#============================================================= -*-perl-*- # # Template::Toolkit # # DESCRIPTION # Front-page for the Template Toolkit documentation # # AUTHOR # Andy Wardley # # COPYRIGHT # Copyright (C) 1996-2022 Andy Wardley. All Rights Reserved. # # This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or # modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. # #======================================================================== package Template::Toolkit; our $VERSION = '3.100'; 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Template::Toolkit - Template Processing System =head1 Introduction The Template Toolkit is a collection of Perl modules which implement a fast, flexible, powerful and extensible template processing system. It is "input-agnostic" and can be used equally well for processing any kind of text documents: HTML, XML, CSS, Javascript, Perl code, plain text, and so on. However, it is most often used for generating static and dynamic web content, so that's what we'll focus on here. Although the Template Toolkit is written in Perl, you don't need to be a Perl programmer to use it. It was designed to allow non-programmers to easily create and maintain template-based web sites without having to mess around writing Perl code or going crazy with cut-n-paste. However, the Template Toolkit is also designed to be extremely flexible and extensible. If you are a Perl programmer, or know someone who is, then you can easily hook the Template Toolkit into your existing code, data, databases and web applications. Furthermore, you can easily extend the Template Toolkit through the use of its plugin mechanism and other developer APIs. Whatever context you use it in, the primary purpose of the Template Toolkit is to allow you to create a clear separation between the presentation elements of your web site and everything else. If you're generating static web pages, then you can use it to separate the commonly repeated user interface elements on each page (headers, menus, footers, etc.) from the core content. If you're generating dynamic web pages for the front end of a web application, then you'll also be using it to keep the back-end Perl code entirely separate from the front-end HTML templates. Either way, a I is what allow you to concentrate on one thing at a time without the other things getting in your way. And that's what the Template Toolkit is all about. =head1 Documentation The documentation for the Template Toolkit is organised into five sections. The L contains detailed information about using the Template Toolkit. It gives examples of its use and includes a full reference of the template language, configuration options, filters, plugins and other component parts. The L page lists the Perl modules that comprise the Template Toolkit. It gives a brief explanation of what each of them does, and provides a link to the complete documentation for each module for further information. If you're a Perl programmer looking to use the Template Toolkit from your Perl programs then this section is likely to be of interest. Most, if not all of the information you need to call the Template Toolkit from Perl is in the documentation for the L