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<a name="developer_guide_-_contents"></a><div class="section"><h2>Developer Guide - Contents</h2>
<p>
<ol type="1">
<li>
<a href="#introduction">Introduction and Getting Started</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#resources">Resources</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#how_velocity_works">How Velocity Works</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#thefundamentalpattern">The Fundamental Pattern</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#to_singleton_or_not_to_singleton...">To Singleton Or Not To Singleton...</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#singleton">Singleton Model</a></li>
<li><a href="#separate">Separate Instance</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#the_context">The Context</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#thebasics">The Basics</a></li>
<li><a href="#supportforiterativeobjectsforforeach">Support for Iterative Objects for #foreach()</a></li>
<li><a href="#contextchaining">Context Chaining</a></li>
<li><a href="#objectscreatedinthetemplate">Objects Created by the Template</a></li>
<li><a href="#othercontextissues">Other Context Issues</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#using_velocity">Using Velocity in General Applications</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#thevelocityhelperclass">The Velocity Helper Class</a></li>
<li><a href="#exceptions">Exceptions</a></li>
<li><a href="#miscellaneousdetails">Miscellaneous Details</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#application_attributes">Application Attributes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#configuring_event_handlers">Configuring Event Handlers</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#velocity_configuration_keys_and_values">Velocity Configuration Keys and Values</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#configuring_logging">Configuring Logging</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#usinglog4jwithexistingcategory">Using Log4j With Existing Category</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#simpleexampleofacustomlogger">Simple Example of a Custom Logger</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#configuring_resource_loaders">Configuring the Resource Loaders (template loaders)</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#resourceloaders">Resource Loaders</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#configurationexamples">Configuration Examples</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#resourcemanagerandcache">Pluggable Resource Manager and Resource Cache</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#template_encoding_for_internationalization">Template Encoding for Internationalization</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#velocity_and_xml">Velocity and XML</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#summary">Summary</a>
</li>
</ol>
</p>
</div>
<a name="introduction"></a><div class="section"><h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>
Velocity is a Java-based template engine, a simple and powerful development tool
that allows you to easily create and render documents that format and present
your data. In this guide, we hope to give an overview of the basics of
development using Velocity.
<p>
<strong>Building Web Applications with Velocity</strong>
</p>
Velocity is often used for building web applications
In order to use Velocity in a web app you'll need a servlet or servlet-based
framework. The easiest way to get started is with
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/tools/devel/view/" class="externalLink">VelocityViewServlet</a> in the
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/tools/devel/" class="externalLink">Velocity Tools</a>
subproject. You can also use any of a number of
<a href="http://wiki.apache.org/velocity/PoweredByVelocity" class="externalLink">third party frameworks</a>
or build your own servlet using the techniques described in this document.
</p>
<p>
We suggest you read this article on
<a href="../webapps.html">getting started with web applications</a> for
more detail on the various options.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Downloading Velocity</strong>
</p>
<p>
You can download the latest release version of
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/download.cgi#engine" class="externalLink">Velocity</a>
or <a href="http://velocity.apache.org/download.cgi#tools" class="externalLink">Velocity Tools</a>
from the main Apache Velocity download site. For Velocity itself, source is included with the binary download.
</p>
<p>
If you want to download the latest source, you can do so via the Subversion (svn)
source control system, or download a complete
<a href="http://svn.apache.org/snapshots/velocity/" class="externalLink">nightly snapshot.</a>
</p>
<p>
Instructions for building Velocity from source can be found in the
<a href="build.html">Build</a> document.
</p>
<strong>Dependencies</strong>
<p>
Velocity uses elements of the Java 2 API such as collections, and therefore
building requires the Java 2 Standard Edition SDK (Software Development Kit).
To run Velocity, the Java 2 Standard Edition RTE (Run Time Environment)
is required (or you can use the SDK, of course).
</p>
<p>
Velocity also is dependent upon a few packages for general functionality. They
are included in the <code>build/lib</code> directory for convenience, but
the default build target (see above) does not include them. If you use the
default build target, you must add the dependencies to your classpath.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/collections" class="externalLink">
<b>Jakarta Commons Collections</b></a> - required.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/lang" class="externalLink">
<b>Jakarta Commons Lang</b></a> - required.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://excalibur.apache.org/logger.html" class="externalLink">
<b>Excalibur (ex-Avalon) Logkit</b></a> - optional, but very common.
Needed if using the default file-based logging in Velocity.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/oro/index.html" class="externalLink"><b>Jakarta ORO</b></a>
- optional. Needed when using the
<code>org.apache.velocity.convert.WebMacro</code> template conversion
utility.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<a name="resources"></a><div class="section"><h2>Resources</h2>
<p>
There are quite a few resources and examples available to the programmer, and we
recommend that you look at our examples, documentation and even the source code.
Some great sources are:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
The user and developer community: join us via the
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/contact.html" class="externalLink">mail-lists</a>. Mail list archives are available from that page, too.
</li>
<li>
Wiki:
<a href="http://wiki.apache.org/velocity/" class="externalLink">http://wiki.apache.org/velocity/</a>
The Velocity wiki contains articles, sample code, and other community-written content.
</li>
<li>
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
<a href="http://wiki.apache.org/velocity/VelocityFAQ" class="externalLink">http://wiki.apache.org/velocity/VelocityFAQ</a>
please visit this page to read the latest FAQ and to contribute your own answers.
</li>
<li>
source code: <code>src/java/...</code>: all the source code to the
Velocity project
</li>
<li>
application example 1: <code>examples/app_example1</code>: a simple
example showing how to use Velocity in an application program.
</li>
<li>
application example 2: <code>examples/app_example2</code>: a simple
example showing how to use Velocity in an application program using the
Velocity application utility class.
</li>
<li>
logger example: <code>examples/logger_example</code>: a simple example
showing how to create a custom logging class and register it with
Velocity to receive all log messages.
</li>
<li>
XML example: <code>examples/xmlapp_example</code>: a simple example
showing how to use JDOM to read and access XML document data from
within a Velocity template. It also includes a demonstration of
a recursive Velocimacro that walks the document tree.
</li>
<li>
event example: <code>examples/event_example</code>: An example that
demonstrates the use of the event handling API.
</li>
<li>
Anakia application: <code>examples/anakia</code>: example application
showing how to use Velocity for creating stylesheet renderings of xml data
</li>
<li>
documentation: <code>docs</code>: all the generated documentation for the
Velocity project in html
</li>
<li>
API documentation: <code>docs/api</code>: the generated Javadoc
documentation for the Velocity project
</li>
<li>
templates: <code>test/templates</code>: a large collection of template
examples in our testbed directory, these are a great source of useage
examples of VTL, the Velocity Template Language
</li>
<li>
context example: <code>examples/context_example</code>: two examples
showing how the Velocity context can be extended. For advanced users.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
All directory references above are relative to the distribution root directory.
</p>
</div>
<a name="how_velocity_works"></a><div class="section"><h2>How Velocity Works</h2>
<p>
<a name="thefundamentalpattern"><strong>'The Fundamental Pattern'</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
When using Velocity in an application program or in a servlet
(or anywhere, actually), you will generally do the following:
</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Initialize Velocity. This applies to both usage patterns for Velocity,
the Singleton as well as the 'separate runtime instance' (see more on this
below), and you only do this once.</li>
<li>Create a Context object (more on what that is later).</li>
<li>Add your data objects to the Context.</li>
<li>Choose a template.</li>
<li>'Merge' the template and your data to produce the ouput.</li>
</ol>
<p>
In code, using the singleton pattern via the
<code>org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity</code> class,
this looks like
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import java.io.StringWriter;
import org.apache.velocity.VelocityContext;
import org.apache.velocity.Template;
import org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity;
import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
import org.apache.velocity.exception.ParseErrorException;
import org.apache.velocity.exception.MethodInvocationException;
Velocity.init();
VelocityContext context = new VelocityContext();
context.put( &quot;name&quot;, new String(&quot;Velocity&quot;) );
Template template = null;
try
{
template = Velocity.getTemplate(&quot;mytemplate.vm&quot;);
}
catch( ResourceNotFoundException rnfe )
{
// couldn't find the template
}
catch( ParseErrorException pee )
{
// syntax error: problem parsing the template
}
catch( MethodInvocationException mie )
{
// something invoked in the template
// threw an exception
}
catch( Exception e )
{}
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
template.merge( context, sw );
</pre></div>
<p>
That's the basic pattern. It is very simple, isn't it? This is generally what
happens when you use Velocity to render a template. You probably won't be
writing code exactly like this - we provide a few tools to help make it even
easier. However, no matter how to use Velocity the above sequence is what is happening
either explicitly, or behind the scenes.
</p>
</div>
<a name="to_singleton_or_not_to_singleton..."></a><div class="section"><h2>To Singleton Or Not To Singleton...</h2>
<p>
As of Velocity 1.2 and later, developers now have two options
for using the Velocity engine, the singleton model and the separate instance
model. The same core Velocity code is used for both approaches, which are
provided to make Velocity easier to integrate into your Java application.
</p>
<p>
<a name="singleton"><strong>Singleton Model</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
This is the legacy pattern, where there is only one instance of the Velocity
engine in the JVM (or web application, depending) that is shared by all.
This is very convenient as it
allows localized configuration and sharing of resources. For example, this
is a very appropriate model for use in a Servlet 2.2+ compliant web application
as each web application can have its own instance of Velocity, allowing
that web application's servlet to share resources like templates, a logger, etc.
The singleton is accessable via the <code>org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity</code>
class, and and example of use:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity;
import org.apache.velocity.Template;
...
/*
* Configure the engine - as an example, we are using
* ourselves as the logger - see logging examples
*/
Velocity.setProperty(
Velocity.RUNTIME_LOG_LOGSYSTEM, this);
/*
* now initialize the engine
*/
Velocity.init();
...
Template t = Velocity.getTemplate(&quot;foo.vm&quot;);
</pre></div>
<p>
<a name="separate"><strong>Separate Instance</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
New in version 1.2, the separate instance allows you to create, configure
and use as many instances of Velocity as you wish in the same JVM
(or web application.) This
is useful when you wish to support separate configurations, such as template
directories, loggers, etc in the same application. To use separate
instances, use the <code>org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine</code>
class. An example, which parallels the above singleton example, looks
like:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine;
import org.apache.velocity.Template;
...
/*
* create a new instance of the engine
*/
VelocityEngine ve = new VelocityEngine();
/*
* configure the engine. In this case, we are using
* ourselves as a logger (see logging examples..)
*/
ve.setProperty(
VelocityEngine.RUNTIME_LOG_LOGSYSTEM, this);
/*
* initialize the engine
*/
ve.init();
...
Template t = ve.getTemplate(&quot;foo.vm&quot;);
</pre></div>
<p>
As you can see, this is very simple and straightforward. Except for some simple
syntax changes, using Velocity as a singleton or as separate instances requires
no changes to the high-level structure of your application or templates.
</p>
<p>
As a programmer, the classes you should use to interact with the Velocity
internals are the <code>org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity</code> class if
using the singleton model, or <code>org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine</code>
if using the non-singleton model ('separate instance').
</p>
<p>
At no time should an application use the internal <code>Runtime, RuntimeConstants,
RuntimeSingleton or RuntimeInstance</code> classes in the
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime</code> package, as these are intended for
internal use only and may change over time. As mentioned above,
the classes you should use
are located in the <code>org.apache.velocity.app</code> package, and are the
<code>Velocity</code> and <code>VelocityEngine</code> classes. If anything is
missing or needed from those classes, do not hesitate to suggest changes - these
classes are intended for the application developer.
</p>
</div>
<a name="the_context"></a><div class="section"><h2>The Context</h2>
<a name="thebasics"><strong>The Basics</strong></a>
<p>
The concept of the 'context' is central to Velocity, and is a common technique
for moving a container of data around between parts of a system. The idea is
that the context is a 'carrier' of data between the Java layer (or you the
programmer) and the template layer ( or the designer ). You as the programmer
will gather objects of various types, whatever your application calls for, and
place them in the context. To the designer, these objects, and their methods
and properties, will become accessable via template elements called
<a href="vtl-reference-guide.html"> references</a>. Generally, you will work
with the designer to determine the data needs for the application. In a sense,
this will become an 'API' as you produce a data set for the designer to access
in the template. Therefore, in this phase of the development process it is
worth devoting some time and careful analysis.
</p>
<p>
While Velocity allows you to create your own context classes to support special
needs and techniques (like a context that accesses an LDAP server directly, for
example), a good basic implementation class called VelocityContext is provided
for you as part of the distribution.
</p>
<p>
VelocityContext is suitable for all general purpose needs, and we strongly
recommended that you use it. Only in exceptional and advanced cases will you
need to extend or create your own context implementation.
</p>
<p>
Using VelocityContext is as simple as using a normal Java Hashtable class.
While the interface contains other useful methods, the two main methods you
will use are
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
public Object put(String key, Object value);
public Object get(String key);
</pre></div>
<p>
Please note that like a Hashtable, the value must be derived from
java.lang.Object, and must not be null. Fundamental types like int or float must
be wrapped in the appropriate wrapper classes.
</p>
<p>
That's really all there is to basic context operations. For more information,
see the API documentation included in the distribution.
</p>
<p>
<a name="supportforiterativeobjectsforforeach"><strong>Support for Iterative Objects for
#foreach()</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
As a programmer, you have great freedom in the objects that you put into the
context. But as with most freedoms, this one comes with a little bit of
responsibility, so understand what Velocity supports, and any issues that may
arise. Velocity supports serveral types of collection types suitable for use
in the VTL <code>#foreach()</code> directive.
</p>
<ul>
<li> <code>Object [] </code> Regular object array, not much needs to be said
here. Velocity will internally wrap your array in a class that provides an
Iterator interface, but that shouldn't concern you as the programmer, or the
template author.
</li>
<li> <code>java.util.Collection</code> Velocity will use the
<code>iterator()</code> method to get an Iterator to use in the loop,
so if you are implementing a Collection interface on your object, please
ensure that <code>iterator()</code> returns a working Iterator.
</li>
<li> <code>java.util.Map </code> Here, Velocity depends upon the
<code>values()</code> method of the interface to get a <code>Collection</code>
interface, on which <code>iterator()</code> is called to retrieve an Iterator
for the loop.
</li>
<li> <code>java.util.Iterator</code> USE WITH CAUTION: This is currently
supported only provisionally - the issue of concern is the
'non-resettablity' of the Iterator. If a 'naked' Iterator is placed into
the context, and used in more than one #foreach(), subsequent #foreach()
blocks after the first will fail, as the Iterator doesn't reset.
</li>
<li> <code>java.util.Enumeration</code> USE WITH CAUTION: Like
<code>java.util.Iterator</code>, this is currently
supported only provisionally - the issue of concern is the
'non-resettablity' of the Enumeration. If a 'naked' Enumeration
is placed into the context, and used in more than one #foreach(),
subsequent #foreach() blocks after the first will fail,
as the Enumeration doesn't reset.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
In the case of the <code>Iterator</code> and <code>Enumeration</code>, it is
recommended that they are placed in the context only when it cannot be avoided,
and you should let Velocity find the appropriate reusable iterative interface when
that is sufficient and possible.
</p>
<p>
There are good reasons to use the <code>java.util.Iterator</code> interface
directly (large data sets via JDBC, for example), but if it can be
avoided, it might be better to use something else. By 'directly' , we meant
doing something like:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
Vector v = new Vector();
v.addElement(&quot;Hello&quot;);
v.addElement(&quot;There&quot;);
context.put(&quot;words&quot;, v.iterator() );
</pre></div>
<p>
where the Iterator itself is placed into the context. Instead, if you
simply did:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
context.put(&quot;words&quot;, v );
</pre></div>
<p>
then all would be fine: Velocity would figure out that Vector implement
Collection (via List), and therefore will find the <code>iterator()</code>
method, and use that to get a 'fresh' Iterator for its use each time
it needs to. With just a plain Iterator (the first snippet above...),
once velocity has used it in a <code>#foreach()</code>, Velocity has
no way of getting a new one to use for the next <code>#foreach()</code>
it is used in. The result is no output from any subsequent
<code>#foreach()</code> blocks using that reference.
</p>
<p>
This above isn't meant to give the impression that iterating over
collections in Velocity is something that requires great care and
thought. Rather, the opposite is true, in general. Just be
careful when you place an Iterator into the context.
</p>
<a name="contextchaining"><strong>Context Chaining</strong></a>
<p>
An innovative feature of Velocity's context design is the concept
of <i>context chaining</i>. Also sometimes referred to as
<i>context wrapping</i>, this advanced feature allows you to connect
separate contexts together in a manner that makes it appear as one
'contiguous' context to the template.
</p>
<p>
This is best illustrated by an example:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
VelocityContext context1 = new VelocityContext();
context1.put(&quot;name&quot;,&quot;Velocity&quot;);
context1.put(&quot;project&quot;, &quot;Jakarta&quot;);
context1.put(&quot;duplicate&quot;, &quot;I am in context1&quot;);
VelocityContext context2 = new VelocityContext( context1 );
context2.put(&quot;lang&quot;, &quot;Java&quot; );
context2.put(&quot;duplicate&quot;, &quot;I am in context2&quot;);
template.merge( context2, writer );
</pre></div>
<p>
In the code above, we have set up context2 such that it <i>chains</i>
context1. This means that in the template, you can access any of
the items that were put into either of the two VelocityContext objects,
as long as there is no duplication of the keys used to add objects.
If that is the case, as it is above for the key 'duplicate', the object
stored in the nearest context in the chain will be available. In this
example above, the object returned would
be the string &quot;I am in context2&quot;.
</p>
<p>
Note that this duplication, or 'covering', of a context item does not in
any way harm or alter the covered object. So in the example above, the
string &quot;I am in context1&quot; is alive and well, still accessable via
context1.get(&quot;duplicate&quot;). But in the example above, the value of the
reference '$duplicate' in the template would be 'I am in context2',
and the template has no access to the covered string 'I am in context1'.
</p>
<p>
Note also that you have to be careful when you are relying on the template
to add information to a context that you will examine later after the
rendering. The changes to the context via <code>#set()</code> statements
in a template will affect only the outer context. So make sure that you
don't discard the outer context, expecting the data from the template to
have been placed onto the inner one.
</p>
<p>
This feature has many uses, the most common so far is providing layered
data access and toolsets.
</p>
<p>
As mentioned before, the Velocity context mechanism is also extendable,
but beyond the current scope of this guide. If you are interested,
please see the classes in the package <code>org.apache.velocity.context</code>
to see how the provided contexts are put together. Futher, there are a few
examples in the <code>examples/context_example</code> directory in the
distribution which show alternate implementations, including [a goofy] one
that uses a database as the backing storage.
</p>
<p>
Please note that these examples are unsupported and are there for
demonstration/educational purposes only.
</p>
<a name="objectscreatedinthetemplate"><strong>Objects Created in the
Template</strong></a>
<p>
There are two common situations where the Java code must deal with objects
created at runtime in the template:
</p>
<p>
When a template author calls a method of an object placed into
the context by Java code.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
#set($myarr = [&quot;a&quot;,&quot;b&quot;,&quot;c&quot;] )
$foo.bar( $myarr )
</pre></div>
<p>
When a template adds objects to the context, the Java code can access
those objects after the merge process is complete.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
#set($myarr = [&quot;a&quot;,&quot;b&quot;,&quot;c&quot;] )
#set( $foo = 1 )
#set( $bar = &quot;bar&quot;)
</pre></div>
<p>
Dealing with these cases if very straighforward, as there are just a few
things to know:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
The VTL RangeOperator [ 1..10 ] and ObjectArray [&quot;a&quot;,&quot;b&quot;] are
<code>java.util.ArrayList</code> objects when placed in the context
or passed to methods. Therefore, your methods that are designed to
accept arrays created in the template should be written with this
in mind.
</li>
<li>VTL Map references are unsurprisingly stored as <code>java.util.Map</code>.</li>
<li>
Decimal numbers will be Doubles or BigDecimals in the context, integer numbers will be
Integer, Long, or BigIntegers, and strings will be, of course, Strings.
</li>
<li>
Velocity will properly 'narrow' args to method calls, so calling
<code>setFoo( int i )</code> with an int placed into the
context via <code>#set()</code> will work fine.
</li>
</ul>
<a name="othercontextissues"><strong>Other Context Issues</strong></a>
<p>
One of the features provided by the VelocityContext
(or any Context derived from AbstractContext) is
node specific introspection caching. Generally, you as a the developer
don't need to worry about this when using the VelocityContext
as your context. However, there is currently one
known usage pattern where you must be aware of this feature.
</p>
<p>
The VelocityContext will accumulate intropection information about the
syntax nodes in a template as it visits those nodes. So, in the following
situation:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
You are iterating over the same template using the same VelocityContext
object.
</li>
<li>
Template caching is off.
</li>
<li>
You request the Template from getTemplate() on each iteration.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
It is possible that your VelocityContext will appear to 'leak' memory
(it is really just gathering more introspection information.) What
happens is that it accumulates template node introspection information
for each template it visits, and as template caching is off, it appears
to the VelocityContext that it is visiting a new template each time.
Hence it gathers more introspection information and grows. It is highly
recommended that you do one or more of the following:
</p>
<ul>
<li>Create a new VelocityContext for each excursion
down through the template render process. This will prevent the accumulation
of introspection cache data. For the case where you want to reuse the
VelocityContext because it's populated with data or objects,
you can simply wrap the populated
VelocityContext in another, and the 'outer' one will accumulate the
introspection information, which you will just discard. Ex.
<code>VelocityContext useThis = new VelocityContext( populatedVC );</code>
This works because the outer context will store the introspection
cache data, and get any requested data from the inner context (as it is empty.)
Be careful though - if your template places data into the context and it's
expected that it will be used in the subsequent iterations, you will need to do
one of the other fixes, as any template #set() statements will be stored in
the outermost context. See the discussion in
<a href="#contextchaining"><b>Context chaining</b></a> for more
information.
</li>
<li>
Turn on template caching. This will prevent the template from being re-parsed
on each iteration, resulting the the VelocityContext being able to not only
avoid adding to the introspection cache information, but be able to use it
resulting in a performance improvement.
</li>
<li>
Reuse the Template object for the duration of the loop iterations.
Then you won't be forcing Velocity, if the cache is turned off, to
reread and reparse the same template over and over, so the VelocityContext
won't gather new introspection information each time.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<a name="using_velocity"></a><div class="section"><h2>Using Velocity</h2>
<p>If you are using <a href="http://velocity.apache.org/tools/devel/view/" class="externalLink">VelocityViewServlet</a>
or other web frameworks, you may never call Velocity directly. However, if you use
Velocity for non-web purposes, or create your own web framework you will need
to directly call the Velocity Engine similar to
<a href="#thefundamentalpattern">the fundamental pattern</a> shown earlier.
One important additional thing to remember is to initialize the Velocity Engine before
using it to merge templates.
</p>
<a name="thevelocityhelperclass"><strong>The Velocity Helper Class</strong></a>
<p>
Velocity contains an application utility class called Velocity
( <code>org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity</code> ). The purpose of this class
is to provide the necessary methods required to initialize Velocity, as well as
useful utility routines to make life easier in using Velocity. This class is
documented in the project's javadoc, so please look there for definitive
details. This documentation is intended to be of a tutorial nature; therefore
for compete API information, the Javadoc is the definitive source.
</p>
<p>
The Velocity runtime engine is a singleton instance that provides resource,
logging and other services to all Velocity users running in the same JVM.
Therefore, the runtime engine is initialized only once. You can attempt to
initialize Velocity more than once, but only the first initialization will
apply. The rest of the attempts will be ignored. The Velocity utility
class currently provides five methods used in configuration of the runtime engine.
</p>
<p>
The five configuration methods are:
</p>
<ul>
<li><code>setProperty( String key, Object o )</code><br></br>
Sets the property <code>key</code> with the value <code>o</code>. The value
is typically a String, but in special cases can also be a comma-separated
list of values (in a single String, ex.&quot;foo, bar, woogie&quot;) as well as other
things that will arise.
</li>
<li><code>Object getProperty( String key )</code><br></br>
Returns the value of the property key. Note that you must be aware of the
type of the return value, as they can be things other than Strings.
</li>
<li><code>init()</code><br></br>
Initializes the runtime with the default properties provided in the
distribution.(These are listed below in the section pertaining to
properties.)
</li>
<li><code>init( Properties p )</code><br></br> Initialize the runtime with the
properties contained in the <code>java.util.Properties</code> object passed
as an argument.
</li>
<li><code>init( String filename )</code><br></br> initilizes the runtime
using the properties found in the properties file filename
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Note that in each case, the default properties will be used as a base
configuration, and any additional properties specified by the application
will replace individual defaults. Any default properties not overwritten
will remain in effect. This has the benefit that only the properties
you are interested in changing need to be specified, rather
than a complete set.
</p>
<p>
Another thing to note is that the <code>init()</code> calls may be called
more than once without harm in an application. However, the first call to any
of the <code>init()</code> functions will configure the engine with the
configuration properties set at that point, and any further configuration
changes or <code>init()</code> calls will be ignored.
</p>
<p>
The most common approaches to initializing Velocity will be something like:
</p>
<ol type="1">
<li> Setup the configuration values you wish to set in a file in the same
format as org/apache/velocity/runtime/defaults/velocity.properties
(the default set), or in a <code>java.util.Properties</code>, and then
call either <code>init( filename )</code> or <code>init( Properties )</code>
</li>
<li> Set the configuration values individually using <code>setProperty()</code>
and then call <code>init()</code>. This method is generally used by more advanced
applications that already have their own configuration management system -
this allows the application so configure Velocity based upon values it generates
at runtime, for example.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
Once the runtime is initialized, you can do with it what you wish.. This mostly
revolves around rendering templates into an output stream, and the Velocity
utility class allows you to do this easily. Currently, here are the methods
and a brief description of what they do:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<code> evaluate( Context context, Writer out, String logTag,
String instring )</code><br></br>
<code>evaluate( Context context, Writer writer, String logTag,
InputStream instream )</code><br></br>
These methods will render the input, in either the form of String or
InputStream to an output Writer, using a Context that you provide.
This is a very convenienient method to use for token replacement of
strings, or if you keep 'templates' of VTL-containing content in a
place like a database or other non-file storage, or simply generate such
dynamically.
</li>
<li>
<code>invokeVelocimacro( String vmName, String namespace, String params[],
Context context, Writer writer )</code><br></br>
Allows direct access to Velocimacros. This can also be accomplished
via the <code>evaluate()</code> method above if you wish. Here you
simply name the vm you wish to be called, create an array of args to the VM,
a Context of data, and Writer for the output. Note that the VM args
must be the 'keys' of the data objects in the Context, rather than
literal data to be used as the arg. This will probably change.
</li>
<li>
<code>mergeTemplate( String templateName, Context context, Writer writer )
</code><br></br>
Convenient access to the normal template handling and rendering services
of Velocity. This method will take care of getting and rendering the
template. It will take advantage of loading the template according
to the properties setting for the file resource loader, and therefore
provides the advantage of file and parsed template caching that Velocity
offers. This is the most efficient way to access templates,
and is recommended unless you have special needs.
</li>
<li>
<code> boolean templateExists( String name ) </code><br></br>
Determines if a template <code>name</code> is able to be found by
the currently configured resource loaders.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Once we know about these basic helpers, it is easy to write Java program
that uses Velocity. Here it is:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import java.io.StringWriter;
import org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity;
import org.apache.velocity.VelocityContext;
public class Example2
{
public static void main( String args[] )
{
/* first, we init the runtime engine. Defaults are fine. */
Velocity.init();
/* lets make a Context and put data into it */
VelocityContext context = new VelocityContext();
context.put(&quot;name&quot;, &quot;Velocity&quot;);
context.put(&quot;project&quot;, &quot;Jakarta&quot;);
/* lets render a template */
StringWriter w = new StringWriter();
Velocity.mergeTemplate(&quot;testtemplate.vm&quot;, context, w );
System.out.println(&quot; template : &quot; + w );
/* lets make our own string to render */
String s = &quot;We are using $project $name to render this.&quot;;
w = new StringWriter();
Velocity.evaluate( context, w, &quot;mystring&quot;, s );
System.out.println(&quot; string : &quot; + w );
}
}
</pre></div>
<p>
When we run this program, and have the template <code> testtemplate.vm</code>
in the same directory as our program (because we used the default
configuration properties, and the defaul place to load templates
from is the current directory...), our output should be:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
template : Hi! This Velocity from the Jakarta project.
string : We are using Jakarta Velocity to render this.
</pre></div>
<p>
where the template we used, testtemplate.vm, is
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
Hi! This $name from the $project project.
</pre></div>
<p>
That's all there is to it! Note that we didn't have to use both
<code>mergeTemplate()</code> and <code>evaluate()</code> in our
program. They are both included there for demonstration purposes.
You will probably use only one of the methods, but depending
on you application requirements, you are free to do what you wish.
</p>
<p>
This appears to be a little different from the 'fundamental pattern'
that was mentioned at the beginning of this guide, but it really is the
same thing. First, you are making a context and filling it with
the data needed. Where this examples differs is that in the part of
the above example where <code>mergeTemplate()</code> is used,
<code>mergeTemplate()</code> is doing the work of getting the template
and merging it for you, using the lower-level calls in the Runtime class.
In the second example, you are making your template dynamically via the
String, so that is analgous to the 'choose template' part of the process,
and the <code>evaluate()</code> method does the merging for you using
lower level calls.
</p>
<p>
So the example above sticks to the same simply pattern of using the Velocity
template engine, but the utility functions do some of
the repeated drudge work, or allow you other options for your
template content other than template files.
</p>
<a name="exceptions"><strong>Exceptions</strong></a>
<p>
Velocity may throw one of several exceptions during the parse / merge cycle. These
exceptions extend RuntimeException and do not need to explicitly caught,
although each includes specific properties that may help in presenting
useful error messages to the end user. The exceptions
are found in the package <code>org.apache.velocity.exception</code> and are:
</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>
<code>ResourceNotFoundException</code><br></br>
Thrown when the resource managment system cannot find a resource (template) that
was requested.
</li>
<li>
<code>ParseErrorException</code><br></br>
Thrown when a VTL syntax error is found when parsing a resource (template).
</li>
<li>
<code>TemplateInitException</code><br></br>
Thrown during the first pass of template parsing; reports problems with macro and
directive initialization.
</li>
<li>
<code>MethodInvocationException</code><br></br>
Thrown when a method of object in the context thrown an exception during
render time. This exception wraps the thrown exception and propogates it
to the application. This allows you to handle problems in your own objects
at runtime.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
In each case, a message is put into the runtime log. For more information,
see the Javadoc API documentation.
</p>
<a name="miscellaneousdetails"><strong>Miscellaneous Details</strong></a>
<p>
While the above example used the default properties, setting your own
properties is very simple. All you have to do is make a properties file
somewhere and pass the name of that file to the <code>init(String)</code>
method of the Velocity utility class, or make a
<code>java.util.Properties</code> object, add the desired properties and
values, and pass that to the <code>init(Properties)</code> method.
The latter method is convenient, because you can either fill it directly
from a separate properties file via the <code>load()</code> method, or even
better, you can fill it dynamically from your own application / framework's
property set at runtime. This gives you the freedom to combine all of the
properties for your app into one properties file.
</p>
<p>
If we wanted to use a different directory than the current directory to
load our template from, we could do something like this:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
...
import java.util.Properties;
...
public static void main( String args[] )
{
/* first, we init the runtime engine. */
Properties p = new Properties();
p.setProperty(&quot;file.resource.loader.path&quot;, &quot;/opt/templates&quot;);
Velocity.init( p );
/* lets make a Context and put data into it */
...
</pre></div>
<p>
And, assuming you have a directory <code>/opt/templates</code> and the template
<code>testtemplate.vm</code> is in there, then things would work just fine.
If you try this and have a problem, be sure to look at the velocity.log for
information - the error messages are pretty good for figuring out what is wrong.
</p>
<p>
If you need to place objects into the Velocity properties then you cannot use
the Velocity.init(Properties p) method. Instead you should create a new instance
of the <code>org.apache.commons.collections.ExtendedProperties</code> class, copy
all properties from an existing Properties object into the ExtendedProperties and
then add new properties with your objects to the ExtendedProperties object.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
...
VelocityEngine velocityEngine = new VelocityEngine();
ExtendedProperties eprops = new ExtendedProperties();
// if you already have a Properties object do this
eprops.putAll(props);
// Now set the property with your object instance
eprops.setProperty(&quot;name&quot;, object);
...
velocityEngine.setExtendedProperties(eprops);
velocityEngine.init();
...
</pre></div>
<p>
You may want to also consider using the Application Attributes feature described
in the following section.
</p>
</div>
<a name="application_attributes"></a><div class="section"><h2>Application Attributes</h2>
<p>
<i>Application Attributes</i> are name-value pairs that can be associated with
a RuntimeInstance (either via the <code>VelocityEngine</code> or
the <code>Velocity</code> singleton) and accessed from any part of the Velocity
engine that has access to the RuntimeInstance.
</p>
<p>
This feature was designed for applications that need to communicate between
the application layer and custom parts of the Velocity engine, such as
loggers, resource loaders, resource managers, etc.
</p>
<p>
The Application Attribute API is very simple. From the application layer, there
is a method of the <code>VelocityEngine</code> and the <code>Velocity</code>
classes:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
public void setApplicationAttribute( Object key, Object value );
</pre></div>
<p>
through which an application can store on Object under an application (or
internal component) specified key. There are no restrictions on the key
or the value. The value for a key may be set at any time - it is not required
that this be set before init() is called.
</p>
<p>
Internal components can access the key-value pairs if they have access to the
object via the <code>RuntimeServices</code> interface, using the method
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
public Object getApplicationAttribute( Object key );
</pre></div>
<p>
Note that internal components cannot set the value of the key, just get it.
if the internal component must communicate information to the application layer,
it must do so via the Object passed as the value.
</p>
</div>
<a name="configuring_event_handlers"></a><div class="section"><h2>Configuring Event Handlers</h2>
<p>
Velocity contains a fine-grained event handling system that allows you to customize the operation of the engine. For example, you may change the text of references that are inserted into a page, modify which templates are actually included with <code>#include</code> or <code>#parse</code>, or capture all invalid references.
</p>
<p>All event handler interfaces available in Velocity are in the package <code>org.apache.velocity.app.event</code>. You may create your own implementation or use one of the sample implementations in the package <code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement</code>. (See the javadocs for more details on the provided implementations).
</p>
<p>
<i><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.IncludeEventHandler</code></i>
<blockquote>
The <code>IncludeEventHandler</code> can be used to modify the template that is included
in a page with <code>#include</code> or <code>#parse</code>. For example, this may be used to make all includes relative to the current directory or to prevent access to unauthorized resources.
Multiple <code>IncludeEventHandler</code>'s may be chained, with the return value of the final
call used as the name of the template to retrieve.
<pre>
public IncludeEventHandler extends EventHandler
{
public String includeEvent( String includeResourcePath,
String currentResourcePath,
String directiveName );
}
</pre>
<br></br>
Available implementations include:
<dl>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.IncludeNotFound</code></li>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.IncludeRelativePath</code></li>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<i><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.InvalidReferenceEventHandler</code></i>
<blockquote>
Normally, when a template contains a bad reference an error message is logged and (unless it is part of a <code>#set</code> or <code>#if</code>), the reference is included verbatim in a page. With the <code>InvalidReferenceEventHandler</code> this behavior can be changed. Substitute values can be inserted, invalid references may be logged, or an exception can be thrown. Multiple <code>InvalidReferenceEventHandler</code>'s may be chained. The exact manner in which chained method
calls behave will differ per method. (See the javadoc for the details).
<pre>
public InvalidReferenceEventHandler extends EventHandler
{
public Object invalidGetMethod( Context context,
String reference,
Object object,
String property,
Info info);
public boolean invalidSetMethod( Context context,
String leftreference,
String rightreference,
Info info);
public Object invalidMethod( Context context,
String reference,
Object object,
String method,
Info info);
}
</pre>
<br></br>
Available implementations include:
<dl>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.ReportInvalidReferences</code></li>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<i><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.MethodExceptionEventHandler</code></i>
<blockquote>
When a user-supplied method throws an exception, the
<code>MethodExceptionEventHandler</code> is invoked with the Class, method name
and thrown Exception. The handler can either return a valid Object to be used
as the return value of the method call or throw the passed-in or new Exception,
which will be wrapped and propogated to the user as a
<code>MethodInvocationException</code>. While <code>MethodExceptionEventHandler</code>'s can be
chained only the first handler is actually called -- all others are ignored.
<pre>
public interface MethodExceptionEventHandler extends EventHandler
{
public Object methodException( Class claz,
String method,
Exception e )
throws Exception;
}
</pre>
<br></br>
Available implementations include:
<dl>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.PrintExceptions</code></li>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<i><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.NullSetEventHandler</code></i>
<blockquote>
When a #set() rejects an assignment due to the right hand side being an invalid
or null reference, this is normally
logged. The <code>NullSetEventHandler</code> allows you to 'veto' the
logging of this condition. Multiple <code>NullSetEventHandler</code>'s can
be chained; each event handler is called in sequence until a false is returned.
<br></br>
<pre>
public interface NullSetEventHandler extends EventHandler
{
public boolean shouldLogOnNullSet( String lhs,
String rhs );
}
</pre>
<br></br>
Available implementations include:
<dl>
<li><i>none provided</i></li>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<i><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.ReferenceInsertionEventHandler</code></i>
<blockquote>
A <code>ReferenceInsertionEventHandler</code> allows the
developer to intercept each write of a reference ($foo) value to the output
stream and modify that output. Multiple <code>ReferenceInsertionEventHandler</code>'s
may be chained with each step potentially altering the inserted reference.
<pre>
public interface ReferenceInsertionEventHandler extends EventHandler
{
public Object referenceInsert( String reference,
Object value );
}
</pre>
<br></br>
Available implementations include:
<dl>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeHtmlReference</code></li>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeJavascriptReference</code></li>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeSqlReference</code></li>
<li><code>org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeXmlReference</code></li>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<strong>Registering Event Handlers</strong>
</p>
<p>You may register event handlers in either of two manners. The easiest way to register event handlers is to specify them in velocity.properties. (Event handlers configured in this manner are referred to as &quot;global&quot; event handlers). For example, the following property will escape HTML entities in any inserted reference.
</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>eventhandler.referenceinsertion.class = org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeHtmlReference
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Most event handler interfaces will also permit event handlers to be chained together. Such a chain may be in a comma separated list or as additional lines with a property/value pair. For example, the following event handler properties install two <code>ReferenceInsertionEventHandler</code>'s. The first will apply to references starting with &quot;msg&quot; (for example <code>$msgText</code>) and will escape HTML entities (e.g. turning <code>&amp;</code> into <code>&amp;amp;</code>). The second will escape all references starting with &quot;sql&quot; (for example <code>$sqlText</code>) according to SQL escaping rules. (note that in these examples, the first two properties given relate to the event handler configuration while the second two properties are used by the specific event handler implementation).
</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>eventhandler.referenceinsertion.class = org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeHtmlReference
eventhandler.referenceinsertion.class = org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeSqlReference
eventhandler.escape.html.match = /msg.*/
eventhandler.escape.sql.match = /sql.*/
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Event handlers may also be attached to a context via an <code>EventCartridge</code>. This allows event handlers to be tied more closely to a specific template merge or group of merges. The event handler will automatically be injected with the current context if it implements the <code>ContextAware</code> interface. (Due to thread-safety reasons this is not possible with global event handlers).
</p>
<p>
The following code shows how to register an event handler with an EventCartridge and a context.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
...
import org.apache.velocity.app.event.EventCartridge;
import org.apache.velocity.app.event.ReferenceInsertionEventHandler;
import org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeHtmlReference;
import org.apache.velocity.app.event.implement.EscapeSqlReference;
...
public class Test
{
public void myTest()
{
....
/**
* Make a cartridge to hold the event handlers
*/
EventCartridge ec = new EventCartridge();
/*
* then register and chain two escape-related handlers
*/
ec.addEventHandler(new EscapeHtmlReference());
ec.addEventHandler(new EscapeSqlReference());
/*
* and then finally let it attach itself to the context
*/
ec.attachToContext( context );
/*
* now merge your template with the context as you normally
* do
*/
....
}
}
</pre></div>
</div>
<a name="velocity_configuration_keys_and_values"></a><div class="section"><h2>Velocity Configuration Keys and Values</h2>
<p>
Velocity's runtime configuration is controlled by a set of configuration keys
listed below. Generally, these keys will have values that consist of either a
String, or a comma-separated list of Strings, referred to as a CSV for
comma-separated values.
</p>
<p>
There is a set of default values contained in Velocity's jar, found in
/src/java/org/apache/velocity/runtime/defaults/velocity.defaults, that
Velocity uses as its configuration baseline.
This ensures that Velocity will always have a 'correct' value
for its configuration keys at startup, although it may not be what you want.
</p>
<p>
Any values specified before init() time will replace the default values.
Therefore, you only have toconfigure velocity with the values for the keys
that you need to change, and not worry about the rest. Further, as we add more
features and configuration capability, you don't have to change your
configuration files to suit - the Velocity engine will always have default
values.
</p>
<p>
Please sees the section above <a href="#using_velocity"><b>Using
Velocity</b></a> for discussion on the configuration API.
</p>
<p>
Below are listed the configuration keys that control Velocity's behavior.
Organized by category, each key is listed with its current default value
to the right of the '=' sign.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Runtime Log</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.log = velocity.log</code><br></br>
Full path and name of log file for error, warning,
and informational messages. The location, if not absolute, is
relative to the 'current directory'.
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.log.logsystem</code><br></br>
This property has no default value. It is used to give Velocity an
instantiated instance of a logging class that supports the interface
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogChute</code>, which allows
the combination of Velocity log messages with your other application
log messages. Please see the section
<a href="#configuring_logging"><b>Configuring Logging</b></a>
for more information.
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.log.logsystem.class =
org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.AvalonLogChute</code><br></br>
Class to be used for the Velocity-instantiated log system.
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.log.invalid.references = true </code><br></br>
Property to turn off the log output when a reference isn't valid.
Good thing to turn off in production, but very valuable
for debugging.
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.log.logsystem.avalon.logger = <i>name</i> </code><br></br>
Allows user to specify an existing logger <i>name</i>
in the Avalon hierarchy
without having to wrap with a LogChute interface. <b>Note:</b>
You must also specify
<code>runtime.log.logsystem.class =
org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.AvalonLogChute</code> as the default
logsystem may change. There is <b>no</b> guarantee that the Avalon
log system will remain the default log system.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Character Encoding</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>input.encoding = ISO-8859-1</code><br></br>
Character encoding for input (templates). Using this, you can use
alternative encoding for your templates, such as UTF-8.
</p>
<p>
<code>output.encoding = ISO-8859-1</code><br></br>
Character encoding for output streams from the VelocityServlet and Anakia.
</p>
<p>
<strong>#foreach() Directive</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.foreach.counter.name = velocityCount</code><br></br>
Used in the #foreach() directive, defines the string to be used as the
context key for the loop count. A template would access
the loop count as $velocityCount.
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.foreach.counter.initial.value = 1</code><br></br>
Default starting value for the loop counter reference in a #foreach() loop.
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.foreach.maxloops = -1</code><br></br>
Maximum allowed number of loops for a #foreach() statement.
</p>
<p>
<strong>#set() Directive</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.set.null.allowed = false</code><br></br>
If true, having a right hand side of a #set() statement with
an invalid reference or null value will set the left hand side to null.
If false, the left hand side will stay the same.
</p>
<p>
<strong>#include() and #parse() Directive</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.include.output.errormsg.start
= &lt;!-- include error : </code><br></br>
<code>directive.include.output.errormsg.end
= see error log --&gt; </code><br></br>
Defines the beginning and ending tags for an in-stream error message in the
case of a problem with the #include() directive. If both the .start and .end
tags are defined, an error message will be output to the stream, of the
form '.start msg .end' where .start and .end refer to the property values.
Output to the render stream will only occur if both the .start and .end
(next) tag are defined.
</p>
<p>
<code>directive.parse.max.depth = 10</code><br></br>
Defines the allowable parse depth for a template. A template may #parse()
another template which itself may have a #parse() directive. This value
prevents runaway #parse() recursion.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Resource Management</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>resource.manager.logwhenfound = true</code><br></br>
Switch to control logging of 'found' messages from resource manager.
When a resource is found for the first time, the resource name
and classname of the loader that found it will be noted in the
runtime log.
</p>
<p>
<code>resource.manager.cache.class</code>
<br></br>
Declares the class to be used
for resource caching. The current default is
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.ResourceCacheImpl</code>
which uses a LRU Map to prevent data from being held forever. You can
set the size of the LRU Map using the parameter
<code>resource.manager.defaultcache.size</code>. The dafault value
of the default cache size is currently 89.
</p>
<p>
<code>resource.manager.defaultcache.size</code>
<br></br>
Sets the size of the
default implementation of the resource manager resource cache.
</p>
<p>
<code>resource.loader = &lt;name&gt; (default = file)</code><br></br>
<i>Multi-valued key. Will accept CSV for value.</i> Public name of a
resource loader to be used. This public name will then be used
in the specification of the specific properties for that resource loader.
Note that as a multi-valued key, it's possible to pass
a value like &quot;file, class&quot; (sans quotes), indicating that following
will be configuration values for two loaders.
</p>
<p>
<code>&lt;name&gt;.loader.description
= Velocity File Resource Loader</code><br></br>
Description string for the given loader.
</p>
<p>
<code>&lt;name&gt;.resource.loader.class
= org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader</code><br></br>
Name of implementation class for the loader. The default loader
is the file loader.
</p>
<p>
<code>&lt;name&gt;.resource.loader.path = .</code><br></br>
<i>Multi-valued key. Will accept CSV for value.</i> Root(s) from which the
loader loads templates. Templates may live in subdirectories of this root.
ex. homesite/index.vm This configuration key applies currently to the
FileResourceLoader and JarResourceLoader.
</p>
<p>
<code>&lt;name&gt;.resource.loader.cache = false</code><br></br>
Controls caching of the templates in the loader. Default is false, to make
life easy for development and debugging. This should be set to true for
production deployment. When 'true', the <code>modificationCheckInterval</code>
property applies. This allows for the efficiency of caching, with the
convenience of controlled reloads - useful in a hosted or ISP environment
where templates can be modifed frequently and bouncing the application or
servlet engine is not desired or permitted.
</p>
<p>
<code>&lt;name&gt;.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 2</code><br></br>
This is the number of seconds between modification checks when caching is
turned on. When this is an integer &gt; 0, this represents the number of
seconds between checks to see if the template was modified. If the
template has been modified since last check, then it is reloaded and
reparsed. Otherwise nothing is done. When &lt;= 0, no modification
checks will take place, and assuming that the property <code>cache</code>
(above) is true, once a template is loaded and parsed the first time it is used,
it will not be checked or reloaded after that until the application or
servlet engine is restarted.
</p>
<p> To illustrate, here is an example taken right from the default Velocity
properties, showing how setting up the FileResourceLoader is managed
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.loader = file
file.resource.loader.description = Velocity File Resource Loader
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
file.resource.loader.path = .
file.resource.loader.cache = false
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 2
</pre></div>
<p>
<strong>Velocimacro</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.library = VM_global_library.vm </code><br></br>
<i>Multi-valued key. Will accept CSV for value.</i>
Filename(s) of Velocimacro library to be loaded when the Velocity
Runtime engine starts. These Velocimacros are accessable to all
templates. The file is assumed to be relative to the root of the
file loader resource path.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.permissions.allow.inline = true</code><br></br>
Determines of the definition of new Velocimacros via the #macro() directive
in templates is allowed. The default value is true, meaning any template
can define and use new Velocimacros. Note that depending on other properties,
those #macro() statements can replace global definitions.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.permissions.allow.inline.to.replace.global = false </code><br></br>
Controls if a Velocimacro defind 'inline' in a template can replace
a Velocimacro defined in a library loaded at startup.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.permissions.allow.inline.local.scope = false</code><br></br>
Controls 'private' templates namespaces for Velocimacros. When true, a #macro()
directive in a template creates a Velocimacro that is accessable only from the
defining template. This means that Velocimacros cannot be shared unless they
are in the global or local library loaded at startup. (See above.) It also means
that templates cannot interfere with each other. This property also allows a technique
where there is a 'default' Velocimacro definition in the global or local library,
and a template can 'override' the implementation for use within that template.
This occurrs because when this property is true, the template's namespace is
searched for a Velocimacro before the global namespace, therefore allowing
the override mechanism.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.context.localscope = false</code><br></br>
Controls whether reference access (set/get) within a Velocimacro will change
the context, or be of local scope in that
Velocimacro.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.library.autoreload = false</code><br></br>
Controls Velocimacro library autoloading. When set to <code>true</code>
the source Velocimacro library for an invoked Velocimacro will be checked
for changes, and reloaded if necessary. This allows you to change and
test Velocimacro libraries without having to restart your application or
servlet container, just like you can with regular templates.
This mode only works when caching is <i>off</i>
in the resource loaders (e.g. <code>file.resource.loader.cache = false</code> ).
This feature is intended for development, not for production.
</p>
<p>
<code>velocimacro.arguments.strict = false</code><br></br>
When set to true, will throw a <code>ParseErrorException</code> when
parsing a template containing a macro with an invalid number of arguments.
Is set to false by default to maintain backwards compatibility with
templates written before this feature became available.
</p>
<p>
<strong>String Interpolation</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.interpolate.string.literals = true</code><br></br>
Controls interpolation mechanism of VTL String Literals. Note that a VTL
StringLiteral is specifically a string using double quotes that is used
in a #set() statement, a method call of a reference, a parameter to a VM,
or as an argument to a VTL directive in general. See the VTL reference for
further information.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Parser Configuration</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>parser.pool.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.ParserPoolImpl</code><br></br>
This property selects the implementation for the parser pool. This class
must implement ParserPool. Generally there is no reason to change this though
if you are building a high volume web application you might consider including
an alternate implementation that automatically adjusts the size of the pool.
</p>
<p>
<code>parser.pool.size = 20</code><br></br>
This property is used by the default pooling implementation to
set the number of parser instances that Velocity will
create at startup and keep in a pool. The default of 20 parsers
should be more than enough for most uses. In the event that Velocity
does run out of parsers, it will indicate so in the log, and
dynamically create overflow instances as needed. Note that these
extra parsers will not be added to the pool, and will be discarded
after use. This will result in very slow operation compared to the
normal usage of pooled parsers, but this is considered an exceptional
condition. A web application using Velocity as its view engine might
exhibit this behavior under extremely high concurrency (such as when
getting Slashdotted). If you see a corresponding message referencing
the <code>parser.pool.size</code> property in your log files, please
increment this property immediately to avoid performance degradation.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Pluggable Introspection</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>runtime.introspector.uberspect =
org.apache.velocity.util.introspection.UberspectImpl</code>
<br></br>
This property sets the 'Uberspector', the introspection package that
handles all introspection strategies for Velocity. The default works just
fine, so only replace if you have something really interesting and special
to do.
</p>
</div>
<a name="configuring_logging"></a><div class="section"><h2>Configuring Logging</h2>
<p>
Velocity has a few nice logging features to allow both simplicity and
flexibility. Without any extra configuration, Velocity will setup a
file-based logger that will output all logging messages to a file
called <code>velocity.log</code> in the 'current directory' where
Velocity was initialized. For more advanced users, you may integrate
your current logging facilities with Velocity to have all log messages
sent to your logger.
</p>
<p>
Starting with version 1.3, Velocity will automatically use either the
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/avalon/logkit/index.html" class="externalLink">
Jakarta Avalon Logkit</a> logger, or the
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/" class="externalLink">Jakarta Log4j</a> logger.
It will do so by using whatever it finds in the current classpath, starting
first with Logkit. If Logkit isn't found, it tries Log4j.
</p>
<p>
To utilize this feature, simply use the 'non-dependency' Velocity jar
(because Logkit is baked into the jar with dependencies) and place
either the logkit or log4j jar in your classpath.
</p>
<p>
In general, you have the following logging options:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<b>Default Configuration</b><br></br>
By default, Velocity will create a file-based logger in the current
directory. See the note above regarding automatic detection of
Logkit or Log4j to use as the default logging system.
</li>
<li>
<b>Existing Log4j Logger/Category</b><br></br>
Starting with version 1.3, Velocity will log its output to an existing
Log4j Category setup elsewhere in the application. With version 1.5, we have
switched to using the Logger class, as the Category class is now deprecated
in Log4j. To use this feature you must
<ol type="1">
<li>
Make sure that the Log4j jar is in your classpath. (You would do this
anyway since you are using Log4j in the application using Velocity.)
</li>
<li>
a) If your environment uses the Logger class,
configure Velocity to use the <code>Log4JLogChute</code> class.
b) If your system still uses the deprecated Category, you can
configure Velocity to use the very deprecated
<code>SimpleLog4JLogSystem</code> class.
</li>
<li>
a) If using a Logger, specify the name of the existing Logger to use via the
'runtime.log.logsystem.log4j.logger' property.
b) If using a Category, specify the name of the existing Category to use via the
'runtime.log.logsystem.log4j.category' property.
</li>
</ol>
Note that this support for Logger is in version 1.5 of Velocity. Further,
in version 1.5 we removed the now-ancient and very deprecated original
Log4JLogSystem class and replaced with the current Log4JLogChute class which
uses the Logger class. We apologize for the confusion, but we needed to move
on.
</li>
<li>
<b>Custom Standalone Logger</b><br></br>
You can create a custom logging class - you just need to implement the
interface <code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogChute</code> and
then simply set the configuration property
<code>runtime.log.logsystem.class</code> with the
classname, and Velocity will create an instance of that class at init time.
You may specify the classname as you specify any other properties. See
the information on the
<a href="#thevelocityhelperclass">
Velocity helper class</a> as well as the
<a href="#velocity_configuration_keys_and_values">
configuration keys and values.</a>
Please note that the old <code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogSystem</code>
interface has been deprecated for v1.5 in favor of the new LogChute interface.
This is due to significant upgrades to our logging code that could not be
supported by the LogSystem interface. But don't worry, if you specify a
custom class that implements the LogSystem interface, it will still work.
However, it will generate deprecation warnings. You should upgrade your
custom logger to implement LogChute as soon as possible.
</li>
<li>
<b>Integrated Logging</b><br></br>
You can integrate Velocity's logging capabilities with your applications
existing logging system, simply by implementing the
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogChute</code> interface. Then,
pass an instance of your logging class to Velocity via the
<code>runtime.log.logsystem</code> configuration key before
initializing the Velocity engine,
and Velocity will log messages to your application's logger.
See the information on the
<a href="#thevelocityhelperclass">Velocity helper class</a>
as well as the
<a href="#velocity_configuration_keys_and_values">configuration keys and values.</a>
</li>
</ul>
<a name="usinglog4jwithexistingcategory"><strong>Using Log4j With Existing Category</strong></a>
<p>
Here is an example of how to configure Velocity to log to an existing Log4j
Category.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeConstants;
import org.apache.log4j.Category;
import org.apache.log4j.BasicConfigurator;
public class Log4jCategoryExample
{
public static String CATEGORY_NAME = &quot;velexample&quot;;
public static void main( String args[] )
throws Exception
{
/*
* configure log4j to log to console
*/
BasicConfigurator.configure();
Category log = Category.getInstance( CATEGORY_NAME );
log.info(&quot;Log4jCategoryExample: ready to start velocity&quot;);
/*
* now create a new VelocityEngine instance, and
* configure it to use the category
*/
VelocityEngine ve = new VelocityEngine();
ve.setProperty( RuntimeConstants.RUNTIME_LOG_LOGSYSTEM_CLASS,
&quot;org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.SimpleLog4JLogSystem&quot; );
ve.setProperty(&quot;runtime.log.logsystem.log4j.category&quot;,
CATEGORY_NAME);
ve.init();
log.info(&quot;follows initialization output from velocity&quot;);
}
}
</pre></div>
<p>
Note that the above example can be found in <code>examples/logger_example</code>.
</p>
<a name="simpleexampleofacustomlogger"><strong>Simple Example of a Custom Logger</strong></a>
<p>
Here is an example of how to use an instantiation of your class that implements
Velocity's logging system as the logger. Note that we are not passing the name
of the class to use, but rather a living, existing instantiation of the class
to be used. All that is required is that it support the
<code>LogChute</code> interface.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.log.LogChute;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeServices;
...
public class MyClass implements LogChute
{
...
public MyClass()
{
...
try
{
/*
* register this class as a logger with the Velocity singleton
* (NOTE: this would not work for the non-singleton method.)
*/
Velocity.setProperty(Velocity.RUNTIME_LOG_LOGSYSTEM, this );
Velocity.init();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
/*
* do something
*/
}
}
/**
* This init() will be invoked once by the LogManager
* to give you the current RuntimeServices intance
*/
public void init(RuntimeServices rsvc)
{
// do nothing
}
/**
* This is the method that you implement for Velocity to
* call with log messages.
*/
public void log(int level, String message)
{
/* do something useful */
}
/**
* This is the method that you implement for Velocity to
* call with log messages.
*/
public void log(int level, String message, Throwable t)
{
/* do something useful */
}
/**
* This is the method that you implement for Velocity to
* check whether a specified log level is enabled.
*/
public boolean isLevelEnabled(int level)
{
/* do something useful */
return someBooleanValue;
}
...
}
</pre></div>
</div>
<a name="configuring_resource_loaders"></a><div class="section"><h2>Configuring Resource Loaders</h2>
<a name="resourceloaders"><strong>Resource Loaders</strong></a>
<p>
One of the fundamental and important parts about Velocity is the resource
management system and the resource loaders. They are referred to as 'resources'
here rather than 'templates' because the resource management system will also
handle non-template reasources, specifically things that are loaded via the
#include() directive.
</p>
<p>
The resource loader system if very flexible, allowing one or more resource
loaders to be in operation at the same time. This allows tremendous
flexibility in configuration and resource managment, and futher allows you
to write your own resource loaders for your special needs.
</p>
<p>
There are currently four kinds of resource loaders that are included with Velocity,
each described below. Note that in the example configuration properties given,
a common name for the loader is shown
(ex.'file' in <code>file.resource.loader.path</code>). This 'common name'
may not work for your configuration. Please read the section on
<a href="#velocity_configuration_keys_and_values">resource configuration properties</a>
to understand how this system works. Also, each of these loaders is
located in the package <code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader</code>.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<b>FileResourceLoader :</b> This loader gets resources from the filesystem. Its
configuration properties include:
<ul>
<li>
<code>file.resource.loader.path</code> = &lt;path to root of templates&gt;
</li>
<li>
<code>file.resource.loader.cache</code> = true/false
</li>
<li>
<code>file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval</code> = &lt;seconds between checks&gt;
</li>
</ul>
This is the default loader, and is configured, by default to get templates from the
'current directory'. In the case of using Velocity with servlets, this can be a problem
as you don't want to have to keep your templates in the directory from which you start
your servlet engine. See the documentation for your servlet or web framework (for example
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/tools/devel/view/" class="externalLink">VelocityViewServlet</a>) for more
info on how to configure the location of the Velocity templates.
</li>
<li>
<b>JarResourceLoader :</b> This loader gets resource from specific jar files. It is very
similar to the FileResourceLoader, except that you have the convenience of bundling
your templates into jars. The properties are identical, except for
<code>jar.resource.loader.path</code>, where you provide the full location of
the jar(s) you wish to load resources from. To specify a jar for the loader.path
you use the standard JAR URL syntax of <code>java.net.JarURLConnection</code>.
</li>
<li>
<b>ClasspathResourceLoader :</b> This loader gets resources from the classloader.
In general, this means that the ClasspathResourceLoader will load
templates placed in the classpath (in jars, for example)
While the
classpath is a source of great pain and suffering in general, it is a very useful
mechanism when working on a Servlet Spec 2.2 (or newer) compliant servlet runner.
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/" class="externalLink">Tomcat</a>
is an example of such. To use this loader effectively, all you must do is
jar your templates, and put that jar into the WEB-INF/lib directory of your
webapp. There are no configuration options to worry about, nor is the absolute vs.
relative path an issue, as it is with Jar and File resource loaders.
Again, please note that the ClasspathResourceLoader is not only for use with a
servlet container, but can be used in any application context.
</li>
<li>
<b>URLResourceLoader :</b> This loader gets resources from a URL connection. Its
configuration properties include:
<ul>
<li>
<code>url.resource.loader.root</code> = &lt;root URL path of templates&gt;
</li>
<li>
<code>url.resource.loader.cache</code> = true/false
</li>
<li>
<code>url.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval</code> = &lt;seconds between checks&gt;
</li>
</ul>
This loader simply downloads resources from configured URLs. It works much like
the FileResourceLoader, however, it can pull templates down from any valid URL
to which the application can create a connection.
</li>
<li>
<b>DataSourceResourceLoader :</b> This loader will load resources from a DataSource
such as a database. This loader is only available under JDK 1.4 and later.
For more information on this loader, please see the javadoc for the class
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.DataSourceResourceLoader</code>.
</li>
</ul>
<a name="configurationexamples"><strong>Configuration Examples</strong></a>
<p>
Configuring the resource loaders for Velocity is straightforward.
The properties that control the are listed in the
<a href="#configuring_resource_loaders">resource configuration</a>
section, for further reference.
</p>
<p>
The first step in configuring one or more resource loaders is do
'declare' them by name to Velocity. Use the property
<code>resource.loader</code> and list one or more loader names.
You can use anything you want - these names are used to associate
configuration properties with a given loader.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.loader = file
</pre></div>
<p>
That entry declares that we will have a resource loader known as 'file'.
The next thing to do is to set the important properties. The most critical
is to declare the class to use as the loader:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
</pre></div>
<p>
In this case, we are telling velocity that we are setting up
a resource loadercalled 'file', and are using the class
<code>
org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
</code>
to be the class to use.
The next thing we do is set the properties important
to this loader.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
file.resource.loader.path = /opt/templates
file.resource.loader.cache = true
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 2
</pre></div>
<p>
Here, we set a few things. First, we set the path to find
the templates to be <code>/opt/templates</code>. Second, we
turned caching on, so that after a template or static file
is read in, it is cached in memory. And finally, we set
the modification check interval to 2 seconds, allowing Velocity
to check for new templates.
</p>
<p>
Those are the basics. What follows are a few examples of different configuraitons.
</p>
<p>
<b>Do-nothing Default Configuration: </b> As the name says, there is nothing
you have to do or configure to get the default configuration. This configuration
uses the FileResourceLoader with the current directory as the default resource
path, and caching is off. As a properties set, this is expressed as:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.loader = file
file.resource.loader.description = Velocity File Resource Loader
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
file.resource.loader.path = .
file.resource.loader.cache = false
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 0
</pre></div>
<p>
<b>Multiple Template Path Configuration: </b> This configuration
uses the FileResourceLoader with several directories as 'nodes' on the
template search path. We also want to use caching, and have the templates
checked for changes in 10 second intervals. As a properties set, this is expressed as:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.loader = file
file.resource.loader.description = Velocity File Resource Loader
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
file.resource.loader.path = /opt/directory1, /opt/directory2
file.resource.loader.cache = true
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 10
</pre></div>
<p>
<b>Multiple Loader Configuration :</b> This configuration sets up
three loaders at the same time, the FileResourceLoader,
the ClasspathResourceLoader, and the JarResourceLoader.
The loaders are set-up such that the
FileResourceLoader is consulted first, then the
ClasspathResourceLoader, and finally the JarResourceLoader.
This would allow you to qickly
drop a template into the file template area to replace on of the
templates found in the classpath (usually via a jar) without
having to rebuild the jar.
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
#
# specify three resource loaders to use
#
resource.loader = file, class, jar
#
# for the loader we call 'file', set the FileResourceLoader as the
# class to use, turn off caching, and use 3 directories for templates
#
file.resource.loader.description = Velocity File Resource Loader
file.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader
file.resource.loader.path = templatedirectory1, anotherdirectory, foo/bar
file.resource.loader.cache = false
file.resource.loader.modificationCheckInterval = 0
#
# for the loader we call 'class', use the ClasspathResourceLoader
#
class.resource.loader.description = Velocity Classpath Resource Loader
class.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ClasspathResourceLoader
#
# and finally, for the loader we call 'jar', use the JarResourceLoader
# and specify two jars to load from
#
jar.resource.loader.description = Velocity Jar Resource Loader
jar.resource.loader.class = org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.JarResourceLoader
jar.resource.loader.path = jar:file:/myjarplace/myjar.jar, jar:file:/myjarplace/myjar2.jar
</pre></div>
<p>
Node that the three names 'file', 'class', and 'jar' are merely for your convenience and
sanity. They can be anything you want - they are just used to associate a set of
properties together. However, it is recommended that you use names that give some hint
of the function.
</p>
<p>
Note that while all three require very little configuration information
for proper operation, the ClasspathResourceLoader is the simplest.
</p>
<a name="resourcemanagerandcache"></a>
<strong>Pluggable Resource Manager and Resource Cache</strong>
<p>
The Resource Manager is the main part of the resource (template and static content)
management system, and is responsible for taking application requests for
templates, finding them in the available resource loaders, and then optionally
caching the parsed template. The Resource Cache is the mechanism that the
Resource Manager uses to cache templates for quick reuse. While the default
versions of these two facilities are suitable for most
applications, for advanced users it now is possible
to replace the default resource manager
and resource cache with custom implementations.
</p>
<p>
A resource manager implementation must implement the
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.ResourceManager</code> interface.
A description of the requirements of a resource manager is out of scope for
this document. Implementors are encouraged to review the default implementation.
To configure Velocity to load the replacement implementation, use the
configuration key:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.manager.class
</pre></div>
<p>
This key is also defined as a contstant
<code>RuntimeConstants.RESOURCE_MANAGER_CLASS</code>
</p>
<p>
A resource cache implementation must implement the
<code>org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.ResourceCache</code> interface
As with the resource manager, a description of the requirements of a
resource manager is out of scope for
this document. Implementors are encouraged to review the default implementation.
To configure Velocity to load the replacement implementation, use the
configuration key:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.manager.cache.class
</pre></div>
<p>
This key is also defined as a contstant
<code>RuntimeConstants.RESOURCE_MANAGER_CACHE_CLASS</code>
</p>
<p>
A resource cache implementation may want to limit the cache size
(rather than providing an unbounded cache which could consume all
available memory). To configure Velocity to set the size for your
cache, use the configuration key:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
resource.manager.cache.size
</pre></div>
<p>
This key is also defined as a contstant
<code>RuntimeConstants.RESOURCE_MANAGER_CACHE_SIZE</code>
</p>
</div>
<a name="template_encoding_for_internationalization"></a><div class="section"><h2>Template Encoding for Internationalization</h2>
<p>
Velocity allows you to specify the character encoding of your
template resources on a template by template basis. The normal resource
API's have been extended to take the encoding as an argument:
</p>
<p>
<code>org.apache.velocity.app.Velocity</code>: <br></br>
<blockquote>
<i><code>public static Template getTemplate(String name, String encoding)</code></i>
<br></br>
<br></br>
<i><code>public static boolean mergeTemplate( String templateName, String encoding, Context context, Writer writer )</code></i>
<br></br>
<i><code> </code></i>
</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
The value for the <i>encoding</i> argument is the conventional encoding specification
supported by your JVM, for example &quot;UTF-8&quot; or &quot;ISO-8859-1&quot;. For the official names
for character sets, see <a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets" class="externalLink">here</a>.
</p>
<p>
Note that this applies only to the encoding of the template itself - the output
encoding is an application specific issue.
</p>
</div>
<a name="velocity_and_xml"></a><div class="section"><h2>Velocity and XML</h2>
<p>
Velocity's flexibility and simple template language makes it an ideal environment
for working with XML data. <a href="anakia.html">Anakia</a> is an example of how
Velocity is used to replace XSL for rendering output from XML. The Velocity site,
including this documentation, is generated from XML source using Anakia.
The Jakarta site is also rendered using Anakia.
</p>
<p>
Generally, the pattern for dealing with XML in Velocity is to use something like
<a href="http://www.jdom.org/" class="externalLink">JDOM</a> to process your XML into a data structure with
convenient Java access. Then, you produce templates that access data directly
out of the XML document - directly though the JDOM tree. For example, start
with an XML document such as:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
&lt;document&gt;
&lt;properties&gt;
&lt;title&gt;Developer's Guide&lt;/title&gt;
&lt;author email=&quot;geirm@apache.org&quot;&gt;Velocity Doc Team&lt;/author&gt;
&lt;/properties&gt;
&lt;/document&gt;
</pre></div>
<p>
Now make a little Java program that includes code similar to:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
...
SAXBuilder builder;
Document root = null;
try
{
builder = new SAXBuilder(
&quot;org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser&quot; );
root = builder.build(&quot;test.xml&quot;);
}
catch( Exception ee)
{}
VelocityContext vc = new VelocityContext();
vc.put(&quot;root&quot;, root.getRootElement());
...
</pre></div>
<p>
(See the Anakia source for details on how to do this, or the Anakia
example in the <code>examples</code> directory in the distribution.)
Now, make a regular Velocity template:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
&lt;html&gt;
&lt;body&gt;
The document title is
$root.getChild(&quot;document&quot;).getChild(&quot;properties&quot;)
.getChild(&quot;title&quot;).getText()
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</pre></div>
<p>
and render that template as you normally would, using the Context
containing the JDOM tree. Of course, this isn't the prettiest of
examples, but it shows the basics - that you can easily access XML data
directly from a Velocity template.
</p>
<p>
One real advantage of styling XML data in Velocity is that you have
access to any other object or data that the application provides. You
aren't limited to just using the data present in the XML document.
You may add anything you want to the context to provide additional
information for your output, or provide tools to help make working
with the XML data easier. Bob McWhirter's
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/werken-xpath/" class="externalLink"> Werken Xpath</a>
is one such useful tool - an example of how it is used in Anakia can be
found in <code>org.apache.velocity.anakia.XPathTool</code>.
</p>
<p>
One issue that arises with XML and Velocity is how to deal with XML
entities. One technique is to combine the use of Velocimacros
when you need to render an entity into the output stream:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
## first, define the Velocimacro somewhere
#macro(xenc $sometext)$tools.escapeEntities($sometext)#end
## and use it as
#set( $sometext = &quot; &lt; &quot; )
&lt;text&gt;#xenc($sometext)&lt;/text&gt;
</pre></div>
<p>
where the escapeEntities() is a method that does the escaping
for you. Another trick would be to create an encoding utility that takes the
context as a constructor parameter and only implements a method:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
public String get(String key)
{
Object obj = context.get(key)
return (obj != null)
? Escape.getText( obj.toString() )
: &quot;&quot;;
}
</pre></div>
<p>
Put it into the context as &quot;xenc&quot;. Then you can use it as:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
&lt;text&gt;$xenc.sometext&lt;/text&gt;
</pre></div>
<p>
This takes advantage of Velocity's introspection process - it will try
to call get(&quot;sometext&quot;) on the $xenc object in the Context - then the
xenc object can then get the value from the Context, encode it, and
return it.
</p>
<p>
Alternatively, since Velocity makes it easy to implement custom Context
objects, you could implement your own context which always applies the
encoding to any string returned. Be careful to avoid rendering the
output of method calls directly, as they could return objects or strings
(which might need encoding). Place them first into the context with a
#set() directive and the use that, for example:
</p>
<div class="source"><pre>
#set( $sometext = $jdomElement.getText() )
&lt;text&gt;$sometext&lt;/text&gt;
</pre></div>
<p>
The previous suggestions for dealing with XML entities came from
Christoph Reck, an active participant in the Velocity community.
</p>
</div>
<a name="summary"></a><div class="section"><h2>Summary</h2>
<p>
We hope this brief guide was a helpful introduction to using Velocity in
your Java projects, and thank you for you interest in Velocity. We
welcome any and all comments you may have about this documentation and
the Velocity template engine itself.
</p>
<p>
Please submit all detailed, thoughtful and constructive feedback through our
<a href="http://velocity.apache.org/contact.html" class="externalLink">mailing lists</a>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<div class="xright">&#169;
2000-2007
The Apache Software Foundation
Last Published: 2007-03-06 19:34:55
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