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last edited 3 months ago by simon

DTML is the Document Template Markup Language introduced with early Zope versions. It's a server-side scripting language something like ASP and PHP, used in DTMLMethod, DTMLDocument, and ZWiki pages. Example: 

 <dtml-if 1>
 <dtml-var ZopeTime>
 </dtml-if>

See also Page Templates for a newer, more structured solution which allows better separation of code and content. DTML is simpler than page templates, but also more surprising and "magical" - it is reliable, but sometimes you have think hard to understand why it does what it does. Usually not though.

If you mention DTML on the Mail lists or IRC, you'll hear much guff about it being dead, immoral, page templates being the one true way, etc.

You may occasionally hear that DTML is or will be deprecated. This is a myth. According to Jim Fulton, on 2005/04/07: "There are no plans to deprecate DTML. It is even supported in Zope 3."

A problem with DTML is that it tends to lead away from SeparateContentAndCode, which I think we can all agree is a bad thing™

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