Inline variable in the Play framework 2.x Scala template

Question

How to create an inline variable in the Play framework 2.x Scala template? Path from the Play's guide is not clear to me:

@defining(user.firstName + " " + user.lastName) { fullName =>
  <div>Hello @fullName</div>
}

Solution 1

First you don't create a variable but a value meaning it's read only.

In your example you have created a value fullName which is accessible inside the curly brackets.

@defining("Farmor") { fullName =>
  <div>Hello @fullName</div>
}

Will print Hello Farmor

To define a value which is accessible globally in your template just embrace everything with your curly brackets.

E.g.

@defining("Value") { formId =>
  @main("Title") {
    @form(routes.Application.addPost, 'id -> formId) {
      @inputText(name = "content", required = true)
      <input type="submit" value="Create">
    }
  }
}

In the example you can use the value formId anywere.

Solution 2

If you don't want to use the @defining syntax you can define a reusable block which will be evaluated every time you use it:

@fullName = @{
  user.firstName + " " + user.lastName
}

<div>Hello @fullName</div>

With this same syntax you can also pass arguments to the block: https://github.com/playframework/Play20/blob/master/samples/scala/computer-database/app/views/list.scala.html

Comments

[monzonj]

ugly, convoluted! .... So much for all velocity/freemarker efforts to make views really clean and HTML-coder friendly. It seems that now the fashion is make html views a total mess sigh

[Pedro]

I agree! I dislike this syntax very very much.

[kdkeck]

Except a reusable block will be re-executed every time it is used, while the value of the defining block will only be computed once.