Compiling Handlebars templates to html files

To compile Handlebars templates into HTML files, you can use a build tool or a script to automate the process. Handlebars templates are usually written in separate .hbs files, and the compilation process involves reading these files, rendering the templates, and generating corresponding HTML files.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this using Node.js and a build tool like Gulp:

1. Install Required Packages: First, create a new Node.js project (if you don't have one already) and install the necessary packages:

   luaCopy code
   npm init -y
   npm install handlebars gulp gulp-handlebars gulp-rename --save-dev
   

   This installs Handlebars, Gulp, the Gulp Handlebars plugin, and the Gulp Rename plugin as development dependencies.

2. Create Handlebars Templates: Place your Handlebars templates in a directory (e.g., src/templates) with a .hbs extension. For example, you can create a simple template in src/templates/my_template.hbs:

   handlebarsCopy code
   <div>
     <h1>{{title}}</h1>
     <p>{{content}}</p>
   </div>
   

3. Create Gulpfile: Create a gulpfile.js in the root of your project with the following content:

   javascriptCopy code
   const gulp = require('gulp');
   const handlebars = require('gulp-handlebars');
   const rename = require('gulp-rename');
   const handlebarsOptions = {
     handlebars: require('handlebars')
   };
   
   gulp.task('compile-templates', function () {
     return gulp.src('src/templates/*.hbs')
       .pipe(handlebars(handlebarsOptions))
       .pipe(rename({ extname: '.html' }))
       .pipe(gulp.dest('dist'));
   });
   

4. Run Gulp Task: Run the Gulp task to compile the Handlebars templates into HTML files:

   pythonCopy code
   npx gulp compile-templates
   

   This will compile the templates from src/templates into HTML files and save them in the dist directory.

After running the Gulp task, you will find the compiled HTML files in the dist directory with the same filenames but a .html extension.

Note that this is a simple example to get you started. Depending on your project's needs, you can extend this process to handle more complex use cases, such as using data from JSON files to populate the templates or organizing your templates into subdirectories.

You can also explore other build tools like Webpack or Grunt, which offer similar capabilities for compiling Handlebars templates or integrating with other tasks in your project.