the "Cheetah files" (part 1)

hi there,

i just want to share a nice "usage pattern" that i started
to use recently, nothing outstanding. one tipcal task is to
accomplish is:

''loop over a sequence and display data, if sequence is empty
show a notice.''

say you have to display a HTML bulleted list with a series
of message titles, until recently i've always  written:

#if $seq
<ul>
  #for $item in $seq
    <li><a href="read?id=$item.id">$item.title</a></li>
  #end for
</ul>     
#else
  <p class="info">No message found.</p>
#end if

ugly and messy. what about a:

<ul>
  #for $item in $seq
    <li><a href="read?id=$seq.id">$seq.title</a></li>
  #end for
</ul>     

#unless $seq
  <p class="info">No message found.</p>
#end unless

you spare one level of indentation. yes, if the sequence is empty
you generate a <ul></ul> pair, but you can always write:

<ul>
  #for $item in $seq
    <li><a href="read?id=$seq.id">$seq.title</a></li>
  #end for

  #unless $seq
    <li class="info">No message found.</li>
  #end unless
</ul>     


i'm interested in your tricks too.

later,
deelan








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