We hear about it all the time, and most, if not all of us have dabbled in it at one time. You know what I speak of, Dynamic web content. Well, if you prefer, or are required to use a template system, might I suggest giving HTML::Template a go. Some may ask my main reason for endorsing it, to which I would respond with simplicity, and flexibility. Hands down, HTML::Template gotta be the simplest way to manage templates. Lets give an example.

Taken from the CPAN docs HTML::Template:

Create a simple HTML page, with two template variables HOME and PATH, name it test.tmpl.
We will fill the variables with data below. 

  <html>
  <head><title>Test Template</title>
  <body>
  My Home Directory is <TMPL_VAR NAME=HOME>
  <p>
  My Path is set to <TMPL_VAR NAME=PATH>
  </body>
  </html>

[download]

Now, lets build a program to fill in those previously named variables. The result is displayed below 

  #!/usr/bin/perl -w
  use HTML::Template;

  # open the html template
  my $template = HTML::Template->new(filename => 'test.tmpl');

  # fill in some parameters
  $template->param(HOME => $ENV{HOME});
  $template->param(PATH => $ENV{PATH});

  # send the obligatory Content-Type and print the template output
  print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n", $template->output;

[download]

Make sure its all ready to go, then point your browser to the script you just created, now, you should have output that looks kinda like this: 

  My Home Directory is /home/some/directory
  My Path is set to /bin;/usr/bin

[download]
Simple, no?

It Gets Better

Not only does it support simple variables, you can also:

  • Escape HTML from your data!
  • Set default values, if data is not supplied by param!
  • Build Loops!
  • Include other templates!
  • Build Conditionals!
  • Error handling has descriptive error output, which speeds up debugging!
  • And much more!

    I'm not going into much more detail here, I like to keep it simple, just know that I have found it useful. Paired with CGI, DBD::mysql, CGI::Session, and various others, I've been able to create powerful web applications. Another note, I feel that the module is newbie friendly, as I myself is a newb ;-). Further info can be found on CPAN, and the docs are very easy to read. So far, I have no displeasures with this module, please, reply with your opinions.

    Thanks,

    DeFyance

    In reply to HTML::Template by defyance

    Title:
    Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
    and:  <code> code here </code>
    to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.