iscontent Element

Syntax

<iscontent
  type     = MIME_type
  charset  = char_set;
  encoding = "on" | "off" | "html" | "xml" | "wml"
  compact  = "true" | "false"
/>

type = MIME_type

Allowed data type: string or expression.

MIME_type specifies the MIME type of the generated output stream. If no type is specified, the MIME_type is set to text/html. Generally, storefront pages and email output are set to text/html.Use an expression for dynamic content types. You can set the encoding explicitly using the charset attribute, or determine it implicitly from the content type.

Note: It's possible, though rarely helpful, to generate one type of content through the type command and then encode the output with a different content type. Generally, the on and off commands suffice.

charset = char_set

Allowed data type: string Expressions are not allowed.

char_set defines the character set of the output stream. The default value is the default encoding of the operating system that runs the Salesforce B2C Commerce application server. The default encoding is UTF8 and shouldn't be changed, unless really necessary.

encoding = "on" | "off" | "html" | "xml" | "wml"

Naming a content type, for example html, has the same affect as using the on value and also selects the type of output. All data processed after the first occurrence of the <iscontent/> tag is affected by this setting. Encoding converts characters that could cause a syntax conflict. For example, the ampersand symbol is converted to &amp in HTML encoding. The default encoding value is html. For more information, see Encoding Expression Results in isprint.

• on turns on encoding for the output stream. This is used in combination with the charset to determine the characters in the output stream.
• off turns off encoding for the output stream.
• html turns on encoding and specifies html as the type of encoding. This is used in combination with the charset to determine the characters in the output stream.
• xml turns on encoding and specifies xml as the type of encoding. This is used in combination with the charset to determine the characters in the output stream.
• wml turns on encoding and specifies xml as the type of encoding. This is used in combination with the charset to determine the characters in the output stream.

compact = "true" | "false"

Allowed data type: boolean. Expressions are not allowed.

HTML code often contains white space that doesn't have any affect on the visual appearance of a page and is primarily used to make the code of a template easier to read. When compact is set to true, unnecessary white space is removed from the output stream. Compact is on by default. See the general examples for an example of how the compact attribute works.

Purpose

In most cases, you don't need to set the type because this is done automatically by the node or pipelet that calls the template. These nodes set the MIME header as follows:

If you want to overwrite these defaults, or if you want your template to generate a different type of output, you can explicitly specify another MIME type in the type attribute. See alsoSending Email via Scripts or Hooks

Additionally, the <iscontent/> tag:

• Sets the character encoding of the generated output stream
• Allows HTML, XML or WML encoding for the whole template
• Removes unnecessary spaces by means of the compact attribute

  You can also dynamically select <iscontent/> settings. For example, you can use a dynamic expression to set the MIME type.

General Example

This example sets the content type and character set of the output stream:

<iscontent type = "plain/text" charset = "iso-8859-1"/>

The following is a typical formatting of HTML code, with tabs or whitespace to make it more readable:

<table>
	<tr>
		<td> Some text here
		</td>
		<td> More text here
		</td>
		<td> text
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>

<iscontent compact="true"> or <iscontent/>

This tag ensures that all extra white space is removed during the template conversion process, for example, converting the previous code into:

<table>
<tr>
<td> Some text here
</td>
<td> More text here
</td>
<td> text
</td>
</tr>
</table>

The template compacting feature compresses templates before transmitting them to a client's browser. The process eliminates all unnecessary white spaces and can reduce the load time at client browsers.

Compacting can't be toggled within the template. The feature isn't applied to templates included within a calling template using the <isinclude/> tag. The statement must be used in each template that is to be compacted.

HTML statements that use formatted content, such as the <pre> tag, might not appear properly if used in a template with compacting. If a template uses these tags, avoid using the compacting feature or use dynamic content, created with expressions, for the formatted material. For example, to keep the additional spaces in the statement:

<input type="submit" name=" Button ">

You can use:

<input type="submit" name="${' Button '}">

To ensure that the <pre> tag works in a compacted template:

<pre> This is formatted text .</pre>

Use an <isprint/> statement:

<pre><isprint value="${' This is formatted text .'}"> </pre>

Dynamic Content Type Examples

The following examples shows the resulting Content-Type: HTTP header for different values of the type and charset attributes: