TACS v1.3.1 update – free PHP template system

written by craig, 1 August 2010

TACS is our free web site Templating and Caching System for PHP. It’s not a replacement for Smarty, but it’s far simpler and can be used by any developer within minutes.

TACS allows PHP code to be run either:

1. At render time when the page is cached. Typically, a menu could be generated once so all subsequent visits return static HTML.
2. At runtime when the user accesses the page, e.g. for a form submission.

The cached page therefore contains the minimum of PHP code. It allows you to use PHP as-is rather than forcing you to learn another API or syntax.

What’s more, TACS is free. Use it, abuse it, copy it, or do whatever you like with the code. We don’t mind — but a link to this website or PayPal donations are gratefully received!

TACS v1.3.1 fixes a path resolution bug and allows you to use permalink-like URLs.

Download TACS (12 Kb)

• categories: free download
• tags: download, php, software
• trackback: http://www.optimalworks.net/blog/2010/software/free-download/tacs-v131-released/trackback
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3 comments:

1. 8 February 2011 Phil commented

   How can I add an array of data to be passed to the template? Something like a select pulldown that is populated from a DB?

   Pretty cool little template system, just wondering if it could replace something like Smarty…

2. 8 February 2011 craig commented

   Hi Phil. You use standard PHP code in TACS, rather than Smarty-like tags. Any code between [[ and ]] brackets is rendered when the page is cached. You can define an array and output it, but it’ll only occur once rather than every time the page is loaded, e.g.

   [[< ?php
   // generate menu once
   $menu = array('home', 'contact');
   for (m$ = 0; $m < count($menu); $m++)
   echo $menu[$m];
   ?>]]

   Smarty is a more comprehensive templating system which does far more. TACS is ideal if you don’t require that complexity.

3. 25 March 2011 Web Deisgn Surrey commented

   Thanks for the update!!