Jinja Essentials

Take a deep dive into the world of Jinja.

What is Jinja?

Jinja is a versatile templating language for creating dynamic content. It supports loops, conditional statements, and variable manipulation, making it ideal for complex data processing in workflows.

Key Features:

• Variable Manipulation: Create and modify context variables.

• Dynamic Content Creation: Use loops and conditionals to tailor content.

• Filter Utilization: Apply built-in filters for efficient data processing.

Understanding Jinja Syntax in Rewst

Braces and Their Functions:

• Output Values ({{ }}): Display variables or expressions. For instance, {{ CTX.user_id }} in Rewst 102 shows user-specific data.

• Code Blocks ({% %}): Used for control structures like if, else, for loops.

• Comments ({# #}): Enable non-executable notes for clarity.

Working with JSON:

Format: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) structures data in key-value pairs.

Example:

{
    "name": "Han Solo",
    "age": 34,
    "favorites": ["spaceships", "adventures"]
}

Core Concepts in Jinja

Conditional Statements:

Jinja supports conditional statements like if, else and elif. These statements allow you to create dynamic workflows based on specific conditions, ensuring the workflow adapts to varying scenarios.

Example:

{% if user_is_looged_in %}
    <p>Welcome, {{ user_name }}!</p>
{% else %} 
    <p>Please log in to continue.</p>
{% endif %}

{% if rooster_sound == 'cock-a-doodle-doo' %}
    <p>Time to rise and shine!</p>
{% elif rooster_sound == 'moo' %}
    <p>The rooster is having an identity crisis. Someone check the barnyard!</p>
{% else %} 
    <p>The rooster is trying out new sounds. Perhaps it's starting a band!</p>
{% endif %}

For Loops:

For loops in Jinja enable you to iterate through JSON lists, executing actions for each item. The pointer, such as thing, points to items within the list, facilitating dynamic data processing.

Example:

{% for thing in CTX.list_of_things %}
    <li>{{ thing }}</li>
{% endfor %}

Jinja Filters:

• Basics: Transform data with pre-defined functions to streamline common tasks, enhancing efficiency in data processing.

• Examples:

  • Truncate text: {{ text|truncate(20) }}

  • Capitalize names: {{ user_name|capitalize }}

  • Lowercase & Replace text: {{ user_email|lower|replace("@", "at") }}

Advanced Jinja in Rewst

List Comprehension in Action

• Functionality: Efficiently creates new lists from existing ones, based on specific criteria. You can combine filters and conditions to produce concise, targeted lists.

• Application: Tailors data selection in workflows, enhancing efficiency and precision.

Three-Step Structure

List comprehension combines filters and conditions to create concise and targeted lists. This structure ([item for item in list if condition]) allows you to filter data efficiently.

1. Output: Define what you want to extract or manipulate (e.g., user.id).

2. Construction: Specify the list to iterate over (e.g., CTX.my_user_list).

3. Conditions: Apply conditions to filter data (e.g., if user.enabled == true).

Example:

{{ 
    [
        user.id
        for user in CTX.my_user_list
        if user.enabled == true
    ]
}}

This example demonstrates filtering active users from CTX.my_user_list.

List Comprehension with Conditions

• Purpose: Allows you to filter data based on specific criteria.

  • For example, using filters like lower to standardize data before comparison.

• Benefit: Ensures more accurate and relevant data processing, critical for complex workflows.

List Comprehension with Math

• Purpose: This method allows you to apply specific mathematical functions to each element in a list, thereby modifying the output based on your needs.

• Benefit: Offers a succinct method to apply mathematical transformations across a list, yielding a new list with modified values.

Example:

squared_numbers = [num * num for num in list_of_numbers]

If list_of_numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4], then the squared_numbers list after applying the above list comprehension will be [1, 4, 9, 16].

This concise approach efficiently applies the squaring function to each item in the original list and collects the results in a new list.

Interested in seeing Jinja Examples in the platform? Search the crate marketplace for Rewst Examples: Jinja Comprehension. Once it's unpacked you'll find common Jinja examples provided by our ROC.

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Creating Variables in Jinja

In-Workflow Variable Creation

• Purpose: Vital for organizing and managing data within workflows.

• Usage: Variables store task results, facilitate dynamic content generation, and enhance the readability and maintainability of Jinja templates.

Variable Management with Jinja:

• Creation and Modification: Use context (CTX) variables in Data Aliases on your Task's Transitions to capture specific elements from the JSON data produced by your workflow's tasks. This is pivotal for storing and manipulating workflow data.

• Scope and Accessibility: These types of variables can be created and modified by workflow tasks but are not global; their scope is confined to the workflow.