EJT

This is a server-side compiler for simple JavaScript-based HTML templating.

Commands

All commands are placed between opening <% and closing %> tags.

Include

When the first word after the opening tag is include, the specified file is included into the compiled output. The path is relative to the template's current folder. The default file extension is html and can be omitted.

Include partial.html inside another HTML file

<% include partial %>

Markdown files are rendered and included.

<% include welcome.md %>

JSON files are parsed as an object.

<% const pages = include('site.json') %>

Here's a twist. If the first word is not one of the reserved commands, everything between the tags is evaluated as JavaScript. In that case, include is a function that returns the file content.

Extend

index.html

<% extend layout %>

<% block header %>
  ..Header content..
<% end %>

..Main content..

layout.html

<header>
  <% content header %>
</header>
<main>
  <% content %>
</main>

Compiled result

<header>
  ..Header content..
</header>
<main>
  ..Main content..
</main>

Variables

Escaped: <%= foo %>

Unescaped: <%- bar %>

Code

Escape code block and wrap in <pre><code>

<% code %>
<h1>Code example</h1>
<% end %>

Optionally add attributes: <% code class="language-markup" %>

Inline JS

The compiler runs on Node.js, so there are some ES6 features supported.

<% const pages = include('site.json') %>

<ul>
  <% for (let path in pages) { %>
    <li>
      <a href="/<%- path %>"><%- pages[path] %></a>
    </li>
  <% } %>
</ul>

Output

The variable Output is a buffer holding the compiled HTML up to that point. It can be used to add content.

['item1', 'item2'].forEach((product) => {
  Output += include(`products/${product}`)
})

Local

The variable Local is passed to every template. It has one default property Local.file, which is the current template path. Local can be used to pass data and functions you want available in other templates.

Use

Command line

$ ejt source [destination]

Compiler (server-side only)

var EJT = require('ejt')
var renderer = new EJT( options )

var result = renderer.compile( src )

Gulp

var ejt = require('ejt/gulp')

gulp.task('html', function() {
  return gulp.src( srcPath )
    .pipe( ejt() )
    .pipe(gulp.dest( destPath ))
})

TODO: Express

var ejt = require('ejt/express');

app.use( ejt );

Credit

This is based on a fork of ECT, with on-going refactoring and changes:

• Plain JavaScript
• Default file extension; relative path; filename without quotes
• Include markdown, etc. via extensions
• New command: code

I believe the original concept came from John Resig's micro-templating.