Template

A template is a ZUML fragment that defines how to create components. A template is enclosed with the template element as shown below.

<window>
    <template name="foo">
      <textbox/>
      <grid model=${data}>
         <columns/>
         <template name="model"> <!-- nested template -->
            <row>Name: <textbox value="${each.name}"/></row>
         </template>
      </grid>
   </template>
...

A template can contain any ZUML elements you want, including other templates. When a ZUML document is interpreted, a template won't be interpreted immediately. Rather, it will be encapsulated as an instance of Template, and be associated to a component. Then, the component or a tool can create the components repeatedly based on the template by invoking Template.create(Component, Component, VariableResolver, Composer).

A component can be assigned with multiple templates. Each of them is identified by the name attribute.

<div>
    <template name="t1">
        <grid model="${foo}"/>
    </template>
    <template name="t2">
        <listbox model="${foo}"/>
    </template>

How a template is used depends on the component it associates with and the tools you use. Currently, all components that support the concept of model allow you to specify a template to control how to render each item. In the following sections, we discuss them in details. If you'd like to know how to use templates manually in Java, please refer to the UI Patterns: Templates section.

Notice that please read the Listbox Template section first, even though you're rendering other kind of UI. It described the common concepts and tricks of using templates.