Attributes and dot notation #

This page is for designers who read values from nodes, objects and hashes. The dot is the template language's one way to look inside a value.

Contents #

1. Objects, hashes and arrays
2. Chains
3. Dynamic keys
4. What does this object have?
5. Missing attributes

Objects, hashes and arrays #

{$node.name}                   {* attribute of an object *}
{$settings.color}              {* key of a hash *}
{$items.0.name}                {* first item of an array, then its attribute *}

Kernel objects (nodes, objects, attributes, users) expose a fixed list of attributes; a node, for example, has name, url_alias, data_map, children, parent, path, class_identifier, can_edit and more (Nodes, objects and attributes).

Chains #

{$node.data_map.image.content['large'].url}
{$node.object.owner.name}
{$node.parent.name}

Each step is a lookup; some (like children or parent) run a database query. Store a value you use several times in a variable.

Dynamic keys #

When the key is in a variable, use brackets:

{def $field = 'intro'}
{$node.data_map[$field].has_content}
{$image_content[$image_class].url}

What does this object have? #

The attribute and dump operators print the attributes of a value (lib/eztemplate/classes/eztemplateattributeoperator.php):

{$node|attribute( show, 1 )}
{$node.data_map|dump( show, 2 )}

show prints values too; the number is the depth. Use them only on a test siteaccess and remove them before committing: they print internal data.

Missing attributes #

Reading an attribute that does not exist prints nothing and writes a warning to the debug output. Test optional values first:

{if is_set( $node.data_map.subtitle )}...{/if}
{if $node.data_map.image.has_content}...{/if}

Related pages #

• TPL syntax basics
• Nodes, objects and attributes
• Template debugging
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.