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miva_template_compile()#

Think of the Storemorph® template compiler as a stripped down Miva Script compiler; a compiled template is nothing but a compiled MivaScript file that behaves in a certain way. Templates may contain HTML, Text, Java Script, XML and elements of the template language. Compiled templates contain a single function Template_Render(). Execute the template by calling that function, not by executing the compile template .mvc file directly

Syntax
miva_template_compile( signat, source var, sourceitems var, target, errors var )

Returns#

Returns 1 if compilation succeeds, 0 if error occurred.

Parameters#

Parameter Description
signat Any text. The md5 hash value of this text will bestored in the MVC file.
source The source to compile into a template file.
sourceitems array of valid item names.The compiler will return an error if an mvt:item tag has a “name” attribute that is not in this list.
target The name of the file (relative to the script directory) to put the .mvc file.
errors If the function returns 0, this will contain error text.

Template Compiler Language#

The template compiler language contains many of the basic constructs of other programming languages and follows the same rules as Miva Script. In the examples below refer to variablename, expressions and operators as documented elsewhere on this site.

Global variables are prefixed with g. (e.g. g.firstname); local variables however must be prefixed with l. (e.g. l.results or l.settings:product). Miva Merchant local variables are contained within the single construct l.settings.

Also MivaScript functions and operators may be used in expressions and conditionals.

Important

The syntax for expressions and literals is different between MivaScript and Storemorph.

  • Expressions: MivaScript VALUE="{ g.fname $ g.lname }" is equivalent to Storemorph value="g.fname $ g.lname".
  • Literals: MivaScript VALUE="Miva Script" is equivalent to Storemorph value=" 'Miva Script' ". Note the single quotes inside the double quotes indicating a string literal.

Examples#

Variables#

Allows the printing of variables to the browser screen. There are 4 variations on this command:

  • &mvt:variablename; — Prints a variable directly to the screen.
  • &mvte:variablename; — Prints a variable after applying the encodeenteties() function. Using encodeenteties prevents HTML injection.
  • &mvta:variablename; — Prints a variable after applying the encodeattribute() function.
  • &mvtj:variablename; — Prints a variable output with the correct encoding for use within JavaScript quoted strings.
  • &mvts:variablename; — Prints slugify() encoded output for use when creating URI friendly (SEO and human readable) links.
&mvt:varname;
Logged in as &mvt:global:username;

<h1>&mvt:product:name;</h1>

<input type="text" name="username" value="&mvte:global:username;" size="25" />
<a href="/&mvta:category:code;.html">&mvte:category:name;</a>

Comments#

Allows the addition of notes or block lines of code that are removed from compilation and execution.

mvt:comment
<mvt:comment> Your comments go here. </mvt:comment>

Assign#

Assigns the value of a number, string or complex expression to a named variable. String expressions must be enclosed in single quotes.

mvt:assign
<mvt:assign name="varname" value="expression" />
<mvt:assign name="g.discount" value="l.settings:product:price * .25" />
<mvt:assign name="g.html_description" value="'&lt;p&gt;' $ g.description $ '&lt;/p&gt;'" />

Call#

Exposes MvCALL functionality to the template language. See MvCALL for complete documentation.

Important

Notice the difference between MVCALL and mvt:call attribute literals. In MivaScript METHOD="GET" — GET is a string literal; in templates method="GET" is looking for a variable and method=" 'GET' " is the equivalent string literal.

mvt:call
<mvt:call action="'fully qualified url'" method="'method_keyword'"> process the call in a loop... </mvt:call>

<mvt:call action = "string: { expression } | 'literal'"
    method = "'literal keyword' containing 'GET|POST|HEAD|XML|RAW|OPTIONS|PUT|DELETE|TRACE|CONNECT'"
    content-type = "string: { expression } | 'literal'"
    fields = "{ expression } | 'literal variable-name list'"
    files = "{ expression } | 'literal'"
    certfile = "{ expression } | 'literal'"
    certtype = "{ expression } | 'literal'"
    certpass = "{ expression } | 'literal'"
    timeout = "{ expression } | 'literal'"
    headers = "{ expression } | 'literal'"> 
    <mvt:callstop>
    <mvt:callcontinue>
</mvt:call>

This example loads content from an external website and displays it on the page.

<mvt:call ACTION="'<a href="http://www.content_server.com/incude/X_Files_Cast.html">http://www.content_server.com/incude/X_Files_Cast.html</a>'" METHOD="'GET'">
    <mvt:assign name="g.return" value="g.return $ $ s.callvalue" />
</mvt:call>
<mvt:eval value= "{ g.return }">

Do#

Exposes MvDO functionality to the template language. See MvDO for complete documentation.

mvt:do
<mvt:do file = "string: { expression } | 'literal'"
    name = "string: { expression } | 'literal'"
    value = "{ function_name( paramiters ) }" />

<!--
This example accesses the compiled .mvc file, stored in the variable g.Module_Library_DB,
and calls the function Basket_SubTotal(). The results are returned in g.basket_total.
-->

<mvt:do file ="g.Module_Library_DB" name="g.basket_total" value="Basket_SubTotal(g.Basket:BASKET_ID)" />

Eval#

Outputs the results of an expression to the browser screen.

mvt:eval
<mvt:eval value="expression" />

If#

Branches execution based on the results of conditional expressions.

mvt:if, mvt:elseif, mvt:else, /mvt:if
<mvt:if expr="conditional">
    <mvt:elseif expr="conditional">
    <mvt:else>
</mvt:if>

Exit#

This tag causes the page template code to exit from the current process rather than continuing through the rest of the code on the page.

mvt:exit
<mvt:if expr="l.settings:basket:empty">
    Your shopping basket is currently empty.<br>
    <mvt:exit />
</mvt:if>

Miva#

Allows templates to control whitespace compression and disable all non-explicit output. If output is disabled, only StoreMorph tokens and explicit <mvt:eval> tags will generate output.

mvt:miva
<mvt:miva output="on|off" compresswhitespace="on|off" />

Foreach#

Used for looping through arrays of data where the array attribute contains the array variable. In the example below products_list refers to the local array l.settings:products_list. Global variable arrays may be referenced with the special syntax array="global:products_list".

The iterator attribute refers to a local “copy by reference” of a single array record.

Internally the foreach command keeps a counter (i.e. pos1) that you can access in the conditional expression as shown below. The foreach commands may be nested and so a new counter variable is used for each nested loop (i.e. pos2, pos3 etc.)

mvt:foreach, mvt:foreachstop, mvt:foreachcontinue, /mvt:foreach
<mvt:foreach iterator="item" array="products_list">
    <mvt:if expr="pos1 GT 12">
        <mvt:foreachstop />
        <mvt:comment> Stop after 12 </mvt:comment>
    </mvt:if>
    <mvt:if expr="pos1 MOD 3">
        <mvt:foreachcontinue />
        <mvt:comment> Skip each 3rd item</mvt:comment>
    </mvt:if>
    <mvt:eval value="l.settings:item:code" /><br>
</mvt:foreach>

While#

Loops through the code between mvt:while and /mvt:while until the condition in condition1 is false. Optionally you can exit the loop using mvt:whilestop or skip code execution with mvt:whilecontinue.

mvt:while, mvt:whilestop, mvt:whilecontinue, /mvt:while
<mvt:while expr="condition1">
    <mvt:if expr="condition2">
        <mvt:whilestop />
    </mvt:if>
    <mvt:if expr="condition3">
        <mvt:whilecontinue />
    </mvt:if>
</mvt:while>