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<document>

 <properties>
  <title>Glossary</title>
  <author email="dev@velocity.apache.org">Velocity Documentation Team</author>
 </properties>
<body>
<section name="Velocity Terms and Abbreviations" href="velocity_terms_and_abbreviations">
  <dl>
    <dt><a name="anakia">Anakia</a></dt>
    <dd>An XML transformation tool that uses JDOM and Velocity to transform
    XML documents into the format of your choice.</dd>

    <dt><a name="blockdirective">Block Directive</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that spans multiple lines.
    The block starts with a block directive such as 
    <code><a href="#if">#if</a></code>, 
    <code><a href="#foreach">#foreach</a></code>, or 
    <code><a href="#macro">#macro</a></code> and ends with the 
    <code><a href="#end">#end</a></code> directive.</dd>

    <dt><a name="break">#break</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that stops the rendering
    of the current (innermost) <a href="#contentdirective">content directive</a>
    or a specified content directive if the <a href="#scopecontrol">scope control</a>
    provided for that content directive is passed to #break as an argument:
    (e.g. #break($foreach.parent)).</dd>

    <dt><a name="comment">Comment</a></dt>
    <dd>Allow descriptive text to be included in the template that will
    not be placed into the output of the template engine. Single line
    comments begin with <code>##</code>. Multi-line comments begin with
    <code>#*</code> and end with <code>*#</code></dd>

    <dt><a name="contentdirective">Content Directive</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that outputs content when rendering
    a <a href="#template">template</a>. The default ones automatically have
    a <a href="#scopecontrol">scope control</a> made available in the
    <a href="#context">during their rendering</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="context">Context</a></dt>
    <dd>A means to import Java objects into a <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a>
    <a href="#template">template</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="directive">Directive</a></dt>
    <dd>Easy to use "active" elements that manipulate template output. 
    There are both <a href="#linedirective">line</a> and 
    <a href="#blockdirective">block</a> directives.</dd>

    <dt><a name="docbookframework">DocBook Framework</a></dt>
    <dd>A framework inteded to help create high quality documentation
    suitable for online viewing and printing.</dd>

    <dt><a name="dvsl">DVSL</a></dt>
    <dd>Declarative Velocity Style Language. A tool modeled after XSLT
    that is used for general XML transformations using the 
    <a href="#vtl">VTL</a> as the templating language.</dd>

    <dt><a name="else">#else</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that must be used with
    an <code><a href="#if">#if</a></code>. It allows text to be included
    only if the <code>#if</code> was false.</dd>

    <dt><a name="elseif">#elseif</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that must be used with
    an <code><a href="#if">#if</a></code>. It allows text to be included
    if the <code>#if</code> was false and if its own statement is true.</dd>

    <dt><a name="equivalentoperator">Equivalence Operator</a></dt>
    <dd><code>==</code> Used to directly compare numbers, strings, or objects.
    If the objects that are being compared are different classes, 
    <code>toString()</code> is called first and then they are compared.</dd>

    <dt><a name="end">#end</a></dt>
    <dd>Ends block <a href="#directive">directives</a> such as 
    <a href="#if">#if</a>, <a href="#foreach">#foreach</a> and 
    <a href="#macro">#macro</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="escaping">Escaping</a></dt>
    <dd>Removing the special meaning of a <code>#</code> or <code>$</code>
    so that you can use these characters without <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a>
    interpretting it as the start of a <a href="#reference">reference</a> or 
    <a href="#directive">directive</a>. Escaping is done by putting a 
    <code>\</code> character before the <code>#</code> or <code>$</code>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="evaluate">#evaluate</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> which dynamically evaluates
    a string literal or reference.  </dd>

    <dt><a name="foreach">#foreach</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that allows you to repeat
    something on every value in a Collection, Array, Iterable, Map or
    (as of Velocity 1.6+) object with a <code>public Iterator iterator()</code>
    method.</dd>

    <dt><a name="include">#include</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that allows the template
    designer to import a local file, which is then inserted into the
    location where the <code>#include</code> directive is defined. 
    Multiple files may be included by seperating the file names with 
    commas.</dd>

    <dt><a name="identifier">Identifier</a></dt>
    <dd>The name of a <a href="#variable">variable</a>. Identifiers must
    start with an alphabetic character (a .. z, A .. Z). The rest of the
    characters are limited to alphabetic, numberic (0 .. 9), hyphens ("-"),
    and underscores ("_").</dd>

    <dt><a name="if">#if</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that allows for text to
    only be included if a statement is true.</dd>

    <dt><a name="formalreferencenotation">Formal Reference Notation</a></dt>
    <dd>A notation for <a href="#reference">references</a> that is more
    formal than the shorthand. The formal notation consists of a 
    <code>$</code> character followed by a <code>{</code> character and
    then the identifiers used in the shorthand notation and then a 
    <code>}</code> character. Formal notation is often useful when 
    references are directly adjacent to text in a template.</dd>

    <dt><a name="lhs">LHS</a></dt>
    <dd>Left Hand Side of an assignment</dd>

    <dt><a name="linedirective">Line Directive</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that is done all on one
    line, such as <code><a href="#set">#set</a></code>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="literal">Literal</a></dt>
    <dd>A string enclosed in double quotes</dd>

    <dt><a name="macro">#macro</a></dt>
    <dd>See <a href="#velocimacro">Velocimacro</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="method">Method</a></dt>
    <dd>A type of <a href="#reference">reference</a>. Methods are
    defined in the Java code and are capable of doing something useful.
    The shorthand notation consists of a leading <code>$</code> character
    followed by an <a href="#identifier">identifier</a>, folowed by a
    <a href="#vtlmethodbody">VTL Method Body</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="mvc">MVC</a></dt>
    <dd>Model-View-Controller design pattern. Allows web page designers
    to focus on creating a well-designed site and allows programmers to
    focus on writing good code</dd>

    <dt><a name="parse">#parse</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that includes a local file
    that contains <a href="#vtl">VTL</a>. <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a>
    then parses the VTL and renders the template.</dd>

    <dt><a name="property">Property</a></dt>
    <dd>A type of <a href="#reference">reference</a>. The shorthand
    notation consists of a leading <code>$</code> character followed
    by an <a href="#identifier">identifier</a>, followed by a 
    <code>.</code> character and another identifier.</dd>

    <dt><a name="quietreferencenotation">Quiet Reference Notation</a></dt>
    <dd>Another notation for <a href="#reference">references</a>. A 
    <code>!</code> character is inserted between the <code>$</code>
    and the <a href="#identifier">identifier</a>. This overrides 
    <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a>'s default behavior if the reference
    is undefined. Normally, if a reference is undefined, the name of the
    reference that was given is used instead.  With this notation, a blank
    text field is used.</dd>

    <dt><a name="reference">Reference</a></dt>
    <dd>Begins with <code>$</code> and are used to get something.
    There are three types: <a href="#variables">variables</a>, 
    <a href="#properties">properties</a>, and 
    <a href="#methods">methods</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="resource">Resource</a></dt>
    <dd>A general text resource that can be loaded from a variety
    of sources using a <a href="#resourceloader">Resource Loader</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="resourceloader">Resource Loader</a></dt>
    <dd>A class used by a <a href="#velocityengine">Velocity Engine</a>
    to load resources from the file system, classpath, URLs or even a
    database depending on the implementation.</dd>

    <dt><a name="rhs">RHS</a></dt>
    <dd>Right Hand Side of an assignment</dd>

    <dt><a name="scopecontrol">Scope Control</a></dt>
    <dd>The <a href="#reference">reference</a> automatically provided
    as a way of scoping/namespacing <a href="#reference">references</a>
    (to avoid polluting the global <a href="#context">context</a>) within
    the given content directive and also providing a "label" for
    <a href="#break">#break</a> to use when breaking out of multiple
    <a href="#contentdirective">content directives</a> at once.</dd>

    <dt><a name="set">#set</a></dt>
    <dd>The <a href="#directive">directive</a> that is used for setting
    the value of a reference.</dd>

    <dt><a name="stop">#stop</a></dt>
    <dd>A <a href="#directive">directive</a> that stops the execution
    of the template engine.  <code>#stop</code> is useful for debugging
    templates.</dd>

    <dt><a name="stringinterpolation">String Interpolation</a></dt>
    <dd>Using a variable inside of a string. For example, 
    <code>"Hello $name"</code> would be "Hello" and then whatever
    value is stored in <code>$name</code>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="template">Template</a></dt>
    <dd>A file containing code in a 
    <a href="#template language">template language</a> such as the
    <a href="#vtl">VTL</a> that can be run through a 
    <a href="#templateengine">template engine</a> like 
    <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a> to produce dynamic output.</dd>

    <dt><a name="templateengine">Template Engine</a></dt>
    <dd>An engine that merges a <a href="#context">context</a> with a
    <a href="#template">template</a> to produce output.</dd>

    <dt><a name="templatelanguage">Template Language</a></dt>
    <dd>A language such as the <a href="#vtl">VTL</a> that can be used
    to create <a href="#template">templates</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="texen">Texen</a></dt>
    <dd>Texen is a general purpose text generating utility that
    is driven by Ant.</dd>

    <dt><a name="tool">Tool</a></dt>
    <dd>A plain old Java object that is useful in a template but it
    is not meant to be rendered in output. Tools are meant to be used
    but not to be seen.</dd>

    <dt><a name="turbine">Turbine</a></dt>
    <dd>A servlet based framework that allows experienced Java
    developers to quickly build web applications.  Turbine allows
    you to personalize the web sites and to use user logins to
    restrict access to parts of your application.</dd>

    <dt><a name="variable">Variable</a></dt>
    <dd>A type of <a href="#reference">reference</a>. Variables
    represents values that can change. The shorthand notation
    consists of a leading <code>$</code> character followed by
    an <a href="#identifier">identifier</a></dd>

    <dt><a name="velocimacro">Velocimacro</a></dt>
    <dd>The <code><a href="#macro">#macro</a></code> 
    <a href="#directive">directive</a> allows designers to define
    a repeated segment of template. To create a macro "d", you
    would use <code>#macro(d)</code> followed by the segment of
    template followed by <code><a href="#end">#end</a></code>.
    Macros can have as many arguments as necessary by adding them
    inside the parentheses such as <code>#macro(d $arg1 $arg2)</code>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="velocity">Velocity</a></dt>
    <dd>A Java-based <a href="#templateengine">template engine</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="velocityengine">VelocityEngine</a></dt>
    <dd>The engine that generates web pages and other output from 
    <a href="#template">templates</a> containing VTL code.</dd>

    <dt><a name="velocitysingleton">Velocity Singleton</a></dt>
    <dd>A singleton wrapper around a 
    <a href="#velocityengine">Velocity engine</a> that is shared
    across the JVM (or ClassLoader) and may thus be referenced
    directly without needing to pass an instance around. This allows
    localized configuration and sharing of resources.</dd>

    <dt><a name="velocitytools">VelocityTools</a></dt>
    <dd>A collection of <a href="#tool">Tools</a> and infrastructure to
    easily, automatically and transparently make tools and static data
    available to Velocity templates.</dd>

    <dt><a name="vtl">VTL</a></dt>
    <dd>Velocity Template Language. The powerful template language
    that is used with <a href="#velocity">Velocity</a>.</dd>

    <dt><a name="vtlmethodcall">VTL Method Call</a></dt>
    <dd>Consists of an <a href="#identifier">identifier</a> followed
    by a <code>(</code> character, followed by an optional parameter
    list, followed by a <code>)</code> character. <a href="#vtl">VTL</a>
    allows template designers to call any public method declared in
    a public class on values placed in the <a href="#context">context</a>.</dd>
  </dl>
</section>
</body>
</document>
