Question

The mako documentation seems to hint a being able to have dynamic, optional layout just before “Using Blocks” but I am having a difficult time noodling it out.cle

people = dict_cursor.fetchall()
all_possible_cols = ('Name','Birth','Gender', 'Address','City','State', ...]
user_cols = user_wants(user_id) # ('State','Gender','Name')

template.render(**locals())

How do I dynamically call the defs in the template to render the columns?

mako template

% for person in people:
<tr>
  % for col in user_cols:
    How do I dynamically call the def/block?
  % endfor
</tr>
% endfor

<%def name="Name()">    ... </%def>
<%def name="Birth()">   ... </%def>
<%def name="Gender()">  ... </%def>
<%def name="Address()"> ... </%def>
<%def name="City()">    ... </%def>
<%def name="State()">   ... </%def>

So one user could want (‘Name’,’Birth’,’Gender’), another (‘Gender’,’State’, ‘Birth’), and a third could want them all in a different order. How can I cleanly support this functionality in mako templates?

Answer 1

If I understand your question, something like this should work:

<tr>
  % for col in user_cols:
    ${getattr(self, col)()}
  % endfor
</tr>