Express 3 handlebars template engine with multiple layouts, blocks and cached partials.
Open source project from Barc, instant real-time forum on any website.
To use with express 3.
var hbs = require('express-hbs');
// Use `.hbs` for extensions and find partials in `views/partials`.
app.engine('hbs', hbs.express3({
partialsDir: __dirname + '/views/partials',
contentHelperName: 'content',
}));
app.set('view engine', 'hbs');
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
Options for #express3
hbs.express3({
partialsDir: "{String/Array} [Required] Path to partials templates, one or several directories",
// OPTIONAL settings
blockHelperName: "{String} Override 'block' helper name.",
contentHelperName: "{String} Override 'contentFor' helper name.",
defaultLayout: "{String} Absolute path to default layout template",
extname: "{String} Extension for templates, defaults to `.hbs`",
handlebars: "{Module} Use external handlebars instead of express-hbs dependency",
layoutsDir: "{String} Path to layout templates",
templateOptions: "{Object} options to pass to template()"
});
Partials may use any extension, which is better for syntax highlighting.
To mark where layout should insert page,
{{{body}}}
To declare a block placeholder in layout.
{{{block "pageScripts"}}}
To define block content in a page.
{{#contentFor "pageScripts"}}
CONTENT HERE
{{/contentFor}}
There are three ways to use a layout, listed in the order in which they are checked for and used:
-
Declarative within a page. Use handlebars comment. If you have declared a layoutsDir in the configuration,
LAYOUTis a relative path from layoutsDir. Otherwise,LAYOUTis a relative path from the template.{{!< LAYOUT}} -
As an option to render
res.render('veggies', { title: 'My favorite veggies', veggies: veggies, layout: 'layout/veggie' });This option also allows for default layout suppression by passing in a falsey Javascript value as the value of the
layoutproperty:res.render('veggies', { title: 'My favorite veggies', veggies: veggies, layout: null // render without using a layout template }); -
Lastly, use
defaultLayoutif specified in hbs configuration options.
Layouts can be nested: just include a declarative layout tag within any layout template to have its content included in the declared "parent" layout. Be aware that too much nesting can impact performances, and stay away from infinite loops!
Synchronous helpers
hbs.registerHelper('link', function(text, options) {
var attrs = [];
for(var prop in options.hash) {
attrs.push(prop + '="' + options.hash[prop] + '"');
}
return new hbs.SafeString(
"<a " + attrs.join(" ") + ">" + text + "</a>"
);
});
# in markup
{{{link 'barc.com' href='http://barc.com'}}}
Asynchronous helpers
hbs.registerAsyncHelper('readFile', function(filename, cb) {
fs.readFile(path.join(viewsDir, filename), 'utf8', function(err, content) {
cb(new hbs.SafeString(content));
});
});
# in markup
{{{readFile 'tos.txt'}}}
var hbs = require('express-hbs');
var instance1 = hbs.create();
var instance2 = hbs.create();
This allows you to create isolated instances with their own cache system and handlebars engine.
in File app.js
app.set('PROD_MODE', ('production' === app.get('env')));
File views/layout/default.hbs
<html>
<head>
<title>{{title}}</title>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css"/>
{{{block "pageStyles"}}}
</head>
<body>
{{{body}}}
{{> scripts}}
{{#if settings.PROD_MODE}}
{{{block 'googleAnalyticsScripts'}}}
{{/if}}
</body>
</html>
File views/index.hbs
{{!< default}}
{{#contentFor 'pageStyles'}}
<style>
.clicker {
color: blue;
};
</style>
{{/contentFor}}
<h1>{{title}}</h1>
<p class="clicker">Click me!</p>
To run example project
npm install -d
node example/app.js
The test suite requires the grunt-cli package:
npm install -g grunt-cli
npm install -d
Once everything's installed, just run:
npm test
Inspiration and code from donpark/hbs
Big thanks!
- Erin Noe-Payne
- Hannah Wolfe
- Ivan Stojic
- Jacob Gable
- John Lindal
- Karl Johan Kleist
- Mario Gutierrez
- Norman Chen
- Olivier Lance
- Peter deHaan
- Seb Gotvitch
- williamcoates
- William Dibbern
The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2012, 2013 Barc, Inc.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.