README

Plinth.Templating

HTML Templating library for generating emails and documents

1. Create an assembly with your cshtml templates in it, and some models

Directory structure example for a template assembly:

Templates/
	Email1.cshtml
	Email2.cshtml
	Email3.cshtml
Layouts/
	DefaultEmail.cshtml
Shared/
	ButtonLink.cshtml
Models/
	EmailModel.cs

2. Initialize the engine

    var engine = new TemplateEngineBuilder()
        .AddTemplateAssembly(typeof(EmailModel).Assembly, new[] { "Layouts", "Shared", "Templates" })
        .PrecompileInBackground() // optional
        .Build();

:point_right: the paths given are optional. If none are given then you must specify the full path from the assembly root         Example, with no paths, specify "Templates/Email1"         with "Templates" specified, "Email1" will work as well :point_right: This goes for references in your code to templates, as well as Layouts, Partials, and IncludeAsync's :point_right: The root of the assembly is always included

3. Set up templates

:warning: NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! :point_right: Make sure your cshtml files are set to "Embedded Resource" in your .csproj

@using MyAssembly.Models							// using directives work just like c#

@inherits Plinth.Templating.Template<EmailModel>    // do this to enable Include functionality
@inherits Plinth.Templating.Template		        // if not using a model

@model EmailModel									// set up your model

@{ Layout = "DefaultEmail"; }						// optionally, set up a Layout

@{ await IncludeAsync("ButtonLink", Model.Link); }	// example of including another template

<p>@Model.Title</p>									// example of using the model
<p>@ViewBag.Subtitle</p>							// example of using the view bag

@functions {										// static functions
    public static int Double(int x) => x * 2;
}

@{													// local functions (can access model and viewbag)
    int Double() => Model.Number * 2;
}

4. Render your templates

// no model
var result = await engine.RenderAsync("Email1");

// with model
var emailModel = new EmailModel { ... }
var result = await engine.RenderAsync("Email1", emailModel);

// with viewbag
dynamic viewbag = new ExpandoObject();
viewbag.Field1 = 7;
var result = await engine.RenderWithViewBagAsync("Email1", viewbag);

// with model and viewbag
var emailModel = new EmailModel { ... }
dynamic viewbag = new ExpandoObject();
viewbag.Field1 = 7;
var result = await engine.RenderWithViewBagAsync("Email1", emailModel, viewbag);