Blocks

A block is defined by 3 files stored in the blocks folder of the application. Those files have the same filename (which is the block id) with the extensions .html, .py and .yaml.

The HTML file

The .html file contains the layout of the block. It is regular HTML. Dynamic elements are enclosed in curly brackets. Example:

<p>This is a dynamic message: {message}</p>

The curly brackets will be replaced by the corresponding element value.

If the element is a BASIC element and returns an object, we can access its properties. Example:

<h1>{my_doc.title}</h1>

Similarly, if a BASIC element returns a dictionnary, we can access its items. Example:

<p>{info[user]} said: {info[comment]}</p>

When rendered, the block layout is wrapped in an HTML <form> element.

The layout can contain Mockup patterns markup, they will be rendered as expected.

Some Mockup patterns might need to render actual curly brackets in the output. Double them to escape them:

<a href="#modal" class="pat-plone-modal"
    data-pat-modal='{{"content": "form"}}'>Display modal</a>

Once rendered, if the block contains some links with an ajax target:

<a href="@@rapido/record/1234" target="ajax">Open</a>

the request will be loaded in AJAX mode and its content will replace the current block content.

TAL template

The HTML template only offers element insertion. If we need more templating features, the .html file can be replaced by a .pt file, and we can use the TAL commands.

In the context of a Page Template, the block elements are available in the elements object:

def my_title(context):
    return "Chapter 1"

<h1 tal:content="elements/my_title"></h1>

Elements can be used as conditions:

def is_footer(context):
    return True

<footer tal:condition="elements/is_footer">My footer</footer>

If an element returns an iterable object (list, dictionary), we can make a loop:

def links(context):
    return [
        {'url': 'https://validator.w3.org/', 'title': 'Markup Validation Service'},
        {'url': 'https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/', 'title': 'CSS'},
    ]

<ul>
    <li tal:repeat="link elements/links">
        <a tal:attributes="link/url"
            tal:content="link/title"></a>
    </li>
</ul>

The current Rapido context is available in the context object:

<h1 tal:content="context/content/title"></h1>

The YAML file

The .yaml file contains: - the elements settings (see below),

• the target option: if set to ajax, any action in the block resulting in a form submission will not redirect the current page, it will just refresh the block content through an AJAX call,
• the view_permission to manage who can see the block (see Access control).

The Python file

The .py file contains the implementation of each element as a Python function which name is the element id, and taking context as parameter.