Google App Engine(Python) - site fragments - compo

Question

Is there a way to build three or four parts of a site (three or four html templates) and then render some of them or all of them together in GAE python? I know I can load and render one specific html django template but I want to build templates for different parts of the site in different files and then compose them together depending on the situation.

A good example would be that I want pretty much the same menu, header, footer in most of my web application pages but I want to switch a specific part of the content. So I would like to have one file and template that deals with lets say classes and another that deals with students, so the general look of the site (main.html) stays the same but the way I display and handle the information about students or classes is completely different. I basically want to plant a bunch of page specific html into a generic template. Thanks for any help on this. :)

I am not sure what is the correct technical term for what I'm looking for(I tried searching). => I think they call it composite view or site fragments in the Zend framework.

Answer 1

You should use template inheritance in Django. Have a look at this tutorial for a start.

EDIT The official Django Book section on Template Inheritance also demonstrates how different 'fragments' e.g. a footer, or a nav bar, may be stored in different template files and brought together via inclusion and inheritance.

This site shows how one template can inherit from another, as when a site section template extends a basic layout template, with the code, for example,

{% extends "base.html" %}

It also shows how using template inclusion one may, for example, add different pieces to a larger template like pieces in a puzzle. For example, a navigation fragment may be added to a layout file with the phrase

{% include "nav.html" %}

As noted in the comments by @Nick Johnson: extends is more compact and can make the use of multiple file fragments unnecessary. Only include as last resort, if extends fails you.

EDIT See also my answer to a question on "How to cut large HTML file into multiple HTML files"