Idea for pure-python templates using AST.

[aspineux]

On Aug 16, 1:33 pm, "Paul Wray" <paul.w... at det.nsw.edu.au> wrote:
> Hello all
>
> Ive had what I think is a great idea for pure-python templates (I can almost
> hear the groans, bear with me...)
>
> For the impatient, proof of concept is athttp://pastie.org/2379978
> demonstrating simple substitution, balanced tags using context manager,
> subtemplates,  and template inheritance.

You code fail, see below for other comment

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "Download/pastie-2379978.rb", line 108, in <module>
    make_template(template1)
  File "Download/pastie-2379978.rb", line 60, in make_template
    ast.fix_missing_locations(astFromSrc)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ast.py", line 133, in fix_missing_locations
    _fix(node, 1, 0)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ast.py", line 132, in _fix
    _fix(child, lineno, col_offset)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ast.py", line 132, in _fix
    _fix(child, lineno, col_offset)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ast.py", line 121, in _fix
    if 'lineno' in node._attributes:
AttributeError: 'arguments' object has no attribute '_attributes'




>
> I'm posting here to get opinions on:
> * the merits of the idea, (or otherwise!)
> * whether there are any established/mature templating systems that use this
> approach, or whether its come up before,
> * ideas for improvements and advice on other aspects such as sandboxing
> * of course, to share the idea in case others want to use it

This is very original ! First time I see it. I like it.
But how to debug large template ?
How to find/detect a missing </TAG> ?
This is very important. This is one big advantage of Genshi over Kid
How to report the correct error at the correct line ?
How to find/get nice editor to edit large template ?


>
> Background: Ive been working on an application that recursively renders
> html/xml documents from heterogenoeus trees, with separate classes for each
> document component. First I built my own renderer but was dissatisfied with
> the repetitive code. Then looked at Mako and Jinja, and used Jinja but was
> still disatisfied, because I still needed a render method in each class to
> do preparation, and also the template which was centrally managed by the
> Jinja loader and environment. I found a way to call templates recursively
> via Jinja filters, but was not sure that it wouldnt blow up in my face, so I
> also had separate calls to render the children of each node, and then feed
> the value to the parent template. I kept thinking that there must be a way
> to get the brevity and clarity of declarative templates, plus the simplicity
> of pure python loops, tests and function calls.
>
> The idea:
> Python syntax allows a statement to be a bare literal or identifier. These
> have no effect on the program.
>
> So the function below is legal python:
>
> def myFunc():
>     'a'
>     x = 45
>     'b'; 'c'; x
>
> So is this (within the appropriate class context of course):
>
> def body(self, r):
>         '<h1>'; self.heading; '</h1>'
>         '<ul>'
>         for itm in self.items:
>             '<li>'; itm; '</li>'
>         '</ul>'
>
> The idea is simply to use python ASTs to transform this code so that it
> accumulates the values of the bare expressions.

You could call it PHP :-)

>
> I think this give the best of both worlds - declarative syntax for the
> template literals, but in a pure python context, giving you all the power of
> python control statements, classes etc.
>
> For application contexts outside pure python code (ie user-created
> templates) , it would be simple to extend the technique to creating template
> functions from strings, and insert the resulting methods into a namespace
> for execution.)
>
> I think, given the technique is already working with the AST, that
> sandboxing should not be too hard either - advice on this aspect would be
> appreciated.


Maybe a good idea.
But still a lot of work to get the level of existing libraries.

Maybe better if mixed with other tools like Genshi to create widget.
Maybe next toscawidget could use such a technique.


Thanks for sharing

>
> Paul Wray