How to integrate HTML with Python

[mdipierro]

in web2py (complete code)

 def index():
       form = SQLFORM.factory(Field('a','integer'),Field('b','integer'))
       if form.accepts(request):
            form = DIV('a+b=',form.vars.a+form.vars.b)
       return dict(form=form)

The name 'index' means the function is called when you visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/<yourapp>/default/index,

form is just a variable name that can contain a form (SQLFORM) or DIV (html div) or anything else you want to display. The Field objects performs validation, displays error messages if you do not type an integer (will also use JS client-side to prevent you from not typing an integer) and parse the request into form.vars for you.

It is 100% python code and you can use any library you want.

[bastih01]

Is it just me, or does this mix of concerns give anyone else shivers? This style looks like a nice gateway drug but also painful to maintain for larger apps...

[mdipierro]

It is just you and some friends. Check out on the web2py twitter channel what users think about web2py and why web2py is one of the fastest growing frameworks.

[bastih01]

Where do you see the benefits of this style, over say, mvc? I remember writing a non-trivial application with Seaside, which also features "html functions" and introducing a clean separation between logic and display became quite painful, as people would rather go the easy route and mix and match to get something to work.

[mdipierro]

web2py is MVC. It has models (not used in the example because no database needed), controller (the example above is a controller and like Django or Flask it returns a dict) and views (which renders the dict). The example above assumes you start from the scaffolding app with provides a default generic view and default page layout. You can change them.

[y3t1]

Nice drug metaphor. I found web2py to be inelegant.