Quick start¶

So you are here to give dja a try. To cut a long story short, I must say that you are not yet ready for it, unless you are already familiar with Django templates syntax.

Templates syntax

First of all, take a look at Django documentation, as it is a good start to get aquainted with templates essentials:

Syntax overview - https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/topics/templates/
Built-in tags and filters - https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/ref/templates/builtins/

Basic usage example

Now when you’re familiar with Django templates[, but not yet ready to quit PHP %)], take a look at a basic dja usage example:

<?php

// We'll certainly use dja, so we require it.
require_once 'dja/dja.php';

// Initialize 'TEMPLATE_DIRS' setting to point to our template directory(ies).
Dja::setSetting('TEMPLATE_DIRS', array('/home/idle/my/templates/are/here/'));

// Use shortcut render() method.
echo Dja::render('pages/another_page.html', array('title'=>'My title for another page'));

Note

If TEMPLATE_DEBUG setting equals True Dja::render() will render pretty page with usefull debug information.

Under the hood the example above does roughly the following:

<?php

require_once 'dja/dja.php';

// First we create a template object, passing to it a template source string.
$template = new Template('My template. It counts {{ what }}: {% for item in items %}{{ item }} and {% endfor %}no more. That\'s all, folks!');

// After that we create a context object, passing to it an array of data to be used later in template.
$context = new Context(array('items' => range(1, 10), 'what'=>'cows'));

// The final step is to pass our context object to our template object.
$result = $template->render($context);

// Now $result contains a string ready for output.
echo $result;