[Koha-devel] Discussion for Bug 14757 - Allow the use of Template Toolkit syntax for slips and notices

[Jonathan Druart]

Hello Kyle and others,

I really like the idea :)
I don't see major issues, and the lack of editor is a wrong issue
(what kind of editor do you want??)
The main point is that it will be much more powerful that our current
homemade syntax parser.
I have already used this enhancement on bug 15705: without the TT
syntax, I would never managed to answer the need (display a specific
error on notifying the user, depending on what was wrong).

IMO there are 3 steps to implement:
1/ Update existing notices to match our current TT syntax: [% var %]
OR (and maybe better) set START_TAG and END_TAG to '<<' and '>>' and
we have nothing to do here :)
2/ Take care of some specific variables we currently support:
LibrarianFirstname, LibrarianSurname, LibrarianEmailaddress, count,
today, ...
3/ Support of "repeatable": at the moment we cannot loop on elements
with [% FOREACH %], it's a shame and frustrating

Note that we already support the TT syntax in the CSV profiles (bug 12404).

The main question is: could we add TT directive in newly created
notices (see bug 15705 again)?
I would answer yes: it will add examples and people will notice that
something has changed. With a good help and good examples, it should
not be too hard to understand what does the code.

Cheers,
Jonathan

2016-02-02 17:52 GMT+00:00 Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall at gmail.com>:
> I would like to start the discussion Marcel wanted to have at the dev
> meeting.
>
> Right now, we have one bespoke syntax for slips and notices with all kinds
> of caveats and limitations.
>
> My first instinct was that we should over time tear out this old syntax and
> replace it with TT. However, there are some issues:
>
> 1) TT is a bit more complicated ( and more powerful of course ) than our
> custom syntax
> 2) We have an editor for our current syntax ( though it is somewhat
> problematic to use at times, as not all fields in the editor are actually
> available on the notices where they display )
> 3) Creating an editor for TT would be somewhat non-trivial if we were to
> replace what we have with a better and more advanced way of dealing with
> data passed to the slip or notice.
>
> I'm wondering if we should, at least for the time being, consider the
> existing notice syntax as the "basic" mode for slips and notices, and have
> the ability for TT in notices and slips be an 'advanced' mode.
>
> Basically, that means that nothing will change for librarians. The current
> syntax and editor will continue to be what they are. Instead, 'advanced'
> users can simply start using TT in their notices and slips. What we will do
> is document how to use TT in slips and notices in the manual.
>
> So, what I would do at this point is deprecate my replacement notices (
> keeping the new methods where necessary for the advanced mode ), and create
> some good documentation. That way we get the power of TT while retaining
> backwards compatibility!
>
> What does everyone think?
> Kyle
>
> http://www.kylehall.info
> ByWater Solutions ( http://bywatersolutions.com )
> Meadville Public Library ( http://www.meadvillelibrary.org )
> Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )
>
> _______________________________________________
> Koha-devel mailing list
> Koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org
> http://lists.koha-community.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/koha-devel
> website : http://www.koha-community.org/
> git : http://git.koha-community.org/
> bugs : http://bugs.koha-community.org/