Note: The jQuery team has decided not to take this plugin past beta. It is no longer being actively developed or maintained. See vBeta1.0.0 tag for released beta version. Requires jQuery version 1.4.2.
jQuery templates contain markup with binding expressions ('Template tags'). Templates are applied to data objects or arrays, and rendered into the HTML DOM
Note that documentation for the jQuery Templates plugin is no longer maintained on the jQuery documentation site.
An archive copy of the original documentation (previously at api.jquery.com/category/plugins/templates/) can be found [here] (http://web.archive.org/web/20120920065217/http://api.jquery.com/category/plugins/templates/).
See also [http://www.borismoore.com/2010/10/jquery-templates-is-now-official-jquery.html] (http://www.borismoore.com/2010/10/jquery-templates-is-now-official-jquery.html) for more background.
Live versions of demos from this repository can be found at [http://jquery.github.com/jquery-tmpl/demos/step-by-step.html] (http://jquery.github.com/jquery-tmpl/demos/step-by-step.html).
The beta1 version of jQuery Templates is available on CDN at:
- http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js
- http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.min.js
The following is a restoration of jQuery's official documentation on tmpl() as it was on 12/28/2012. jQuery is Copyright 2012, John Resig
Render the specified HTML content as a template, using the specified data. version added: 1.4.3 jQuery.tmpl( template [, data] [, options] )
template The HTML markup or text to use as a template.
data The data to render. This can be any JavaScript type, including Array or Object.
options An optional map of user-defined key-value pairs. Extends the tmplItem data structure, available to the template during rendering.
This documentation topic concerns the jQuery Templates plugin (jquery-tmpl), which can be downloaded from: http://github.com/jquery/jquery-tmpl.
The jQuery.tmpl() method is designed for chaining with .appendTo, .prependTo, .insertAfter or .insertBefore as in the following example.
$.tmpl( "<li>${Name}</li>", { "Name" : "John Doe" }).appendTo( "#target" );The template parameter can be any of the following:
- A string containing markup.
- An HTML element (or jQuery object that wraps an element) whose content is to be used as the template.
- A string corresponding to the name of a named template (see jQuery.template() and .template()).
- A compiled-template function (see jQuery.template() and .template()).
If data is an array, the template is rendered once for each data item in the array. If data is an object, or if the data parameter is missing or null, a single template item is rendered.
The return value is a jQuery collection of elements made up of the rendered template items (one for each data item in the array). If the template contains only one top-level element, then there will be one element for each data item in the array.
To insert the rendered template items into the HTML DOM, the returned jQuery collection should not be inserted directly into the DOM, but should be chained with .appendTo, .prependTo, .insertAfter or .insertBefore, as in following example:
$.tmpl( myTemplate, myData ).appendTo( "#target" );See also .tmpl().
The following example shows how to use jQuery.tmpl() to render local data, using a template provided as a string:
var movies = [
{ Name: "The Red Violin", ReleaseYear: "1998" },
{ Name: "Eyes Wide Shut", ReleaseYear: "1999" },
{ Name: "The Inheritance", ReleaseYear: "1976" }
];
var markup = "<li><b>${Name}</b> (${ReleaseYear})</li>";
// Compile the markup as a named template
$.template( "movieTemplate", markup );
// Render the template with the movies data and insert
// the rendered HTML under the "movieList" element
$.tmpl( "movieTemplate", movies )
.appendTo( "#movieList" );Typically the data is not local and is instead obtained using an Ajax request to a remote service or page, as in the following example:
var markup = "<li><b>${Name}</b> (${ReleaseYear})</li>";
// Compile the markup as a named template
$.template( "movieTemplate", markup );
$.ajax({
dataType: "jsonp",
url: moviesServiceUrl,
jsonp: "$callback",
success: showMovies
});
// Within the callback, use .tmpl() to render the data.
function showMovies( data ) {
// Render the template with the "movies" data and insert
// the rendered HTML under the 'movieList' element
$.tmpl( "movieTemplate", data )
.appendTo( "#movieList" );
}You can get the markup for the template from inline markup in the page, or from a string (possibly computed, or obtained remotely). For an example of how to use inline markup, see .tmpl().
When a template is rendered, the markup is first converted into a compiled-template function. Every time $.tmpl( markup , myData ).appendTo( "#target" ) is called, the template is recompiled. If the same template is to be used more than once for rendering data, you should ensure that the compiled template is cached. To cache the template when using markup that is obtained from a string (rather than from inline markup in the page), use $.template( name, markup ) to create a named template for reuse. See jQuery.template().
Template tags such as the ${} tag can used within jQuery templates in addition to text and HTML markup to enable a number of scenarios such as composition of templates, iteration over hierarchical data, parameterization of template rendering, etc. Template tags can render content based on the values of data item fields or template variables such as $item (corresponding to the template item), as well as expressions and function calls. See the documentation topics for each template tag: ${}, {{each}}, {{if}}, {{else}}, {{html}}, {{tmpl}} and {{wrap}}.
Each template item (the result of rendering a data item with the template) is associated with a tmplItem data structure, which can be accessed using jQuery.tmplItem() and .tmplItem(), or the $item template variable. Any fields or anonomyous methods passed in with the options parameter of jQuery.tmpl() will extend the tmplItem data structure, and so be available to the template as in the following example:
var markup = "<li>Some content: ${$item.myMethod()}.<br/>"
+ " More content: ${$item.myValue}.</li>";
// Compile the markup as a named template
$.template( "movieTemplate", markup );
// Render the template with the movies data
$.tmpl( "movieTemplate", movies,
{
myValue: "somevalue",
myMethod: function() {
return "something";
}
}
).appendTo( "#movieList" ); <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<ul id="movieList"></ul>
<script>
var movies = [
{ Name: "The Red Violin", ReleaseYear: "1998" },
{ Name: "Eyes Wide Shut", ReleaseYear: "1999" },
{ Name: "The Inheritance", ReleaseYear: "1976" }
];
var markup = "<li><b>${Name}</b> (${ReleaseYear})</li>";
/* Compile the markup as a named template */
$.template( "movieTemplate", markup );
/* Render the template with the movies data and insert
the rendered HTML under the "movieList" element */
$.tmpl( "movieTemplate", movies )
.appendTo( "#movieList" );
</script>
</body>
</html> <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<button id="cartoonsBtn">Cartoons</button>
<button id="dramaBtn">Drama</button>
<ul id="movieList"></ul>
<script>
var markup = "<li><b>${Name}</b> (${ReleaseYear})</li>";
/* Compile the markup as a named template */
$.template( "movieTemplate", markup );
function getMovies( genre, skip, top ) {
$.ajax({
dataType: "jsonp",
url: "http://odata.netflix.com/Catalog/Genres('" + genre
+ "')/Titles?$format=json&$skip="
+ skip + "&$top=" + top,
jsonp: "$callback",
success: function( data ) {
/* Get the movies array from the data */
var movies = data.d;
/* Remove current set of movie template items */
$( "#movieList" ).empty();
/* Render the template items for each movie
and insert the template items into the "movieList" */
$.tmpl( "movieTemplate", movies )
.appendTo( "#movieList" );
}
});
}
$( "#cartoonsBtn" ).click( function() {
getMovies( "Cartoons", 0, 6 );
});
$( "#dramaBtn" ).click( function() {
getMovies( "Drama", 0, 6 );
});
</script>
</body>
</html>