Templates
The torque framework internally uses tylermmorton/tmpl to compile Go templates and enables unique features such as type checking and render outlets.
tmpl itself can be used independently of torque and offers some unique solutions to some of the pain points developers commonly run into while working with templates in Go:
- Two-way type safety when referencing templates in Go code and vice versa
- Nested templates and template fragments
- Template extensibility through compiler plugins
- Static analysis utilities such as template parse tree traversal
torque takes this workflow one step further by integrating templates directly into the HTTP request/response lifecycle. This allows you to build web applications with a focus on the logic that generates and interacts with the view, rather than fiddling with HTTP plumbing.
TemplateProvider
The TemplateProvider interface is the primary interface of the tmpl package. By implementing it, your struct becomes a target for the template compiler.
When TemplateProvider is implemented by a ViewModel, torque knows to compile the provided template and render it in response to an HTTP GET request from the browser. The data passed to the template is whatever is returned from Loader[T]
Features
tmpl offers a number of features that make working with templates in Go more enjoyable:
Nesting
One major advantage of using structs to bind templates is that nesting templates is as easy as nesting structs.
The tmpl compiler knows to recursively look for fields on your ViewModel struct that also implement the TemplateProvider interface. This includes fields that are embedded, slices or pointers.
Note that you can name your nested template using the tmpl: struct tag. Any embedded templates will be accessible using the {{ template }} directive.