Text Inside Of Code Inside Of Text

Maybe this is a pattern, maybe even a new one. I'll just write out my experiences and see if others have solved the same problem in similar ways ...

When you're programming a website, often it makes sense if a non-programmer can change text without asking you to do it. The common solution for this is to use a language that allows you to imbed small pieces of code into markup: AllaireColdFusion, PhpLanguage, RubyLanguage .rhtml parsing, JavaServerPages, JakartaStruts etc.

When I first started using this stuff, I thought it would be enough to have the markup lie on top, and then strive for a clean separation between the markup and the code it calls. The relationship between the two, however, is strictly subservient: Code serves text.

I'm realizing it's more complex than that. There are a number of cases where the client needs direct access to text that's deeply embedded inside of your logic. Examples I've encountered include:

• The text of the "Thank you for your order" letter that gets emailed to the customer of an ecommerce site when the credit card transaction clears.
• Random teaser ads that get displayed to a Web site user.
• Very specific HTML design requirements for code-generated forms.

The solution I'm starting to use is:

1. Isolate the text in an external text file, perhaps in the /inc/ directory.
2. Have the code load in that text at runtime.
3. Tell the client where the external text file is.

That is, TextInsideOfCodeInsideOfText.

Have other people done this? What have your experiences been like?

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This sounds a lot like the i18n problem - you know the intent of the messages, but not the content, so you provide the hooks to allow user alteration of content at code-specified points of intent.

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In some cases the "inside text" can be a parameter to an embedded function call.

But one of the requirements I'm trying to satisfy is giving a non-programmer the ability to change the text parts -- inside or outside -- without knowing how to program and without asking a programmer to do it for em. Making them parameters often isn't sufficient.

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In many programming environments, this is solved using "resources" -- (lines of) files, each of which contains a text string or image. For example, Windows resource files.

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Similar in spirit?: AlternateHardAndSoftLayers

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See CeePreprocessorStatements ("accepted" example #5)