#50 add placeholder handlebars helper

app/templates/app/core/config.js

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ function factory() {
 		view_directory: 'views',
 		view_file_extension: '<%= options.viewExt %>',
 		view_partials_directory: 'views/_partials',
-		view_data_directory: 'views/_data'
+		view_data_directory: 'views/_data',
+		placeholders_directory: 'views/_placeholders'
 	}, config.nitro);
 
 	config.server = {

app/templates/app/helpers/placeholder.js

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+var fs = require('fs');
+var hbs = require('hbs');
+var path = require('path');
+var cfg = require('../../app/core/config.js');
+var utils = require('../core/utils');
+
+module.exports = function () {
+
+	try {
+		var context = arguments[arguments.length - 1];
+		var name = 'string' === typeof arguments[0] ? arguments[0] : context.hash.name;
+		var templateFile = 'string' === typeof arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : context.hash.template;
+
+		if(!name) {
+			throw new Error('Placeholder name parameter not set');
+		}
+
+		if(!templateFile) {
+			throw new Error('Placeholder template parameter not set');
+		}
+
+		templateFile += '.' + cfg.nitro.view_file_extension;
+
+		var templatePath = path.join(
+			cfg.nitro.base_path,
+			cfg.nitro.placeholders_directory,
+			name,
+			templateFile);
+
+		if (utils.fileExistsSync(templatePath)) {
+			return new hbs.handlebars.SafeString(
+				hbs.handlebars.compile(
+					fs.readFileSync(templatePath, 'utf8')
+				)(context)
+			);
+		}
+
+		throw new Error('Placeholder ' + templatePath + ' not found.');
+
+	}
+	catch (e) {
+		return utils.logAndRenderError(e);
+	}
+};

app/templates/app/helpers/view_list.js

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ var excludes = {
 	directories: [
 		path.basename(cfg.nitro.view_data_directory),
 		path.basename(cfg.nitro.view_partials_directory),
+		path.basename(cfg.nitro.placeholders_directory),
 		'.svn'
 	],
 	files: [

app/templates/project/docs/nitro.md

@@ -123,6 +123,14 @@ Render a partial (HTML snippet). Partials are placed in `views/_partials/` as `*
 
     {{> head}}
 
+### Render Placeholders
+
+Using a placeholder is another way to output some markup. Placeholders are placed in a folder inside `views/_placeholders/` as `*.<%= options.viewExt %>` files.  
+The following two examples do the same and render the file `Content/example.<%= options.viewExt %>` from `views/_placeholders/`.
+
+    {{placeholder 'Content' 'example'}}
+    {{placeholder name='Content' template='example'}}
+
 ### Passing data
 
 #### Data per view
@@ -376,7 +384,7 @@ Nitro uses [Gulp](http://gulpjs.com/) under the hood and can therefore be used o
 
 The following packages are always installed by the [app](#name) generator:
 
-* [jQuery 2.2.1](http://jquery.com/)
+* [jQuery 2.2.2](http://jquery.com/)
 * [TerrificJS 3.0.0-beta.9](https://github.com/brunschgi/terrificjs)<% if (options.clientTpl) { %>
 * [Handlebars 4.0.5](https://github.com/components/handlebars.js)<% } %>