Template Engines for ASP

I'm interested in what (if any) template engine people are using in ASP, what specifically they like and dislike about their template engine of choice.

what exactly is "Template Engine"? never heard the term. but maybe if you can explain I would have some idea how to do that in ASP...

I think affriedl wants some that lists, for example, "page with database functionality" and then it creates the connectionstring and all the other goodies needed?

I don't know of such a thing would be nice to have one though

A template engine is a code library that allows you to separate business logic from presentation. I have a small content management system that I have implemented on several sites now - and I get tired of altering the display code at the end of the ASP pages. A template engine allows you to remove the HTML to an entirely different file (the template). At the time of my post I had just read up on templating in Java/JSP and was looking for something similar. There are several engines available (some for free). The most noteable is ASP Template (available on SourceForge.net - http://asptemplate.sourceforge.net/ ).

I wanted something more like what I saw in the Java world though so I wrote the template engine I wanted (also available for free on SourceForge.net - http://asptango.sourceforge.net/ ).

In either software package mentiond, your HTML layout goes into an HTML file, while your ASP page servers up business logic and data marshalling for the template engine which then fills in the template with data. This means that your presentation can change significantly without you the ASP programmer having to slog your way though the ASP tags. Another, and perhaps more popular feature of using template is that your websites become "skinnable" - that is, you can apply a new look and feel dynamically - right before the users eyes. Some people would say that all this can all be handled in CSS, but I doubt very much this is so.

I think ASPTango (the engine I wrote) is more flexible and requires less work in that the template engine itself drives the layout process -- but you will find it has a slight performance hit when you really use the extended features (like dynamic binding of data directly to you ASP script) -- ASPTemplate however is widely used and better known (for now ) , but you are required to drive the template layout in your ASP code. Your mileage may vary.

CodeCharge is a very nice RAD tool for ASP (and others), but that was not exactly my question.

Review my ASP Tutorial located in the ASP Development area.
It contains an ASP Templating class that allows for the separation of presentation and programming code.

However, this post looks more like you are trying to pitch your own templating engine, rather than actually wondering what others prefer.

well, I don't use those things at all, so I can't give any review/opinions... thanks for the detailed explanation!

well, if it's as good as he says we can only thank him, after all it's for free.

Originally, I started looking for ASP template engines that other people had written. I like to save coding time by using other people's work whenever possible. However, I really wanted something different than what I found so I wrote my own and it reflects my own particular taste and engineering style. My taste and style are not for everyone nor every application - hence my attempt to put my work in perspective with that of others.

Of course I would return to pitch my own work - considering the questions raised in the posts that followed. I feel the results will speak for themselves - that is why you will find it on SourceForge - where it is free.

Shameless Pitch of the Day: Download and use this code - it's free!

I just wanted to let anyone (if anyone) watching this thread that the ASP-Tango template engine has its own website now at http://www.asp-tango.com. The website uses the Template Engine for all HTML layout. There are examples, tutorials and links to the downloads on SourceForge.net there - as always with open source - it is free.

Enjoy

Take a look around www.aspin.com and www.hotscripts.com those are good sites to find applications.

Just a brief note to anyone who sees this thread. I wrote a second generation version of the template engine that is quite a bit better that the original - much more flexible and allowing for the creation of "components". Like the original it is also free to anyone to use.
You can download it under the news section of my website. TriLogicLLC.com, the link is in the News section.

wow! It took you 2 years but you did it after all!

Well......... I've only been using it on websites for a year and a half now so that isn't too bad. Maybe next year I'll get around to putting the whole thing on SourceForge or documenting the beastie...