Formatting engine

1. Inline variable display
2. Standard formatting modifiers
1. h - Encode content as HTML
2. H - Encode content as HTML but keep entities verbatim
3. f - Format plain text to HTML
4. F - Format plain text to HTML with headlines
5. p - Execute content as PHP code
6. u - URL encode content
7. s - Show content as-is
3. Custom formatters
1. Example:

Inline variable display

Midgard adds a new language construct to PHP which allows you to include the value of a variable in HTML without using a <? echo $var; ?> construct.

You can now simply use &(variablename); directly in HTML. Note the absence of the $.

Object variables that would normally be accessed in PHP code as $object->field can be inserted as &(object.field);. Similarly, fields of an associative array can be inserted with &(array['key']);.

Standard formatting modifiers

The way the value is formatted can be specified by adding a modifier after the variable name: &(variable:modifier);.

In PHP code the modifiers can be executed using the mgd_format function.

The standard modifiers are:

h - Encode content as HTML

Add value as HTML. Escapes & to &, < to < and > to >.

Everything between [< and >] is added verbatim with the [< and >] dropped. PHP code embedded in such a section is executed.

H - Encode content as HTML but keep entities verbatim

Add value as HTML. Everything is included verbatim.

f - Format plain text to HTML

Add value as formatted text, the plain text input is formatted as HTML on the fly.

Lines starting with `` will be transformed to unnumbered lists.

Paragraphs delimited by an empty line will be surrounded by <p> and </p>.

Everything between [< and >] is added verbatim with the [< and >] dropped.

Note: PHP code embedded in such a section is executed. If you want to enable safe content input from unsecure users, use the Markdown datatype instead.

F - Format plain text to HTML with headlines

Add value as formatted text, the plain text input is formatted as HTML on the fly.

Lines starting with `` will be transformed to unnumbered lists.

Paragraphs delimited by an empty line will be surrounded by <p> and </p>.

Lines after an empty line with less than 10 words that do not end in a period are formatted as <h2>.

Everything between [< and >] is added verbatim with the [< and >] dropped.

Note: PHP code embedded in such a section is executed. If you want to enable safe content input from unsecure users, use the Markdown datatype instead.

p - Execute content as PHP code

Execute a value as PHP. Executes the value of the variable.

u - URL encode content

Add the value urlencoded. Replaces non-safe URI characters with their %code equivalents.

s - Show content as-is

Show variable unmodified.

Custom formatters

You can also add custom formatters to your Midgard application. This is a powerful way of extending Midgards formatting engine.

Basically you write a function which gets the text-to-be-formatted as an argument and echos dumps the formatted output to stdout.

You then register that function using to Midgard's formatting engine using the mgd_register_filter function.

Example:

function midgardize_my_content($text) 
{  
    // Replace all instances of "CMS" in content with "Midgard"
    $formatted_text = str_replace('CMS', 'Midgard', $text);
    echo $formatted_text;  
}  

mgd_register_filter('mgd', 'midgardize_my_content');

// Then, in some style element you can do this: &(my_variable:xmgd);