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TAG -- the catch all

Many MiniVend functions can be controlled or specified with [tag ...][/tag] pairs.

Named syntax:

    [tag op=operation arg="arg1 arg2 ..."]other[/tag]

[tag arg* arg*]text[/tag]

Performs any of a number of operations, based on the presence of arg. The arguments that may be given are:

each database

Returns a loop-list with every key in database evaluated as the [loop-code]. This will return the key and field name for every record in the products database:

    [tag each products][loop-code]  [loop-field name]<BR>[/tag]

export database file* type*

Exports a complete MiniVend database to its text source file (or any specified file). The integer n, if specified, will select export in one of the enumerated MiniVend export formats. The following tag will export the products database to products.txt (or whatever you have defined its source file as), in the format specified by the Database directive:

    [tag export products][/tag]

Same thing, except to the file products/new_products.txt:

    [tag export products products/newproducts.txt][/tag]

Same thing, except the export is done with a PIPE delimiter:

    [tag export products products/newproducts.txt 5][/tag]

The file is relative to the catalog directory, and only may be an absolute path name if NoAbsolute is set to No.

flag arg

Sets a MiniVend condition.

The following enables writes on the products and sizes databases held in MiniVend internal DBM format:

    [tag flag write]products sizes[/tag]

SQL databases are always writable if allowed by the SQL database itself -- in-memory databases will never be written.

The [tag flag build][/tag] combination forces static build of a page, even if dynamic elements are contained. Similarly, the [tag flag cache][/tag] forces search or page caching (not usually wise).

log dir/file

Logs a message to a file, fully interpolated for MiniVend tags. The following tag will send every item code and description in the user's shopping cart to the file logs/transactions.txt:

    [tag log logs/transactions.txt]
    [item_list][item-code]  [item-description]
    [/item_list][/tag]

The file is relative to the catalog directory, and only may be an absolute path name if NoAbsolute is set to No.

mime description_string

Returns a MIME-encapsulated message with the boundary as employed in the other mime tags, and the description_string used as the Content-Description. For example

   [tag mime My Plain Text]Your message here.[/tag]

will return

  Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
  Content-ID: [sequential, lead as in mime boundary]
  Content-Description: My Plain Text
  
  Your message here.

When used in concert with [tag mime boundary]<CODE></CODE>, [tag mime header], and [tag mime id], allows MIME attachments to be included -- typically with PGP-encrypted credit card numbers. See the demo page ord/report.html for an example.

mime boundary

Returns a MIME message boundary with unique string keyed on session ID, page count, and time.

mime header

Returns a MIME message header with the proper boundary for that session ID, page count, and time.

mime id

Returns a MIME message id with the proper boundary for that session ID, page count, and time.

[tag scan/options]encased text[/tag]

Builds a one-click search based on the enclosed text. Properly translates whitespace and non-word characters to be parseable by MiniVend. You can add the normal scan options, just the se=searchtext parameter will be affected. These two sequences evaluate the same:

    [tag scan/sf=category]Renaissance[/tag]
    [page scan sf=category/se=Renaissance]Renaissance[/page]

Where it is useful is in adding long strings that would otherwise be difficult to encode, like

    [tag scan/sf=author/os=yes]John F. Kennedy[/tag]

instead of:

    [page scan sf=author/se=John%20F.%20Kennedy]John F. Kennedy[/page]

show_tags

The encased text will not be substituted for with MiniVend tags, with < and [ characters changed to &#lt; and &#91; respectively.

    [tag show_tags][value whatever][/tag]

time

Formats the current time according to POSIX strftime arguments. The following is the string for Thursday, April 30, 1997.

    [tag time]%A, %B %d, %Y[/tag]

touch

Touches a database to allow use of the tag_data() routine in user-defined subroutines. If this is not done, the routine will error out if the database has not previously been accessed on the page.

    [tag touch products][/tag]

[comment] code [/comment]

Comments out MiniVend tags (and anything else) from a page. The contents are not displayed unless DisplayComments is set in minivend.cfg. Can be nested.

[perl args] code [/perl]

See the section on Embedded Perl Code.

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