davis has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi there,
I'm using HTML::Template to produce a website, and I'm trying to avoid a link to the current page, because Jakob Nielsen says it's a good idea. (Note that I still think PerlMonks should continue with its static links, because of the frequency that pages are returned after HTTP POST requests)

I've got a common menu which is <TMPL_INCLUDE>'d into every template file, and I'm using CGI::Application's cgiapp_prerun() method to set certain values.

cgiapp_prerun: (paraphrased slightly, forgive typos) 

sub cgiapp_prerun {
        my $self = shift;
        my $q = $self->query();
        my $runmode = $self->get_current_runmode();
        return unless(exists $template_files{$runmode});
        $self->{"_html_template"} = HTML::Template->new(filename => $t
+emplate_files{$runmode}, associate => $q);
        $self->{"_html_template"}->param($runmode => 1);
}

[download]

Now in my common.tmpl file: 

        <TMPL_IF NAME="mode9">
                Customer Search<br />
        <TMPL_ELSE>
                <a href="support.pl?rm=mode9">Customer Search</a><br /
+>
        </TMPL_IF>

        <TMPL_IF NAME="mode11">
                Kit Search<br />
        <TMPL_ELSE>
                <a href="support.pl?rm=mode11">Kit Search</a><br />
        </TMPL_IF>

[download]
Obviously that will become huge once you've got more than a couple of choices.

Does anyone have any suggestions for preventing the appearance of current-page links without the duplication above?
Should I just carry on using this technique? after all, the users' time is more valuable (there's more of them, they use it often).

Update: Forgot to mention that I'm aware I could simply do away with the text when I'm in that runmode, but I believe the "jumping menu" effect would be jarring.


davis
It wasn't easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Avoiding links to current page with HTML::Template
by friedo (Prior) on Jul 15, 2004 at 11:25 UTC
    I prefer to handle this type of thing in the program logic rather than the template itself. What I'll do is create a template loop with a single generic link, and pass a value in the array indicating whether it should be linked or unlinked. 

    <TMPL_LOOP NAME="links">
  <TMPL_IF NAME="linked">
    <a href="<TMPL_VAR NAME="link_url">">
     <TMPL_VAR NAME="link_text"></a>
  <TMPL_ELSE>
    <TMPL_VAR NAME="link_text">
  </TMPL_IF>
</TMPL_LOOP>

    [download]

    Then I can build an array for the loop, using something like this: (untested) 

    my $CUR_MODE = ## (the current mode)

my %modes => ('mode9 => 'Customer Search',
              'mode11'  => 'Kit Search');

my @menu;
for(keys %modes) { 
  push @menu, { link_url  => 'http://foo.com/?' . $_,
                link_text  => $modes{$_}
                $_ eq $CUR_MODE ? (linked => 0) : (linked => 1) }

    [download]

    That will check to see which menu item corresponds to the current mode and decide whether to link it on-the-fly. You can wrap that in a function and use it in every mode, and pass the result to your template.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Thanks, I think that'll fit my needs perfectly

      davis
      It wasn't easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
[reply]

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