pz

Dead simple templating. Requires Node.js.

Install

npm install -g pz

Creating your first template

$ pz --create template
? Name: foo
? Template file extension: tmpl
? View engine: lodash
? Outputted file name: ./somewhere/<%= foo_name %>.js

Generating a file using your first template.

Your template is empty (we'll fix that later), but you can already use it to generate new files:

$ pz --create foo
? Name: bar
? Description: A pretty useless file, for now!

Customizing your template.

In the subdirectory /pz-templates/create/foo, you'll find two files: foo.tmpl and index.js. We can edit the prompts defined in index.js. Pz uses Inquirer to handle command prompting. We'll answer these prompts whenever we create a new foo file.

module.exports = {
    translate: {
        'foo.tmpl': './somewhere/<%= foo_name %>.js'
    },
    engine: 'lodash',
    beforePrompt: function(context, done) {
		//this is an optional function
        console.log('I\'mma bout to prompt you.');
        done(); 
    },
	beforeRender: function(context, done) {
		//this is an optional function
		//context.viewModel.anotherValue = 1;
		//console.log(context.viewModel);
		done();
	},
    prompts: [
        {
            'name': 'foo_name',
            'message': 'Name'
        },
        {
            'name': 'description',
            'message': 'Description'
        },
        {
            'name': 'message',
            'message': 'Message',
            'default': 'Aloha, World!'
        }
    ],
    after: function() {
		//this is an optional function
        //console.log('all done.');
    }
};

Let's edit the template file, foo.tmpl, to make use of our prompts:

'use strict';

/*
*	<%= foo_name %>
*	<%= description %>
*/

(function($) {
	$(function() {
		alert('<%= message %>');
	});
})(jQuery);

Time to generate a new foo file:

$ pz --create foo
I'mma bout to prompt you.
? Name: hello
? Description: Say hello using javascript.
? Message: Aloha, world!

Here's the generated somewhere/hello.js file:

'use strict';

/*
*	hello
*	Say hello using javascript.
*/

(function($) {
	$(function() {
		alert('Aloha, World!');
	});
})(jQuery);

Sharing templates and view models

Let's say our foo template lives in git/pz-templates. But we want to use foo in the directory git/chocolate. First, we'll need to create a pz config file in the chocolate folder:

$ cd chocolate
$ pz --create config

Then, open the generated config file, at documents/git/chocolate/pz-templates/config.json, and add the full git/pz-templates path to the paths array. We'll also add some context variables, just for kicks:

{
	"context": {
		"author": "Evan Nagle",
		"email": "[email protected]",
		"version": "1.0.0"
	},
	"paths": [
		"C:/.../pz-templates"
	]
}

We're good to go!

When working in the chocolate directory, our template files can make use of the context variables:

'use strict';

/*
*	<%= foo_name %>
*	<%= description %>
*
*	Author: <%= context.author %>
*	Email: <%= context.email %>
*	Version: <%= context.version %>	
*/

(function($) {
	$(function() {
		alert('<%= message %>');
	});
})(jQuery);