Converts a handlebars file with partials or(and) layout to a html file.
I built this package specfically because I want an easier way to generate or compile a handlebars file into html code that I could pass to my nodemailer
html property without having to set up a server e.g(expressjs
) basically just because I need to use handlebars as html templating engine with nodemailer.
Apart from that most handlebars packages relies on a web server to work, some implementation details are not clear enough lol.
So I need to build a simple package that helps me achieve my goal and offers the same capability as express-handlebars
, but standalone, does not rely on a web server to work. IT JUST WORKS.
npm install hbs-to-html
or
yarn add hbs-to-html
The package can be initialized with several options:
const { HbsToHtml } = require("hbs-to-html");
const templateConverter = new HbsToHtml({
templateDirPath: "path/to/views",
});
Options | Required | Description |
---|---|---|
templateDirPath |
yes | Directory path to where the template files are located. |
defaultLayoutFilePath |
no | The file path of the default layout file including the file extention e.g ('./layouts/main.hbs' ). |
partialDirPath |
no | Directory path to where the partial files are located. |
extName |
no | The handlebars file extention being use in your code. Defaults to "hbs" if not provided. |
You can initialize the package accordingly based on what options you have i.e are there partial files? Add the partialDirPath
option to the constructor and provide the directory path as it value, do you have a default layout? Add the defaultLayoutFilePath
option and provide the file path as a value to it. The optional fields work independent of each other. You provide what you have and you get an output of what you provide 😀.
The following example initialize the package with the all options providing the partials
directory, the layout
file, and an extName
for of the handlebars files.
const templateConverter = new HbsToHtml({
templateDirPath: "path/to/views",
defaultLayoutFilePath: "path/to/layouts/main.hbs",
partialDirPath: "path/to/partials",
extName: "hbs",
});
Use the compileToHtml() method available on the templateConverter class instance created earlier to generate an html output, it returns a promise so we need to use await keyword.
const generatedHtml = await templateConverter.compileToHtml({
templateName: "filename",
//any data you want to pass into the template(s)
context: {},
});
Options | Required | Description |
---|---|---|
templateName |
yes | Name of the handlebars template file |
context |
no | An object containing data you want to inject into the template(s) |
The template file
./views/index.hbs
Note Please make sure your layout file includes the
{{{body}}}
within your body tag to inject the template else your template won't show.
The layout file
./views/layouts/main.hbs
Header partial file
./views/partials/header.hbs
Footer partial file
./views/partials/footer.hbs
const path = require("path");
const { HbsToHtml } = require("hbs-to-html");
const templateConverter = new HbsToHtml({
templateDirPath: path.join(__dirname, "views"), //required
defaultLayoutFilePath: path.join(__dirname, "views", "layouts", "main.hbs"),
partialDirPath: path.join(__dirname, "views", "partials"),
extName: "hbs"
});
async function generateHtml(filename) {
const generatedHtml = await templateConverter.compileToHtml({
templateName: filename,
//any data you want to pass into the template(s)
context: {
year: new Date().getFullYear(),
title: "Testing package"
}
});
return generatedHtml;
}
//would return a compile html code with all the template data inserted
generateHtml("index");
I tested the code using http server, i generated the html code and passed the output to be rendered to the client. Screenshot below:
Check out the example code implementation here.
Star the Github repo. I'd love the attention! Why not share the link for this repository on Twitter, Thread or HackerNews? Spread the word📢!
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and on Thread. Let's chat.
Please use the issues tab on Github to create issues you encountered or feature you would love to see included in this awesome package.
Please freely reach out to me on the above channels. Thanks for using my package.
hbs-to-html is released under the MIT license.