type of partials.

Params

• options {Object}: Optionally pass an array of viewTypes to include on options.viewTypes
• callback {Function}: Function that exposes err and partials parameters

---

Middleware

Control the entire render cycle, with simple-to-use routes and middleware.

Example

1var router = new app.Router();
2var route = new app.Route();

.handle

Handle a middleware method for file.

Params

• method {String}: Name of the router method to handle. See router methods
• file {Object}: View object
• callback {Function}: Callback function
• returns {undefined}

Example

1app.handle('customMethod', file, callback);

.handleOnce

Run the given middleware handler only if the file has not already been handled by method.

Params

• method {Object}: The name of the handler method to call.
• file {Object}
• returns {undefined}

Example

1app.handleOnce('onLoad', file, callback);

.route

Create a new Route for the given path. Each route contains a separate middleware stack. See the [route API documentation][route-api] for details on adding handlers and middleware to routes.

Params

• path {String}
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining.

Example

1app.create('posts');
2app.route(/blog/)
3  .all(function(file, next) {
4    // do something with file
5    next();
6  });
7
8app.post('whatever', {path: 'blog/foo.bar', content: 'bar baz'});

.param

Add callback triggers to route parameters, where name is the name of the parameter and fn is the callback function.

Params

• name {String}
• fn {Function}
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining.

Example

1app.param('title', function(view, next, title) {
2  //=> title === 'foo.js'
3  next();
4});
5
6app.onLoad('/blog/:title', function(view, next) {
7  //=> view.path === '/blog/foo.js'
8  next();
9});

.all

Special route method that works just like the router.METHOD() methods, except that it matches all verbs.

Params

• path {String}
• callback {Function}
• returns {Object} this: for chaining

Example

1app.all(/\.hbs$/, function(view, next) {
2  // do stuff to view
3  next();
4});

.handler

Add a router handler method to the instance. Interchangeable with the handlers method.

Params

• method {String}: Name of the handler method to define.
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining

Example

1app.handler('onFoo');
2// or
3app.handler(['onFoo', 'onBar']);

.handlers

Add one or more router handler methods to the instance.

Params

• methods {Array|String}: One or more method names to define.
• returns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining

Example

1app.handlers(['onFoo', 'onBar', 'onBaz']);
2// or
3app.handlers('onFoo');

---

.isApp

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates instance (App).

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4templates.isApp(templates);
5//=> false
6
7templates.isApp(app);
8//=> true

.isCollection

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates Collection instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4app.create('pages');
5templates.isCollection(app.pages);
6//=> true

.isViews

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates Views instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4app.create('pages');
5templates.isViews(app.pages);
6//=> true

.isList

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates List instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var List = templates.List;
3var app = templates();
4
5var list = new List();
6templates.isList(list);
7//=> true

.isGroup

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates Group instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var Group = templates.Group;
3var app = templates();
4
5var group = new Group();
6templates.isGroup(group);
7//=> true

.isView

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates View instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4templates.isView('foo');
5//=> false
6
7var view = app.view('foo', {content: '...'});
8templates.isView(view);
9//=> true

.isItem

Static method that returns true if the given value is a templates Item instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4templates.isItem('foo');
5//=> false
6
7var view = app.view('foo', {content: '...'});
8templates.isItem(view);
9//=> true

.isVinyl

Static method that returns true if the given value is a vinyl File instance.

Params

• val {Object}: The value to test.
• returns {Boolean}

Example

1var File = require('vinyl');
2var templates = require('templates');
3var app = templates();
4
5var view = app.view('foo', {content: '...'});
6templates.isVinyl(view);
7//=> true
8
9var file = new File({path: 'foo', contents: new Buffer('...')});
10templates.isVinyl(file);
11//=> true

---

More examples

This is just a very basic glimpse at the templates API!

1var templates = require('templates');
2var app = templates();
3
4// create a collection
5app.create('pages');
6
7// add views to the collection
8app.page('a.html', {content: 'this is <%= foo %>'});
9app.page('b.html', {content: 'this is <%= bar %>'});
10app.page('c.html', {content: 'this is <%= baz %>'});
11
12app.pages.getView('a.html')
13  .render({foo: 'home'}, function (err, view) {
14    //=> 'this is home'
15  });

History

key

Starting with v0.25.0, changelog entries will be categorized using the following labels from keep-a-changelog_:

• added: for new features
• changed: for changes in existing functionality
• deprecated: for once-stable features removed in upcoming releases
• removed: for deprecated features removed in this release
• fixed: for any bug fixes

1.1.0

fixed

Reverts layout changes from 1.0 to fix block-layout-nesting bug.

There is a bug causing child blocks to be promoted up to ancestors when a nested layout/block is defined. It's not a common scenario, and probably hasn't been encountered in the wild yet since blocks were just introduced and haven't been documented yet. However, it's a bad bug, and would cause major problems if it surfaced.

The good news is that I know how to fix it. Bad news is that it will be time consuming and I need to make other changes before I get to that fix. Thus, in the meantime the best course of action is removing the blocks code.

1.0.0

Added

• Templates now uses dry for handling layouts
• Advanced template-inheritance features, like extends and blocks! See dry documentation for details.

0.25.2

Fixed

• Correctly handles arguments for the built-in singular helper when used with Handlebars.

0.25.1

Fixed

• Ensures the template rendering engine's context is preserved.

0.25.0

Added

• Views can now be created asynchronously by passing a callback as the last argument to .addView (or the method created by .create, e.g. .page)

0.24.3

Fixed

• Ensures the view object has engineStack and localsStack properties

0.24.0

• Bumps base-data which removed renameKey option used when loading data. Use the namespace option instead.

0.23.0

• Bumps [base-engine][] to fix a bug in engine-cache.

0.22.2

• fixes List bug that was caused collection helpers to explode

0.22.0

There should be no breaking changes in this release. If you experience a regression, please create an issue.

• Externalizes a few core plugins to: base-helpers, base-routes, and [base-engine][]. The goal is to allow you to use only the plugins you need in your builds.
• Improvements to lookup functions: app.getView() and app.find()
• Bumps base to take advantages of code optimizations.

0.21.0

Breaking changes

• The queue property has been removed, as well as related code for loading views using events. This behavior can easily be added using plugins or existing emitters.

Non-breaking

• The View and Item class have been externalized to modules vinyl-item and vinyl-view so they can be used in other libraries.

0.20.0

• Context: In general, context should be merged so that the most specific context wins over less specific. This fixes one case where locals was winning over front-matter
• Helpers: Exposes .ctx() method on helper context, to simplify merging context in non-built-in helpers
• Engines: Fixes bug that was using default engine on options instead of engine that matches view file extension.

0.19.0

• Numerous dependency updates

0.18.0

• Fixes inheritance bug that only manifests in node v0.4.0
• Improved error handling in routes

0.17.0

• Removed debug methods and related code
• Improve layout handling with respect to template types (partial, renderable and layout)
• Update dependencies

0.16.0

• Improved context handling
• Ensure collection middleware is handled after app middleware

0.15.0

• removes .removeItem method that was deprecated in v0.10.7 from List
• .handleView is deprecated in favor of .handleOnce and will be removed in a future version. Start using .handleOnce now.
• adds a static Templates.setup() method for initializing any setup code that should have access to the instance before any other use code is run.
• upgrade to base-data v0.4.0, which adds app.option.set, app.option.get and app.option.merge

0.14.0

Although 99% of users won't be effected by the changes in this release, there were some potentially breaking changes.

• The render and compile methods were streamlined, making it clear that .mergePartials should not have been renamed to mergePartialsSync. So that change was reverted.
• Helper context: Exposes a this.helper object to the context in helpers, which has the helper name and options that were set specifically for that helper
• Helper context: Exposes a this.view object to the context in helpers, which is the current view being rendered. This was (and still is) always expose on this.context.view, but it makes sense to add this to the root of the context as a convenience. We will deprecate this.context.view in a future version.
• Helper context: .get, .set and .merge methods on this.options, this.context and the this object in helpers.

0.13.0

• All template handling is async by default. Instead of adding .compileSync, we felt that it made more sense to add .compileAsync, since .compile is a public method and most users will expect it to be sync, and .compile methods with most engines are typically sync. In other words, .compileAsync probably won't be seen by most users, but we wanted to explain the decision to go against node.js naming conventions.
• Improved layout detection and handling

0.12.0

• Adds helper methods, .hasAsyncHelper, .hasHelper, .getAsyncHelper, and .getHelper
• Ensures that both collection and app routes are handled when both are defined for a view

0.11.0

• Default engine can now be defined on app or a collection using using app.option('engine'), views.option('engine')
• Default layout can now defined using app.option('layout'), views.option('layout'). No changes have been made to view.layout, it should work as before. Resolves issue/#818
• Improves logic for finding a layout, this should make layouts easier to define and find going forward.
• The built-in view helper has been refactored completely. The helper is now async and renders the view before returning its content.
• Adds isApp, isViews, isCollection, isList, isView, isGroup, and isItem static methods. All return true when the given value is an instance of the respective class.
• Adds deleteItem method to List and Collection, and deleteView method to Views.
• Last, the static _.proto property which is only exposed for unit tests was renamed to _.plugin.

0.10.7

• Force-update base to v0.6.4 to take advantage of isRegistered feature.

0.10.6

• Re-introduces fs logic to getView, now that the method has been refactored to be faster.

0.10.0

• getView method no longer automatically reads views from the file system. This was undocumented before and, but it's a breaking change nonetheless. The removed functionality can easily be done in a plugin.

0.9.5

• Fixes error messages when no engine is found for a view, and the view does not have a file extension.

0.9.4

• Fixes a lookup bug in render and compile that was returning the first view that matched the given name from any collection. So if a partial and a page shared the same name, if the partial was matched first it was returned. Now the renderable view is rendered (e.g. page)

0.9.0

• breaking change: changes parameters on app.context method. It now only accepts two arguments, view and locals, since ctx (the parameter that was removed) was technically being merged in twice.

0.8.0

• Exposes isType method on view. Shouldn't be any breaking changes.

0.7.0

• breaking change: renamed .error method to .formatError
• adds mergeContext option
• collection name is now emitted with view and item as the second argument
• adds isType method for checking the viewType on a collection
• also now emits an event with the collection name when a view is created

0.5.1

• fixes bug where default layout was automatically applied to partials, causing an infinite loop in rare cases.

About

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Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.

Contributors

Commits	Contributor
753	jonschlinkert
105	doowb
1	chronzerg

Building docs

(This project's readme.md is generated by verb, please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the .verb.md readme template.)

To generate the readme, run the following command:

1$ npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb

Running tests

Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:

1$ npm install && npm test

Author

Jon Schlinkert

• github/jonschlinkert
• twitter/jonschlinkert

License

Copyright © 2017, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.

---

This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.6.0, on July 27, 2017.