../myVar should reference the rootContext

[mschipperheyn]

The .combine(someContext) allows me access to some global scoped variables. However, in order to maintain compatibility with my Javascript version, I need to be able use Handlebars Paths to be able to reference the root scope.

The Handlebars documentation references Paths as a way to reference the root scope (it's not entirely clear if it should be parent or root scope, but root scope would make the most sense).

Right now using {{../myVar}} throws an error. It should either display the variable or nothing from within a partial.

[jknack]

Just one comment ../ is reference to a parent scope which might or might not the root scope. This test demostrate how it works.

Thanks, Marc.

[mschipperheyn]

Are you sure about that? From the discussions I saw, ../ refers to the root template.
To me, referring to the parent wouldn't make sense at all, because you can never know at what level a partial will be included.

[jknack]

Yes, I'm sure.

{
 "foo": {
   "bar": {
     "title": "bar"
   },
   "title": "foo"
 },
 "title": "root"
}

with:

{{#foo}}
  {{#bar}}
   {{title}}
  {{/bar}}
{{/foo}}

The output is: bar

with:

{{#foo}}
  {{#bar}}
   {{../title}}
  {{/bar}}
{{/foo}}

output is: foo

with:

{{#foo}}
  {{#bar}}
   {{../../title}}
  {{/bar}}
{{/foo}}

output is: root

with:

{{#foo}}
  {{#bar}}
   {{../../../title}}
  {{/bar}}
{{/foo}}

output is: ""

You can try all these here: http://tryhandlebarsjs.com/

[mschipperheyn]

Hmm, the interesting question then also becomes: how to reference a global variable (such as serverUrl) when you can't predict at which level a partial is included

[jknack]

I found something weird. When I started with handlebars I was under the assumption that Handlebars.js was a Mustache complaint implementation.

Now, in Mustache if a value isn't found in the current scope, that value is resolved against the context stack, i.e., it looks in the parent until the value if found or until the root context is reach.

So, you can safely refer to {{serverUrl}} in handlebars.java bc it is a Mustache complaint implementation.

The following example is part of the Mustache Spec. It works in handlebars.java but not in handlebars.js

{a: {one: 1}, b: {two: 2}, c: {three: 3}, d: {four: 4}, e: {five: 5}}

Template:

{{#a}}
{{one}}
{{#b}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{#c}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{three}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{#d}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{three}}{{four}}{{three}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{#e}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{three}}{{four}}{{five}}{{four}}{{three}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{/e}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{three}}{{four}}{{three}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{/d}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{three}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{/c}}
{{one}}{{two}}{{one}}
{{/b}}
{{one}}
{{/a}}

Output:

1
121
12321
1234321
123454321
1234321
12321
121
1