README.md

# Liquex

A [Liquid](https://shopify.github.io/liquid/) template parser for Elixir.

Liquid template renderer for Elixir with 100% compatibility with the
[Liquid](https://shopify.github.io/liquid/) gem by [Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/).
If you find that this library is not byte for byte equivalent to liquid, please
[open an issue](https://github.com/markglenn/liquex/issues).

## Installation

The package is [available in Hex](https://hex.pm/packages/liquex) and can be installed
by adding `liquex` to your list of dependencies in `mix.exs`:

```elixir
def deps do
  [
    {:liquex, "~> 0.6"}
  ]
end
```

Documentation can be found at [https://hexdocs.pm/liquex](https://hexdocs.pm/liquex).

## Basic Usage

```elixir
iex> {:ok, template_ast} = Liquex.parse("Hello {{ name }}!")

iex> context = Liquex.Context.new(%{"name" => "World"})

iex> {content, _context} = Liquex.render(template_ast, context)

iex> content |> to_string()
"Hello World!"
```

## Supported features

Currently, all standard Liquid tags, filters, and types are fully supported.  Liquex can
be considered a drop in replacement of the Liquid gem, but in Elixir.

**_Supported:_**

- [x] All standard tags and filters
- [x] Custom tags and filters
- [x] Lazy variable resolvers
- [x] Date processing parity with Ruby
- [x] Access maps with atom or string keys
- [x] Whitespace control

## Lazy variables

Liquex allows resolver functions for variables that may require some extra
work to generate. For example, Shopify has variables for things like
available products. Pulling all products every time would be too expensive
to do on every render. Instead, it would be better to lazily pull that
information as needed.

Instead of adding the product list to the context variable map, you can add
a function to the variable map. If a function is accessed in the variable
map, it is executed.

```elixir
products_resolver = fn _parent -> Product.all() end

with context <- Liquex.Context.new(%{products: products_resolver}),
    {:ok, document} <- Liquex.parse("There are {{ products.size }} products"),
    {result, _} <- Liquex.render(document, context) do
  result
end

iex> "There are 5 products"
```

## Indifferent access

By default, Liquex accesses your maps and structs that may have atom or
string (or other type) keys. Liquex will try a string key first. If that
fails, it will fall back to using an atom keys.  This is similar to how
Ruby on Rails handles many of its hashes.

This allows you to pass in your structs without having to replace all your
keys with string keys.

```elixir
iex> {:ok, template_ast} = Liquex.parse("Hello {{ name }}!")
iex> context = Liquex.Context.new(%{name: "World"})
iex> {content, _context} = Liquex.render(template_ast, context)
iex> content |> to_string()
"Hello World!"
```

## Custom filters

Liquex contains the full suite of standard Liquid filters, but you may find that there are still
filters that you may want to add.

Liquex supports adding your own custom filters to the render pipeline.  When creating the context
for the renderer, set the filter module to your own module.

```elixir
defmodule CustomFilter do
  # Import all the standard liquid filters
  use Liquex.Filter

  def scream(value, _), do: String.upcase(value) <> "!"
end

context = Liquex.Context.new(%{}, filter_module: CustomFilter)
{:ok, template_ast} = Liquex.parse("{{'Hello World' | scream}}"

{result, _} = Liquex.render(template_ast, context)
result |> to_string()

iex> "HELLO WORLD!"
```

## Custom tags

One of the strong points for Liquex is that the tag parser can be extended to support non-standard
tags.  For example, Liquid used internally for the Shopify site includes a large range of tags that
are not supported by the base Ruby gem.  These tags could also be added to Liquex by extending the
liquid parser.

```elixir
defmodule CustomTag do
  import NimbleParsec
  alias Liquex.Parser.Base

  # Parse <<Custom Tag>>
  def custom_tag(combinator \\\\ empty()) do
    text =
      lookahead_not(string(">>"))
      |> utf8_char([])
      |> times(min: 1)
      |> reduce({Kernel, :to_string, []})
      |> tag(:text)

    combinator
    |> ignore(string("<<"))
    |> optional(text)
    |> ignore(string(">>"))
    |> tag(:custom_tag)
  end

  def element(combinator \\\\ empty()) do
    # Add the `custom_tag/1` parsing function to the supported element tag list
    combinator
    |> choice([custom_tag(), Base.base_element()])
  end
end

defmodule CustomParser do
  @moduledoc false
  import NimbleParsec

  defcombinatorp(:document, repeat(CustomTag.element()))
  defparsec(:parse, parsec(:document) |> eos())
end

iex> Liquex.parse("<<Hello World!>>", CustomParser)
iex> {:ok, [custom_tag: [text: ["Hello World!"]]]}
```

## Custom renderer

In many cases, if you are building custom tags for your Liquid documents, you probably want to
use a custom renderer.  Just like the custom filters, you add your module to the context object.

```elixir
defmodule CustomTagRender do
  def render({:custom_tag, contents}, context) do
    {result, context} = Liquex.render(contents, context)

    {["Custom Tag: ", result], context}
  end

  # Ignore this tag if we don't match
  def render(_, _), do: false
end

context = %Liquex.Context.new(%{}, render_module: CustomTagRender)

{:ok, document} = Liquex.parse("<<Hello World!>>", CustomParser)
{result, _} = Liquex.render(document, context)

result |> to_string()
iex> "Custom Tag: Hello World!"
```