F5 Application Services Templates (FAST) SDK
This module provides a framework for handling templates.
Features
- Parses Mustache templates and an extended template format (in YAML)
- Generates a view schema from parsed template data
- Supports Mustache partials and sections
- Renders templates with user-provided views
- Validates user-provided views against generated view schema
- Includes a command line interface
Installation
To install this module run:
npm install @f5devcentral/f5-fast-core
CLI
A command line interface is provided via a fast
binary.
The help text is provided below and also accessed via fast --help
:
fast <command>
Commands:
fast validate <file> validate given template source file
fast schema <file> get template parameter schema for given template source file
fast guiSchema <file> get template parameter schema (modified for use with JSON Editor) for given template source file
fast validateParameters <tmplFile> <parameterFile> validate supplied template parameters with given template
fast render <tmplFile> [parameterFile] render given template file with supplied parameters
fast validateTemplateSet <templateSetPath> validate supplied template set
fast htmlpreview <tmplFile> [parameterFile] generate a static HTML file with a preview editor to standard out
fast packageTemplateSet <templateSetPath> [dst] build a package for a given template set
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
For more information on a given command use the --help
flag combined with a command:
fast <command> --help
The CLI can also be accessed by executing cli.js
.
For example:
./cli.js render path/to/template
Authoring Templates
Documentation on how to write FAST templates can be found here.
Module API
Simple Loading
Below is a basic example for loading a template without any additional type schema:
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = `
parameters:
message: Hello!
definitions:
body:
template:
<body>
<h1>{{message}}</h1>
</body>
template: |
<html>
{{> body}}
</html>
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({message: "Hello world!"}));
});
If a Template
has been serialized to JSON (e.g., to send in an HTTP request), it can be deserialized with Template.fromJson()
:
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = `
template: |
{{message}}
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then(template => JSON.stringify(template))
.then(jsonData => template.fromJson(jsonData))
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({message: "Hello world!"}));
});
Template
does not provide a mechanism for loading a template from a file and, instead, needs to be paired with something like Node's fs
module:
const fs = require('fs');
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file', 'utf8');
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({message: "Hello world!"}));
});
Loading with Type Schema
To support user-defined types, a SchemaProvider
must be used.
The FsSchemaProvider
can be used to load schema from disk:
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const templatesPath = '/path/to/templatesdir';
const schemaProvider = new fast.FsSchemaProvider(templatesPath);
const yamldata = `
template: |
{{virtual_port:types:port}}
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata, schemaProvider)
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({virtual_port: 443});
});
Using a TemplateProvider
A higher-level API is available for loading templates via TemplateProvider
classes.
These classes will handle calling the correct load function (Template.loadYaml()
vs Template.loadMst()
) and can also automatically handle additional schema files.
For example, to load "templates sets" (a directory containing template files) from a given directory, the FsTemplateProvider
class can be used:
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const templateSetsPath = '/path/to/templateSetsDir';
const templateProvider = new fast.FsTemplateProvider(templateSetsPath);
templateProvider.fetch('templateSetName/templateName')
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({
var: "value",
boolVar: false
}));
});
If only a subset of the directories should be loaded as template sets, FsTemplateProvider
provides an option to filter directories:
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const templateSetsPath = '/path/to/templateSetsDir';
const setsToLoad = ['foo', 'bar'];
const templateProvider = new fast.FsTemplateProvider(templateSetsPath, setsToLoad);
templateProvider.fetch('templateSetName/templateName')
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({
var: "value",
boolVar: false
}));
});
A FsSingleTemplateProvider
is provided as convenience for loading a single template set (instead of a directory of template sets):
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const templateSetPath = '/path/to/templateSet';
const templateProvider = new fast.FsSingleTemplateProvider(templateSetPath);
templateProvider.fetch('templateSet/templateName')
.then((template) => {
console.log(template.getParametersSchema());
console.log(template.render({
var: "value",
boolVar: false
}));
});
Note that despite loading a single template set, a template set name must still be provided when querying the provider.
HTTP Fetch
To resolve external URLs in templates, a Template.fetchHttp()
is available.
This will take any definition with a url
property, resolve it, and return an object of the results.
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = `
definitions:
var:
url: http://example.com/resource
pathQuery: $.foo
template: |
{{var}}
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then(template => Promise.all[(
Promise.resolve(template),
() => template.fetchHttp()
)])
.then(([template, httpParams]) => {
console.log(template.render(httpParams));
});
A Template.fetchAndRender()
convenience function is also available to do fetchHttp() and render() in a single function call.
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = `
definitions:
var:
url: http://example.com/resource
pathQuery: $.foo
template: |
{{var}}
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then(template => template.fetchAndRender())
.then((rendered) => {
console.log(rendered);
});
HTTP Forward
It is common to want to submit the rendered template result to an HTTP endpoint.
f5-fast-core
makes this simpler with Template.forwardHttp()
.
This function will:
- Resolve external URLs with
Template.fetchHttp()
- Render the template result
- Forward the rendered result as a
POST
(by default) to the endpoint defined by the template's httpForward
property
const fast = require('@f5devcentral/f5-fast-core');
const yamldata = `
httpForward:
url: http://example.com/resource
definitions:
var:
default: foo
template: |
{{var}}
`;
fast.Template.loadYaml(yamldata)
.then(template => template.forwardHttp());
Development
- To check for lint errors run
npm run lint
- To run unit tests use
npm test
Both of these are run as part of the CI pipeline for this repo.
License
Apache License 2.0
Copyright
Copyright 2014-2020 F5 Networks Inc.
F5 Networks Contributor License Agreement
Before you start contributing to any project sponsored by F5 Networks, Inc. (F5) on GitHub, you will need to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA).
If you are signing as an individual, we recommend that you talk to your employer (if applicable) before signing the CLA since some employment agreements may have restrictions on your contributions to other projects.
Otherwise by submitting a CLA you represent that you are legally entitled to grant the licenses recited therein.
If your employer has rights to intellectual property that you create, such as your contributions, you represent that you have received permission to make contributions on behalf of that employer, that your employer has waived such rights for your contributions, or that your employer has executed a separate CLA with F5.
If you are signing on behalf of a company, you represent that you are legally entitled to grant the license recited therein.
You represent further that each employee of the entity that submits contributions is authorized to submit such contributions on behalf of the entity pursuant to the CLA.