Template::Plugin::Cycle(3pm)				User Contributed Perl Documentation			      Template::Plugin::Cycle(3pm)

NAME

       Template::Plugin::Cycle - Cyclically insert into a Template from a sequence of values

SYNOPSIS

	 [% USE cycle('row', 'altrow') %]

	 <table border="1">
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>First row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>Second row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>Third row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

	 ###################################################################
	 # Alternatively, you might want to make it available to all templates
	 # throughout an entire application.

	 use Template::Plugin::Cycle;

	 # Create a Cycle object and set some values
	 my $Cycle = Template::Plugin::Cycle->new;
	 $Cycle->init('normalrow', 'alternaterow');

	 # Bind the Cycle object into the Template
	 $Template->process( 'tablepage.html', class => $Cycle );

	 #######################################################
	 # Later that night in a Template

	 <table border="1">
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>First row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>Second row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>Third row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

	 [% class.reset %]
	 <table border="1">
	   <tr class="[% class %]">
	     <td>Another first row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

	 #######################################################
	 # Which of course produces

	 <table border="1">
	   <tr class="normalrow">
	     <td>First row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="alternaterow">
	     <td>Second row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <tr class="normalrow">
	     <td>Third row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

	 <table border="1">
	   <tr class="normalrow">
	     <td>Another first row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

DESCRIPTION

       Sometimes, apparently almost exclusively when doing alternating table row backgrounds, you need to print an alternating, cycling, set of
       values into a template.

       Template::Plugin::Cycle is a small, simple, and hopefully DWIM solution to these sorts of tasks.

       It can be used either as a normal Template::Plugin, or can be created directly and passed in as a template argument, so that you can set up
       situations where it is implicitly available in every page.

METHODS

   new [ $Context ] [, @list ]
       The "new" constructor creates and returns a new "Template::Plugin::Cycle" object. It can be optionally passed an initial set of values to
       cycle through.

       When called from within a Template, the new constructor will be passed the current Template::Context as the first argument. This will be
       ignored.

       By doing this, you can use it both directly, AND from inside a Template.

   init @list
       If you need to set the values for a new empty object, of change the values to cycle through for an existing object, they can be passed to
       the "init" method.

       The method always returns the '' null string, to avoid inserting anything into the template.

   elements
       The "elements" method returns the number of items currently set for the "Template::Plugin::Cycle" object.

   list
       The "list" method returns the current list of values for the "Template::Plugin::Cycle" object.

       This is also the prefered method for getting access to a value at a particular position within the list of items being cycled to.

	 [%# Access a variety of things from the list %]
	 The first item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.first %].
	 The second item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.[1] %].
	 The last item in the Cycle object is [% cycle.list.last %].

   next
       The "next" method returns the next value from the Cycle. If the end of the list of valuese is reached, it will "cycle" back the first
       object again.

       This method is also the one called when the object is stringified. That is, when it appears on its own in a template. Thus, you can do
       something like the following.

	 <!-- An example of alternate row classes in a table-->
	 <table border="1">
	   <!-- Explicitly access the next class in the cycle -->
	   <tr class="[% rowclass.next %]">
	     <td>First row</td>
	   </tr>
	   <!-- This has the same effect -->
	   <tr class="[% rowclass %]">
	     <td>Second row</td>
	   </tr>
	 </table>

   value
       The "value" method is an analogy for the "next" method.

   reset
       If a single "Template::Plugin::Cycle" object is to be used it multiple places within a template, and it is important that the same value be
       first every time, then the "reset" method can be used.

       The "reset" method resets the Cycle, so that the next value returned will be the first value in the Cycle object.

SUPPORT

       Bugs should be submitted via the CPAN bug tracker, located at

       http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Template-Plugin-Cycle <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Template-Plugin-Cycle>

       For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the author..

AUTHOR

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

       Thank you to Phase N Australia (http://phase-n.com/ <http://phase-n.com/>) for permitting the open sourcing and release of this
       distribution as a spin-off from a commercial project.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2004 - 2008 Adam Kennedy.

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

       The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.

perl v5.12.4							    2008-06-19					      Template::Plugin::Cycle(3pm)