perl -le '@a = a..d; print $a[$i++ % @a] for 0..15'
[download]

use strict;
use HTML::Template;

my $data = do {local $/; <DATA>};
my $tmpl = HTML::Template->new(scalarref => \$data);

my $rows = [
   { col1 => 'Graham Chapman', col2 => 'John Cleese'   },
   { col1 => 'Terry Gilliam',  col2 => 'Eric Idle'     },
   { col1 => 'Terry Jones ',   col2 => 'Michael Palin' },
   { col1 => 'Terry Jones ',   col2 => 'Michael Palin' },
   { col1 => 'Terry Gilliam',  col2 => 'Eric Idle'     },
];

my $i = 0;
my @class = qw(one two three);

$tmpl->param(
   rows => [
      map {
         { %$_, class => $class[$i++ % @class] }
      } @$rows 
   ],
);

print $tmpl->output;

__DATA__
<style type="text/css">
<!--
   table    { border-spacing: 0px; }
   td       { padding: 3px; }
   td.one   { background-color: #c0c0c0; }
   td.three { background-color: #e0e0e0; }
   td.two   { background-color: #d0d0d0; }
-->
</style>

<table>
<tmpl_loop rows>
  <tr>
    <td class="<tmpl_var class>">
      <tmpl_var col1>
    </td>
    <td class="<tmpl_var class>">
      <tmpl_var col2>
    </td>
  <tr>
</tmpl_loop>
</table>
[download]

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

option #2 is imho the best way to do it. Who said that it must all stand in one line?

<TD class=
   <TMPL_IF name="__ODD__">"odd"
     <TMPL_ELSE>"even"
   </TMPL_IF>
>
[download]

<STYLE type="text/css"><!--
TD.loop1 { background-color: #c0c0c0; }
TD.loop  { background-color: #e0e0e0; }
--></style>

<TABLE border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
  <TMPL_LOOP name="some_loop">
    <TR>
      <TD class=<TMPL_VAR name="class">>
        <TMPL_VAR name="content_column_1">
      </td>
      <TD class=<TMPL_VAR name="class">>
        <TMPL_VAR name="content_column_2">
      </td>
    <TR>
  </TMPL_LOOP>
</table>
[download]

<STYLE type="text/css"><!--
<TMPL_LOOP name="style_loop">
TD.<TMPL_VAR name="class"> { background-color: <TMPL_VAR name="color">
+; }
--></style>
[download]

my @styles = ( { class => "bg_red",
                 color => "#FF0000" },
               { class => "bg_green",
                 color => "#00FF00" },
               { class => "bg_blue",
                 color => "#0000FF" } );
[download]

Whoa... okay, so I got a little carried away here. This is probably more than you need, but that's where I'd go with it.

-Bird

I would definitely go with option 3, but why not take it one step further? Rename your "__ODD__" template variable to something like "class", then store the full class name instead of just a "1" or "" in that variable.

Greetings Bird,

The problem with that is that the <TMPL_VAR name="__ODD__"> is a loop context variable. It's created and controlled by HTML::Template as the module loops through the array passed to it by reference. I don't think I can mess with it without violating some OOP law.

I could define "class" as an element of the hash of the array of the "some_loop" loop, but one of the reasons I liked the HTML::Template concept was that it didn't require me to do any such defining since the module's code handled everything.

-gryphon
code('Perl') || die;

Right, sorry, I didn't realize you were so set on using the loop context variable. By creating one of my own, I provided a more versatile solution which is, as I mentioned, probably more than you need.

Oh well... :)

-Bird

I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with HTML::Template, but this post motivated me to try solving this problem with Template Toolkit.

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
  [% row = 0 %]
  [% FOREACH table_row %]
    [% row_bg = row % 2 ? 'c0c0c0' : 'e0e0e0' %]
    <tr>
      <td style="background-color: [% row_bg %]">[% content_column_1 %
+]
      </td>
      <td style="background-color: [% row_bg %]">[% content_column_2 %
+]
      </td>
    </tr>
    [% row = row + 1 %]
  [% END %]
</table>
[download]

Not exactly an answer to your question, but I thought I'd post it nonetheless. :-)

Agreed, while not an answer, it is another option - I have come to use Template Toolkit almost exclusively for my production work and have written about how to easily incorporate this into the CGI::Application framework here.