add generate_template and generate_template_string functions

Author: pgjones

CHANGES.rst

@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ Unreleased
     value. :pr:`4645`
 -   View functions can return generators directly instead of wrapping
     them in a ``Response``. :pr:`4629`
+-   Add ``stream_template`` and ``stream_template_string`` functions to
+    render a template as a stream of pieces. :pr:`4629`
 
 
 Version 2.1.3

docs/api.rst

@@ -287,6 +287,10 @@ Template Rendering
 
 .. autofunction:: render_template_string
 
+.. autofunction:: stream_template
+
+.. autofunction:: stream_template_string
+
 .. autofunction:: get_template_attribute
 
 Configuration

docs/patterns/streaming.rst

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ data and to then invoke that function and pass it to a response object::
         def generate():
             for row in iter_all_rows():
                 yield f"{','.join(row)}\n"
-        return app.response_class(generate(), mimetype='text/csv')
+        return generate(), {"Content-Type": "text/csv")
 
 Each ``yield`` expression is directly sent to the browser.  Note though
 that some WSGI middlewares might break streaming, so be careful there in
@@ -29,52 +29,57 @@ debug environments with profilers and other things you might have enabled.
 Streaming from Templates
 ------------------------
 
-The Jinja2 template engine also supports rendering templates piece by
-piece.  This functionality is not directly exposed by Flask because it is
-quite uncommon, but you can easily do it yourself::
-
-    def stream_template(template_name, **context):
-        app.update_template_context(context)
-        t = app.jinja_env.get_template(template_name)
-        rv = t.stream(context)
-        rv.enable_buffering(5)
-        return rv
-
-    @app.route('/my-large-page.html')
-    def render_large_template():
-        rows = iter_all_rows()
-        return app.response_class(stream_template('the_template.html', rows=rows))
-
-The trick here is to get the template object from the Jinja2 environment
-on the application and to call :meth:`~jinja2.Template.stream` instead of
-:meth:`~jinja2.Template.render` which returns a stream object instead of a
-string.  Since we're bypassing the Flask template render functions and
-using the template object itself we have to make sure to update the render
-context ourselves by calling :meth:`~flask.Flask.update_template_context`.
-The template is then evaluated as the stream is iterated over.  Since each
-time you do a yield the server will flush the content to the client you
-might want to buffer up a few items in the template which you can do with
-``rv.enable_buffering(size)``.  ``5`` is a sane default.
+The Jinja2 template engine supports rendering a template piece by
+piece, returning an iterator of strings. Flask provides the
+:func:`~flask.stream_template` and :func:`~flask.stream_template_string`
+functions to make this easier to use.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    from flask import stream_template
+
+    @app.get("/timeline")
+    def timeline():
+        return stream_template("timeline.html")
+
+The parts yielded by the render stream tend to match statement blocks in
+the template.
+
 
 Streaming with Context
 ----------------------
 
-.. versionadded:: 0.9
+The :data:`~flask.request` will not be active while the generator is
+running, because the view has already returned at that point. If you try
+to access ``request``, you'll get a ``RuntimeError``.
 
-Note that when you stream data, the request context is already gone the
-moment the function executes.  Flask 0.9 provides you with a helper that
-can keep the request context around during the execution of the
-generator::
+If your generator function relies on data in ``request``, use the
+:func:`~flask.stream_with_context` wrapper. This will keep the request
+context active during the generator.
+
+.. code-block:: python
 
     from flask import stream_with_context, request
+    from markupsafe import escape
 
     @app.route('/stream')
     def streamed_response():
         def generate():
-            yield 'Hello '
-            yield request.args['name']
-            yield '!'
-        return app.response_class(stream_with_context(generate()))
+            yield '<p>Hello '
+            yield escape(request.args['name'])
+            yield '!</p>'
+        return stream_with_context(generate())
+
+It can also be used as a decorator.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    @stream_with_context
+    def generate():
+        ...
+
+    return generate()
 
-Without the :func:`~flask.stream_with_context` function you would get a
-:class:`RuntimeError` at that point.
+The :func:`~flask.stream_template` and
+:func:`~flask.stream_template_string` functions automatically
+use :func:`~flask.stream_with_context` if a request is active.

docs/templating.rst

@@ -201,3 +201,29 @@ templates::
 You could also build `format_price` as a template filter (see
 :ref:`registering-filters`), but this demonstrates how to pass functions in a
 context processor.
+
+Streaming
+---------
+
+It can be useful to not render the whole template as one complete
+string, instead render it as a stream, yielding smaller incremental
+strings. This can be used for streaming HTML in chunks to speed up
+initial page load, or to save memory when rendering a very large
+template.
+
+The Jinja2 template engine supports rendering a template piece
+by piece, returning an iterator of strings. Flask provides the
+:func:`~flask.stream_template` and :func:`~flask.stream_template_string`
+functions to make this easier to use.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    from flask import stream_template
+
+    @app.get("/timeline")
+    def timeline():
+        return stream_template("timeline.html")
+
+These functions automatically apply the
+:func:`~flask.stream_with_context` wrapper if a request is active, so
+that it remains available in the template.

src/flask/__init__.py

@@ -41,5 +41,7 @@
 from .signals import template_rendered as template_rendered
 from .templating import render_template as render_template
 from .templating import render_template_string as render_template_string
+from .templating import stream_template as stream_template
+from .templating import stream_template_string as stream_template_string
 
 __version__ = "2.2.0.dev0"

src/flask/templating.py

@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 
 from .globals import _app_ctx_stack
 from .globals import _request_ctx_stack
+from .globals import current_app
+from .globals import request
+from .helpers import stream_with_context
 from .signals import before_render_template
 from .signals import template_rendered
 
@@ -122,8 +125,6 @@ def list_templates(self) -> t.List[str]:
 
 
 def _render(template: Template, context: dict, app: "Flask") -> str:
-    """Renders the template and fires the signal"""
-
     before_render_template.send(app, template=template, context=context)
     rv = template.render(context)
     template_rendered.send(app, template=template, context=context)
@@ -164,3 +165,56 @@ def render_template_string(source: str, **context: t.Any) -> str:
     ctx = _app_ctx_stack.top
     ctx.app.update_template_context(context)
     return _render(ctx.app.jinja_env.from_string(source), context, ctx.app)
+
+
+def _stream(
+    app: "Flask", template: Template, context: t.Dict[str, t.Any]
+) -> t.Iterator[str]:
+    app.update_template_context(context)
+    before_render_template.send(app, template=template, context=context)
+
+    def generate() -> t.Iterator[str]:
+        yield from template.generate(context)
+        template_rendered.send(app, template=template, context=context)
+
+    rv = generate()
+
+    # If a request context is active, keep it while generating.
+    if request:
+        rv = stream_with_context(rv)
+
+    return rv
+
+
+def stream_template(
+    template_name_or_list: t.Union[str, Template, t.List[t.Union[str, Template]]],
+    **context: t.Any
+) -> t.Iterator[str]:
+    """Render a template by name with the given context as a stream.
+    This returns an iterator of strings, which can be used as a
+    streaming response from a view.
+
+    :param template_name_or_list: The name of the template to render. If
+        a list is given, the first name to exist will be rendered.
+    :param context: The variables to make available in the template.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 2.2
+    """
+    app = current_app._get_current_object()  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+    template = app.jinja_env.get_or_select_template(template_name_or_list)
+    return _stream(app, template, context)
+
+
+def stream_template_string(source: str, **context: t.Any) -> t.Iterator[str]:
+    """Render a template from the given source string with the given
+    context as a stream. This returns an iterator of strings, which can
+    be used as a streaming response from a view.
+
+    :param source: The source code of the template to render.
+    :param context: The variables to make available in the template.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 2.2
+    """
+    app = current_app._get_current_object()  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+    template = app.jinja_env.from_string(source)
+    return _stream(app, template, context)

tests/test_templating.py

@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@ def index():
     assert rv.data == b"42"
 
 
+def test_simple_stream(app, client):
+    @app.route("/")
+    def index():
+        return flask.stream_template_string("{{ config }}", config=42)
+
+    rv = client.get("/")
+    assert rv.data == b"42"
+
+
 def test_request_less_rendering(app, app_ctx):
     app.config["WORLD_NAME"] = "Special World"