##BEGIN preparse 
        #makes use of experimental code evaluation regexp features in perl
        my @link_names;
        $$file =~ s/<%[ ]*link_name[ ]*([^ ]*)[ ]*%>(?{push(@link_names,$1);})/<% link_name $1%>/g;
        #printStruct(\@link_names); #debugging

        #now map link names to actual variables
        my $sql;
        foreach my $link_name (@link_names){
          $link_name=$dbh->quote($link_name);
          $sql="SELECT template_id FROM template_table where template_name=$link_name";
          #print "SQL is $sql \n";

          #if success do another regexp find and replace with real url 
          #otherwise replace template tag with HTML code comment indicating error

        }#end foreach

##END preparse