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MTemplate: Matlab Code Generation and Text Templating |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 01 November 2005 |
MTEMPLATE_COMPILE
fun = mtemplate_compile( template, preserve_whitespace )
Compiles an m template and returns a function handle to
use that function.
Arguments
template - The name of the template
M Templates are a powerfull templating language based on
matlab. You can use templates to generate any kind of file
you wish,
html
xml
C source
M source
Template have many of the features of matlab functions. In
fact they support nested functions and sub functions. The
only restriction is that all matlab 'end' commands must
be balanced.
A basic template is
# function mtemplate_usecase1(rows)
<html>
<body>
# for i = 1:rows
<%=genline(i)%>
# end
</body>
</html>
# function genline(row)
<p> <%= 1:row %> </p>
# end
#end
and it is stored in the file 'mtemplate_usecase1.mt' You can
use this template by the following actions.
>> f = mtemplate_compile('mtemplate_usecase1.mt');
>> f(3)
ans =
<html>
<body>
<p> 1 </p>
<p> 1 2 </p>
<p> 1 2 3 </p>
</body>
</html>
To view the html in the web browser you could do
web(sprintf('text://%s',f(3)));
ADVANCED TEMPLATE PROGRAMMING
Templates support an advanced notation for cutting down on code
within templates.
A new operator '#=' is defined for opening a template block. A template
block is a block which can be passed to another function for processing.
The notation for use is
#= iterator_fun( ... iterator_args ... ) @( ... block_args ... )
... block body ...
#end
The iterator function should be defined to accept a function handle as its
last argument. This function handle implements the template block
function iterator_fun( ... iterator_args ... , block_fun )
... iterator body ...
block_fun( ... block_args ... );
end
You don't pass the last argument explicity. The template compiler takes
care of that. You just have to declare the correct arguments to the block
using the @( ... block_args ... ) notation. If the block does not require
any arguments the @( ... block_args ... ) part of the opening statement
can be left out.
See the below example for a simple foreach block.
TEMPLATE
--------
# function template
<table>
#= foreach(1:10) @(row)
<tr>
#= foreach(1:10) @(col)
<td> <%= [row col] %> </td>
# end
</tr>
# end
<table>
# end
# function foreach(vector, fun)
# for i = 1:length(vector), e = vector(i);
<%= fun(e) %>
# end
# end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Another example of using blocks is to create wrappers. For
example
TEMPLATE
--------
#function template
#= box( 'cats' )
black
white
grey
red
#end
#= box( 'dogs' )
big
small
fat
thin
#end
#end
#function box( name, fun )
<div class="box">
<div class="boxheading"><%=name%></div>
<div class="boxcontents">
<%= fun() %>
</div>
</div>
#end
-------- will generate -------
<div class="box">
<div class="boxheading">cats</div>
<div class="boxcontents">
black
white
grey
red
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<div class="boxheading">dogs</div>
<div class="boxcontents">
big
small
fat
thin
</div>
</div>
Template Blocks and matlab for loops:
Template blocks are compiled to nested functions within matlab. Within matlab
it is not possible to define a nested function within the body of a for loop. To
get around this a function in the template toolbox called 'foreach' exists. This
function behaves exactly as the foreach function defined above does so you
can nested your template blocks as deep as you like. See mtemplate_usecase3.mt
for deep nesting examples using foreach.
TEMPLATE DIRECTIVES
You can add some directives to the template to control
the way it is processed. Directives start with the
#?
token and follow with a command. The following directives
are supported at the moment.
#?CWS
Collapse whitespace. This collapses all whitespace runs
to a single space. All leading whitespace on each line
is removed. This is usefull for code generation where
whitespace is unimportant as in html code.
#?PWS
Preserve whitespace. This is the default if no directive
is found and preserves whitespace as found in the template.
NOTES
The compiler generates a file in the same directory as
the template. The file is an m file with the same name
as the template except with a .m extension. This means
it will overwrite any file with that name.<p>
You could pre-compile your templates and then just use
the generated m-files
See mtemplate_usecase1.mt as an example script to start with
See also xmlt
which is an easy way to embed XML/HTML into your documents
Copyright Brad Phelan 2005
http://xtargets.com
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 December 2005 )
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