[stringtemplate-interest] How to write a helper template/macro for common stuff in a template (i.e. model and controller independent)

[Barrie Treloar]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Terence Parr<parrt at cs.usfca.edu> wrote:
> ah. right. Jim Idle asked for this too.  on todo list. Or, just pass in a
> Iterator "counter" object whose toString() returns 1, 2, 3, 4...  bad bad
> bad style but suffices until i can add "n times" thing.

Fair enough. I didn't think it was possible, but no harm in asking.
In this particular case the counter object would need to be
constructed in the view (which is currently not possible) as the
counter is independent of the model or controller.

I think the work I am doing is an edge case and I'm finding it
difficult to articulate what I am doing succinctly.

I think the closest analogy is that I am pre-processing input to make
the creation of the generated file easier.

The resultant file is 6000 lines full of cumbersome and verbose DSL
and I would like to be applying Dont Repeat Yourself principles to
reduce the maintenance and development effort of that file.

So the model is only really used to control some optional behaviour.
This is where a helper/macro template that can apply itself to the
view would be handy.

I was just thinking that maybe a two pass might fix the problem, but I
am still stuck with no model variables that control the second pass.

Is there a link to the Todo item?
Can anyone think of other scenarios where this behaviour is
appropriate? I'm hoping seeing the problem from an alternative
viewpoint might help my understanding.

For my case, what I think I want is something like:
  <[1..6]: {RETYPE [<it>] 0}>
where [1..6] creates a list on the fly for me of the values [1,2,3,4,5,6]