NAME

HTML::Template::Associate - Associate relevant packages with HTML::Template 

SYNOPSIS

#Example usage with FormValidator as the target 

use CGI qw/:standard/;
use Data::FormValidator;
use HTML::Template;
use HTML::Template::Associate;

my $cgi = CGI->new;
#for testing purposes we can add some input to our cgi object
$cgi->param( 'fullname', 'John Doe' );
$cgi->param( 'phone', 6041112222 );
$cgi->param( 'email', 'invalid@email' );

my $input_profile = {
	optional => [ qw( company fax country ) ],
	required => [ qw( fullname phone email address city state zipcode ) ],
	constraints  => {
		email => 'email',
		fax => 'american_phone',
		phone => 'american_phone',
		zipcode	=> '/^\s*\d{5}(?:[-]\d{4})?\s*$/',
		state => "state",
	},
	defaults => { country => "Canada" },
	msgs => {
		prefix=> 'error_',
		missing => 'Not Here!',
		invalid => 'Problematic!',
		invalid_seperator => ' <br /> ',
		format => 'ERROR: %s',
		any_errors => 'some_errors',
	}
};

my $validator = Data::FormValidator->new;
my $results = $validator->check ( scalar $cgi->Vars, $input_profile ); 

my $associate = HTML::Template::Associate->new( {
	target => 'FormValidator', 
	results => $results,
	extra_arguments => [ $validator ] #not needed but just illustrated
} ); 

my $template = HTML::Template->new(
	filename => 'test.tmpl', 
	associate => [ $cgi, $associate ] 
);

print $template->output;

#and in our test.tmpl file we could have

Valid Fields:<br>
<TMPL_LOOP NAME=VALID_FIELDS>
Field Name: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_NAME><br>
Field Value: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_VALUE><br> 
</TMPL_LOOP>

Missing Fields:<br>
<TMPL_LOOP NAME=MISSING_FIELDS>
Field Name: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_NAME><br>
Field Value: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_VALUE><br> 
</TMPL_LOOP>

<TMPL_IF NAME=INVALID_phone>
Phone: <TMPL_VAR NAME="phone"> you supplied is invalid.		
</TMPL_IF>

<TMPL_IF NAME=MISSING_city> 
City name is missing, please fix this.
</TMPL_IF>

<!-- We can also access our normal field names 
since $cgi object was passed as associate as well -->

I think <TMPL_VAR NAME=country> is very big country. 

<!-- Optional use of Data::FormValidator::Results msgs interface -->

Message Fields:

<TMPL_LOOP NAME=MSGS_FIELDS>
Field Name: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_NAME><br>
Field Value: <TMPL_VAR NAME=FIELD_VALUE><br>
</TMPL_LOOP>

<TMPL_IF NAME=MSGS_error_city>
Our default error message set in the profiling code is: 
	<TMPL_VAR NAME=MSGS_error_city> 
</TMPL_IF>

#Example usage with DBI as the target
use DBI;
use HTML::Template;
use HTML::Template::Associate;

#initiliaze your $dbh ...

my $results_foo = $dbh->selectall_hashref (
	'SELECT foo FROM bar WHERE baz = ?',
	'foo_id',
	{},
	$baz
);

my $results_bar = $dbh->selectall_hashref (
	'SELECT foo, bar FROM bar WHERE baz = ?',
	[ 'foo_id', 'bar_id' ] ,
	{},
	$baz
);

my $results_moo = $dbh->selectrow_hashref ( 'SELECT x, y FROM z LIMIT 1' );

my @results_array = $dbh->selectrow_array ( 'SELECT x FROM z' );

my $associate = HTML::Template::Associate->new( {
	target => 'DBI',
	create => [ {
			results => $results_foo,
			name => 'my_loop',
			type => 'selectall_hashref'
		}, {
			results => $results_bar,
			name => 'my_other_loop',
			type => 'selectall_hashref'
		}, {
			results => $results_moo,
			type => 'selectrow_hashref',
			name => 'my_params'
		}, {
			results => \@results_array,
			type => 'selectrow_array',
			name => 'my_array_params'
		}
	]
} );

my $template = HTML::Template->new (
	filename => 'test.tmpl',
	associate => [ $associate ],
	die_on_bad_params => 0
);

print $template->output();

#sample.tmpl

<!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME="my_loop" -->
	Foo is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="foo" -->
<!-- /TMPL_LOOP -->

<!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME="my_other_loop" -->
	Foo is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="foo" -->
	Bar is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="bar" -->
<!-- /TMPL_LOOP -->

x is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="my_params.x" -->
y is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="my_params.y" -->

x via $dbh->selectrow_array is:<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="my_array_params.0 -->

DESCRIPTION

HTML::Template::Associate bridges gap between HTML::Template and 
other modules that can be used in conjunction with it to do something 
useful together, like for example Data::FormValidator that can verify 
form inputs. 

The idea is that every associate object can map required data structure 
onto the one which corresponds to the one found in HTML::Template.
The factory will then instantiate the target class and user can then make 
it available to HTML::Template via associate argument during object 
construction. The data structures then become automatically visible to 
your templates.

This module is abstract class it provides no mapping functionality
whatsoever, but rather defines common interface to all associate
objects underneath it and acts as a object production factory.
You should however use this module whenever you wish to access a
concrete associate class that provides functionality you desire.

USAGE

#where $results = Data::FormValidator::Results; for example
my $associate = HTML::Template::Associate->new( {
	target => 'FormValidator',
	results => $results 
} );

Target is always last portion of your full class name, so if
you had HTML::Template::Associate::XYZ the target would be XYZ

BUGS

Maybe. If you see any make sure you let me know.

SUPPORT

AUTHOR

Alex Pavlovic
alex.pavlovic@taskforce-1.com
http://www.taskforce-1.com

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the
LICENSE file included with this module.

SEE ALSO

HTML::Template::Associate::FormValidator HTML::Template::Associate::DBI perl(1).

new

Usage     : my $associate = HTML::Template::Associate->new ( $target_arguments );
Purpose   : Constructs new Associate object
Returns   : Associate instance
Argument  : Refer to the target
Throws    : Error in case target does not exist
Comments  : None

param

Usage     : my $MyParam = $associate->param('MyParam');
Purpose   : Retrieves param in a form suitable for access by HTML::Template
Returns   : Single param or arrays suitable for loops 
Argument  : Parameter name and optional value if setting it
Throws    : Error in case subroutine was not implemented in concrete class
Comments  : This subroutine should be redefined in concrete class

init

Usage     : $self->init ( $params );
Purpose   : Provides basic initiliazation for the target class
Returns   : true or false depending on whether initilization was succesful
Argument  : hash of parameters passed to factory during object construction
Throws    : Error in case subroutine was not implemented in concrete class
Comments  : This subroutine should be redefined in concrete class

error

Purpose   : Used internally to die on errors