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  3. Parse Template (<parse-template/>)

Parse Template (<parse-template/>)

Process a template and obtain a result.

A template includes text with embedded DataWeave expressions that Mule evaluates and replaces with their result.

Configure a template through an external file reference, or embed the template in the component configuration.

Component XML

This component supports the following XML structure:

<parse-template
  doc:name="Parse template"
  doc:id="fppwuw"
  location="template.html" />

Parse Template (<parse-template/>) attributes are configurable through the UI and XML.

Attribute Name Attribute XML Description

Parse template (default)

doc:name

Editable name for the component to display in the canvas.

N/A

doc:id

Automatically generated identifier for the component.

Content

content

String representing the template where embedded expressions are evaluated and replaced by their results.

Location

location

Location of the template file. Mule inserts values extracted from the message properties or variables into this file.

Output encoding

outputEncoding

Encoding of the payload that this component outputs.

Output mime type

outputMimeType

MIME type of the payload that this component outputs. For more information, see Using Reader and Writer Properties.

Parameters

N/A

Appends a key-value pair for a reader property to the value of the outputMimeType attribute. Multiple key-value pairs are allowed. Reader properties are specific to the MIME type. For example, see the JSON reader properties for application/json. To find other reader properties, navigate to a supported format from the DataWeave format documentation, and see Using Reader and Writer Properties.

Target Variable

target

Name of the variable in which you want to store message data. Names can only include numbers, characters, and underscores. For example, hyphens are not allowed in the name. See Enrich Data with Target Variables in the Mule documentation.

Target Value

targetValue

Value of the data to store in the target variable. By default, the value is the message payload (payload). The field accepts any value that a variable accepts: any supported data type, DataWeave expressions, the keywords payload, attributes, and message, but not the keyword vars. See Enrich Data with Target Variables in the Mule documentation.

Examples

The following examples use Parse Template to load data dynamically into HTML.

Example: Processing Results of a Database Query Dynamically

The following example uses Parse Template in a Mule application that loads employee data from a database into an HTML template. The flow returns the template-built output to the caller.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<mule xmlns:ee="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core"
      xmlns:http="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http"
      xmlns:db="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/db"
      xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core"
      xmlns:doc="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/documentation"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/current/mule.xsd
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/db
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/db/current/mule-db.xsd
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http/current/mule-http.xsd
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core
       http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core/current/mule-ee.xsd">
    <db:config name="Database_Config" doc:name="Database Config" >
        <db:my-sql-connection host="localhost" port="3306" user="user"
          password="pw" database="MySQL_Data_Source" />
    </db:config>
    <http:listener-config name="HTTP_Listener_config" doc:name="HTTP Listener config">
        <http:listener-connection host="localhost" port="8081" />
    </http:listener-config>
    <flow name="exampleTemplateFlow1" >
        <http:listener doc:name="Listener" config-ref="HTTP_Listener_config"
          path="/getEmployee"/>
        <db:select doc:name="Select" config-ref="Database_Config">
            <ee:repeatable-file-store-iterable />
            <db:sql >SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE id=#[attributes.queryParams['id']]</db:sql>
        </db:select>
        <parse-template doc:name="Parse Template"
          location="src/main/resources/responseHtml.template"/>
    </flow>
</mule>

Template Content

The template selects fields containing name, department, job title, start date, and employee type values from the input payload.

<html>
	<body>
		<table>
			<thead>
				<tr>
					<th>First Name</th>
					<th>Last Name</th>
					<th>Department</th>
					<th>Job Title</th>
					<th>Start Date</th>
					<th>Employee Type</th>
				</tr>
			</thead>
			<tbody>
				<tr>
					<td>#[payload['first_name']]</td>
					<td>#[payload['last_name']]</td>
					<td>#[payload['department']]</td>
					<td>#[payload['job_title']]</td>
					<td>#[payload['start_date']]</td>
					<td>#[payload['employee_type']]</td>
				</tr>
			</tbody>
		</table>
	</body>
</html>

Input to Parse Template

Assume that you start the flow with a URI that contains a query parameter that identifies the ID of an employee, such as http://localhost:8081/getEmployee?id=1234, and that the Select operation returns the following input to Parse Template:

{
  "first_name": "Melba",
  "last_name": "Roy Mouton",
  "department": "Computers",
  "job_title": "Assistant Chief of Research Programs",
  "start_date": "01/01/2021",
  "employee_type": "mathematician"
}

Output of the Template

The example returns template-built output. The output is HTML with the selected employee data.

<html>
  <body>
    <table>
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>First Name</th>
          <th>Last Name</th>
          <th>Department</th>
          <th>Job Title</th>
          <th>Start Date</th>
          <th>Employee Type</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td>"Melba"</td>
          <td>"Roy Mouton"</td>
          <td>"Computers"</td>
          <td>"Assistant Chief of Research Programs"</td>
          <td>"01/01/2021"</td>
          <td>"mathematician"</td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

Dynamically Generating Data in HTML Rows

The following example uses Parse Template on employee records that are represented as an array of objects.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<mule xmlns:ee="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core"
      xmlns:http="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http"
      xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core"
      xmlns:doc="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/documentation"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core
      http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/current/mule.xsd
      http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http
      http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http/current/mule-http.xsd
      http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core
      http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core/current/mule-ee.xsd">
	<http:listener-config name="HTTP_Listener_config" doc:name="HTTP Listener
   config" >
		<http:listener-connection host="0.0.0.0" port="8081" />
	</http:listener-config>
	<flow name="exampleTemplateFlow" >
		<http:listener doc:name="Listener" config-ref="HTTP_Listener_config" path="/parseit"/>
		<set-payload doc:name="Set Payload" value='#[{
	Employee: [

			{
				"first_name" : "Melba",
				"last_name" : "Roy Mouton",
				"department" : "Computers",
				"job_title" : "Assistant Chief of Research Programs",
				"start_date" : "01/01/2021",
				"employee_type" : "mathematician"

			},
			{
				"first_name" : "Annie",
				"last_name" : "Easley",
				"department" : "Software Development",
				"job_title" : "Technical Lead",
				"start_date" : "06/02/2020",
				"employee_type" : "Rocket Scientist"

			}

	]
}]'/>
		<parse-template doc:name="Parse Template" location="/path/to/my.template">
		</parse-template>
		<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" message="#[payload]"/>
	</flow>
</mule>

Template Content

The following template uses a DataWeave script to iterate over the input array and construct an HTML row for each object in the array:

<html>
	<body>
		<table>
			<thead>
				<tr>
					<th>First Name</th>
					<th>Last Name</th>
					<th>Department</th>
					<th>Job Title</th>
					<th>Start Date</th>
					<th>Employee Type</th>
				</tr>
			</thead>
			<tbody>
#[%dw 2.0
output application/java
---
payload.*Employee[0] map ((item) ->
	"<tr><td><span>" ++ (item.first_name default "") ++ "</span></td><td><span>"
	++ (item.last_name default "") ++ "</span></td><td><span>"
	++ (item.department default "") ++ "</span></td><td><span>"
	++ (item.job_title default "") ++ "</span></td><td><span>"
	++ (item.start_date default "") ++ "</span></td><td><span>"
	++ (item.employee_type default "") ++ "</span></td></tr>")
	joinBy ""]
			</tbody>
		</table>
	</body>
</html>

Input to Parse Template

Assume that Parse Template component receives the following payload from Set Payload:

{
	Employee: [

			{
				"first_name" : "Melba",
				"last_name" : "Roy Mouton",
				"department" : "Computers",
				"job_title" : "Assistant Chief of Research Programs",
				"start_date" : "01/01/2021",
				"employee_type" : "mathematician"

			},
			{
				"first_name" : "Annie",
				"last_name" : "Easley",
				"department" : "Software Development",
				"job_title" : "Technical Lead",
				"start_date" : "06/02/2020",
				"employee_type" : "Rocket Scientist"

			}

	]
}

Output of the Template

The example returns template-built output. The output is HTML with the dynamically produced rows and data from the objects in the array.

<html>
  <body>
    <table>
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>First Name</th>
          <th>Last Name</th>
          <th>Department</th>
          <th>Job Title</th>
          <th>Start Date</th>
          <th>Employee Type</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td><span>Melba</span></td>
          <td><span>Roy Mouton</span></td>
          <td><span>Computers</span></td>
          <td><span>Assistant Chief of Research Programs</span></td>
          <td><span>01/01/2021</span></td>
          <td><span>mathematician</span></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td><span>Annie</span></td>
          <td><span>Easley</span></td>
          <td><span>Software Development</span></td>
          <td><span>Technical Lead</span></td>
          <td><span>06/02/2020</span></td>
          <td><span>Rocket Scientist</span></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

Special Characters

Parse Template supports the use of expressions within a template and the use of literals within these expressions. The template recognizes certain special characters, such as the sequence \#[ and quotations marks. You can escape such characters to treat them as regular characters.

  • #[an-expression]:

    Within a template, use the characters #[] to designate an expression. For example, a template can contain expressions within HTML elements, such as <td>#[upper("mulesoft")]</td>, which resolves to <td>MULESOFT</td>. Empty expressions (#[]) return an error, but empty strings, such as #[''] or #[""] are valid expressions.

  • Sub-expressions:

    To resolve a sub-expression that is surrounded by quotation marks, surround the sub-expression with another #[]. For example, the four elements in the template snippet below contain the same sub-expression (upper("world")), either inside or outside of quotation marks. The first two return the same results. The last two do not process upper("world") because the sub-expression is inside the quotation marks but not surrounded by another #[].

    Parse Template Snippet:
    <td>#['hello #[upper("world")]']</td>
<td>#['hello ' ++ upper("world")]</td>
<td>#['hello upper("world")']</td>
<td>#['hello ++ upper("world")']</td>
    Output Values:
    <td>hello WORLD</td>
<td>hello WORLD</td>
<td>hello upper("world")</td>
<td>hello ++ upper("world")</td>

  • Escape character (\):

    Parse Template uses the character sequence #[ to identify where an expression begins. To avoid this behavior and treat that sequence as literal characters, escape it with \, for example, <td>#[</td> returns <td>#[</td>.

    In addition, expressions can contain strings with special characters that you want to treat as regular characters. To escape any special characters within a string that is embedded inside an expression, append \ to the character. Examples of special characters include the sequence #[, quotations marks (' or "), apostrophes ('), and $. It is not necessary to escape \# or [ unless they are adjacent to one another in the string, with the \# preceding the [.

    Parse Template Snippet:
    <td>\#[</td>
<td>#['abcd\#[-1234' ++ now() as String ++ '.log']</td>
<td>'abc'def'</td>
<td>#['abc\'def']</td>
<td>"xyz"xyz"</td>
<td>#["xyz\"xyz"]</td>
<td>#["abc\$DEF\#ghi\[JKL]"]</td>
    Output Values:
    <td>#[</td>
<td>abcd#[-12342020-07-06T17:20:10.683-07:00.log</td>
<td>'abc'def'</td>
<td>abc'def</td>
<td>"xyz"xyz"</td>
<td>xyz"xyz</td>
<td>abc$DEF#ghi[JKL]</td>

    For more information, see Escape Special Characters.