Here's a simple example so you can see how the various sub-template pieces fit together. This example generates an HTML file from two templates. First, there's a sub-template that generates an HTML header:
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| language | xml/html |
|---|
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<%@
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CodeTemplate
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Language="C#"
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TargetLanguage="HTML"
...
%>
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<%@
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Property
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Name="Title"
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Type="System.String"
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Optional="False"
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Category="Options"
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Description="Page
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title."
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%>
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<%@
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Property
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Name="CharSet"
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Type="System.String"
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Optional="False"
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Default="windows-1252"
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Category="Options"
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Description="Character
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set
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for
...
the
...
page."
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%>
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<%@
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Property
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Name="IncludeMeta"
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Type="System.Boolean"
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Default="True"
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Optional="False"
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Category="Options"
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Description="Include
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meta
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tags."
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%>
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<html>
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<head>
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<%
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if
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(IncludeMeta)
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{
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%>
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<meta
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http-equiv="Content-Type"
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content="text/html;
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charset=<%=
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CharSet
...
%>">
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<%
...
}
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%>
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<title><%=
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Title
...
%></title>
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</head>
...
Next, the main template generates the body of the HTML file. Note that it uses the sub-template to generate the header:
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...
<%@
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CodeTemplate
...
Language="C#"
...
TargetLanguage="HTML"
...
%>
...
<%@
...
Property
...
Name="Title"
...
Type="System.String"
...
Optional="False"
...
Category="Options"
...
Description="Page
...
title."
...
%>
...
<%@
...
Property
...
Name="Placeholder"
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Type="System.String"
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Optional="True"
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Category="Options"
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Description="Main
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placeholder
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text."
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%>
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<%@
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Register
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Name="Header"
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Template="Header.cst"
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MergeProperties="True"
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ExcludeProperties="IncludeMeta"
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%>
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<%
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OutputHeader();
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%>
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<body>
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<h1><%=
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Title
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%></h1>
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<p><%=
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Placeholder
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%></p>
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</body>
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</html>
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<script
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runat="template">
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public
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void
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OutputHeader()
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{
Header header = this.Create<Header>();
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//
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include
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the
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meta
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tag
header.IncludeMeta
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=
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true;
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//
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copy
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all
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properties
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with
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matching
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name
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and
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type
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to
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the
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sub-template
...
instance
this.CopyPropertiesTo(header);
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//
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render
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the
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sub-template
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to
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the
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current
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output
...
stream
header.Render(this.Response);
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}
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</script>
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When you open the master template, the property sheet shows the Title and Placeholder properties defined in the master template, as well as the CharSet property defined in the sub-template (because of the MergeProperties attribute), but not the IncludeMeta property (because of the ExcludeProperties attribute):
The template's output seamlessly merges the output of the sub-template and the output of the main template:
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<html>
...
| language | xml/html |
|---|
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
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content="text/html;
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charset=windows-1252">
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<title>My
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Web
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Page</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>My
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Web
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Page</h1>
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<p>Lorem
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Ipsit</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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