JsRender: best-of-breed templating
Simple and intuitive, powerful and extensible, lightning fast
For templated content in the browser or on Node.js (with Express 4, Hapi and Browserify integration)
JsRender is a light-weight but powerful templating engine, highly extensible, and optimized for high-performance rendering, without DOM dependency. It is designed for use in the browser or on Node.js, with or without jQuery.
JsRender and JsViews together provide the next-generation implementation of the official jQuery plugins JQuery Templates, and JQuery Data Link -- and supersede those libraries.
Documentation and downloads
Documentation, downloads, samples and API docs and tutorials are available on the www.jsviews.com website.
The content of this ReadMe is available also as a JsRender Quickstart.
JsRender and JsViews
JsRender is used for data-driven rendering of templates to strings, ready for insertion in the DOM.
It is also used by the JsViews platform, which adds data binding to JsRender templates, and provides a fully-fledged MVVM platform for easily creating interactive data-driven single page apps and websites.
JsRender installation
jsrender.js is available from downloads on the jsviews.com site.
CDN delivery is available from the cdnjs CDN at cdnjs.com/libraries/jsrender.
Alternatively:
- It can be installed with Bower, using
$ bower install jsrender - It can be loaded using an AMD script loader, such as RequireJS
- For installation using Node.js (npm) see JsRender Node.js Quickstart
- (For browser loading using Browserify or webpack - see JsRender Node.js Quickstart, JsRender as a Browserify module and JsRender as a webpack module)
Using JsRender with jQuery
When jQuery is present, JsRender loads as a jQuery plugin and adds $.views, $.templates and $.render to the jQuery namespace object, $ (or window.jQuery).
Example HTML page: JsRender with jQuery
Using JsRender without jQuery
When jQuery is not present, JsRender provides its own global namespace object: jsrender (or window.jsrender)
The jsrender namespace provides the same methods/APIs as with jQuery, so if jQuery is not present you can still use all the API examples, by simply writing:
var $ = window.jsrender;
// Now use code as in samples/examples, with $.views... $.templates... $.render...
(Note: If jQuery is not loaded, then passing a jQuery selector to $.templates() will only work for the ID selector)
Example HTML page: JsRender without jQuery
JsRender on Node.js
JsRender can be used to render templates on the server (using Node.js) as well as in the browser. JsRender on Node.js has all the features and APIs of JsRender in the browser, plus some additional ones specific to Node.js.
It also provides built-in Express, Hapi and Browserify integration -- which makes it easy to register templates as simple .html files on the file system, and then load and render them either server-side, client-side or both.
Learn more: JsRender Node.js Quickstart and JsRender APIs for Node.js.
Code samples: See JsRender Node Starter for running code examples of Node.js scenarios, including with Express, Hapi and Browserify.
JsRender usage
Define a template
From a string:
var tmpl = $.templates("Name: {{:name}}");
From a template declared as markup in a script block:
<script id="myTemplate" type="text/x-jsrender">
Name: {{:name}}
</script>
then, somewhere in your script:
var tmpl = $.templates("#myTemplate"); // Pass in a jQuery selector for the script block
On Node.js, from an .html file containing the template markup:
var $ = require('jsrender'); // returns the jsrender namespace object
var tmpl = $.templates("./templates/myTemplate.html");
Render a template
tmpl.render(object) (or shortcut form: tmpl(object)) renders the template with the object as data context.
var tmpl = $.templates(" Name: {{:name}}<br/> ");
var person = {name: "Jim"};
// Render template for person object
var html = tmpl.render(person); // ready for insertion, e.g $("#result").html(html);
// result: "Name: Jim<br/> "
tmpl.render(array) (or tmpl(array)) renders the template once for each item in the array.
var people = [{name: "Jim"}, {name: "Pedro"}];
// Render template for people array
var html = tmpl.render(people); // ready for insertion...
// result: "Name: Jim<br/> Name: Pedro<br/> "
Register a named template - and render it
// Register named template - "myTmpl1
$.templates("myTmpl1", "Name: {{:name}}<br/> ");
var person = {name: "Jim"};
// Render named template
var html = $.templates.myTmpl1(person);
// Alternative syntax: var html = $.render.myTmpl1(person);
// result: "Name: Jim<br/> "
Template tags
Template tag syntax
-
All tags other than
{{: ...}}{{> ...}}{{* ...}}{{!-- --}}behave as block tags -
Block tags can have content, unless they use the self-closing syntax:
- Block tag - with content:
{{someTag ...}} content {{/someTag}} - Self-closing tag - no content (empty):
{{someTag .../}}
- Block tag - with content:
-
A particular case of self-closing syntax is when any block tag uses the named parameter
tmpl=...to reference an external template, which then replaces what would have been the block content:- Self-closing block tag referencing an external template:
{{someTag ... tmpl=.../}}(This lets you do template composition. See example.)
- Self-closing block tag referencing an external template:
-
Tags can take both unnamed arguments and named parameters:
{{someTag argument1 param1=...}} content {{/someTag}}- an example of a named parameter is the
tmpl=...parameter mentioned above - arguments and named parameters can be assigned values from simple data-paths such as
address.streetor from richer expressions such asproduct.quantity * 3.1 / 4.5, orname.toUpperCase()
Built-in tags
{{: ...}} (Evaluate)
{{: pathOrExpr}} inserts the value of the path or expression.
var data = {address: {street: "Main Street"} };
var tmpl = $.templates("<b>Street:</b> {{:address.street}}");
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "<b>Street:</b> Main Street"
{{> ...}} (HTML-encode)
{{> pathOrExpr}} inserts the HTML-encoded value of the path or expression.
var data = {condition: "a < b"};
var tmpl = $.templates("<b>Formula:</b> {{>condition}}");
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "<b>Formula:</b> a < b"
{{include ...}} (Template composition - partials)
{{include pathOrExpr}}...{{/include}}evaluates the block content against a specified/modified data context.
{{include ... tmpl=.../}} evaluates the specified template against an (optionally modified) context, and inserts the result. (Template composition).
var data = {name: "Jim", address: {street: "Main Street"} };
// Register two named templates
$.templates({
streetTmpl: "<i>{{:street}}</i>",
addressTmpl: "{{:name}}'s address is {{include address tmpl='streetTmpl'/}}."
});
// Render outer template
var html = $.templates.addressTmpl(data);
// result: "Jim's address is <i>Main Street</i>"
{{for ...}} (Template composition, with iteration over arrays)
{{for pathOrExpr}}...{{/for}}evaluates the block content against a specified data context. If the new data context is an array, it iterates over the array, renders the block content with each data item as context, and concatenates the result.
{{for pathOrExpr tmpl=.../}} evaluates the specified template against a data context. If the new data context is an array, it iterates over the array, renders the template with each data item as context, and concatenates the result.
<script id="peopleTmpl" type="text/x-jsrender">
<ul>{{for people}}
<li>Name: {{:name}}</li>
{{/for}}</ul>
</script>
var data = {people: [{name: "Jim"}, {name: "Pedro"}] };
var tmpl = $.templates("#peopleTmpl");
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "<ul> <li>Name: Jim</li> <li>Name: Pedro</li> </ul>"
{{props ...}} (Iteration over properties of an object)
{{props pathOrExpr}}...{{/prop}} or {{props pathOrExpr tmpl=.../}} iterates over the properties of the object returned by the path or expression, and renders the content/template once for each property - using as data context: {key: propertyName, prop: propertyValue}.
<script id="personTmpl" type="text/x-jsrender">
<ul>{{props person}}
<li>{{:key}}: {{:prop}}</li>
{{/props}}</ul>
</script>
var data = {person: {first: "Jim", last: "Varsov"} };
var tmpl = $.templates("#personTmpl");
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "<ul> <li>first: Jim</li> <li>last: Varsov</li> </ul>"
{{if ...}} (Conditional inclusion)
{{if pathOrExpr}}...{{/if}} or {{if pathOrExpr tmpl=.../}} renders the content/template only if the evaluated path or expression is 'truthy'.
{{if pathOrExpr}}...{{else pathOrExpr2}}...{{else}}...{{/if}} behaves as 'if' - 'else if' - 'else' and renders each block based on the conditions.
<script id="personTmpl" type="text/x-jsrender">
{{if nickname}}
Nickname: {{:nickname}}
{{else name}}
Name: {{:name}}
{{else}}
No name provided
{{/if}}
</script>
var data = {nickname: "Jim", name: "James"};
var tmpl = $.templates("#personTmpl");
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "Nickname: Jim"
Other built-in tags
For details on all the above built-in tags, as well as comment tags {{!-- ... --}} and allow code tags {{* ... }} and {{*: ...}}, see the tags documentation on jsviews.com.
Custom tags
Creating your own custom tags is easy. You can provide an object, with render method, template, event handlers, etc. See samples here and here on jsviews.com. But for simple tags, you may only need a simple render function, or a template string.
For example the two following definitions for a {{fullName/}} tag provide equivalent behavior:
As a render function:
$.views.tags("fullName", function(val) {
return val.first + " " + val.last;
});
Or as a template string:
$.views.tags("fullName", "{{:first}} {{:last}}");
Either way, the result will be as follows:
var tmpl = $.templates("{{fullName person/}}");
var data = {person: {first: "Jim", last: "Varsov"}};
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "Jim Varsov"
Helpers
For details on helpers, see the Helpers documentation topic on jsviews.com.
Here is a simple example. Two helpers - a function, and a string:
var myHelpers = {
upper: function(val) { return val.toUpperCase(); },
title: "Sir"
};
Access the helpers using the ~myhelper syntax:
var tmpl = $.templates("{{:~title}} {{:first}} {{:~upper(last)}}");
We can pass the helpers in with the render() method
var data = {first: "Jim", last: "Varsov"};
var html = tmpl.render(data, myHelpers);
// result: "Sir Jim VARSOV"
Or we can register helpers globally:
$.views.helpers(myHelpers);
var data = {first: "Jim", last: "Varsov"};
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "Sir Jim VARSOV"
Converters
Converters are used with the {{:...}} tag, using the syntax {{mycvtr: ...}}}.
Example - an upper converter, to convert to upper case:
$.views.converters("upper", function(val) { return val.toUpperCase(); });
var tmpl = $.templates("{{:first}} {{upper:last}}");
var data = {first: "Jim", last: "Varsov"};
var html = tmpl.render(data);
// result: "Jim VARSOV"
Logic and expressions
JsRender supports rich expressions and logic, but at the same time encapsulates templates to prevent random access to globals. If you want to provide access to global variables within a template, you have to pass them in as data or as helpers.
You can assign rich expressions to any template arguments or parameters, as in:
{{:person.nickname ? "Nickname: " + person.nickname : "(has no nickname)"}}
or
{{if ~limits.maxVal > (product.price*100 - discount)/rate}}
...
{{else ~limits.minVal < product.price}}
...
{{else}}
...
{{/if}}
Documentation and APIs
See the www.jsviews.com site, including the JsRender Quickstart and JsRender APIs topics.
Demos
Demos and samples can be found at www.jsviews.com/#samples, and throughout the API documentation.
(See also the demos folder of the GitHub repository - available here as live samples).
391 Dec 29, 2022
2k Jan 3, 2023
4 Nov 21, 2022
167 Dec 29, 2022
652 Dec 30, 2022
2 Jan 1, 2023
7.4k Jan 4, 2023
6 Jul 27, 2022
2 Jun 4, 2022
28 Dec 29, 2022
38 Dec 27, 2022
7.4k Dec 25, 2022
208 Dec 20, 2022
17.9k Jan 4, 2023
16 Dec 24, 2022
22 Sep 14, 2022
1 Jan 21, 2022
12.7k Dec 30, 2022