I'm looking to create an inline function (method) inside my NVelocity template. The solution to this appears to be to use Velocimacros. So, I mocked up the following template to test:
#macro( getOutput $one $two $three )
<td>$one</td>
<td>$two.Item2</td>
<td>$three</td>
#end
<table>
#foreach( $item in $mdl.Items )
<tr>
#set( $one1 = $item.Item1 )
#getOutput( $one1 $item $item.Item3 ) ## item.Item3 won't evaluate!
</tr>
#end
</table>
$mdl is my base Model object, which for this example contains one property, Items, which is a List(Of Tuple(Of String, Integer, Date)). Populated with test data like so:
Dim items As New List(Of Tuple(Of String, Integer, DateTime))
With items
.Add(New Tuple(Of String, Integer, DateTime)("One", 1, #1/1/2001#))
.Add(New Tuple(Of String, Integer, DateTime)("Two", 2, #2/2/2002#))
.Add(New Tuple(Of String, Integer, DateTime)("Three", 3, #3/3/2003#))
End With
When I run the template, the problem I'm having is that the output from the macro parameter $three is literally "$item.Item3" instead of evaluating to #3/3/2003#. (BTW - this happens with any of the 3 items in the tuple if they are passed with the .Item call, so it isn't about the data type).
I can make a variable and pass it just fine ($one1). I can pass the tuple itself and call the .Item property inside the macro ($item.Item2), but for some reason I cannot call the .Item property when passing the argument to the macro. Any insight?
It looks like NVelocity macro support is limited.
http://www.castleproject.org/others/nvelocity/problems.html#macros
An alternative would be to use Helpers: