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Extending TemplateContext

You may need to extend a TemplateContext to overrides some methods there, typically in cases you want:

• To hook into whenever a ScriptNode AST node is evaluated
• To catch if a property/member is accessed and should not be null
• Provides a IObjectAccessor for non .NET, non Dictionary<string, object> in case you are looking to expose a specific object to the runtime that requires a specific access pattern. By overriding the method GetMemberAccessorImpl you can override this aspect.
• To override ToString(span, object) method to provide custom ToString for specifics .NET objects.
• ...etc.

ScriptObject advanced usages

It is sometimes required for a custom function to have access to the current TemplateContext or to the access to original location of the text code, where a particular expression is occurring (via a SourceSpan that gives a line, column and sourcefile )

Advanced custom functions

In the ScriptObject section we described how to easily import a custom function either by using a delegate or a pre-defined .NET static functions/properties.

In some cases, you also need to have access to the current TemplateContext and also, the current SourceSpan (original location position in the text template code). By simply adding as a first parameter TemplateContext, and optionally as a second parameter, a SourceSpan a custom function can have access to the current evaluation context:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
// Here, we can have access to the `TemplateContext`
scriptObject1.Import("contextAccess", new Func<TemplateContext, string>(templateContext => "Yes"));

Hyper custom functions — IScriptCustomFunction

Some custom functions can require deeper access to the internals for exposing a function. Scriban provides the interface IScriptCustomFunction for this matter. If an object inherits from this interface and is accessed another ScriptObject, it will call the method IScriptCustomFunction.Invoke.

namespace Scriban.Runtime
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Allows to create a custom function object.
    /// </summary>
    public interface IScriptCustomFunction
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Calls the custom function object.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="context">The template context</param>
        /// <param name="callerContext">The script node originating this call</param>
        /// <param name="parameters">The parameters of the call</param>
        /// <param name="blockStatement">The current block statement this call is made</param>
        /// <returns>The result of the call</returns>
        object Invoke(TemplateContext context, ScriptNode callerContext, ScriptArray parameters, ScriptBlockStatement blockStatement);
    }
}

As you can see, the IScriptCustomFunction gives you access to:

• The current TemplateContext evaluating the current Template
• The AST node context from the Template that is calling this custom functions, so you can precisely get information about the location of the parameters in the original source code...etc.
• The parameters already evaluated
• The block statement (not yet used for custom functions - but used by the wrap statement)

The include expression is typically implemented via a IScriptCustomFunction. You can have a look at the details here