Editing No-template

A super-small Java library for templating, i.e. generating text files (HTML, XML, whatever) from a "template" text file.

== Background ==

Working with the common templating frameworks (Freemarker, JSP, PHP, ...), you probably agree on the following inconveniences and problems:

* Each framework has its own syntax and semantics for implementing the dynamic part of a document (variables, control structures, in-source documentation, ...).
* Because the nesting of control structures and the indentation of the static content are generally not identical, it is very hard to write easily-readable code.
* Most templating frameworks have no static typing, i.e. you must always be careful when using (or worse: re-using) variables, because there is no "compile-time checking" of types.
* Powerful debuggers are not available in many cases, so you typcially revert to looking at log files.
* Because there are so many different templating engines, you favorite IDE possibly offers no advanced editor with code completion, refactoring, and the like.
* If the templating engine involves some kind of an "translation" step, then that must be executed on each and every code change - at worst manually.

== Solution ==

The approach of <code>no-template</code> is as simple as it could be: Write the templates in plain Java! Static context maps to string literals; variables, control structures and in-source documentation map to the respective Java constructs.

The no-template framework basically consists of a single method

 public static final <T extends NoTemplate, EX extends Exception> void
 NoTemplate.render(final Class<T> templateClass, File outputFile, final ConsumerWhichThrows<? super T, EX> renderer);

That method creates the ''outputFile'', instantiates the ''templateClass'', and eventually calls the ''renderer''. The latter typically generates the output by calling the <code>l(String...)</code> and <code>p(String)</code> methods.

Done! That's why it's called "no-template": Next to no footprint...

== Code Example ==

 <nowiki> package com.acme.notemplatedemo;
 
 import de.unkrig.notemplate.*;
 
 public
 class MyTemplate extends NoTemplate {
 
     // It is good practice to declare a method "render()" with
     // exactly the parameters of the document to be rendered.
 
     public void
     render(String firstName, String lastName, int age) {
 
         // Method "l(String...)" prints its arguments as lines.
         // Notice that we put the arguments on column one,
         // so the indentation of the document is preserved.
         this.l(
 "<!DOCTYPE html>",
 "<html>",
 "  <head>",
 "    <title>My first template</title>",
 "  </head>",
 "  <body>",
 "    This is my very first template.",
 "    &lt;br />",
 "    Hello " + firstName + " " + lastName + ",",
 "    you must be " + age + " years old!",
 "  </body>",
 "</html>"
         );
     }
 }</nowiki>

 // Demonstrate how to render a document with this template:
 NoTemplate.render(
     MyTemplate.class,
     new File("JohnDoe99.html"),
     (MyTemplate t) -> {
         t.render("John", "Doe", 99);
     }
 );

== Resources ==

Find the binaries [http://no-template.unkrig.de/download/ here].

Find the source code [https://github.com/aunkrig/no-template here].

Find the JAVADOC [http://no-template.unkrig.de/javadoc/index.html here].

== Licensing ==

No-template is distributed under the [http://no-template.unkrig.de/new_bsd_license.txt New BSD license].