StringTemplates, how to create a group of templates in code

Question

I'm new to StringTemplates and try to figure out how to build a group of templates from a source other than files (it's actually in a database).

I miss something like (pseudocode):

STGroup group = new STGroup();
group.addTemplate("name", args, "... <actual template goes here> ...");

I wasn't able to find anything similar. STGroup.defineTemplate-methods all look like for internal use only or are java-doc'ed "for testing". STGroup.compile takes a Token.

I actually want to write the contents of a group file in Java. STGroupString doesn't look promising performance-wise. We have hundreds of templates, some of them very large. It doesn't make sense to me to render it into group file syntax and then let StringTemplates parse that back to a name, args, contents structure instead of directly passing in that structure.

What about `new ST("template body goes here")`? Where do name and args come from? — Clashsoft, Dec 20 '19 at 12:38
@Clashsoft: thanks, but this only creates a template, not a group. How is the template added to a group? — Stefan Steinegger, Jan 06 '20 at 08:35

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 29 '20 at 13:32

0

You can use STGroup.defineTemplate(), even if its Javadoc says for testing:

STGroup stGroup = new STGroup();

stGroup.defineTemplate("myTemplate", "is this true? <if (true)>yes<endif>");

// will print "is this true? yes"
System.out.println(stGroup.getInstanceOf("myTemplate").render());

answered Jun 29 '20 at 13:32

Bastien Jansen

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Thanks for the answer. I guess that would work. I switched to FreeMarker meanwhile, because StringTemplates are very poor from its API point of view (it actually doesn't have any abstraction, it's just a couple of classes that do plenty of things). – Stefan Steinegger Jul 06 '20 at 05:48

StringTemplates, how to create a group of templates in code

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