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Fileloom uses Handlebars as its templating engine. This guide covers the syntax you need to create dynamic PDFs.

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Basic Output

Output variables using double curly braces: 
<h1>Hello, {{name}}!</h1>
<p>Your order #{{orderNumber}} is confirmed.</p>
With data {"name": "John", "orderNumber": "12345"}: 
<h1>Hello, John!</h1>
<p>Your order #12345 is confirmed.</p>

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Nested Properties

Access nested object properties with dot notation: 
<p>{{customer.name}}</p>
<p>{{customer.address.street}}</p>
<p>{{customer.address.city}}, {{customer.address.state}} {{customer.address.zip}}</p>
With data: 
{
  "customer": {
    "name": "Acme Corp",
    "address": {
      "street": "123 Main St",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "state": "CA",
      "zip": "94102"
    }
  }
}

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HTML Escaping

By default, Handlebars escapes HTML characters for security: 
{{description}}
Input: <script>alert('xss')</script> Output: &lt;script&gt;alert('xss')&lt;/script&gt; To output raw HTML (use carefully): 
{{{rawHtml}}}
Only use triple braces {{{ for HTML you trust. Never use it with user-generated content.

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Conditionals

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Simple If

{{#if isPaid}}
  <span class="badge paid">PAID</span>
{{/if}}

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If-Else

{{#if isPaid}}
  <span class="badge paid">PAID</span>
{{else}}
  <span class="badge unpaid">UNPAID</span>
{{/if}}

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If-Else-If

{{#if isOverdue}}
  <span class="badge overdue">OVERDUE</span>
{{else if isPending}}
  <span class="badge pending">PENDING</span>
{{else}}
  <span class="badge paid">PAID</span>
{{/if}}

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Falsy Values

{{#if}} treats these as false:
  • false
  • undefined
  • null
  • "" (empty string)
  • 0
  • [] (empty array)

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Unless (Inverse If)

{{#unless isPaid}}
  <p class="warning">Payment required</p>
{{/unless}}

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Loops

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Each

Iterate over arrays: 
<table>
  {{#each items}}
    <tr>
      <td>{{this.name}}</td>
      <td>{{this.quantity}}</td>
      <td>{{currency this.price "USD"}}</td>
    </tr>
  {{/each}}
</table>
With data: 
{
  "items": [
    {"name": "Widget", "quantity": 2, "price": 29.99},
    {"name": "Gadget", "quantity": 1, "price": 49.99}
  ]
}

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Loop Variables

Inside {{#each}}, special variables are available:
VariableDescription
thisCurrent item
@indexZero-based index (0, 1, 2…)
@firstTrue if first item
@lastTrue if last item
@keyProperty name (for objects)
{{#each items}}
  <tr class="{{#if @first}}first-row{{/if}} {{#if @last}}last-row{{/if}}">
    <td>{{add @index 1}}.</td>
    <td>{{this.name}}</td>
  </tr>
{{/each}}

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Empty Arrays

Handle empty arrays with {{else}}: 
{{#each items}}
  <tr><td>{{this.name}}</td></tr>
{{else}}
  <tr><td>No items found</td></tr>
{{/each}}

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Iterating Objects

Loop through object properties: 
{{#each person}}
  <p>{{@key}}: {{this}}</p>
{{/each}}
With data {"person": {"name": "John", "age": 30}}: 
<p>name: John</p>
<p>age: 30</p>

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Using Helpers

Helpers transform or format data: 
{{! Single argument }}
{{uppercase name}}

{{! Multiple arguments }}
{{currency amount "EUR"}}

{{! With string literals }}
{{formatDate date "MMMM D, YYYY"}}

{{! Nested helpers }}
{{currency (multiply price quantity) "USD"}}

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Common Helpers

{{! Text }}
{{uppercase "hello"}}              → HELLO
{{lowercase "HELLO"}}              → hello
{{capitalize "john doe"}}          → John doe
{{titleCase "john doe"}}           → John Doe

{{! Numbers }}
{{currency 1234.5 "USD"}}          → $1,234.50
{{formatNumber 1234567 0}}         → 1,234,567
{{percentage 75 100}}              → 75.0%

{{! Dates }}
{{formatDate date "YYYY-MM-DD"}}   → 2024-12-15
{{formatDate date "MMMM D, YYYY"}} → December 15, 2024
{{now "YYYY"}}                     → 2024

{{! Math }}
{{add 10 5}}                       → 15
{{multiply 10 5}}                  → 50
{{round 3.7}}                      → 4
See Helpers Reference for all 70+ helpers.

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Comments

Add comments that won’t appear in output: 
{{! This is a comment }}

{{!-- 
  This is a 
  multi-line comment 
--}}

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Whitespace Control

Control whitespace with ~: 
{{#each items ~}}
  {{this.name}}
{{~/each}}
The ~ removes whitespace on that side of the tag.

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Partials (Reusable Snippets)

While Fileloom doesn’t support custom partials, you can achieve reusability with:
  1. CSS classes for consistent styling
  2. Helper functions for data transformation
  3. Template duplication for similar documents

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Practical Examples

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Invoice Line Items with Totals

<table class="items">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Description</th>
      <th>Qty</th>
      <th>Price</th>
      <th>Total</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    {{#each items}}
    <tr>
      <td>{{this.description}}</td>
      <td>{{this.quantity}}</td>
      <td>{{currency this.unitPrice "USD"}}</td>
      <td>{{currency (multiply this.quantity this.unitPrice) "USD"}}</td>
    </tr>
    {{/each}}
  </tbody>
  <tfoot>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3">Subtotal</td>
      <td>{{currency subtotal "USD"}}</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3">Tax ({{percentage taxRate 1 0}})</td>
      <td>{{currency tax "USD"}}</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="total">
      <td colspan="3">Total</td>
      <td>{{currency total "USD"}}</td>
    </tr>
  </tfoot>
</table>

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Conditional Sections

<div class="invoice-header">
  <h1>Invoice #{{invoiceNumber}}</h1>
  
  {{#if isPaid}}
    <div class="stamp paid">
      PAID
      <span class="date">{{formatDate paidDate "MMM D, YYYY"}}</span>
    </div>
  {{else if isOverdue}}
    <div class="stamp overdue">
      OVERDUE
      <span class="days">{{daysBetween dueDate}} days</span>
    </div>
  {{/if}}
</div>

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Address Formatting

<address>
  {{customer.name}}<br>
  {{#if customer.company}}{{customer.company}}<br>{{/if}}
  {{customer.address.street}}<br>
  {{#if customer.address.unit}}{{customer.address.unit}}<br>{{/if}}
  {{customer.address.city}}, {{customer.address.state}} {{customer.address.zip}}<br>
  {{#if customer.address.country}}{{customer.address.country}}{{/if}}
</address>