Introduction
============

This book is about *Symfony Templating*, a PHP library part of the
Symfony Components project. Its official website is at
http://components.symfony-project.org/templating/.

>**SIDEBAR**
>About the Symfony Components
>
>[Symfony Components](http://components.symfony-project.org/) are
>standalone PHP classes that can be easily used in any
>PHP project. Most of the time, they have been developed as part of the
>[Symfony framework](http://www.symfony-project.org/), and decoupled from the
>main framework later on. You don't need to use the Symfony MVC framework to use
>the components.

What is it?
-----------

The Symfony Templating component provides all the tools needed to build any
kind of template system.

The Symfony Templating component is a thin and flexible layer on top of PHP
that provides simple but powerful features, covering most templating common
needs.

### Fast

One of the goals of Symfony Templating component is to be as fast as possible.
With the possibility to compile any kind of template down to plain PHP code,
you can use the templating system without any overhead whatsoever,
certified.

### Full-Featured

Symfony Templating implements everything you need to build powerful templates
with ease: layouts, multiple-inheritance, slots, helpers, and much more.

### Flexible

Symfony Templating is flexible enough for all your needs, even the most
complex ones. Thanks to an open architecture, you can implement your own
template loaders, template renderers, and template helpers.

### Easy to use

There is only one archive to download, and you are ready to go. No
configuration, and no installation. Drop the files in a directory and start
using it today in your projects.

### Open-Source

Released under the MIT license, you are free to do whatever you want, even in
a commercial environment. You are also encouraged to contribute.

### Documented

Symfony Templating is fully documented, with a dedicated online book, and of
course a full API documentation.

### Unit tested

The library is fully unit-tested. With 100% code coverage, the library is
stable and ready to be used in large projects.

Installation
------------

Symfony Templating can be installed by downloading the source code
as a
[tar](http://github.com/fabpot/templating/tarball/master)
archive or a
[zip](http://github.com/fabpot/templating/zipball/master)
one.

To stay up-to-date, you can also use the official Subversion
[repository](http://svn.symfony-project.com/components/templating/).

If you are a Git user, there is an official
[mirror](http://github.com/fabpot/templating), which is updated every 10 minutes.

If you prefer to install the component globally on your machine, you can use
the symfony [PEAR](http://pear.symfony-project.com/) channel server.

Support
-------

Support questions and enhancements can be discussed on the
[mailing-list](http://groups.google.com/group/symfony-components).

If you find a bug, you can create a ticket at the symfony
[trac](http://trac.symfony-project.org/newticket) under the
*templating* component.

License
-------

The Symfony Templating component is licensed under the *MIT
license*:

>Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Fabien Potencier
>
>Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
>of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
>in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
>to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
>copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished
>to do so, subject to the following conditions:
>
>The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
>copies or substantial portions of the Software.
>
>THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
>IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
>FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
>AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
>LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
>OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
>THE SOFTWARE.