[Solar-talk] Template Parser / Compiler

[Rodrigo Moraes]

Hi, everybody.
Paul suggested to make a generic mailing list search engine / indexer
application based on what I've done for Solar-talk, and I had some
ideas for a generic "search engine / indexer". Starting from that
basic & specific app I think I've figured out how to adapt it to fit
different inputs (using adapters, oooh, what a discovery!), and then
yes, I agree this would be a good candidate for a Solar or standalone
app. I can't work on Solar_App_Search right now, but will probably
come back to it after I finish some other stuff...

Well, now to the subject. Thinking on this "search engine / indexer"
app, I've started to wonder about parsed/compiled templates. To
release such app to the public, it would require customizable
templates. Yes, php-based templates are easy, simple and light. I need
to emphasize that I love php-based templates: I love them. But
thinking on users... I believe custom tags are preferred. This is not
the only point, you know - sometimes we need to allow users (not
admins) to change templates, and so PHP should not be allowed. Then
we'll start to create parsers for different purposes and...

The simple question is: will Solar_View have a parser / compiler
plugin one day? I mean, one similar to Savant's one. I hope this won't
be a problem down the road, making it difficult to implement in the
future, and I also that this is not a subject that makes people sick
or angry. I really don't need this now, but will probably need sooner
or later (I think it will be sooner :-). It would be nice to have a
Solar way to work with parsed templates. And here's one thing I would
like to see: tags with named parameters (not based on order). I mean,
taking a Savant example, instead of:

    {['pluginName', 'arg1', 'arg2', 'arg3']}

... something like:

    {[pluginName(arg1='arg1', arg3='arg3', arg2='arg2)]}

Just because users don't remember the parameters order every time (and
also because the order can be changed without breaking existing
templates). :-)

More thoughts on this subject?

regards,
rodrigo moraes / brazil