<SuperXml />

SuperXml is just a light weight and easy to use template engine library, useful to create string and Xml templates.

Why another template engine?

• Multi-type support.
• Math expressions.
• AngularJs (1.*)-like markup, if you are familiar with it you’re are familiar with this library.
• Support for nested elements.
• Expression filters, for example make an integer 24 compile like $24.00.
• Open source, do whatever you need with this code, improve it (please), remove features, for commercial and no commercial purposes. License here.

#Install From visual studio go to Tools -> Nuget Package Manager -> Package Manager Console then in the Package Manager console write the next command.

Install-Package SuperXml

Once it is installed you can use the Compiler class, you can find it at namespace SuperXml. #How to use it?

1. Create a Compiler class
2. Add as many elements to the Scope as you need
3. Feed your Template and get the result

Example 1, Hello World

// 1. Create a compiler class
Compiler compiler = new Compiler(); 

// 2. Add Elements to your Scope, the first parameter is key, second is value
//      key:    the 'variable name' for the compiler
//      value:  the value of the variable in this case the string "world"
compiler.AddKey("name", "world")

//3. Call the compile Method and feed the template t get the result
string result = compiler.CompileString("Hello {{name}}!");
//now results contains a "Hello wolrd!"

#Example 2, multiple scope elements For example 2.a and 2.b we are going to use the scope defined below

var compiler = new Compiler()
                .AddKey("name", "Excel")
                .AddKey("width", 100)
                .AddKey("height", 500)
                .AddKey("bounds", new[] {10, 0, 10, 0})
                .AddKey("elements", new []
                {
                    new { name = "John", age= 10 },
                    new { name = "Maria", age= 57 },
                    new { name = "Mark", age= 23 },
                    new { name = "Edit", age= 82 },
                    new { name = "Susan", age= 37 }
                });

After Scope is ready all you need to do is call the Compile method according to your needs

compiler.CompileString("Hello {{name}}") // a string
compiler.CompileXml(@"c:/.../file.xml"); //a xml file
compiler.CompileXml(new StringReader("<doc><.../></doc>"));//a xml string

#2.a Compile it from a string template Template

Hello {{name}}, you are a document with a size of {{width}}x{{height}} and an 
area of {{width*height}}

now here is a list with your bounds:
  <sxRun sxRepeat="b in bounds">-value {{$index}}: {{b}}
  </sxRun>

now here you can see a filtered list of classes
  <sxRun sxRepeat="e in elements" sxIf="e.age > 25">-{{e.name}}, age {{e.age}}
  </sxRun>

Result:

Hello Excel, you are a document with a size of 100x500 and an area of 50000

now here is a list with your bounds:
  -value 0: 10
  -value 1: 0
  -value 2: 10
  -value 3: 0
  

now here you can see a filtered list of classes
  -Maria, age 57
  -Edit, age 82
  -Susan, age 37

this is how the code should look

var template = "...a string containing the template of above..."
var compiled = new Compiler()
                .AddKey("name", "Excel")
                .AddKey("width", 100)
                .AddKey("height", 500)
                .AddKey("bounds", new[] {10, 0, 10, 0})
                .AddKey("elements", new []
                {
                    new { name = "John", age= 10 },
                    new { name = "Maria", age= 57 },
                    new { name = "Mark", age= 23 },
                    new { name = "Edit", age= 82 },
                    new { name = "Susan", age= 37 }
                })
                .CompileString(template);
  //compiled now contains the string of the result above

#2.b from a Xml File Template

<document>
  <name>my name is {{name}}</name>
  <width>{{width}}</width>
  <height>{{height}}</height>
  <area>{{width*height}}</area>
  <padding>
    <bound sxRepeat="bound in bounds">{{bound}}</bound>
  </padding>
  <content>
    <element sxRepeat="element in elements" sxIf="element.age > 25">
      <name>{{element.name}}</name>
      <age>{{element.age}}</age>
    </element>
  </content> 
</document>

Result

<document>
  <name>my name is Excel</name>
  <width>100</width>
  <height>500</height>
  <area>50000</area>
  <padding>
    <bound>10</bound>
    <bound>0</bound>
    <bound>10</bound>
    <bound>0</bound>
  </padding>
  <content>
    <element>
      <name>Maria</name>
      <age>57</age>
    </element>
    <element>
      <name>Edit</name>
      <age>82</age>
    </element>
    <element>
      <name>Susan</name>
      <age>37</age>
    </element>
  </content>
</document>

The only difference from 2.a is that now you need to call CompileXml() method, because source is now Xml, CompileXml() can be called with the next parameters:

1. compiler.CompileXml(@"C:\...\myXml.xml") a string, indicating the path of the XmlFile
2. compiler.CompileXml(new StringReader("<doc><.../></doc>")); a StringReader initialized with the template
3. from a stream
4. from a Custom XmlReader Class

Example 3, multiple features

Consider next Xml as template, and numbers is an array of integers containing only 2 elements (0, 1)

<doc>
<sxRun sxRepeat="a in numbers">
    <sxRun sxRepeat="b in numbers" >
		    <element row="{{$parent.$index+1}}" column="{{$index+1}}">
			     a) from a local scope variable {{a | currency}}, {{b}}
			     b) from an array: {{numbers[0]}}
			     c) from parent scope: {{$parent.$index}}
			     d) is it even? {{if($even, 'yes', 'nope')}}
		   </element>      
    </sxRun>
  </sxRun>
</doc>

will compile as

<doc>
<element row="1" column="1">
          a) from a local scope variable $0.00, 0
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 0
          d) is it even? yes
  </element>
  <element row="1" column="2">
          a) from a local scope variable $0.00, 1
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 0
          d) is it even? nope
  </element>
  <element row="2" column="1">
          a) from a local scope variable $1.00, 0
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 1
          d) is it even? yes
  </element>
  <element row="2" column="2">
          a) from a local scope variable $1.00, 1
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 1
          d) is it even? nope
  </element>
</doc>

#Need more? See included example #Configuration The default value returned when a nullable property is null is False, this can be configured with the following option:

Compiler.OnNullOrNotFound = "";

#If Command Evaluates if the element should be included according to a condition. A condition can include everything supported by ncalc (most of common things). Examples:

• <MyElement sxIf="10 > 6"/> numeric.
• <MyElement sxIf="aValueFromScope == 'visible'"/> string and from scope
• <MyElement sxIf="10 > h && aValueFromScope == 'visible'"/> another example

sxIf is useful when you need to include or ignore a specific element but what happens if you need for example to decide an Xml attribute according to a condition?

In that case you should use NCalc if function example:

<Element type="{{if(10 == 5, '10 is equals to 5', '10 is diferent to 5')}}"></Element>

#Repeat Command Repeats the element the same number of times as items in the array.

Example

Consider numbers an array of integers in the Scope

<MyElement sxRepeat="number in numbers" myAttribute="{{number}}" />

Result

<MyElement myAttribute="1" />
<MyElement myAttribute="2" />
<MyElement myAttribute="3" />
... 

Each repeated element has some extra Scope items:

• $index a cero based integer that indicates its position on repeater.
• $even a boolean value indicating if the position on the repeater even.
• $odd a boolean value indicating if the position on the repeater odd.
• $parent parent scope.

Input

<sxRun sxRepeat="a in numbers">
    <sxRun sxRepeat="b in numbers" >
		    <element row="{{$parent.$index+1}}" column="{{$index+1}}">
			     a) from a local scope variable {{a | currency}}, {{b}}
			     b) from an array: {{numbers[0]}}
			     c) from parent scope: {{$parent.$index}}
			     d) is it even? {{if($even, 'yes', 'nope')}}
		   </element>      
    </sxRun>
  </sxRun>

Result

<element row="1" column="1">
          a) from a local scope variable $0.00, 0
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 0
          d) is it even? yes
  </element>
  <element row="1" column="2">
          a) from a local scope variable $0.00, 1
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 0
          d) is it even? nope
  </element>
  <element row="2" column="1">
          a) from a local scope variable $1.00, 0
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 1
          d) is it even? yes
  </element>
  <element row="2" column="2">
          a) from a local scope variable $1.00, 1
          b) from an array: 0
          c) from parent scope: 1
          d) is it even? nope
  </element>

#Run Command sxRun is useful when you need to run a command on a set of Xml elements or just when you need for example to write a string according to a condition. sxRun is ignored when compiled.

Example 1 use it to run sxRepeater on a group of elements

<Document>
  <sxRun sxRepeat="number in numbers">
    <text1></text1>
    <text2></text2>
    <text3></text3>
  </sxRun>
  <sxRun sxIf="8 > 7">
    <text1></text1>
    <text2></text2>
    <text3></text3>
  </sxRun>
</Document>

Example2 Writing a string according to condition

Hello I need a:
<sxRun sxIf="user.age >= 18">
  beer
</sxRun>
<sxRun sxIf="user.age < 18">
  juice
</sxRun>

#Filters Filters is an easy way to display an expression in a custom format. for example when you have a decimal value 102.312 and you need it to display it as currency, all you need to do is use an expression as

{{102.312 | currency}}

And you will get $102.31. <SuperXml /> includes already the next filters:

• currency: it takes a numeric value and returns input.ToString("C").

You can add as many filters as you need adding elements to Filters dictionary of the static Compiler class. Example:

//consider that you can’t add a repeated element to a dictionary
//so when you add a filter be sure that this code is only hit once
Compiler.Filters.Add("helloFilter", input =>
            {
                return "Hello " + input;
            });

After you added your filter you can use it in your markup.

var compiled = new Compiler().AddKey("elements", new []
                {
                    new User {Name = "John", Age=13},
                    new User {Name = "Maria", Age=57},
                    new User {Name = "Mark", Age=23},
                    new User {Name = "Edit", Age=82},
                    new User {Name = "Susan", Age=37}
                }).CompileString(
                	"<sxRun sxRepeat="e in elements">{{e.Name | helloFilter}}</sxRun>");

Input

<sxRun sxRepeat="e in elements">
  {{e.Name | helloFilter}}
 </sxRun>

Output

  Hello John
 
  Hello Maria
 
  Hello Mark
 
  Hello Edit
 
  Hello Susan
 

Use filters whenever you need to change the output of a expression. another application could be to return for example input times 2.

#Math and Logical Operators math operations are evaluated by Ncalc, basically it works with the same syntax used in C#. For more info go to https://ncalc.codeplex.com/

<Document>
  <Math>
    2 + 2 = {{2+2}}, 2 x 2 = {{2*2}}, 2 / 2 = {{2/2}},
    (2+2)/(2+2/2)x2 = {{(2+2)/(2+2/2)*2}}
  </Math>
  <Logical>
    2 > 5 {{2>5}}, 4 = 9 {{ 4 == 9 }},
    for strings use '', for example (hola = hello {{'hello' == 'hello'}})
  </Logical>
  <condition>{{ if(1 == 0, 'yes it is!', 'nope') }}</condition>
</Document>

Compiled

<Document>
  <Document>
  <Math>
    2 + 2 = 4, 2 x 2 = 4, 2 / 2 = 1,
    (2+2)/(2+2/2)x2 = .66
  </Math>
  <Logical>
    2 > 5 False, 4 = 9 False,
    for strings use '', for example (hello = hello True)
  </Logical>
  <condition>nope</condition>
</Document>
</Document>

#Dot Notation Dot notation is useful when you add classes to compiler Scope, in the next example we added an User class with a string property name, a string property lastName and a integer property age, you can add any type and nest as many classes as necessary. Input XML

<Document>
  <Text>
    {{user.name}} {{user.lastName}}, age: {{user.age}}
  </Text>
</Document>

Compiled

<Document>
  <Text>
    Roger Martinez, age: 20
  </Text>
</Document>

#Support

Types

When you use `.AddKey(Key, Value)`, Value is dynamic, that means that it will be evaluated at runtime, so It should support all kind of types, enums, classes.

.Net

`.net` framework version 4 or greater

More

All elements and commands could be nested with no problem.

#Performance from <element ForEach="element in elements">{{element}}</element> and elements equals to an array of 10,000 integers Core i5 @ 2.3 GHz took an average of 300 ms to compile in release.

Sometimes Xml files contains elements that you don’t need to compile. to improve performance compile only what you need.

var onlyContet = compiler.CompileXml(new StringReader(SourceBox.Text), 
                 x => x.Children.First(y => y.Name == "content")); 

#Debug When a property is not found in the Compiler Scope, Compiler will let you know which name could not be found. It uses Trace.WriteLine(), so in visual studio you will find it in the output window.

Warning

When a property is not found the impact in performance is huge!