Getting Started with Python Chameleon Templates
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

:Posted: 2009-12-01 12:36
:Tags: Python, Pylons
:Headline: Get started with Chameleon Templates using pure Python and no Zope
dependencies. You can then use TAL and more.

Here's the code you need which is missing from the main docs:

Save this as ``helloworld.pt``:

::

    <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
      Hello World!
    </div>

Then use this code, updating the path to be the directory containing the
``helloworld.pt`` template.

::

    from chameleon.zpt.loader import TemplateLoader
    pt_loader = TemplateLoader(['/home/james/Desktop/Chameleon-1.0.4/src/chameleon/tests/templates/'], auto_reload=True)
    template = pt_loader.load('helloworld.pt')
    result = template(a='a', b='b')

You'd replace the ``a='a', b='b'`` bit with your variables. Once you get to
this stage the rest of the documentation should be very easy to follow.

You can also load from a string like this:

::

    from chameleon.zpt.template import PageTemplate
    template = PageTemplate(
        """
        <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
          Hello World!
        </div>
        <p tal:content="user_message">
          Designer sees this.
        </p>
        """
    )
    result = template(user_message='User sees this')

The result is:

::

    <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
          Hello World!
        </div>
        <p>User sees this</p>

.. note ::

    The reason I'm interested in this is that I've stopped using templating
    languages in my code. Instead I use static HTML files as templates and I
    just replace certain parts with Python-generated code. (This isn't as
    nasty as it sounds because the static HTML files are in Dreamweaver format
    which supports Library Items for common elements). I therefore have no
    need for any inheritance features because I have a different Dreamweaver
    template for each page layout (made consistent with Library Items) but I
    would like a way for Python to be able to parse some of that HTML so that
    designers can work with it but so that I don't have to write all my
    template fragments in Python.  TAL is a good fit for this as I can just
    use TAL-formatted HTML in the editable regions and Chameleon supports TAL.
    I'm not using METAL and the like though.

Further reading:

* http://chameleon.repoze.org/
* http://wiki.pylonshq.com/display/pylonscookbook/QuickWiki+with+Chameleon
* http://jimmyg.org/work/code/dreamweavertemplate/index.html