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Re: [PHP3] template engine example document From: Ron Chmara (ron <email protected>)
Date: 03/26/00

Monte Ohrt wrote:
> Ron Chmara wrote:
> > Not at all. There is no limit to how many HTML pages can call the same logic
> > block. If the logic _features_ change, then in both of our methods, the
> > programmers have to rework the pages. I'll give you an example: The server-
> > wide credit card validation logic is one, and only one, file. It never
> > has to be duplicated, never seen by the website designers. The most a
> > designer has to do is add an hidden form variable, or build an HREF on
> > a page, (both are things they're fairly knowledgeable about) and on
> > the next page, know the syntax for an include, and decide
> > where to put the result. So adding dynamic content means they need to
> > know all of *two* statements.
> Sometimes there are logic changes that only affect presentation, not
> content.

Ah. That would be a disagreement on whether or not the designer even
_has_ access to the logic blocks...

> For example, in one template the rows alternate colors, on
> another template they do not.

Then the designer gets two variables, that they can use, or not use.
$tblcolor1 = ""
$tblcolor2 = ""

If they want two colors, they assign two. If they want one color,
they get assign one. They don't _do_ any logic that way. The logic
looks for two vriables, if there are two, it alternates. "But what if
there are 60?" Find a better designer. :-)

> For another example, you want a <BR> tag
> in front and in back of the title, unless the title is blank, then print
> one <BR> only.

They can pass HTML tags in variables. That's nothing new, either..
if you want them to always be based on a ruleset, you can implement it,
but a designer shouldn't _be_ specifying what those rulesets are,
arbitrarily. Their land is arbitrarily controlling appearance, no?
So give them control of their variables.

> Then in another template, you want NO <BR> tag if there
> is no title. How is this taken care of with the same logic, different
> templates?

Designer driven:
$title = "This is my Title";
$title = "<BR>This is my Title<BR>";
$title = "<BR>";
*Or (Logic driven)*
Page one (requires more standard logic blocks):
include "standardtitle.inc";
include "sales-sub-section-title.inc";

You are talking about the designer having variable input into the page
appearance, so it seems natural to make that into, well, variables, not
logic. Logic shouldn't be _part_ of the appearance. If the designer is
chosing from logic components, they are choosing their template
_pieces_. Part of your example set seems to indicate that they are
even going so far as to arbitrarily define the logic of presentation,
but that breaks the designer being kept from the logic.

I think part of our respective, differing, mindsets is that you are assuming
that the designer has a template with mixed logic and appearance that
they control, with the designer setting the loop iteration counts (don't
do that, you'll regret it when they look up 30,000 records for one table).

I'm approaching this with a mindset that designers shouldn't be allowed to
control loops, only the resulting, final *appearance*.

> > So don't build different code for each web page! That doesn't require
> > a new syntax, that requires building generalized logic. We are rapidly
> > spiralling from the newish template debate into the old monolithic vs.
> > OO debate... and your code is basically _an_ OO set of generalized
> > logic, which, for some reason, you are passing using an new syntax.
> Well as in the examples I gave above, I'd like to know how these
> situations can be handled through "generalized logic" that the designer
> does not see. There are other situations with looping content too.

Loops are logic. Designers shouldn't be _doing_ logic, should they?
If there are loop variables that they can specify at their discretion, offer
them, but that's no reason to fragment PHP.

-Bop 

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