isprint Element

Syntax

<isprint
   value    = output                           \\required
  (style    = style_ID) | (formatter = format) \\one required, but not both
   timezone = "SITE" | "INSTANCE" | "utc"
   padding  = padding_constant
   encoding = "on" | "off" | context         \\default is "on"         
/>

Purpose

The <isprint> tag outputs the result of expressions and template variables. Even though it's possible to output expression results without <isprint>, you should always use it because it contributes to optimizing your template code.

The <isprint> tag also takes care of formatting and encoding output strings.

Formatting Expression Results

If the result of an expression appears on an HTML page, you should first specify how it should be done. For example, a date can be formatted in different ways depending on the store's locale:

• 12 March 1999
• 12.03.1999
• 03/12/99

Using Styles

Styles are pre-defined formatter strings, which are defined in standard formatter classes. You can specify a style via the style attribute of the <isprint> tag.

Money Formatting

Number Formatting

This class is used to format expression results of type Number. The following table lists the valid styles.

Quantity Formatting

This class is used to format expression results of type Quantity. The following table lists the valid styles.

Date Formatting

This class is used to format expression results of type Date. The following table lists the valid styles.

Using the Default Style of a Formatter Class

The default style of a formatter class is used if nothing else has been specified by the user, neither a style, nor a user-defined formatter style. The following table lists the valid styles.

Specifying User-defined Formatter Strings

A formatter string is explicitly given by the user via the formatter attribute of <isprint>. For more information about valid placeholders, see the B2C Commerce Script API documentation. The following table provides examples of user-defined formatter strings.

Example

In the following example, the number style, INTEGER is used for the value sitecount.

<isprint value=${pdict.SiteCount} style="INTEGER"/>

Using Formatters

User-defined formatters let you explicitly specify a format via the <isprint> formatter attribute. You build formatters with placeholders. For example, "* #,#00.0#", "EEE, MMM d" or "yy".

The following example uses the # placeholder, a page incrementer:

<isprint value="${pdict.pagingmodel.start+1}" formatter="#"/>

The following example uses the placeholders "* #,#00.0#," which define how decimal places and commas are handled for a list generated by CustomAmount data.

<isprint value=${pdict.Custom.Amount} formatter= "* #,#00.0#"/>

Encoding Expression Results

It's possible to use national characters, such as Greek or Cyrillic letters, as well as mathematical symbols and any non-ASCII characters in HTML documents. To ensure that a web browser can interpret and show these characters correctly, they must be encoded using HTML representations. To do this, you must replace characters, such as "<," ">," or "&" with named character entities as defined in the HTML 4.0 standard or XHTML 1.0/1.1.

Expression output is automatically encoded if the expression is embedded directly in the template or used for an HTML attribute. This ensures that the site isn't subject to cross-site scripting attacks. If the expression is used in an ISML tag attribute, no encoding is applied. Use <isprint> for more granular control of the expression output especially if the result of the expression is a string that contains a special character.

See the example, which shows the exact string returned by <isprint> for a string containing a quote sign. The example assumes that the template variable product:name stores the value Nokia 447X Pro 17" Monitor.

ISML code in template: <isprint value="${Product.name}">

generated HTML code: "Nokia 447X Pro 17" Monitor"

shown by the browser: Nokia 447X Pro 17 " Monitor

Example with deactivation of encoding

<isprint... encoding="off">

The default is "on".

Example

The first example demonstrates how to use <isprint> to output an expression that returns a string. The returned string is formatted as defined by either the default formatter (first sample), or by using a style (second sample), or by a user-defined formatter string (third sample).

<isprint value = "${pdict.Basket.TotalGrossPrice}">
<isprint value = "${pdict.Basket.TotalGrossPrice}" style = "MONEY_SHORT">
<isprint value = "${pdict.Basket.TotalGrossPrice}" formatter = "* #00.0#">

The next set of examples show the usage of the padding attribute:

<isprint value = "${pdict.product.price}" padding = "-10">

string output: " 5.00 USD"

<isprint value = "${pdict.product.price}" padding = "+10">

string output: "5.00 USD "

<isprint value = "#'foolish'#" padding = "+3">

string output: "foo"

These examples show usage of the encoding attribute:

<isprint value = "${'>new<'}" encoding = "on">

string output: "&gt;new&lt;"

<isprint value = "${'>new<'}" encoding = "off">

string output: ">new<"

The following example shows a string containing quotation marks, and the corresponding string that is returned by the <isprint> tag (it's assumed that the template variable product:name has the value Nokia 447X Pro 17" Monitor):