Build a Perl RSS Aggregator with Templating Tools - HTML::Mason (
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One of the big drawbacks of HTML::Template is that it forces us, to some degree, to mix program logic and presentation, something that we sought to avoid by using templates. For instance, that last template got a little difficult to follow, with variable and HTML tags crowding up the template and obscuring what was actually going on. What we would prefer, then, is a system that allows us to further abstract out the individual elements of what we expect our templates to do, and this is where HTML::Mason comes in.
As we've mentioned, HTML::Mason is an inside-out templating system. As well as templating, it could also be described as a component abstraction system for building HTML web pages out of smaller, reusable pieces of logic. Here's a brief overview of how to use it, before we go on to implement the same RSS aggregator application.
Basic Components
In Mason, everything is a component. Here's a simple example of using components. Suppose we have three files: test.html in Example 3-1, Header in Example 3-2, and Footer in Example 3-3.
Example 3-1. test.html
<& /Header &>
<p>
Hello World
</p>
<& /Footer &>
Example 3-2. Header
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>Some Web Application</title>
<link rel=stylesheet type="text/css" href="nt.css">
</head>
<body>
Example 3-3. Footer
<hr>
<div class="footer">
<address>
<a href="mailto:webmaster@yourcompany.com"> webmaster@yourcompany.com</a>
</address>
</div>
</body>
</html>
HTML::Mason builds up the page by including the components specified inside <& and &> tags. When creating test.html, Mason first includes the Headercomponent found at the document root, then the rest of the HTML, then the Footer component.
Components may call other components. So far, we've done nothing outside the scope of server-side includes.
