Loops - Precisely_EnterWorks - EnterWorks - 11.0

Foreach Loop

The #foreach element allows for looping. For example:

<ul>
#foreach( $product in $allProducts )
	<li>$product</li>
#end
</ul>

This #foreach loop causes the $allProducts list (the object) to be looped over for all of the products (targets) in the list. Each time through the loop, the value from $allProducts is placed into the $product variable.

The contents of the $allProducts variable is a Vector, a Hashtable or an Array. The value assigned to the $product variable is a Java Object and can be referenced from a variable as such. For example, if $product was really a Product class in Java, its name could be retrieved by referencing the $product.Name method ($Product.getName()).

Lets say that $allProducts is a Hashtable. If you wanted to retrieve the key values for the Hashtable as well as the objects within the Hashtable, you can use code like this:

<ul>
#foreach( $key in $allProducts.keySet() )
	<li>Key: $key -> Value: $allProducts.get($key)</li>
#end
</ul>

Velocity provides an easy way to get the loop counter so that you can do something like the following:

<table>
#foreach( $customer in $customerList )
	<tr><td>$velocityCount</td><td>$customer.Name</td></tr>
#end
</table>

Velocity also now provides an easy way to tell if you are on the last iteration of a loop:

#foreach( $customer in $customerList )
	$customer.Name#if( $velocityHasNext ),#end
#end

The default name for the "has next" variable reference, which is specified in the velocity.properties file, is $velocityHasNext. The default name for the loop counter variable reference, which is specified in the velocity.properties file, is $velocityCount. By default the counter starts at 1, but this can be set to either 0 or 1 in the velocity.properties file. Here's what the loop counter properties section of the velocity.properties file appears:

# Default name of the loop counter
# variable reference. directive.foreach.counter.name = velocityCount
directive.foreach.iterator.name = velocityHasNext

# Default starting value of the loop
# counter variable reference. directive.foreach.counter.initial.value = 1

It is possible to set a maximum allowed number of times that a loop may be run. By default there is no max (indicated by a value of 0 or less), but this can be set to an arbitrary number in the velocity.properties file. This is useful as a fail-safe.

# The maximum allowed number of loops. directive.foreach.maxloops = -1

If you want to stop looping in a foreach from within your template, you can now use the #break directive to stop looping at any time:

## list first 5 customers only
#foreach( $customer in $customerList )
	#if( $velocityCount > 5 )
		#break
	#end
	$customer.Name
#end