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RenderTool Reference Documentation
       

This tool exposes methods to evaluate the given strings as VTL (Velocity Template Language) and automatically using the current context.

Class
 org.apache.velocity.tools.generic.RenderTool
Name
 $render (this is the recommended name of the tool in the Velocity context)
Toolbox Configuration Example
 
<tool>
  <key>render</key>
  <scope>application</scope>
  <class>org.apache.velocity.tools.generic.RenderTool</class>
</tool>
Author(s)
 Nathan Bubna
Method Overview
eval() Evaluates a String containing VTL using the current context, and returns the result as a String.
recurse() Recursively evaluates a String containing VTL using the current context, and returns the result as a String.
eval()
       

Evaluates a String containing VTL using the current context, and returns the result as a String.

String eval(Context ctx, String vtl)

Parameters
ctx
The Context to be evaluate the vtl with.
vtl
The code to be evaluated.
Returns
The evaluated code as a String.

Evaluates a String containing VTL using the given context, and returns the result as a String. If this fails, then null will be returned. This evaluation is not recursive.

#set( $list = [1,2,3] )
#set( $object = '$list' )
#set( $method = 'size()' )
$render.eval($ctx, "${object}.$method")

This will produce the following output:

3

recurse()
       

Recursively evaluates a String containing VTL using the current context, and returns the result as a String.

String recurse(Context ctx, String vtl)

Parameters
vtl
The code to be evaluated.
ctx
The Context to be evaluate the vtl with.
Returns
The evaluated code as a String.

Recursively evaluates a String containing VTL using the given context, and returns the result as a String. It will continue to re-evaluate the output of the last evaluation until an evaluation returns the same code that was fed into it.

#macro( say_hi )hello world!#end
#set( $foo = '#say_hi()' )
#set( $bar = '$foo' )
$render.recurse($ctx, '$bar')

This will produce the following output:

hello world!


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