[stringtemplate-interest] setAttribute() method chaining

[Terence Parr]

Yes, for next version.  good idea.
Ter
On Jan 23, 2009, at 10:39 AM, Nathan Ward wrote:

> The method chaining is clearer, simpler,  and more convenient which  
> matters when I’m trying to get buy-in from other developers in our  
> organization. So, the ability to do this would be appreciated if it  
> could be worked in at some point.
>
>    Regards,
>
>    Nathan
>
> From: Terence Parr [mailto:parrt at cs.usfca.edu]
> Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 1:09 AM
> To: Nathan Ward
> Cc: stringtemplate-interest at antlr.org
> Subject: Re: [stringtemplate-interest] setAttribute() method chaining
>
> Hi. a good idea.  Though, I think it's easier to just do
>
> jspTemplate.setAttributes(aMap);
>
> and set aMap appropriately using Java stuff.  Does HashMap allow  
> setter chaining?  If not, you can do:
>
> aMap = new HashMap() {
>             {
>             put("templateContext", this.templateContext);
>       put("project", this.project);
>       ...
> };
>
> On Jan 22, 2009, at 2:51 PM, Nathan Ward wrote:
>
>
> Terence,
>
> I have been integrating StringTemplate with a home grown JSP based  
> template solution that we have used for several years. It would be  
> convenient in this case to use “method chaining” if the  
> setAttribute() method returned the instance of the StringTemplate.
>
> e.g.
> Instead of:
>                 StringTemplate jspTemplate =  
> jspTemplateGroup.getInstanceOf("jsp");
>                 jspTemplate.setAttribute("templateContext",  
> this.templateContext);
>                 jspTemplate.setAttribute("project", this.project);
>                 jspTemplate.setAttribute("screen", screen);
>                String content = jspTemplate.toString();
>
> I could do:
> String content = jspTemplateGroup.getInstanceOf(“jsp”)
> .setAttribute("templateContext", this.templateContext)
>                 .setAttribute("project", this.project)
>                 .setAttribute("screen", screen)
>                .toString();
>
> This is particularly convenient in cases where I have a block of  
> code that needs to use more than one StringTemplate template  
> instance. It mainly saves me from having to think up separate names  
> for the StringTemplate variables and also seems to be more readable  
> than a set of separate statements since there is less non-value  
> added text. All it would take is the setAttribute() method to return  
> the current StringTemplate object (i.e. “return this;”). For now,  
> I’ve written a simple wrapper for StringTemplateGroup and  
> StringTemplate classes and had to create a method named  
> “newTemplate()” that mimics “getInstanceOf()” and a “setParam()”  
> method that just calls setAttribute() but also returns itself.
>
>    Nathan
>
> Nathan Ward
> ResQSoft, Inc.
> www.resqsoft.com
>
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