To allow customization of each line of database-driven output, say whether to arrange the available choices in an

or in a table, not being able to include arbitrary html is major loss.

Instead, three functions are provided. Each takes optional parameterized arguments and a required blob of data which is passed to the template ADP by the Tcl pages in /poll.

poll_front_page ?optional arguments? polls

Use this function to control the display on the "index" page (the top-level page you get when going to /poll). If invoked without optional arguments, the polls are arranged in an unordered list. The "polls" variable is provided to the index template.

This code:

results in this:

• What Would Rolf Do?
• What's Your Favorite Color? (registration required)

While this:

<%= [poll_front_page -item_start "
" -style_start "" -style_end "" -require_registration_start "
" -require_registration_text "Registration Mandatory!!!"  $polls] %>

results in this:

What Would Rolf Do?
What's Your Favorite Color?	Registration Mandatory!!!

The arguments:

• -item_start: text to be emitted before each poll name. Usual uses are
• or Defaults to
• -item_end: text to be emitted after each poll name.

• -style_start: text to be emitted immediately before the poll name. Here'd you put directives or other text formatting commands

• -style_end: text to be emitted immediately after the poll name. You'd put tags and the like here.

• -require_registration_text: what to display if the poll requires registration. Defaults to "There are no currently active polls"

• -require_registraion_start: text to be emitted immediately before the require_registration_text. You can put text formatting and/or html structural tags (like making a new table row or column before the require_registration_text)

• -require_registration_end: text to be emitted immediately after the require_registration_text.

poll_display ?optional arguments? choices

Use this function to control the display of an individual poll. If invoked without optional arguments, the poll choices are arranged in an unordered list. The "choices" variable is provided to the one-poll template. This code:

results in this:

While this:

<%= [poll_display -item_start "" -style_start "" -style_end ""  $choices] %>
" -item_end "

results in this:

The arguments:

• -item_start: text to be emitted before each choice name. Usual uses are
• or Defaults to
• -item_end: text to be emitted after each choice name.

• -style_start: text to be emitted immediately before the choice name. Here'd you put directives or other text formatting commands

• -style_end: text to be emitted immediately after the choice name. You'd put tags and the like here.

• -no_choices: text to be emitted if there are no choices in the poll. This is really an adimistration/configuration problem. Defaults to "No Choices Specified"

poll_results ?optional arguments? results

Use this function to control the display on the "results" page. This function is a wrapper around gr_sieways_bar_chart which simplifies the API. This code

results in this:

Eat Cheese		40
Go Skateboarding		26.7
Wait for Cable Modem installer		33.3

While this:

<%= [poll_results -bar_color purple -display_values_p "f" -display_scale_p "f" -bar_height 30 $values] %>

results in this:

Eat Cheese Go Skateboarding Wait for Cable Modem installer

The arguments:

• -bar_color: what color to display the bar. Can be blue, dark-green, purple, red, black, orange, or medium-blue. Defaults to blue.

• -display_values_p: a "t" or "f" value. Should the percentages of the vote be displayed. Defaults to "t"

• -display_scale_p: a "t" or "f" value. Should the "0 to 100" scale be displayed at the top of the results. Defaults to "t"

• -bar_height: how tall to make the bars. Defaults to 15.

Note that some specific customizations aren't possible now, such as putting the total number of votes after each bar on the chart, and using multiple pictures for each bar (like what the Slashdot poll does) due to limitations in the API of gr_sideways_bar_chart. This is something that needs to be fixed eventually.

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