# Language Reference

The language reference is structured such that it can be read as a general introduction to the page templates language.

It’s split into parts that correspond to each of the main language features.

## Syntax

You can safely skip this section if you’re familiar with how template languages work or just want to learn by example.

An attribute language is a programming language designed to render documents written in XML or HTML markup. The input must be a well-formed document. The output from the template is usually XML-like but isn’t required to be well-formed.

The statements of the language are document tags with special attributes, and look like this:

    <p namespace-prefix:command="argument"> ... </p>

In the above example, the attribute `namespace-prefix:command="argument"` is the statement, and the entire paragraph tag is the statement’s element. The statement’s element is the portion of the document on which this statement operates.

The namespace prefixes are typically declared once, at the top of a template (note that prefix declarations for the template language namespaces are omitted from the template output):

    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
          xmlns:tal="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/tal"
          xmlns:metal="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/metal"
          xmlns:i18n="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/i18n">
      ...
    </html>

Thankfully, sane namespace prefix defaults are in place to let us skip most of the boilerplate:

    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
      <body>
        <p tal:content="text"> ... </p>
      </body>
    </html>

Note how `tal` is used without an explicit namespace declaration. Chameleon sets up defaults for `metal` and `i18n` as well.

Note

Default prefixes are a special feature of Chameleon.

If the `enable_data_attributes` option is set then you can use `data-prefix-command="argument"` in addition to the namespace prefix attributes.

## Basics (TAL)

The template attribute language is used to create dynamic XML-like content. It allows elements of a document to be replaced, repeated, or omitted.

### Statements

These are the available statements:

Statement | Description
--- | ---
`tal:define` | Define variables.
`tal:switch` | Defines a switch condition
`tal:condition` | Include element only if expression is true.
`tal:repeat` | Repeat an element.
`tal:case` | Includes element only if expression is equal to parent switch.
`tal:content` | Substitute the content of an element.
`tal:replace` | Replace the element with dynamic content.
`tal:omit-tag` | Omit the element tags, leaving only the inner content.
`tal:attributes` | Dynamically change or insert element attributes.
`tal:on-error` | Substitute the content of an element if processing fails.

When there is only one TAL statement per element, the order in which they are executed is simple. Starting with the root element, each element’s statements are executed, then each of its child elements is visited, in order, to do the same:

    <html>
      <meta>
        <title tal:content="context.title" />
      </meta>
      <body>
        <div tal:condition="items">
          <p>These are your items:</p>
          <ul>
            <li tal:repeat="item items" tal:content="item" />
          </ul>
        </div>
      </body>
    </html>

Any combination of statements may appear on the same element, except that the `tal:content` and `tal:replace` statements may not be used on the same element.

Note

The `tal:case` and `tal:switch` statements are available in Chameleon only.

TAL does not use the order in which statements are written in the tag to determine the order in which they are executed. When an element has multiple statements, they are executed in the order printed in the table above.

There is a reasoning behind this ordering. Because users often want to set up variables for use in other statements contained within this element or subelements, `tal:define` is executed first. Then any switch statement. `tal:condition` follows, then `tal:repeat`, then `tal:case`. We are now rendering an element; first `tal:content` or `tal:replace`. Finally, before `tal:attributes`, we have `tal:omit-tag` (which is implied with `tal:replace`).

Note

TALES is used as the expression language for the “stuff in the quotes”. The default syntax is simply Python, but other inputs are possible — see the section on expressions.

#### `tal:attributes`

Removes, updates or inserts element attributes.

    tal:attributes="href request.url"

##### Syntax

`tal:attributes` syntax:

    argument             ::= attribute_statement [';' attribute_statement]*
    attribute_statement  ::= (attribute_name expression | expression)
    attribute_name       ::= [namespace-prefix ':'] Name
    namespace-prefix     ::= Name

##### Description

The `tal:attributes` statement replaces the value of an attribute (or drops, or creates an attribute) with a dynamic value. The value of each expression is converted to a string, if necessary.

Note

You can qualify an attribute name with a namespace prefix, for example `html:table`, if you are generating an XML document with multiple namespaces.

If an attribute expression evaluates to `None`, the attribute is deleted from the statement element (or simply not inserted).

If an attribute statement is just an expression, it must evaluate to a Python dict (or implement the methods `update()` and `items()` from the dictionary specification).

If the expression evaluates to the symbol `default` (a symbol which is always available when evaluating attributes), its value is defined as the default static attribute value. If there is no such default value, a return value of `default` will drop the attribute.

If you use `tal:attributes` on an element with an active `tal:replace` command, the `tal:attributes` statement is ignored.

If you use `tal:attributes` on an element with a `tal:repeat` statement, the replacement is made on each repetition of the element, and the replacement expression is evaluated fresh for each repetition.

Note

If you want to include a semicolon (“;”) in an expression, it must be escaped by doubling it (“;;”). Similarly, you can escape expression interpolation using the “$” symbol by doubling it (“$$”).

##### Examples

Replacing a link:

    <a href="/sample/link.html"
       tal:attributes="href context.url()"
       >
       ...
    </a>

Replacing two attributes:

    <textarea rows="80" cols="20"
              tal:attributes="rows request.rows();cols request.cols()"
        />

A checkbox input:

    <input type="checkbox" tal:attributes="checked True" />

This requires `boolean_attributes` to be activated, see `PageTemplate configuration options`:

    template = PageTemplate("<input type="checkbox" tal:attributes="checked True" />",
                            boolean_attributes={"selected", "checked"})
    // or

    templates = PageTemplateLoader(path, boolean_attributes={"selected", "checked"})

#### `tal:condition`

Conditionally includes or omits an element:

    <div tal:condition="comments">
      ...
    </div>

##### Syntax

`tal:condition` syntax:

    argument ::= expression

##### Description

> The `tal:condition` statement includes the statement element in the template only if the condition is met, and omits it otherwise. If its expression evaluates to a true value, then normal processing of the element continues, otherwise the statement element is immediately removed from the template. For these purposes, the value `nothing` is false, and `default` has the same effect as returning a true value.

Note

Like Python itself, ZPT considers None, zero, empty strings, empty sequences, empty dictionaries, and instances which return a nonzero value from `__len__` or which return false from `__nonzero__`; all other values are true, including `default`.

##### Examples

Test a variable before inserting it:

    <p tal:condition="request.message" tal:content="request.message" />

Testing for odd/even in a repeat-loop:

    <div tal:repeat="item range(10)">
      <p tal:condition="repeat.item.even">Even</p>
      <p tal:condition="repeat.item.odd">Odd</p>
    </div>

#### `tal:content`

Replaces the content of an element.

##### Syntax

`tal:content` syntax:

    argument ::= (['text'] | 'structure') expression

##### Description

Rather than replacing an entire element, you can insert text or structure in place of its children with the `tal:content` statement. The statement argument is exactly like that of `tal:replace`, and is interpreted in the same fashion. If the expression evaluates to `nothing`, the statement element is left childless. If the expression evaluates to `default`, then the element’s contents are evaluated.

The default replacement behavior is `text`, which replaces angle-brackets and ampersands with their HTML entity equivalents. The `structure` keyword passes the replacement text through unchanged, allowing HTML/XML markup to be inserted. This can break your page if the text contains unanticipated markup (eg. text submitted via a web form), which is the reason that it is not the default.

Note

The `structure` keyword exists to provide backwards compatibility. In Chameleon, the `structure:` expression type provides the same functionality (also for inline expressions).

##### Examples

Inserting the user name:

    <p tal:content="user.getUserName()">Fred Farkas</p>

Inserting HTML/XML:

    <p tal:content="structure context.getStory()">
       Marked <b>up</b> content goes here.
    </p>

#### `tal:define`

Defines local variables.

##### Syntax

`tal:define` syntax:

    variable_name  ::= Name | '(' Name [',' Name]* ')'
    define_var     ::= variable_name expression
    define_scope   ::= (['local'] | 'global') define_var
    argument       ::= define_scope [';' define_scope]*

##### Description

The `tal:define` statement defines variables. When you define a local variable in a statement element, you can use that variable in that element and the elements it contains. If you redefine a variable in a contained element, the new definition hides the outer element’s definition within the inner element.

Note that valid variable names are any Python identifier string including underscore, although two or more leading underscores are disallowed (used internally by the compiler). Further, names are case-sensitive.

Variable names support basic iterable unpacking when surrounded by parenthesis. This also applies to the variable established by `tal:repeat`.

Note

This is a Chameleon-specific language extension.

Python builtins are always “in scope”, but most of them may be redefined (such as `help`). Exceptions are:: `float`, `int`, `len`, `long`, `str`, `None`, `True` and `False`.

In addition, the following names are reserved: `econtext`, `rcontext`, `translate`, `decode` and `convert`.

If the expression associated with a variable evaluates to `nothing`, then that variable has the value `nothing`, and may be used as such in further expressions. Likewise, if the expression evaluates to `default`, then the variable has the value `default`, and may be used as such in further expressions.

You can define two different kinds of variables: local and global. When you define a local variable in a statement element, you can only use that variable in that element and the elements it contains. If you redefine a local variable in a contained element, the new definition hides the outer element’s definition within the inner element. When you define a global variables, you can use it in any element processed after the defining element. If you redefine a global variable, you replace its definition for the rest of the template.

Tip

Global variables may be changed by the execution of a macro if that macro also declares the variable to be global.

To set the definition scope of a variable, use the keywords `local` or `global` in front of the assignment. The default setting is `local`; thus, in practice, only the `global` keyword is used.

Note

If you want to include a semicolon (“;”) in an expression, it must be escaped by doubling it (“;;”).

##### Examples

Defining a variable:

    tal:define="company_name 'Zope Corp, Inc.'"

Defining two variables, where the second depends on the first:

    tal:define="mytitle context.title; tlen len(mytitle)"

Defining a local and global variable:

    tal:define="global mytitle context.title; tlen len(mytitle)"

Unpacking a sequence:

    tal:define="(key,value) ('a', 42)"

#### `tal:switch` and `tal:case`

Defines a switch clause.

    <ul tal:switch="len(items) % 2">
      <li tal:case="True">odd</li>
      <li tal:case="False">even</li>
    </ul>

##### Syntax

`tal:case` and `tal:switch` syntax:

    argument ::= expression

##### Description

The switch and case construct is a short-hand syntax for matching a set of expressions against a single parent.

The `tal:switch` statement is used to set a new parent expression and the contained `tal:case` statements are then matched in sequence such that only the first match succeeds.

Note that the symbol `default` affirms the case precisely when no previous case has been successful. It should therefore be placed last.

Note

These statements are only available in Chameleon 2.x and not part of the ZPT specification.

##### Examples

    <ul tal:switch="item.type">
      <li tal:case="'document'">
        Document
      </li>
      <li tal:case="'folder'">
        Folder
      </li>
      <li tal:case="default">
        Other
      </li>
    </ul>

#### `tal:omit-tag`

Removes an element, leaving its contents.

##### Syntax

`tal:omit-tag` syntax:

    argument ::= [ expression ]

##### Description

The `tal:omit-tag` statement leaves the contents of an element in place while omitting the surrounding start and end tags.

If the expression evaluates to a false value, then normal processing of the element continues and the tags are not omitted. If the expression evaluates to a true value, or no expression is provided, the statement element is replaced with its contents.

Note

Like Python itself, ZPT considers None, zero, empty strings, empty sequences, empty dictionaries, and instances which return a nonzero value from `__len__` or which return false from `__nonzero__`; all other values are true, including `default`.

##### Examples

Unconditionally omitting a tag:

    <div tal:omit-tag="" comment="This tag will be removed">
      <i>...but this text will remain.</i>
    </div>

Conditionally omitting a tag:

    <b tal:omit-tag="not:bold">I may be bold.</b>

The above example will omit the `b` tag if the variable `bold` is false.

Creating ten paragraph tags, with no enclosing tag:

    <span tal:repeat="n range(10)"
          tal:omit-tag="">
      <p tal:content="n">1</p>
    </span>

#### `tal:repeat`

Repeats an element.

##### Syntax

`tal:repeat` syntax:

    argument      ::= variable_name expression
    variable_name ::= Name

##### Description

The `tal:repeat` statement replicates a sub-tree of your document once for each item in a sequence. The expression should evaluate to a sequence. If the sequence is empty, then the statement element is deleted, otherwise it is repeated for each value in the sequence. If the expression is `default`, then the element is left unchanged, and no new variables are defined.

The `variable_name` is used to define a local variable and a repeat variable. For each repetition, the local variable is set to the current sequence element, and the repeat variable is set to an iteration object.

##### Repeat variables

You use repeat variables to access information about the current repetition (such as the repeat index). The repeat variable has the same name as the local variable, but is only accessible through the built-in variable named `repeat`.

The following information is available from the repeat variable:

Attribute | Description
--- | ---
`index` | Repetition number, starting from zero.
`number` | Repetition number, starting from one.
`even` | True for even-indexed repetitions (0, 2, 4, …).
`odd` | True for odd-indexed repetitions (1, 3, 5, …).
`parity` | For odd-indexed repetitions, this is ‘odd’, else ‘even’.
`start` | True for the starting repetition (index 0).
`end` | True for the ending, or final, repetition.
`length` | Length of the sequence, which will be the total number of repetitions.
`letter` | Repetition number as a lower-case letter: “a” - “z”, “aa” - “az”, “ba” - “bz”, …, “za” - “zz”, “aaa” - “aaz”, and so forth.
`Letter` | Upper-case version of letter.
`roman` | Repetition number as a lower-case roman numeral: “i”, “ii”, “iii”, “iv”, “v”, etc.
`Roman` | Upper-case version of roman.

You can access the contents of the repeat variable using either dictionary- or attribute-style access, e.g. `repeat['item'].start` or `repeat.item.start`.

Note

For legacy compatibility, the attributes `odd`, `even`, `number`, `letter`, `Letter`, `roman`, and `Roman` are callable (returning `self`).

Note

Earlier versions of this document, and the Zope Page Templates Reference, referred to `first` and `last` attributes for use with sorted sequences. These are not implemented in Chameleon or the Zope reference implementation zope.tales. Instead, you can use `itertools.groupby()`, as in the example below.

##### Examples

Iterating over a sequence of strings:

    <p tal:repeat="txt ('one', 'two', 'three')">
       <span tal:replace="txt" />
    </p>

Inserting a sequence of table rows, and using the repeat variable to number the rows:

    <table>
      <tr tal:repeat="item here.cart">
          <td tal:content="repeat.item.number">1</td>
          <td tal:content="item.description">Widget</td>
          <td tal:content="item.price">$1.50</td>
      </tr>
    </table>

Nested repeats:

    <table border="1">
      <tr tal:repeat="row range(10)">
        <td tal:repeat="column range(10)">
          <span tal:define="x repeat.row.number;
                            y repeat.column.number;
                            z x * y"
                tal:replace="string:$x * $y = $z">1 * 1 = 1</span>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>

Grouping objects by type, drawing a rule between elements of different types:

    <div tal:repeat="(type,objects) list(map(lambda g: (g[0], list(g[1])), itertools.groupby(objects, key=lambda o: o.meta_type)))"
         tal:define="itertools import:itertools">
      <h2 tal:content="type">Meta Type</h2>
      <p tal:repeat="object objects"
         tal:content="object.id">Object ID</p>
      <hr />
    </div>

Caution

It is important to fully realize the iterator produced by `itertools.groupby()`, as well as the iterator produced for each group, in the expression passed to `tal:repeat`. This is because the implementation of certain repeat variables, such as `length` and `end` requires Chameleon to look ahead in the iterator, consuming it faster than is visible. The iterator returned by `itertools.groupby()` is shared among all of its subgroups, so without the full reification of all the iterators, incorrect results will be produced.

#### `tal:replace`

Replaces an element.

##### Syntax

`tal:replace` syntax:

    argument ::= ['structure'] expression

##### Description

The `tal:replace` statement replaces an element with dynamic content. It replaces the statement element with either text or a structure (unescaped markup). The body of the statement is an expression with an optional type prefix. The value of the expression is converted into an escaped string unless you provide the ‘structure’ prefix. Escaping consists of converting `&amp;` to `&amp;amp;`, `&lt;` to `&amp;lt;`, and `&gt;` to `&amp;gt;`.

Note

If the inserted object provides an `__html__` method, that method is called with the result inserted as structure. This feature is not implemented by ZPT.

If the expression evaluates to `None`, the element is simply removed. If the value is `default`, then the element is left unchanged.

##### Examples

Inserting a title:

    <span tal:replace="context.title">Title</span>

Inserting HTML/XML:

    <div tal:replace="structure table" />

## Expressions (TALES)

The Template Attribute Language Expression Syntax (TALES) standard describes expressions that supply Basics (TAL) and Macros (METAL) with data. TALES is one possible expression syntax for these languages, but they are not bound to this definition. Similarly, TALES could be used in a context having nothing to do with TAL or METAL.

TALES expressions are described below with any delimiter or quote markup from higher language layers removed. Here is the basic definition of TALES syntax:

    Expression  ::= [type_prefix ':'] String
    type_prefix ::= Name

Here are some simple examples:

    1 + 2
    None
    string:Hello, ${view.user_name}

The optional type prefix determines the semantics and syntax of the expression string that follows it. A given implementation of TALES can define any number of expression types, with whatever syntax you like. It also determines which expression type is indicated by omitting the prefix.

### Types

These are the available TALES expression types:

Prefix | Description
--- | ---
`exists` | Evaluate the result inside an exception handler; if one of the exceptions `AttributeError`, `LookupError`, `TypeError`, `NameError`, or `KeyError` is raised during evaluation, the result is `False`, otherwise `True`. Note that the original result is discarded in any case.
`import` | Import a global symbol using dotted notation.
`load` | Load a template relative to the current template or absolute.
`not` | Negate the expression result
`python` | Evaluate a Python expression
`string` | Format a string
`structure` | Wraps the expression result as structure.

Note

The default expression type is `python`.

Warning

The Zope reference engine defaults to a `path` expression type, which is closely tied to the Zope framework. This expression is not implemented in Chameleon (but it’s available in a Zope framework compatibility package, z3c.pt).

There’s a mechanism to allow fallback to alternative expressions, if one should fail (raise an exception). The pipe character (‘|’) is used to separate two expressions:

    <div tal:define="page request.GET['page'] | 0">

This mechanism applies only to the `python` expression type, and by derivation `string`.

#### `python`

Evaluates a Python expression.

##### Syntax

Python expression syntax:

    Any valid Python language expression

##### Description

Python expressions are executed natively within the translated template source code. There is no built-in security apparatus.

#### `string`

##### Syntax

String expression syntax:

    string_expression ::= ( plain_string | [ varsub ] )*
    varsub            ::= ( '$' Variable ) | ( '${ Expression }' )
    plain_string      ::= ( '$$' | non_dollar )*
    non_dollar        ::= any character except '$'

##### Description

String expressions interpret the expression string as text. If no expression string is supplied the resulting string is empty. The string can contain variable substitutions of the form `$name` or `${expression}`, where `name` is a variable name, and `expression` is a TALES-expression. The escaped string value of the expression is inserted into the string.

Note

To prevent a `$` from being interpreted this way, it must be escaped as `$$`. Using a backslash-escape is not supported.

##### Examples

Basic string formatting:

    <span tal:replace="string:$this and $that">
      Spam and Eggs
    </span>

    <p tal:content="string:${request.form['total']}">
      total: 12
    </p>

Including a dollar sign:

    <p tal:content="string:$$$cost">
      cost: $42.00
    </p>

#### `import`

Imports a module global.

#### `structure`

Wraps the expression result as structure: The replacement text is inserted into the document without escaping, allowing HTML/XML markup to be inserted. This can break your page if the text contains unanticipated markup (eg. text submitted via a web form), which is the reason that it is not the default.

#### `load`

Loads a template instance.

##### Syntax

Load expression syntax:

    Relative or absolute file path

##### Description

The template will be loaded using the same template class as the calling template.

##### Examples

Loading a template and using it as a macro:

    <div tal:define="master load: ../master.pt" metal:use-macro="master" />

### Built-in names

These are the names always available in the TALES expression namespace:

- `default` - special value used to specify that existing text or attributes should not be replaced. See the documentation for individual TAL statements for details on how they interpret default.

- `repeat` - the repeat variables; see tal:repeat for more information.

- `template` - reference to the template which was first called; this symbol is carried over when using macros.

- `macros` - reference to the macros dictionary that corresponds to the current template.

## Macros (METAL)

The Macro Expansion Template Attribute Language (METAL) standard is a facility for HTML/XML macro preprocessing. It can be used in conjunction with or independently of TAL and TALES.

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. Additionally, macros are always fully expanded, even in a template’s source text, so that the template appears very similar to its final rendering.

A single Page Template can accommodate multiple macros.

### Namespace

The METAL namespace URI and recommended alias are currently defined as:

    xmlns:metal="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/metal"

Just like the TAL namespace URI, this URI is not attached to a web page; it’s just a unique identifier. This identifier must be used in all templates which use METAL.

Note that elements that appear in a template with the METAL namespace are omitted from the output where they appear. This is useful when defining a macro:

    <metal:block define-macro="hello">
      ...
    </metal:block>

In the example above the element is named block but any name can be used to the same effect as long as it is qualified with the METAL namespace.

### Statements

METAL defines a number of statements:

- `metal:define-macro` Define a macro.

- `metal:use-macro` Use a macro.

- `metal:extend-macro` Extend a macro.

- `metal:define-slot` Define a macro customization point.

- `metal:fill-slot` Customize a macro.

Although METAL does not define the syntax of expression non-terminals, leaving that up to the implementation, a canonical expression syntax for use in METAL arguments is described in TALES Specification.

#### `define-macro`

Defines a macro.

##### Syntax

`metal:define-macro` syntax:

    argument ::= Name

##### Description

The `metal:define-macro` statement defines a macro. The macro is named by the statement expression, and is defined as the element and its sub-tree.

##### Examples

Simple macro definition:

    <p metal:define-macro="copyright">
      Copyright 2011, <em>Foobar</em> Inc.
    </p>

#### `define-slot`

Defines a macro customization point.

##### Syntax

`metal:define-slot` syntax:

    argument ::= Name

##### Description

The `metal:define-slot` statement defines a macro customization point or slot. When a macro is used, its slots can be replaced, in order to customize the macro. Slot definitions provide default content for the slot. You will get the default slot contents if you decide not to customize the macro when using it.

The `metal:define-slot` statement must be used inside a `metal:define-macro` statement.

Slot names must be unique within a macro.

##### Examples

Simple macro with slot:

    <p metal:define-macro="hello">
      Hello <b metal:define-slot="name">World</b>
    </p>

This example defines a macro with one slot named `name`. When you use this macro you can customize the `b` element by filling the `name` slot.

#### `fill-slot`

Customize a macro.

##### Syntax

`metal:fill-slot` syntax:

    argument ::= Name

##### Description

The `metal:fill-slot` statement customizes a macro by replacing a slot in the macro with the statement element (and its content).

The `metal:fill-slot` statement must be used inside a `metal:use-macro` statement.

Slot names must be unique within a macro.

If the named slot does not exist within the macro, the slot contents will be silently dropped.

##### Examples

Given this macro:

    <p metal:define-macro="hello">
      Hello <b metal:define-slot="name">World</b>
    </p>

You can fill the `name` slot like so:

    <p metal:use-macro="container['master.html'].macros.hello">
      Hello <b metal:fill-slot="name">Kevin Bacon</b>
    </p>

#### `use-macro`

Use a macro.

##### Syntax

`metal:use-macro` syntax:

    argument ::= expression

##### Description

The `metal:use-macro` statement replaces the statement element with a macro. The statement expression describes a macro definition. The `macroname` variable will be bound to the defined name of the macro being used.

Note

In Chameleon the expression may point to a template instance; in this case it will be rendered in its entirety.

#### `extend-macro`

Extends a macro.

##### Syntax

`metal:extend-macro` syntax:

    argument ::= expression

##### Description

To extend an existing macro, choose a name for the macro and add a define-macro attribute to a document element with the name as the argument. Add an extend-macro attribute to the document element with an expression referencing the base macro as the argument. The extend-macro must be used in conjunction with define-macro, and must not be used with use-macro. The element’s subtree is the macro body.

##### Examples

    <div metal:define-macro="page-header"
         metal:extend-macro="standard_macros['page-header']">
      <div metal:fill-slot="breadcrumbs">
        You are here:
        <div metal:define-slot="breadcrumbs"/>
      </div>
    </div>

## Translation (I18N)

Translation of template contents and attributes is supported via the `i18n` namespace and message objects.

### Messages

The translation machinery defines a message as any object which is not a string or a number and which does not provide an `__html__` method.

When any such object is inserted into the template, the translate function is invoked first to see if it needs translation. The result is always coerced to a native string before it’s inserted into the template.

### Translation function

The simplest way to hook into the translation machinery is to provide a translation function to the template constructor or at render-time. In either case it should be passed as the keyword argument `translate`.

The function has the following signature:

    def translate(msgid, domain=None, mapping=None, context=None, target_language=None, default=None):
        ...

The result should be a string or `None`. If another type of object is returned, it’s automatically coerced into a string.

If zope.i18n is available, the translation machinery defaults to using its translation function. Note that this function requires messages to conform to the message class from zope.i18nmessageid; specifically, messages must have attributes `domain`, `mapping` and `default`. Example use:

    from zope.i18nmessageid import MessageFactory
    _ = MessageFactory("food")

    apple = _(u"Apple")

There’s currently no further support for other translation frameworks.

### Using Zope’s translation framework

The translation function from `zope.i18n` relies on translation domains to provide translations.

These are components that are registered for some translation domain identifier and which implement a `translate` method that translates messages for that domain.

Note

To register translation domain components, the Zope Component Architecture must be used (see zope.component).

The easiest way to configure translation domains is to use the the `registerTranslations` ZCML-directive; this requires the use of the zope.configuration package. This will set up translation domains and gettext catalogs automatically:

    <configure xmlns="http://namespaces.zope.org/zope"
               xmlns:i18n="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/i18n">

       <i18n:registerTranslations directory="locales" />

    </configure>

The `./locales` directory must follow a particular directory structure:

    ./locales/en/LC_MESSAGES
    ./locales/de/LC_MESSAGES
    ...

In each of the `LC_MESSAGES` directories, one GNU gettext file in the `.po` format must be present per translation domain:

    # ./locales/de/LC_MESSAGES/food.po

    msgid ""
    msgstr ""
    "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
    "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
    "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"

    msgid "Apple"
    msgstr "Apfel"

It may be necessary to compile the message catalog using the `msgfmt` utility. This will produce a `.mo` file.

### Translation domains without gettext

The following example demonstrates how to manually set up and configure a translation domain for which messages are provided directly:

    from zope import component
    from zope.i18n.simpletranslationdomain import SimpleTranslationDomain

    food = SimpleTranslationDomain("food", {
        ('de', u'Apple'): u'Apfel',
        })

    component.provideUtility(food, food.domain)

An example of a custom translation domain class:

    from zope import interface

    class TranslationDomain(object):
         interface.implements(ITranslationDomain)

         def translate(self, msgid, mapping=None, context=None,
                      target_language=None, default=None):

             ...

    component.provideUtility(TranslationDomain(), name="custom")

This approach can be used to integrate other translation catalog implementations.

### Namespace

The `i18n` namespace URI and recommended prefix are currently defined as:

    xmlns:i18n="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/i18n"

This is not a URL, but merely a unique identifier. Do not expect a browser to resolve it successfully.

### Statements

The allowable `i18n` statements are:

- `i18n:translate`

- `i18n:domain`

- `i18n:context`

- `i18n:source`

- `i18n:target`

- `i18n:name`

- `i18n:attributes`

- `i18n:data`

- `i18n:comment`

- `i18n:ignore`

- `i18n:ignore-attributes`

#### `i18n:translate`

This attribute is used to mark units of text for translation. If this attribute is specified with an empty string as the value, the message ID is computed from the content of the element bearing this attribute. Otherwise, the value of the element gives the message ID.

#### `i18n:domain`

The `i18n:domain` attribute is used to specify the domain to be used to get the translation. If not specified, the translation services will use a default domain. The value of the attribute is used directly; it is not a TALES expression.

#### `i18n:context`

The `i18n:context` attribute is used to specify the context to be used to get the translation. If not specified, the translation services will use a default context. The context is generally use to distinguish identical texts in different context (because in a translation this may not be the case.) The value of the attribute is used literally; it is not an expression.

#### `i18n:source`

The `i18n:source` attribute specifies the language of the text to be translated. The default is `nothing`, which means we don’t provide this information to the translation services.

#### `i18n:target`

The `i18n:target` attribute specifies the language of the translation we want to get. If the value is `default`, the language negotiation services will be used to choose the destination language. If the value is `nothing`, no translation will be performed; this can be used to suppress translation within a larger translated unit. Any other value must be a language code.

The attribute value is a TALES expression; the result of evaluating the expression is the language code or one of the reserved values.

Note

`i18n:target` is primarily used for hints to text extraction tools and translation teams. If you had some text that should only be translated to e.g. German, then it probably shouldn’t be wrapped in an `i18n:translate` span.

#### `i18n:name`

Name the content of the current element for use in interpolation within translated content. This allows a replaceable component in content to be re-ordered by translation. For example:

    <span i18n:translate=''>
      <span tal:replace='context.name' i18n:name='name' /> was born in
      <span tal:replace='context.country_of_birth' i18n:name='country' />.
    </span>

would cause this text to be passed to the translation service:

    "${name} was born in ${country}."

#### `i18n:attributes`

This attribute will allow us to translate attributes of HTML tags, such as the `alt` attribute in the `img` tag. The `i18n:attributes` attribute specifies a list of attributes to be translated with optional message IDs for each; if multiple attribute names are given, they must be separated by semicolons. Message IDs used in this context must not include whitespace.

Note that the value of the particular attributes come either from the HTML attribute value itself or from the data inserted by `tal:attributes`.

If an attribute is to be both computed using `tal:attributes` and translated, the translation service is passed the result of the TALES expression for that attribute.

An example:

    <img src="http://foo.com/logo" alt="Visit us"
         tal:attributes="alt context.greeting"
         i18n:attributes="alt"
         >

In this example, we let `tal:attributes` set the value of the `alt` attribute to the text “Stop by for a visit!”. This text will be passed to the translation service, which uses the result of language negotiation to translate “Stop by for a visit!” into the requested language. The example text in the template, “Visit us”, will simply be discarded.

Another example, with explicit message IDs:

    <img src="../icons/uparrow.png" alt="Up"
         i18n:attributes="src up-arrow-icon; alt up-arrow-alttext"
         >

Here, the message ID `up-arrow-icon` will be used to generate the link to an icon image file, and the message ID ‘up-arrow-alttext’ will be used for the “alt” text.

#### `i18n:data`

Since TAL always returns strings, we need a way in ZPT to translate objects, one of the most obvious cases being `datetime` objects. The `data` attribute will allow us to specify such an object, and `i18n:translate` will provide us with a legal format string for that object. If `data` is used, `i18n:translate` must be used to give an explicit message ID, rather than relying on a message ID computed from the content.

#### `i18n:comment`

The `i18n:comment` attribute can be used to add extra comments for translators. It is not used by Chameleon for processing, but will be picked up by tools like lingua.

An example:

    <h3 i18n:comment="Header for the news section"
        i18n:translate="">News</h3>

#### `i18n:ignore`

The `i18n:ignore` attribute can be used to inform translation extraction tools like i18ndude to not give a warning/error on the given tag if there is no `i18n:translate` attribute.

An example:

    <h1 i18n:ignore="">News</h3>

#### `i18n:ignore-attributes`

The `i18n:ignore-attributes`, just like `i18n:ignore` is expected to be used by translation extraction tools like i18ndude. If `i18n:ignore` makes text within a tag to be ignored, `i18n:ignore-attributes` marks the given attributes as ignored.

An example:

    <a href="http://python.org"
       title="Python!"
       i18n:ignore-attributes="title">Python website</a>

### Relation with TAL processing

The attributes defined in the `i18n` namespace modify the behavior of the TAL interpreter for the `tal:attributes`, `tal:content`, `tal:repeat`, and `tal:replace` attributes, but otherwise do not affect TAL processing.

Since these attributes only affect TAL processing by causing translations to occur at specific times, using these with a TAL processor which does not support the `i18n` namespace degrades well; the structural expectations for a template which uses the `i18n` support is no different from those for a page which does not. The only difference is that translations will not be performed in a legacy processor.

### Relation with METAL processing

When using translation with METAL macros, the internationalization context is considered part of the specific documents that page components are retrieved from rather than part of the combined page. This makes the internationalization context lexical rather than dynamic, making it easier for a site builder to understand the behavior of each element with respect to internationalization.

Let’s look at an example to see what this means:

    <html i18n:translate='' i18n:domain='EventsCalendar'
          metal:use-macro="container['master.html'].macros.thismonth">

      <div metal:fill-slot='additional-notes'>
        <ol tal:condition="context.notes">
          <li tal:repeat="note context.notes">
             <tal:block tal:omit-tag=""
                        tal:condition="note.heading">
               <strong tal:content="note.heading">
                 Note heading goes here
               </strong>
               <br />
             </tal:block>
             <span tal:replace="note/description">
               Some longer explanation for the note goes here.
             </span>
          </li>
        </ol>
      </div>

    </html>

And the macro source:

    <html i18n:domain='CalendarService'>
      <div tal:replace='python:DateTime().Month()'
           i18n:translate=''>January</div>

      <!-- really hairy TAL code here ;-) -->

      <div define-slot="additional-notes">
        Place for the application to add additional notes if desired.
      </div>

    </html>

Note that the macro is using a different domain than the application (which it should be). With lexical scoping, no special markup needs to be applied to cause the slot-filler in the application to be part of the same domain as the rest of the application’s page components. If dynamic scoping were used, the internationalization context would need to be re-established in the slot-filler.

### Extracting translatable message

Translators use PO files when translating messages. To create and update PO files you need to do two things: extract all messages from python and templates files and store them in a `.pot` file, and for each language update its `.po` file. Chameleon facilitates this by providing extractors for Babel. To use this you need modify `setup.py`. For example:

    from setuptools import setup

    setup(name="mypackage",
          install_requires = [
                "Babel",
                ],
          message_extractors = { "src": [
                ("**.py",   "chameleon_python", None ),
                ("**.pt",   "chameleon_xml", None ),
                ]},
          )

This tells Babel to scan the `src` directory while using the `chameleon_python` extractor for all `.py` files and the `chameleon_xml` extractor for all `.pt` files.

You can now use Babel to manage your PO files:

    python setup.py extract_messages --output-file=i18n/mydomain.pot
    python setup.py update_catalog \
              -l nl \
              -i i18n/mydomain.pot \
              -o i18n/nl/LC_MESSAGES/mydomain.po
    python setup.py compile_catalog \
              --directory i18n --locale nl

You can also configure default options in a `setup.cfg` file. For example:

    [compile_catalog]
    domain = mydomain
    directory = i18n

    [extract_messages]
    copyright_holder = Acme Inc.
    output_file = i18n/mydomain.pot
    charset = UTF-8

    [init_catalog]
    domain = mydomain
    input_file = i18n/mydomain.pot
    output_dir = i18n

    [update_catalog]
    domain = mydomain
    input_file = i18n/mydomain.pot
    output_dir = i18n
    previous = true

You can now use the Babel commands directly:

    python setup.py extract_messages
    python setup.py update_catalog
    python setup.py compile_catalog

## ${…} operator

The `${...}` notation is short-hand for text insertion. The Python-expression inside the braces is evaluated and the result included in the output (all inserted text is escaped by default):

    <div id="section-${index + 1}">
      ${content}
    </div>

To escape this behavior, prefix the notation with a backslash character: `\${...}`.

Note that if an object implements the `__html__` method, the result of this method will be inserted as-is (without XML escaping).

## Code blocks

The `<?python ... ?>` notation allows you to embed Python code in templates:

    <div>
      <?python numbers = map(str, range(1, 10)) ?>
      Please input a number from the range ${", ".join(numbers)}.
    </div>

The scope of name assignments is up to the nearest macro definition, or the template, if macros are not used.

Note that code blocks can span multiple line and start on the next line of where the processing instruction begins:

    <?python
      foo = [1, 2, 3]
    ?>

You can use this to debug templates:

    <div>
      <?python import pdb; pdb.set_trace() ?>
    </div>

## Markup comments

You can apply the “!” and “?” modifiers to change how comments are processed:

Drop

> `<!--! This comment will be dropped from output -->`

Verbatim

> `<!--? This comment will be included verbatim -->`

> That is, evaluation of `${...}` expressions is disabled if the comment opens with the “?” character.

## Language extensions

Chameleon extends the page template language with a new expression types and language features. Some take inspiration from Genshi.

> New expression types

> > The structure expression wraps an expression result as structure:

> >     <div>${structure: body.text}</div>

> > The import expression imports module globals:

> >     <div tal:define="compile import: re.compile">
> >       ...
> >     </div>

> > The load expression loads templates relative to the current template:

> >     <div tal:define="compile load: main.pt">
> >       ...
> >     </div>

> Tuple unpacking

> > The `tal:define` and `tal:repeat` statements support tuple unpacking:

> >     tal:define="(a, b, c) [1, 2, 3]"

> > Extended iterable unpacking using the asterisk character is not currently supported (even for versions of Python that support it natively).

> Dictionary lookup as fallback after attribute error

> > If attribute lookup (using the `obj.<name>` syntax) raises an `AttributeError` exception, a secondary lookup is attempted using dictionary lookup — `obj['<name>']`.

> > Behind the scenes, this is done by rewriting all attribute-lookups to a custom lookup call:

> >     def lookup_attr(obj, key):
> >         try:
> >             return getattr(obj, key)
> >         except AttributeError as exc:
> >             try:
> >                 get = obj.__getitem__
> >             except AttributeError:
> >                 raise exc
> >             try:
> >                 return get(key)
> >             except KeyError:
> >                 raise exc

> Inline string substitution

> > In element attributes and in the text or tail of an element, string expression interpolation is available using the `${...}` syntax:

> >     <span class="content-${item_type}">
> >        ${title or item_id}
> >     </span>

> Code blocks

> > Using `<?python ... ?>` notation, you can embed Python statements in your templates:

> >     <div>
> >       <?python numbers = map(str, range(1, 10)) ?>
> >       Please input a number from the range ${", ".join(numbers)}.
> >     </div>

> Literal content

> > While the `tal:content` and `tal:repeat` attributes both support the `structure` keyword which inserts the content as a literal (without XML-escape), an object may also provide an `__html__` method to the same effect.

> > The result of the method will be inserted as structure.

> Switch statement

> > Two new attributes have been added: `tal:switch` and `tal:case`. A case attribute works like a condition and only allows content if the value matches that of the nearest parent switch value.

## Incompatibilities and differences

There are a number of incompatibilities and differences between the Chameleon language implementation and the Zope reference implementation (ZPT):

> Default expression

> > The default expression type is Python.

> Template arguments

> > Arguments passed by keyword to the render- or call method are inserted directly into the template execution namespace. This is different from ZPT where these are only available through the `options` dictionary.

> > Zope:

> >     <div tal:content="options/title" />

> > Chameleon:

> >     <div tal:content="title" />

> Special symbols

> > The `CONTEXTS` symbol is not available.

The z3c.pt package works as a compatibility layer. The template classes in this package provide a implementation which is fully compatible with ZPT.