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4. ScriptObject

The ScriptObject is a special implementation of a Dictionary<string, object> that runtime properties and functions accessible to a template:

Accessing as regular dictionary objects

A ScriptObject is mainly an extended version of a IDictionary<string, object>:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
scriptObject1.Add("var1", "Variable 1");

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is var1: `{{var1}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints: This is var1: `Variable 1`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Note that any IDictionary<string, object> put as a property will be accessible as well.

Imports System.Text.Json.JsonElement

A ScriptObject or ScriptArray can import JsonElement.

  // objects with ScriptObject
  JsonElement json = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<JsonElement>("""{ "foo": "bar" }""");
  var model = ScriptObject.From(json);

  // arrays with ScriptArray
  JsonElement json = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<JsonElement>("""[1, 2, 3]""");
  var model = ScriptArray.From(json);

  // import to an existing object
  var model = new ScriptObject();
  model.Import(jsonElement);

  // add to an existing object
  var model = new ScriptObject();
  model.Add("foo", jsonElement);

  // render using JsonElement directly
  JsonElement model = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<JsonElement>("""{ "foo": "bar" }""");
  var template = Template.Parse("foo: `{{foo}}`");
  var result = template.Render(model);
  // Prints: foo: `bar`

Note: JsonElement is also supported in properties of custom classes and structs.

Imports a .NET delegate

Via ScriptObject.Import(member, Delegate). Here we import a Func<string>:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
// Declare a function `myfunc` returning the string `Yes`
scriptObject1.Import("myfunc", new Func<string>(() => "Yes"));

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is myfunc: `{{myfunc}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints: This is myfunc: `Yes`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Imports functions from a .NET class

You can easily import static methods declared in a .NET class via ScriptObject.Import(typeof(MyFunctions))

Let's define a class with a static function Hello:

public static class MyFunctions
{
    public static string Hello()
    {
        return "hello from method!";
    }
}

This function can be imported into a ScriptObject:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
scriptObject1.Import(typeof(MyFunctions));

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is MyFunctions.Hello: `{{hello}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints This is MyFunctions.Hello: `hello from method!`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Automatic functions import from ScriptObject

When inheriting from a ScriptObject, the inherited object will automatically import all public static methods and properties from the class:

// We simply inherit from ScriptObject
// All functions defined in the object will be imported
public class MyCustomFunctions : ScriptObject
{
    public static string Hello()
    {
        return "hello from method!";
    }

    [ScriptMemberIgnore] // This method won't be imported
    public static void NotImported()
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Then using directly this custom ScriptObject as a regular object:

var scriptObject1 = new MyCustomFunctions();

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is MyFunctions.Hello: `{{hello}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints This is MyFunctions.Hello: `hello from method!`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Notice that if you want to ignore a member when importing a .NET object or .NET class, you can use the attribute ScriptMemberIgnore

Function arguments, optional and params

Scriban runtime supports regular function arguments, optional arguments (with a default value) and params XXX[] array arguments:

// We simply inherit from ScriptObject
// All functions defined in the object will be imported
public class MyCustomFunctions : ScriptObject
{
    // A function an optional argument
    public static string HelloOpt(string text, string option = null)
    {
        return $"hello {text} with option:{option}";
    }

    // A function with params
    public static string HelloArgs(params object[] args)
    {
        return $"hello {(string.Join(",", args))}";
    }
}

Using the function above from a script could be like this:

input

{{ hello_opt "test" }}
{{ hello_opt "test" "my_option" }}
{{ hello_opt "test" option: "my_option" }}
{{ hello_opt text: "test"  }}
{{ hello_args "this" "is" "a" "test"}}
{{ hello_args "this" "is" args: "a" args: "test"}}

output

hello test with option:
hello test with option:my_option
hello test with option:my_option
hello test with option:
hello this,is,a,test
hello this,is,a,test

Notice that we can have a mix of regular and named arguments, assuming that named arguments are always coming last when calling a function.

Also, we can see that named arguments are also working with params arguments.

If a regular argument (not optional) is missing, the runtime will complain about the missing argument giving precise source location of the error.

When last parameter is of type object[] or ScriptExpression[] it is automatically treated as if it was declared with params modifier.

Accessing nested ScriptObject

A nested ScriptObject can be accessed indirectly through another ScriptObject:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
var nestedObject = new ScriptObject();
nestedObject["x"] = 5;
scriptObject1.Add("subObject", nestedObject);

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is Hello: `{{subObject.x}}`");
template.Render(context);

Imports a ScriptObject into another ScriptObject

The properties/functions of a ScriptObject can be imported into another instance.

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
scriptObject1.Add("var1", "Variable 1");

var scriptObject2 = new ScriptObject();
scriptObject2.Add("var2", "Variable 2");

// After this command, scriptObject2 contains var1 and var2
// But modifying var2 on scriptObject2 will not modify var2 on scriptObject1!
scriptObject2.Import(scriptObject1);

Imports a .NET object instance

You can easily import a .NET object instance (including its public properties and static methods) into a ScriptObject

NOTE that when importing into a ScriptObject, the import actually copies the property values into the ScriptObject. The original .NET object is no longer used.

Importing a .NET object instance is thus different from accessing a .NET object instance through a ScriptObject.

Let's define a standard .NET object:

public class MyObject
{
    public MyObject()
    {
        Hello = "hello from property!";
    }

    public string Hello { get; set; }
}

and import the properties/functions of this object into a ScriptObject, via ScriptObject.Import(object):

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
scriptObject1.Import(new MyObject());

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is Hello: `{{hello}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints This is MyFunctions.Hello: `hello from method!`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Also any objects inheriting from IDictionary<TKey, TValue> or IDictionary will be also accessible automatically. Typically, you can usually access directly any generic JSON objects that was parsed by a JSON library.

Accessing a .NET object

This is an important feature of scriban. Every .NET objects made accessible through a ScriptObject is directly accessible without importing it. It means that Scriban will directly work on the .NET object instance instead of a copy (e.g when we do a ScriptObject.Import instead)

For example, if we re-use the previous MyObject directly as a variable in a ScriptObject:

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
// Notice: MyObject is not imported but accessible through
// the variable myobject
scriptObject1["myobject"] = new MyObject();

var context = new TemplateContext();
context.PushGlobal(scriptObject1);

var template = Template.Parse("This is Hello: `{{myobject.hello}}`");
var result = template.Render(context);

// Prints This is MyFunctions.Hello: `hello from method!`
Console.WriteLine(result);

Read-only properties

Runtime equivalent of the language readonly <var> statement, you can easily define a variable of a ScriptObject as read-only

var scriptObject1 = new ScriptObject();
// The variable `var1` is immutable
scriptObject1.SetValue("var1", "My immutable variable", true);

// Or or an existing property/function member:
scriptObject1.SetReadonly("var1", true);

The builtin functions

All builtin functions object of Scriban are imported easily by inheriting from a ScriptObject:

• The BuilinsFunctions object defined here and listed here is directly used as the bottom level stack ScriptObject as explained in the variable stack page.
• Each sub function objects (e.g array, string) are also regular ScriptObject. For example, the string builtin functions

The current builtin ScriptObject defined for a TemplateContext is accessible through the TemplateContext.BuiltinObject property.

See section about ScriptObject advanced usages also for more specific usages.