Using Stash Embeds for common elements such as call to actions

Question

It seems to me that using Stash Embeds with variables could be a really powerful way to keep things really dry.

I was wondering if anybody uses them to create consistent elements throughout their sites and just cache them away?

For example for a consistent call to action button throughout the site...

{exp:stash:embed:partials:cta stash:action="Download Now" stash:location="/download/"}

Which would embed the partial template which would look like

<a href="{exp:stash:location}" class="cta">{exp:stash:action} &raquo;</a>

It would allow for impressively DRY code which in turn would be consistent code (call to action buttons are things I notice become inconsistent quickly on a larger site) and would facilitate the ability to change hundreds of CTAs in one line of code.

Would this have much of a negative effect on the performance of the site? Has anybody tried something similar to this in the past?

Answer 1

Very late response here, and not quite an answer. In your case you want to cache all these things, in mine I want them to behave as functions, basically.

However it's in the same area so I thought might be useful for the discussion.

I use stash in a functional way all through he site I am developing. I guess coming from a programming background I just can't stand repeated code...so where I see it, I try and make a function.

Here's an example:

I 'call' it like this:

{stash:url_path}{stash:embed:utility:url_builder stash:channel_short_name="{channel_short_name}" stash:entry_id="{entry_id}" stash:urlt="{url_title}" random}{/stash:url_path}

and the 'function' itself is:

{!-- URL BUILDER --}
{!-- Takes: entry_id, channel_short_name, urlt (=url_title) --}
{!-- Takes: inks and paper_sub_cats - lists of categories --}
{!-- Returns: the URL stub for the entry e.g. /inkjet/print-packaging/cystral-clear-bags --}
{!-- Returns: 'ERROR' if it can't work it out--}

{!-- set a list of the inkjet categories--}
{snippet:global-global_set_inkjet_categories}   

{!-- get (one of..) the deepest category for matching in url_builder--}
{exp:gwcode_categories entry_id="{stash:entry_id}" last_only="yes" limit="1" parse="inward" style="linear"}
    {exp:stash:set name="deepest_cat_url_title" debug="yes" random}{cat_url_title}{/exp:stash:set}
{/exp:gwcode_categories}

{exp:switchee variable="stash:channel_short_name" parse="inward" debug="yes"}
        {case value="product_inkjet_paper"}/inkjet/paper/{stash:urlt}{/case}
        {case value="product_printer"}/inkjet/printer/{stash:urlt}{/case}
        {case value="product_monitor"}/monitors/{stash:urlt}{/case}
        {case value="product"}
            {!-- the tricky one - these products can be found at a number of different URLs --}
            {!-- so we need to use categories... --}    
            {switchee variable="stash:deepest_cat_url_title" parse="inward"}
                {case value="{stash:paper_sub_cats}"}/inkjet/paper/{stash:urlt}{/case}
                {case value="sample-packs"}/inkjet/sample-packs/{stash:urlt}{/case}
                {case value="print-finishing"}/inkjet/print-finishing/{stash:urlt}{/case}
                {case value="print-packaging"}/inkjet/print-packaging/{stash:urlt}{/case}
                {case value="albums-and-cards"}/inkjet/paper/{stash:urlt}{/case}
                {case value="{stash:inks}"}/inkjet/ink/{exp:stash:get name="deepest_cat_url_title" random}{/case}
                {case default="yes"}URL_BUILDER_ERROR{/case}
            {/switchee} 
        {/case}
{/exp:switchee}

...this works a treat to give me the full url to an entry. It does have one issue though - I get whitespace in the returned url. The url is perfectly functional, but I haven't worked out a way to trim the whitespace yet as stash embed don't have a trim parameter (have been meaning to ask about Mark Croxton about this).

I have several of these utilities that are key pieces of code. There is most likely a performance hit but it seems well worth if for the much better maintainability of isolating this logic to one place.

Answer 2

In stash builds, I would use stash embeds for things like sidebars, etc. so maybe not as granular as CTA buttons.

In those cases, I use them with the process=start parameter, which makes them act pretty much like EE snippets and include them in the other template before any other EE tags are parsed. Using that, I often don't need to pass variables around.

I also use parse_stage="set". Don't forget to turn of file syncing in production using stash_file_sync='false'.