Mustache + nanoc requirements

mustache_plus_nanoc.md

Goal: excellent Mustache support in nanoc

Need alternatives for:

• <%= item[:blah] %> → {{ item:blah }}
• <%= item.path %> → {{ item.path }}
• <%= layout[:blah] %> → {{ layout:blah }}
• <%= config[:blah] %> → {{ config:blah }}
• <%= some_helper(…) %> → ???
• <% some_helper(…) do %>…<% end %> → ???

Maybe these (not sure whether these are necessary in logicless templates):

• <%= @items['/some/item/'][:blah] %> → ???
• <%= @items['/some/item/'].path %> (and compiled_content etc) → ???

Conventions used here:

• {{ item:blah }}: access attribute :blah in current item (totally not sure whether I like the :)
• {{ item.path }}: call “method” path on current item (not really a method call, because you won’t be able to just call any method)

I'm not sure if this is contrary to the design of nanoc, but what about allowing for a "global" context hash that gets mixed in to each expansion? I would like to be able to use data structures that I create in the preprocess block such as sorted category lists, etc.

Then layouts could use

{{#categories.news}}
  <li>{{title}}</li>
{{/categories.news}}

I think Mustache only works with key-value pairs, but {{ item.location.venue_city }} could work if you have a key item.location.venue_city and value Boston, MA.

As for globals, I’d suggest using the @config instead of globals, because the latter may break dependency tracking in odd ways.

Just checked (using defunkt/mustache):

>> require 'mustache'
=> true
>> Mustache.render("Hello {{planet.n}}", :planet => { 'n' => 3 })
=> "Hello 3"

Some ideas on accessing “custom” (e.g. :title) vs “built-in” attributes (e.g. path):

• {{ item.:title }} and {{ item.path }}
• {{ item.meta.title }} and {{ item.path }}
• {{ item.attr.title }} and {{ item.path }}

It looks like defunkt/mustache already performs string -> symbol mapping. Example

require 'mustache'

context = {
    'item' => {
        'string' => 'string key',
        :symbol => 'symbol key',
        'both' => 'string key',
        :both => 'symbol key'
    }
}

puts Mustache.render(".string\t{{item.string}}", context)
puts Mustache.render(".symbol\t{{item.symbol}}", context)
puts Mustache.render(".both\t{{item.both}}", context)

...outputs:

.string string key
.symbol symbol key
.both   symbol key