=head1 NAME

HTML::Seamstress::Quickstart - A gentle introduction to HTML::Seamstress

=head1 Introduction

This guide is designed to get you started with dynamically generating
and modifying ("templating") HTML with
L<HTML::Seamstress|HTML::Seamstress>. 

We will work through several examples, with each one increasing your
ability to work with Seamstress effectively.

=head2 Sample files 

All the files for the samples are in the directory
F<lib/HTML/Seamstress/Quickstart>

=head1 Pure TreeBuilder

Welcome to the first example. This is our bare-bones example. Let's
say we want to dynamically modify the following HTML:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/html/greeting.html'</tt>

Let's not use Seamstress at all in this case. Remember Seamstress just
makes using L<HTML::Tree|HTML::Tree> more convenient when writing
software - it is completely optional and totally non-magical. So
here's the (admittedly verbose) pure TreeBuilder solution:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/greeting-treebuilder.pl'</tt>

There's a convenience function in 
L<HTML::Element::Library|HTML::Element::Library> which
makes it easy to replace all the content of an element. This will make
our script shorter. If we simply use Seamstress, its
C<new_from_file()> method will bless the
HTML tree into a class which inherits from HTML::Element::Library,
making it easy for us to shorten our program. So let's rework the
example using bare-bones Seamstress.

=head1 Base bones Seamstress rework

Since we used HTML::Seamstress instead of HTML::TreeBuilder, our
C<$tree> was blessed as an instance of C<HTML::Seamstress>. Since
C<HTML::Seamstress> inherits from C<HTML::TreeBuilder> and
C<HTML::Element::Library>, we have a C<$tree> which can use the
methods of both. 

We will take advantage of the C<replace_content> method in 
L<HTML::Element::Library|HTML::Element::Library> to shorten our
program:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/greeting-seamstress-pure.pl'</tt>

Now of course, this program is just itching to not repeat itself, so
we will clean it up just a tad:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/greeting-seamstress-pure-mapped.pl'</tt>


=head1 Abstract the file and our operations on it into a Perl LOOM

Ok sweet, we have a nice tight program. But is this really
application-level code? As the user of ultra-scaffolded frameworks
such as L<Class::DBI|Class::DBI> and L<Catalyst|Catalyst>, I can say
no. Our inline code must
be much tighter. It must do no more than C<use>, C<new>, and C<operation()>
whatever C<operation()> may be. 

The key abstraction technique of the uber-modules is a
package. Normally a package collects together a set of methods. In our
case, it is collecting together an HTML file and the object-oriented
operations on it. B<alert, alert: acronym, alert> from this point
forward, a Perl class 
abstracting a file and tree operations on the file will be called a
I<LOOM> - (L)ibrary (O)f (O)bject-oriented (M)ethods for HTML
files. 

On the whole, there are two ways to build a C<LOOM>. The quick and dirty
way is to stick a F<.pm> file in the same directory as the html
file. This is fine for most purposes and is what I like to use.

However in some cases it is not desirable or possible for the 
HTML and Perl to be in the same directory. This is the slow and clean
approach, which does have some additional advantages which will be
discussed. 



=head2 Quick and dirty LOOM building: .pm and .html in same directory

We have an C<html::Greeting> module like this:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/html/Greeting.pm'</tt>

which we make nice tight application-level use of like this:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/callGreeting.pl'</tt>



=head3 Cleaning up our Perl class

We are flowing smoothly now with nice tight code in our
application. But should we be happy with this module? I see a few
drawbacks which require improvement:

=over

=item * our file name is given as a relative path name

Relative paths are fine as long as we are certain to start in the same
directory, but we cannot be sure of that when building applications,
so we need an absolute path.

=item * we had to manually create this package

=back

Let's fix the first problem first.

=head3 Make path to HTML file absolute

Again, Seamstress just happens to have a subroutine which guesses the
name of the HTML file associated with a Seamstress-style Perl module.
It is called C<html()> and here we see it in use to give us the path
to our file in absolute fashion:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/html/GreetingAbs.pm'</tt>

and main code body is still the same:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/callGreetingAbs.pl'</tt>


=head2 Slow and clean LOOM building: .pm and .html in different directory

Here we need to slip a class in between C<HTML::Seamstress> and our
LOOM:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/lib/HTML/Seamstress/Base.pm'</tt>

This class will make it easy to track down the directory of our HTML
files. 

The LOOM class inherits from it and makes use of it in its
constructor:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/lib/html/Greeting.pm'</tt>

And out main body code is just as tight. We have a few statements to
make sure to use the right version of C<html::Greeting>, but other
than that, no changes:

<tt>pod_code 'Quickstart/slowClean.pl'</tt>

=head3 Slow and clean has extra programming advantages

Slow and clean is not just a different way to do the same
thing. By creating a local base class, you have full control over how
to connect an HTML file to your Perl code.

Your HTML designer can have his files mounted elsewhere. And you dont 

=over 4

=item * infect his directory with your C<.pm> files
=item * infect his HTML with all sorts of dynamic HTML logic

=back

And being infection-free is the way I like it.. in Perl and uhhh... other
endeavors.


=head3 Not recommended slow clean way: Inline the HTML

There is no Seamstress API or utility support for this. But it is an
idea and I just wanted to mention it for completeness. You can create
a F<.pm> with the HTML along the lines of this.

 package html::hello_world;

 sub new {...}

 sub process {...} 

 __HTML__
 <html>
  <head>
    ...
  </head>
  <body>
    ...
  </body>

 </html>

And then you could use L<File::Slurp|File::Slurp> to read it in and 
submit an appropriate C<HTML::Seamstress::new_from_content()> method
to do the proper blessings.

But I don't like this approach. It makes it hard to stay synchronized
with the designer as he continually makes updates.




=head1 Automated creation of Seamstress-style packages

Instead of manually creating or copying and pasting packages to create
Seamstress-style packages, the F<spkg.pl> script in the Seamstress
was off use. It is designed to help build the slow-clean LOOMs not the
quick-and-dirty ones.... it really should be updated to support either
usage mode.

=head1 Tips for effective Seamstress use

=head2 Use subroutines and Params::Validate to "componentize" your operations

The final phase in Seamstress best practices is to break each tree
manipulation down into a separate subroutine whose parameters are
specified by L<Params::Validate|Params::Validate>. 

If you do this, then you can control the dynamic HTML generation by
parameterizing your subs properly. This advice will make more
sense as you do more complex things with Seamstress

Now you're ready for the big time! Have fun!

=head2 Identify HTML elements by class tags if you plan to loop them

If your dummy HTML has a section which will be used as a sample and cloned
repeatedly (either by you manually or by an 
L<HTML::Element::Library|HTML::Element::Library> method), then locate it
by a C<class> tag and do not assign it an C<id> tag. This is because HTML
becomes invalid when an id tag appears more than once in the same document.

For example here is some L<Template|Template> code:

 [% FOR column = item.columns('view') %]
    <b class="title">[% column %]</b><br/>
    [% item.$column %]<br/><br/>
 [% END %]

Here is how I converted it to a Seamstress document:

 <span class="columns_view">
    <b class="title">column_name</b><br/>
    <span class="item_column">column_value</span><br/><br/>
 </span>	


=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2002-2006 by Terrence Brannon.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself. 

=cut