rb:macrotag

Define a new XML tag with JavaScript implementation

Body

The body of this tag contains the JavaScript implementation for this tag.

This tag allows a Pattern Page to dynamically create a new pseudo XML tag.

Attributes

Remarks

The body of the tag contains Whitebeam JavaScript that provides the implementation of the new tag. Whenever the new tag appears in a presentation page the system will execute the JavaScript implementation and replace the tag with the output generated.

The various attributes defined on this tag tell the presentation engine how the new tag is to be treated and what legal usage can be applied to the tag. These attributes are used as follows:

One intended use of this macro is to simplify the integration partners use of a template by encapsulating frequent template operations in a single tag - avoiding the need to do "everything"  in JavaScript.

Example:

<rb:macrotag name="rb:searchfor">
   var SearchString = rb.page.attribute("string");

   if (SearchString.length()>0) {
      var iterator = rb.shop.search(SearhString);
      var count=0;

      rb.page.write("<TABLE>\n");
      while (count<20 && iterator.next()) {
         rb.page.write('<TR><TD>'+
                   iterator.value("reliability")+
                   '</TD><TD>'+iterator.value("title")+
                   '</TD><TD>'+iterator.value("summary")+
                   '</TD></TR>');
         count++;
      }
      rb.page.write('</TABLE>');
      if (count==20 && iterator.remaining()) {
         rb.page.write("<P><B>More matches to follow...</B></P>");
      }
   }
</rb:macrotag>

<!-- This new tag can then be used as follows: -->
<rb:searchfor string="life"/>

Another use of this tag is to define a custom way to process specific XML tags. There are a number of cases where the JavaScript implementation of the tag needs to interrogate the contents of the tags body. That is to look at the tags and text contained within the opening and closing elements of an instance of the declared tag or at the attribute of the tag. The Whitebeam system provides two JavaScript functions for this purpose. 

The glossary sample application is a good example of the use of the <rb:macrotag...> in conjunction with the above functions.