A bolder kind of mustache.
View this readme on documentup.
Walrus is a templating library inspired by mustache, handlebars, ejs and friends, but with a couple of important differences in philosophy and style:
-
View logic is different than business logic (and that's okay!). In modern web apps, there's often a good amount of presentation logic involved. This logic doesn't belong in your application code, your backbone models, or anywhere else but the presentation layer. The templating language is a good place to put this.
-
Reusable view helpers are super fun and helpful. Rails had the right idea by shipping a bunch of view helpers with ActionView. Having commonly used view helpers come bundled with the framework keeps developers from spending time writing them (and testing them, or even worse, not testing them) again and again.
-
Keep the core library light. While walrus ships with a bunch of filters and helpers you can use out-of-the-box, only the essentials are included in the core. This keeps client-side code as small as it can be, letting you opt-in to extras only as often as you need them. To extend walrus with new filters and helpers, just include the javascript you want and you're done, son.
-
Stop hashing and slashing. Maybe it's just me, but opening and closing blocks with "hash-something" "slash-something" feels super redundant. Walrus uses do/end for its blocks, which should look a lot more familiar to ruby types.
The walrus parser is written in jison and the rest in coffeescript, and everything is tested with mocha. Walrus has no runtime dependencies.
Since walrus is still pretty young, expect changes in the API, especially for filters and helpers.
The /test/examples directory is filled with plenty of self-documenting examples that comprise over half of
the test suite, so give those a once-over if you have a question that isn't answered in the readme.
The walrus core contains the walrus parser/compiler, several common helpers and filters, and a few internal utility methods.
Like other jison-based parsers, templating with walrus is a two-step process.
First, grab your template and compile it:
var compiledTemplate = Walrus.Parser.parse( $( '#my-template' ).html( ) );compiledTemplate is a JavaScript object ready to accept a view object and kick out some text.
var htmlGoodness = compiledTemplate.compile( { data : 'foo bar baz' } );Like some of the other templating solutions out there, Walrus will let you reference members using object paths.
If your view object is:
{
"hello" :
{
"walrus" : "sweeet."
}
}Then {{hello.walrus}} will resolve to sweeet..
With Walrus, you can always reference the root view object as a path context by using the @ symbol before your path.
Use this even if you're dereferenced, iterating, or even within the arguments to a method.
So if you've got a view object like:
{
"team" : "Detroit Red Wings",
"players" :
[
{
"name" : "Pavel Datsyuk"
},
{
"name" : "Nicklas Lidström"
},
{
"name" : "Darren Helm"
}
]
}You can create your badass hockey roster like:
<ul>
{{:each players do}}
<li>{{name}} plays for the {{@team}}</li>
{{end}}
</ul>Like many other mustache-like languages, walrus escapes string members by default in an attempt to get rid of HTML-unsafe characters.
If you want these characters included, use an equals sign before your expression, like: {{=html}}.
One of the main focuses of Walrus is to treat methods on your view object like first-class citizens. You can call your methods with any number of arguments from the view object or (most) javascript literals.
With a view object like:
{
"captitalize" : function( str ){ return str.charAt( 0 ).toUpperCase( ) + str.slice( 1 ); },
"city" : "detroit"
}It's as easy as {{capitalize( city )}}.
Note that since both of these members are at the root of the view object, you could also reference them like
{{@capitalize( @city )}}, or any combination of local or root references.
In Walrus, blocks don't look like the #member//member hash/slash pairs we've seen elsewhere. Walrus looks
a lot more like ruby and uses a simpler do/end idiom.
Each block has a helper, preceded by :, that tells you what the block does. Walrus ships with a basic set of
these built in.
Conditionals can be represented by :if and :unless blocks. Both of these test the expression for truthiness
or falsiness respectively.
{{:if @loggedIn do}}
<p>Welcome back, {{@username}}!</p>
{{end}}
{{:unless @loggedIn do}}
<p>I don't believe we've met!</p>
{{end}}:each can be used to iterate over a collection.
{{:each @player do}}
<li>{{name}}</li>
{{end}}Like several other templating solutions, you can implicitly iterate over a collection of values, like strings, and template in the current value with
{{.}}.
:with can be used to force a change in context if you don't want to use tons of object paths.
{{:with @team.captain do}}
<p>Captain: {{name}}</p>
{{end}}Walrus also supports the concept of filters, which look a lot like filters you might have used in liquid or ejs templates.
Filters also are preceded by :, but come after the main expression separated by a pipe, like {{name | :upcase}}.
Filters can be chained together, separated by whitespace. Filters can be used with block helpers or in a standalone expression.
:equals tests the expression for strict equality. This is most useful with the conditional block helpers.
{{:if status | :equals( 'pending' ) do}}
<p>We're still working on it.</p>
{{end}}Returns the expression if condition is truthy, or nothing if condition is falsy.
Parameters:
condition - the condition to test against
Usage:
{{ 'active' | :if( true ) }} <!-- "active" -->
Returns the expression if condition is falsy, or nothing if condition is truthy.
Parameters:
condition - the condition to test against
Usage:
{{ 'active' | :unless( true ) }} <!-- "" -->
:or can be used to provide a default or fallback value if a member doesn't exist on your view object.
<h2>{{price | :or( 'N/A' )}}</h2>:log is a helper method for developers that simply passes its argument to the console.
You can log a {{@member | :log}} of the view object,
while {{. | :log}} will log the whole thing,
and {{"arbitrary literals" | :log}} can be logged, too!walrus.collections contains helpers and filters that are useful when working with arrays.
Selects the first count items of the array. Defaults to only the first item.
Parameters:
count - Optional: how many items to include
Usage:
{{ :each numbers | :first do }}
<!-- 1 -->
{{ end }}
{{ :each numbers | :first( 5 ) do }}
<!-- 1 2 3 4 5 -->
{{ end }}Selects the last count items of the array. Defaults to only the last item.
Parameters:
count - Optional: how many items to include
Usage:
{{ :each numbers | :last do }}
<!-- 10 -->
{{ end }}
{{ :each numbers | :last( 5 ) do }}
<!-- 6 7 8 9 10 -->
{{ end }}Selects all of the items in the array except for the first count.
Parameters:
count - how many items to omit from the beginning
Usage:
{{ :each numbers | :after( 3 ) do }}
<!-- 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -->
{{ end }}Selects all of the items in the array except for the last count.
Parameters:
count - how many items to omit from the end
Usage:
{{ :each numbers | :before( 3 ) do }}
<!-- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -->
{{ end }}Returns the length of the given array.
Parameters: none
Usage:
var numbers = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
{{ numbers | :count }} <!-- 5 -->Returns true if the array is not empty. Opposite of :empty.
Parameters: none
Usage:
var numbers = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
{{ numbers | :any }} <!-- true -->Returns true of the array is empty. Opposite of :any.
Parameters: none
Usage:
var numbers = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
{{ numbers | :empty }} <!-- false -->walrus.currencies contains helpers and filters that are useful when working with dolla bills.
Returns a string formatted in the current locale's format. Delegates to accounting.js if present.
Parameters: symbol - (Optional) the currency symbol to use precision - (Optional) the decimal place level to show cents decimal - (Optional) the character used to delimit decimals thousand - (Optional) the character used to delimit thousands
Usage:
{{ 36000 | :currency }} // => $36,000.00
{{ 36000 | :currency( '$', 0 ) }} // => $36,000
walrus.dates contains helpers and filters that are useful when working with dates or timestamps.
Formats a date into the string given by format. Accepts any value that can be passed to new Date( ).
Parameters:
format - The format string, according to these tokens, taken directly from `man 3 strftime` (with some omissions):
%A is replaced by national representation of the full weekday name.
%a is replaced by national representation of the abbreviated weekday name.
%B is replaced by national representation of the full month name.
%b is replaced by national representation of the abbreviated month name.
%D is equivalent to ``%m/%d/%y''.
%d is replaced by the day of the month as a decimal number (01-31).
%e is replaced by the day of month as a decimal number (1-31); single digits are
preceded by a blank.
%F is equivalent to ``%Y-%m-%d''.
%H is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (00-23).
%I is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (01-12).
%k is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (0-23); single dig-
its are preceded by a blank.
%l is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (1-12); single dig-
its are preceded by a blank.
%M is replaced by the minute as a decimal number (00-59).
%m is replaced by the month as a decimal number (01-12).
%n is replaced by a newline.
%p is replaced by national representation of either "ante meridiem" or "post meri-
diem" as appropriate.
%R is equivalent to ``%H:%M''.
%r is equivalent to ``%I:%M:%S %p''.
%S is replaced by the second as a decimal number (00-60).
%T is equivalent to ``%H:%M:%S''.
%t is replaced by a tab.
%U is replaced by the week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the
week) as a decimal number (00-53).
%u is replaced by the weekday (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal
number (1-7).
%v is equivalent to ``%e-%b-%Y''.
%w is replaced by the weekday (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal
%X is replaced by national representation of the time.
%x is replaced by national representation of the date.
%Y is replaced by the year with century as a decimal number.
%y is replaced by the year without century as a decimal number (00-99).
%Z is replaced by the time zone name.
Usage:
{{created_at | :strftime( '%F' )}} <!-- 2012-02-10 -->
Returns a human-readable relative time phrase from the given date. Heavily adapted from the ActionPack method of the same name.
Parameters:
includeSeconds - (Optional) whether or not to include results for less than one minute
Usage:
{{ created_at | :time_ago_in_words( true ) }} <!-- less than a minute -->
walrus.domain contains helpers and filters that help create your presentation-level domain.
Decorates a view object or collection of view objects with custom domain methods.
Parameters:
name - The key for the object on `Walrus.Domain` to decorate with
Usage:
First, define some custom domain methods:
Walrus.Domain.person = { fullName : function( ){ return this.firstName + ' ' + this.lastName; } };Then, selectively apply those to your view object at template-time:
<ul>
{{:each employee | :as( 'person' ) do}}
<li>{{fullName}}</li>
{{do}}
</ul>walrus.inflections contains helpers and filters to help work with human-friendly text.
Pluralizes the given word, optionally based on a count, and also optionally including the count in the result. Heavily adapted from the ActiveSupport method of the same name.
Parameters:
word - the word to be pluralized
count - Optional: count to base pluralization on
includeCount - Optional: whether or not to include the count in the result
Usage:
{{ "book" | :pluralize }} <!-- books -->
{{ "book" | :pluralize( 1 ) }} <!-- book -->
{{ "book" | :pluralize( 5, true ) }} <!-- 5 books -->
Singularizes the given word. You're probably looking for pluralize.
Heavily adapted from the ActiveSupport method of the same name.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ "books" | :singularize }} <!-- book -->
Turns a number into an ordinal string, like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc... Heavily adapted from the ActiveSupport method of the same name.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ 5 | :ordinalize }} <!-- 5th -->
walrus.math contains helpers and filters to help work with numbers.
Returns the sum of two numbers.
Parameters:
number - the number to add to the expression
Usage:
{{ 15 | :plus( 6 ) }} <!-- 21 -->
Returns the difference of two numbers.
Parameters:
number - the number to subtract from the expression
Usage:
{{ 15 | :minus( 6 ) }} <!-- 9 -->
Returns whether value is greater than the given number.
Parameters:
number - the number to compare against
Usage:
{{ 15 | :gt( 5 ) }} <!-- true -->
Returns whether value is greater than or equal to the given number.
Parameters:
number - the number to compare against
Usage:
{{ 15 | :gte( 5 ) }} <!-- true -->
Returns whether value is less than the given number.
Parameters:
number - the number to compare against
Usage:
{{ 15 | :lt( 5 ) }} <!-- false -->
Returns whether value is less than or equal to the given number.
Parameters:
number - the number to compare against
Usage:
{{ 15 | :lte( 5 ) }} <!-- false -->
Returns the given number rounded down to the nearest integer.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ 5.6 | :floor }} <!-- 5 -->
Returns the given number rounded up to the nearest integer.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ 5.6 | :ceil }} <!-- 6 -->
Returns the given number rounded to the nearest integer.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ 5.6 | :round }} <!-- 6 -->
walrus.strings contains helpers and filters to help work with strings.
Reverses a string.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ "hello" | :reverse }} <!-- olleh -->
Converts a string to lowercase characters. Opposite of :upcase.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ "HelLO!" | :downcase }} <!-- hello! -->
Converts a string to uppercase characters. Opposite of :downcase.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ "HelLO!" | :upcase }} <!-- HELLO! -->
Removes all leading and trailing whitespace, then condenses any internal whitespace groups to a single space each. Heavily adapted from the ActiveSupport method of the same name.
Parameters: none
Usage:
{{ " foo bar \n baz" | :squish }} <!-- foo bar baz -->
Truncates a string to the specified length, optionally breaking at a separator or
providing a custom string to denote an omission.
Heavily adapted from the ActiveSupport method of the same name.
Parameters:
length (int) - the number of characters to keep, at most
separator (string) - Optional: a specified string to break on
omission (string) - Optional: a string to denote an omission
Usage:
{{ "Once upon a time in a world far far away" | :truncate( 27, ' ' ) }} <!-- Once upon a time in a... -->
If Walrus isn't quite your style, one of these other fine looks might suit you:
In any case, walrus borrows ideas from each of them, so they're all worth checking out!
Many of the filters in walrus are inspired or borrowed from ActiveSupport. If walrus can be half as helpful to developers as ActiveSupport has been, it'll be a great success.
Walrus is released under the MIT license.