NAME

HTML::TableTiler - easily generates complex graphic styled HTML tables

VERSION 1.21

The latest versions changes are reported in the Changes file in this distribution.

INSTALLATION

Prerequisites

    HTML::PullParser >= 1.0
    IO::Util         >= 1.2
    

CPAN

    perl -MCPAN -e 'install HTML::TableTiler'
    

Standard installation

From the directory where this file is located, type:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install
    

SYNOPSIS

the tile

    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">
    <tr>
        <td><b><i>a optional placeholder</i></b></td>
        <td>another optional placeholder</td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    

the code

    $matrix=[
               [ 'Balls', 'A470', 250, 2.75 ],
               [ 'Cubes', 'A520', 378, 3.25 ],
               [ 'Cones', 'A665', 186, 2.85 ]
            ];
    

Object-Oriented interface:

    use HTML::TableTiler;
    $tt = HTML::TableTiler->new(\$tile);
    print $tt->tile_table($matrix);
    

Function-Oriented interface

    use HTML::TableTiler qw(tile_table);
    print tile_table($matrix, \$tile);
    

the tiled table

    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">
    <tr>
        <td><b><i>Balls</i></b></td>
        <td>A470</td>
        <td>250</td>
        <td>2.75</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><b><i>Cubes</i></b></td>
        <td>A520</td>
        <td>378</td>
        <td>3.25</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td><b><i>Cones</i></b></td>
        <td>A665</td>
        <td>186</td>
        <td>2.85</td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    

DESCRIPTION

HTML::TableTiler uses a minimum HTML table as a tile to generate a complete HTML table from a bidimensional array of data. It can easily produce simple or complex graphic styled tables with minimum effort and maximum speed.

Think about the table tile as a sort of tile that automatically expands itself to contain the whole data. You can control the final look of a table by choosing either the HORIZONTAL and the VERTICAL tiling mode among: PULL, TILE and TRIM.

The main advantages to use it are:

• automatic table generation

  Pass only a bidimensional array of data to generate a complete HTML table. No worry to decide in advance the quantity of cells (or rows) in the table.

• complex graphic patterns generation without coding

  Just prepare a simple table tile in your preferred WYSIWYG HTML editor and let the module do the job for you.

• simple to maintain

  You can indipendently change the table tile or the code, and everything will go as you would expect.

HTML Examples

Below this paragraph you should see several HTML examples. If you don't see any example, please take a look at the Examples.html file included in this distribution: an image is worth thousands of words (expecially with HTML)!

METHODS

new ( [tile] )

The constructor method generate a HTML::TableTiler object. It accepts one optional tile parameter that can be a reference to a SCALAR content, a path to a file or a filehandle. If you don't pass any tile to the constructor method, a plain tile will be used internally to generate a plain HTML table. A tile must be a valid HTML chunk containing at least one "<tr> ... </tr>" area. See "HTML Examples" or the Examples.html file in order to know more useful details about table tiles.

Examples of constructors:

    $tt = HTML::TableTiler->new( \$tile_scalar );
    $tt = HTML::TableTiler->new( '/path/to/table_tile_file' );
    $tt = HTML::TableTiler->new( *TABLE_TILE_FILEHANDLER );
    $tt = HTML::TableTiler->new(); # default \'<table><tr><td></td></tr></table>'
    

is_matrix( array_reference )

This method checks if the passed array_reference is a matrix (i.e. an array of arrays). It returns 1 on success and 0 on failure. It is called automatically by the tile_table() method unless you pass a true value as tird argument.

tile_table ( matrix [, mode ] [, checked] )

This method generates a tiled table including the data contained in matrix. The matrix parameter must be a reference to a bidimensional array:

    $matrix=[
               [ 'Balls', 'A470', '250', '2.75' ],
               [ 'Cubes', 'A520', '378', '3.25' ],
               [ 'Cones', 'A665', '186', '2.85' ]
            ];
    

The mode parameter must be scalar containing one or two literal words representing ROW and COLUMN tiling mode. These are the accepted modes:

    $tt->TableTiler( \@matrix, "V_TRIM H_TILE" );
    $tt->TableTiler( \@matrix, "V_TILE" ); # default "H_PULL"
    $tt->TableTiler( \@matrix );             # default "H_PULL V_PULL"

FUNCTIONS

tile_table ( matrix [, tile [, mode ]] )

If you prefer a function-oriented programming style, you can import or directly use the tile_table() function:

    use HTML::TableTiler qw( tile_table );
    print tile_table( \@matrix, \$tile, "V_TILE" );
    print tile_table( \@matrix );
    # or
    use HTML::TableTiler;
    print HTML::TableTiler::tile_table( \@matrix, \$tile, "V_TILE" );
    print HTML::TableTiler::tile_table( \@matrix);
    

Note that you have to pass the tile as the optional second parameter, and the mode as the optional third parameter. (See method tile_table() for details).

SEE ALSO

Template::Magic::HTML, that supplies an extended and transparent interface to this module.

SUPPORT and FEEDBACK

If you need support or if you want just to send me some feedback or request, please use this link: http://perl.4pro.net/?HTML::TableTiler.

AUTHOR and COPYRIGHT

© 2002-2004 by Domizio Demichelis.

All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as perl itself.

POD ERRORS

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