3.10 Using Template Directives
Use template directives to control how attributes that support substitution strings are processed.
Template directives are only supported by specific attributes of the cards and interactive grid regions. These directives are processed as part of client side substitutions. To determine if an attribute supports template directives, Page Designer Help includes the text "Supports Template Directives." See apex.util.applyTemplate in Oracle Application Express JavaScript API Reference for more details on directive syntax.
Note:
Syntax descriptions text in square brackets is optional. You do not actually type the square brackets. Upper case text represents something as described in the description.
Parent topic: App Builder Concepts
3.10.1 If Condition Directives
Syntax
{if [!]NAME/}
TRUE_TEMPLATE_TEXT
{elseif [!]NAME2/}
ELSE_TRUE_TEMPLATE_TEXT
{else/}
FALSE_TEMPLATE_TEXT
{endif/}
Use the if
directive to conditionally show text based on
if an item or column has a value. The NAME
is an item or
column name. If the value of the column or item is true then the following text is
output. The value is false if it is an empty string or ‘F
’,
‘N
’, or ‘0
’. Any value that is not false is
true. If the NAME
is proceeded by exclamation point
(!) then the following text is output if the value is false rather than
true.
There can be zero or more elseif
directives. The
else
directive is optional. The text after the first
if
or elseif
directive that is true is output.
If no if
or elseif
is true then the text after the
else
directive, if any, is output.
Example
A cards report contains a column named DESCRIPTION
. The
following HTML Expression attribute will display the description if it is not null
(empty string) and “No description.” otherwise.
{if DESCRIPTION/}&DESCRIPTION.{else/}No description.{endif/}
Parent topic: Using Template Directives
3.10.2 Case Condition Directives
Syntax
{case NAME/}
{when STRING1/}
TEMPLATE_TEXT1
{when STRING2/}
TEMPLATE_TEXT2
{otherwise/}
TEMPLATE_TEXT
{endcase/}
Use the case
directive to show text based on the value
of an item or column. The NAME
is an item or column name.
The value is compared with the strings after each when
directive
and if they are equal then the following text is output. If no when
directive matches then the text after the otherwise
directive, if
there is one, is output. The value and each string is trimmed of leading and
trailing spaces before comparison. The comparison is case sensitive.
Example
This example using the sample EMP
table displays the compensation
differently depending on the JOB
. For sales people it shows both
the salary and commission. For the president it shows “--” rather than salary and
for all other jobs it shows just the salary.
{case JOB/}
{when SALESMAN/}
&SAL. (&COMM.)
{when PRESIDENT/}
--
{otherwise/}
&SAL.
{endcase/}
Parent topic: Using Template Directives
3.10.3 Loop Directives
Syntax
{loop ["SEP"] NAME/}
TEMPLATE_TEXT
{endloop/}
Use the loop directive
to repeat text once for each item in a
multi-value (character delimited) item or column value. The
NAME
is an item or column name that has multiple values
separated by the character given by SEP
. The default separator is
":
". If SEP
is more than one character it is
treated as a regular expression.
The template text within the loop can use these substitution symbols:
-
APEX$ITEM
- This is the value of the current item in the list. -
APEX$I
- This is 1 based index of the current item in the list.
Example
The following example takes a column called TAGS
that contains a
comma (,) separated list of tags such as "apples,cherries,pears" and turns it into
an HTML list that can be nicely styled with CSS.
<ul class="tags">{loop "," TAGS/}
<li class="tag-item">&APEX$ITEM.</li>
{endloop/}</ul>
Parent topic: Using Template Directives