<wmmeta name="Title" value="The &lt;{set}&gt; Directive" />
<wmmeta name="Section" value="03-proc_logic" />
<wmmeta name="Score" value="20" />
<wmmeta name="Abstract">
set a content chunk while inside another content chunk's scope
</wmmeta>

Small pieces of content can be set from within other content chunks or
&lt;out&gt; sections using the &lt;set&gt; directive. The format is

	&lt;{set __name__=''__value__''}&gt;

This can be useful to set small chunks of text, by including a <a
href=$(set)>&lt;{set}&gt;</a> directive in the content item that uses them.

For example, a common use of &lt;{set}&gt; is to define, ahead of
time, what text should be inserted into a template:

	&lt;{set template_body="&wmdollar;{foo.txt}"}&gt;
	&wmdollar;{bar_template}

Note: Order of Content Reference Processing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The processing of content references starts at each <a
href=$(out)>&lt;out&gt;</a> URL in turn, and descends from the chunk of text
defined for that file, replacing each <a
href=$(content_refs)>&wmdollar;{content_ref}</a> and <a
href=$(url_refs)>&wmdollar;(url_ref)</a> one-by-one, in a depth-first manner.

Finally, the tree-traversal starts again from the chunk of &lt;out&gt; text,
searching for <a href=$(deferred_content_refs)>&wmdollar;[deferred_content
refs]</a>.

Therefore if you wish to &lt;{set}&gt; a variable, let's say **x**, in a chunk
of content that will not be loaded before **x** is accessed, you should use
a <a href="$(deferred_content_refs)">&wmdollar;[deferred content ref]</a> to
access it.

How &lt;{set}&gt; Relates To Meta-data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The &lt;{set}&gt; directive was implemented before metadata was, and initially
provided a way to do similar things, such as substitute page titles, etc.

Now, however, it's probably better to use "&lt;wmmeta&gt; tags" [wmmeta] to
handle data that is associated with a content-item.  Using &lt;wmmeta&gt; tags
means your pages will be able to take advantage of new features, like index
and site-map generation.

The &lt;{set}&gt; directive is retained as a way of quickly setting content
items from within other content, in case this feature proves useful for other
purposes.

	[wmmeta]: $(wmmeta)