SharpTAL is an HTML/XML template engine for .NET platform, that you can use in any application running on .NET 4.0.
The template engine compiles HTML/XML templates into .NET assemblies.
It contains implementation of the ZPT language (Zope Page Templates). ZPT is a system which can generate HTML, XML or plain text output. ZPT is formed by the TAL (Template Attribute Language), TALES (TAL Expression Syntax) and the METAL (Macro Expansion TAL).
Binaries are provided as a NuGet package (https://nuget.org/packages/SharpTAL).
The project is hosted in a GitHub repository
Please report any issues to the issue tracker.
Using a set of simple language constructs, you control the document flow, element repetition and text replacement.
The basic TAL (Template Attribute Language) example:
<html>
<body>
<h1>Hello, ${"world"}!</h1>
<table>
<tr tal:repeat='row new string[] { "red", "green", "blue" }'>
<td tal:repeat='col new string[] { "rectangle", "triangle", "circle" }'>
${row} ${col}
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>The ${...} notation is short-hand for text insertion. The C# expression inside the braces is evaluated and the result included in the output. By default, the string is escaped before insertion. To avoid this, use the structure: prefix:
<div>${structure: ...}</div>The macro language (known as the macro expansion language or METAL) provides a means of filling in portions of a generic template.
The macro template (saved as main.html file):
<html metal:define-macro="main">
<head>
<title>Example ${document.title}</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>${document.title}</h1>
<div id="content">
<metal:tag metal:define-slot="content" />
</div>
</body>
</html>Template that imports and uses the macro, filling in the content slot:
<metal:tag metal:import="main.html" use-macro='macros["main"]'>
<p metal:fill-slot="content">${structure: document.body}<p/>
</metal:tag>In the example, the statement metal:import is used to import a template from the file system using a path relative to the calling template.
Sample code that shows how easy the library is to use:
var globals = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
{ "movies", new List<string> { "alien", "star wars", "star trek" } }
};
const string body = @"<!DOCTYPE html>
<html tal:define='textInfo new System.Globalization.CultureInfo(""en-US"", false).TextInfo'>
Favorite sci-fi movies:
<div tal:repeat='movie movies'>${textInfo.ToTitleCase(movie)}</div>
</html>";
var template = new Template(body);
var result = template.Render(globals);
Console.WriteLine(result);Here's the console output:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
Favorite sci-fi movies:
<div>Alien</div><div>Star Wars</div><div>Star Trek</div>
</html>This software is made available under Apache Licence Version 2.0.