NAME

Text::MicroMason::Filters - Add Output Filters like "|h" and "|u"

SYNOPSIS

Instead of using this class directly, pass its name to be mixed in:

    use Text::MicroMason;
    my $mason = Text::MicroMason->new( -Filters );

Use the standard compile and execute methods to parse and evaluate templates:

  print $mason->compile( text=>$template )->( @%args );
  print $mason->execute( text=>$template, @args );

Enables filtering of template expressions using syntax similar to that available in HTML::Mason v1:

    <%args> $name </%args>
    Welcome, <% $name |h %>! 
    <a href="more.masn?name=<% $name |u %>">Click for More</a>

You can set default filters, and shut them off using the "n" flag:

    my $mason = Text::MicroMason->new( -Filters, default_filters => 'h' );

    <%args> $name </%args>
    Welcome, <% $name %>!
    <a href="more.masn?name=<% $name |nu %>">Click for More</a>

You can tell MicroMason to always override default filters instead of combining them:

    my $mason = Text::MicroMason->new( -Filters, default_filters => 'h', default_policy => 'override' );

    <%args> $name </%args>
    Welcome, <% $name %>!
    <a href="more.masn?name=<% $name |u %>">Click for More</a>

You can define additional filters and stack them:

    my $mason = Text::MicroMason->new( -Filters );
    $mason->filter_functions( myfilter => \&function );
    $mason->filter_functions( uc => sub { return uc( shift ) } );

    <%args> $name </%args>
    Welcome, <% $name |uc,myfilter %>!

DESCRIPTION

This module enables the filtering of expressions before they are output, using syntax similar to that available in HTML::Mason v1.

Several filter functions come standard with Text::MicroMason. If HTML::Entities available, the "h" filter is set up to do HTML encoding. If URI::Escape is available, the "u" filter is set up to provide URI escaping. If those modules can not be loaded, no error message is produced but the corresponding filter will be unavailable.

The "p" filter is set up to escape non-ascii characters using Perl backslash notation to make them printable. This filter is retained for backwards compatibility, but it is not recommended because it may destroy Unicode or other non-ascii byte streams.

Use "filter_functions()" to define custom filter functions and associate them with filter names.

Attempting to use an unknown filter name will croak with a message stating "No definition for a filter named 'h'".

When specifying "default_filters()" or using filters in a MicroMason interpolation, there are two ways to specify multiple filters. You can only use one of these techinques in a filter specification, but default filters and inline filters can be specified differently.

Up to 5 single character filters can be combined without delimiters:

  <% $name |hu %> Apply the "h" and "u" filters in that order.

Any number of filter names of any length can be combined with commas and/or spaces:

  <% $name |u,js uc , h %> Apply the "u", "js", "uc", and "h" filters in that order.

If the "n" filter is specified, all previously specified filters (including default filters) are skipped.

  <% $name |u,h,uc,n,js %> Apply the "js" filter only.
  <% $name |nu %> Skip default filters and apply the "u" filter.

Public Methods

filter_functions

Gets and sets values from the hash mapping filter flags to functions.

If called with no arguments, returns a hash of all available filter flags and functions:

  %functions = $mason->filter_functions();

If called with a filter flag returns the associated function, or if provided with a reference to an array of flag names returns a list of the functions:

  $function  = $mason->filter_functions( $flag );
  @functions = $mason->filter_functions( \@flags );

If called with one or more pairs of filter flags and associated functions, adds them to the hash. (Any filter that might have existed with the same flag name is overwritten.)

  $mason->filter_functions( $flag => $function, ... );

Supported Attributes

default_filters

Optional comma-separated string of filter flags to be applied to all output expressions unless overridden by the "n" flag.

default_policy

Optional. Valid values are "combine" and "override"; default is "combine". This attribute specifies what happens when both default_filters and inline filters are provided.

If "default_policy" is "combine" (the default), then both default filters and inline filters are applied (in that order). If "default_policy" is "override", default filters are only applied when no inline filters are specified.

"combine" is the default for backwards compatibility purposes, but new uses of the module probably want to use "override" instead.

Private Methods

assemble()

This method goes through the lexed template tokens looking for uses of filter flags, which it then rewrites as appropriate method calls before passing the tokens on to the superclass.

parse_filters

Parses one or more strings containing any number of filter flags and returns a list of flags to be used.

  @flags = $mason->parse_filters( @filter_strings );

Flags should be separated by commas, except that the commas may be omitted when using a combination of single-letter flags. Flags are applied from left to right. Any use of the "n" flag wipes out all flags defined to the left of it.

get_filter_functions

Accepts filter flags or function references and returns a list of the corresponding functions. Dies if an unknown filter flag is used.

  @functions = $mason->get_filter_functions( @flags_or_functions );

filter

Applies one or more filters to the provided content string.