Macro Expansion for TAL (or METAL)

Macros provide a way to define a chunk of presentation in one template, and share it in others, so that changes to the macro are immediately reflected in all of the places that share it.

Macros are a special set of TAL statements that are processed separately from other statements. There are statements to define macros and macro slots, and to use macros and provide macro arguments. When a template which uses METAL macros is rendered, it expands them before processing other TAL statements.

PageTemplates implement METAL, and expand all of the macros used in a template when generating its source, as well as when rendering it. This allows macros to be viewed in-place.

See the METAL specifications for details of what METAL provides:

Comments

emiliano (Mar 13, 2001 4:27 am; Comment #3) –
If the macros are unfolded in full it is essential that it be very clear to the user which parts are editable, especially if you’re editing a macro that includes static parts (non-slots) or that calls other macros itself. Assuming that there’s some kind of access control scheme in place, this can get quite tricky.