NAME Text::MicroMason::Docs::ReadMe - About the MicroMason Distribution MOTIVATION The HTML::Mason module provides a useful syntax for dynamic template interpretation (sometimes called embedded scripting): plain text (or HTML) containing occasional chunks of Perl code whose results are interpolated into the text when the template is "executed." However, HTML::Mason also provides a full-featured web application framework with numerous other functions, and there are times in which I'd like to use the templating capability without configuring a full Mason installation. Thus, the Text::MicroMason module was born: it supports the core aspects of the HTML::Mason syntax ("<%...%>" expressions, "%...\n" lines and "<%perl>..." blocks, "<& file &>" includes, "%ARGS" and "$_out->()"), and omits the features that are web specific (like autohandlers) or are less widely used (like "<%method>" blocks). You may well be thinking "yet another dynamic templating module? Sheesh!" And you'd have a good point. There certainly are a wide variety of templating toolkits on CPAN already. (For a brief list see Text::MicroMason::Docs::Related.) Nonetheless, I think this module occupies a useful niche: it provides a reasonable subset of HTML::Mason syntax in a very light-weight fashion. In comparison to the other modules listed, MicroMason aims to be fairly lightweight, using one eval per parse, converting the template to a compiled subroutine reference, and requiring less than five hundred lines of Perl code. Although it notoriously difficult to fairly benchmark competing template frameworks, at least some anecdotal evidence indicates that this module performs reasonably well. http://use.perl.org/~hctif/journal/25211 http://www.gtchat.de/templateengines/templateengines_en.html It is also highly modular, allowing users to select and enable the combination of features they desire. Automatic caching, safe compartments, post-processing and other features are available as mixin classes that are loaded on demand. I've recently added mixin classes that emulate the template syntax used by Apache::ASP, Embperl, HTML::Template, PLP, Text::Template, and Text::QuickTemplate. DISTRIBUTION STATUS This is version 1.992 of Text::MicroMason. This is a BETA version on a development track for a 2.0 release. This module has been available on CPAN for over four years. If you encounter any problems, please inform the author and I'll endeavor to patch them promptly. This module's CPAN registration should read: Name DSLIP Description -------------- ----- --------------------------------------------- Text:: Group 11: Text Processing ::MicroMason Rdpfp Simplified HTML::Mason Templating This release has been tested succesfully on the following platforms: 5.6.1 on darwin 5.8.6 on darwin-thread-multi-2level Earlier releases have also tested OK on a wide variety of platforms. You may review the current test results from CPAN-Testers: http://testers.cpan.org/show/Text-MicroMason.html PREREQUISITES This module should work with any version of Perl 5 on any standard platform. There is one pre-requisite module not included with the core distribution which must be installed from CPAN: Class::MixinFactory. If you want to use the Text::Template compatibility mode, you will also need to install Text::Balanced. INSTALLATION You should be able to install this module using the CPAN shell interface: perl -MCPAN -e 'install Text::MicroMason' Alternately, you may retrieve this package from CPAN ("http://search.cpan.org/~evo/") or from the author's site ("http://www.evoscript.org/Text-MicroMason"). After downloading the distribution, follow the normal procedure to unpack and install it, using the commands shown below or their local equivalents on your system: tar xzf Text-MicroMason-*.tar.gz cd Text-MicroMason-* perl Makefile.PL make test && sudo make install SUPPORT If you have questions or feedback about this module, please feel free to contact the author at the below address. Although there is no formal support program, I do attempt to answer email promptly. I would be particularly interested in any suggestions towards improving the documentation, correcting any Perl-version or platform dependencies, as well as general feedback and suggested additions. Bug reports that contain a failing test case are greatly appreciated, and suggested patches will be promptly considered for inclusion in future releases. You can report bugs via the CPAN web tracking system, or send mail to "Dist=Text-MicroMason#rt.cpan.org", replacing "#" with "@". http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Text-MicroMason COMMUNITY If you've found this module useful or have feedback about your experience with it, consider sharing your opinion with other Perl users by posting your comment to CPAN's ratings system. http://cpanratings.perl.org/rate/?distribution=Text-MicroMason For more general discussion, you may wish to post a message on the CPAN::Forum, on PerlMonks, or on the comp.lang.perl.modules newsgroup. http://www.cpanforum.com/dist/Text-MicroMason http://perlmonks.org/?node=Seekers%20of%20Perl%20Wisdom http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.perl.modules THANKS My sincere thanks to the following users for their feedback: Pascal Barbedor Mark Hampton Philip King Daniel J. Wright William Kern Tommi Maekitalo Alan Ferrency Jonas Alves Alexander SOURCE MATERIAL Portions based on HTML::Mason by Jonathan Swartz. Portions based on Embperl by Gerald Richter. Portions based on HTML::Template by Sam Tregar. Portions based on PLP by Juerd Waalboer. Portions based on Text::Template by Mark Jason Dominus. Portions based on Text::QuickTemplate by Eric J. Roode. AUTHOR Developed by Matthew Simon Cavalletto at Evolution Softworks. You may contact the author directly at "evo#cpan.org" or "simonm#cavalletto.org", replacing "#" with "@". Custom development and technical consulting are available at "www.evolutionsoftworks.com". More free Perl software is available at "www.evoscript.org". LICENSE Copyright 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Matthew Simon Cavalletto. Portions copyright 2001 Evolution Online Systems, Inc. You may use, modify, and distribute this software under the same terms as Perl.