The #parse script element allows the template designer to import a local
file that contains VTL. Velocity will parse the VTL and render the template specified.
#parse( "me.vm" )Like the #include directive, #parse can take a variable
rather than a template. Any templates to which #parse refers must be
included under TEMPLATE_ROOT. Unlike the #include directive,
#parse will only take a single argument.
VTL templates can have #parse statements referring to templates that in
turn have #parse statements. By default set to 10, the
directive.parse.max.depth line of the
velocity.properties allows users to customize maximum number of
#parse referrals that can occur from a single template.
directive.parse.max.depth property is absent from the
velocity.properties file, Velocity will set this default to
10.Recursion is permitted, for example, if the template dofoo.vm contains the following lines:
Count down. #set( $count = 8 )
#parse( "parsefoo.vm" )
All done with dofoo.vm! It would reference the template parsefoo.vm, which might contain the
following VTL:
$count
#set( $count = $count - 1 )
#if( $count > 0 )
#parse( "parsefoo.vm" )
#else
All done with parsefoo.vm!
#endAfter "Count down" is displayed, Velocity passes through parsefoo.vm,
counting down from 8. When the count reaches 0, it will display the "All done with
parsefoo.vm!" message. At this point, Velocity will return to
dofoo.vm and output the "All done with dofoo.vm!"
message.