Template::Plugin::Directory(3)

NAME
Template::Plugin::Directory - Plugin for generating directory listings

SYNOPSIS
    [% USE dir = Directory(dirpath) %]

    # files returns list of regular files
    [% FOREACH file = dir.files %]
       [% file.name %] [% file.path %] ...
    [% END %]

    # dirs returns list of sub-directories
    [% FOREACH subdir = dir.dirs %]
       [% subdir.name %] [% subdir.path %] ...
    [% END %]

    # list returns both interleaved in order
    [% FOREACH item = dir.list %]
       [% IF item.isdir %]
          Directory: [% item.name %]
       [% ELSE
          File: [% item.name %]
       [% END %]
    [% END %]

    # define a VIEW to display dirs/files
    [% VIEW myview %]
       [% BLOCK file %]
       File: [% item.name %]
       [% END %]

       [% BLOCK directory %]
       Directory: [% item.name %]
       [% item.content(myview) | indent -%]
       [% END %]
    [% END %]

    # display directory content using view
    [% myview.print(dir) %]

DESCRIPTION
This Template Toolkit plugin provides a simple interface to directory listings. It is derived from the Template::Plugin::File module and uses Template::Plugin::File object instances to represent files within a directory. Sub-directories within a directory are represented by further Template::Plugin::Directory instances.

The constructor expects a directory name as an argument.

    [% USE dir = Directory('/tmp') %]

It then provides access to the files and sub-directories contained within the directory.

    # regular files (not directories)
    [% FOREACH file = dir.files %]
       [% file.name %]
    [% END %]

    # directories only
    [% FOREACH file = dir.dirs %]
       [% file.name %]
    [% END %]

    # files and/or directories
    [% FOREACH file = dir.list %]
       [% file.name %] ([% file.isdir ? 'directory' : 'file' %])
    [% END %]

    [% USE Directory('foo/baz') %]

The plugin constructor will throw a 'Directory' error if the specified path does not exist, is not a directory or fails to stat() (see Template::Plugin::File). Otherwise, it will scan the directory and create lists named 'files' containing files, 'dirs' containing directories and 'list' containing both files and directories combined. The 'nostat' option can be set to disable all file/directory checks and directory scanning.

Each file in the directory will be represented by a Template::Plugin::File object instance, and each directory by another Template::Plugin::Directory. If the 'recurse' flag is set, then those directories will contain further nested entries, and so on. With the 'recurse' flag unset, as it is by default, then each is just a place marker for the directory and does not contain any further content unless its scan() method is explicitly called. The 'isdir' flag can be tested against files and/or directories, returning true if the item is a directory or false if it is a regular file.

    [% FOREACH file = dir.list %]
       [% IF file.isdir %]
          * Directory: [% file.name %]
       [% ELSE %]
          * File: [% file.name %]
       [% END %]
    [% END %]

This example shows how you might walk down a directory tree, displaying content as you go. With the recurse flag disabled, as is the default, we need to explicitly call the scan() method on each directory, to force it to lookup files and further sub-directories contained within.

    [% USE dir = Directory(dirpath) %]
    * [% dir.path %]
    [% INCLUDE showdir %]

    [% BLOCK showdir -%]
      [% FOREACH file = dir.list -%]
        [% IF file.isdir -%]
        * [% file.name %]
          [% file.scan -%]
          [% INCLUDE showdir dir=file FILTER indent(4) -%]
        [% ELSE -%]
        - [% f.name %]
        [% END -%]
      [% END -%]
     [% END %]

This example is adapted (with some re-formatting for clarity) from a test in t/directry.t which produces the following output:

    * test/dir
        - file1
        - file2
        * sub_one
            - bar
            - foo
        * sub_two
            - waz.html
            - wiz.html
        - xyzfile

The 'recurse' flag can be set (disabled by default) to cause the constructor to automatically recurse down into all sub-directories, creating a new Template::Plugin::Directory object for each one and filling it with any further content. In this case there is no need to explicitly call the scan() method.

    [% USE dir = Directory(dirpath, recurse=1) %]
       ...

        [% IF file.isdir -%]
        * [% file.name %]
          [% INCLUDE showdir dir=file FILTER indent(4) -%]
        [% ELSE -%]
           ...

From version 2.01, the Template Toolkit provides support for views. A view can be defined as a VIEW ... END block and should contain BLOCK definitions for files ('file') and directories ('directory').

    [% VIEW myview %]
    [% BLOCK file %]
       - [% item.name %]
    [% END %]

    [% BLOCK directory %]
       * [% item.name %]
         [% item.content(myview) FILTER indent %]
    [% END %]
    [% END %]

Then the view print() method can be called, passing the Directory object as an argument.

    [% USE dir = Directory(dirpath, recurse=1) %]
    [% myview.print(dir) %]

When a directory is presented to a view, either as [% myview.print(dir) %] or [% dir.present(view) %], then the 'directory' BLOCK within the 'myview' VIEW is processed, with the 'item' variable set to alias the Directory object.

    [% BLOCK directory %]
       * [% item.name %]
         [% item.content(myview) FILTER indent %]
    [% END %]

The directory name is first printed and the content(view) method is then called to present each item within the directory to the view. Further directories will be mapped to the 'directory' block, and files will be mapped to the 'file' block.

With the recurse option disabled, as it is by default, the 'directory' block should explicitly call a scan() on each directory.

    [% VIEW myview %]
    [% BLOCK file %]
       - [% item.name %]
    [% END %]

    [% BLOCK directory %]
       * [% item.name %]
         [% item.scan %]
         [% item.content(myview) FILTER indent %]
    [% END %]
    [% END %]

    [% USE dir = Directory(dirpath) %]
    [% myview.print(dir) %]

TODO
Might be nice to be able to specify accept/ignore options to catch a subset of files.

AUTHORS
Michael Stevens <michael@etla.org> wrote the original Directory plugin on which this is based. Andy Wardley <abw@wardley.org> split it into separate File and Directory plugins, added some extra code and documentation for VIEW support, and made a few other minor tweaks.

VERSION
2.7, distributed as part of the Template Toolkit version 2.19, released on 27 April 2007.

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

SEE ALSO
Template::Plugin, Template::Plugin::File, Template::View