res.render() In-Depth¶

The res.render() method is used to render another command or template as an HTTP response.

It automatically detects the response content type, renders templates when needed, and exposes useful context data to the rendered command.

This makes it ideal for building web pages, APIs, dashboards, and webapps using TBL.

Automatic Content Type Detection¶

res.render() automatically sets the correct Content-Type based on the file extension.

Examples:

res.render("page.html")        // Content-Type: text/html
res.render("data.json")        // Content-Type: application/json
res.render("script.js")        // Content-Type: application/javascript
res.render("style.css")        // Content-Type: text/css
res.render("api.xml")          // Content-Type: application/xml
res.render("plain-text")       // Content-Type: text/plain

No manual headers are required.

Data Passing and Template Context¶

You can pass data to res.render() using the second argument.

Example webapp URL:

/webapp/showProfile?section=settings&view=compact

Example render call:

res.render("profile-template.html", {
  data: {
    user: user,
    profile: userProfile,
    preferences: userPrefs
  }
})

Available Data Inside the Rendered Template¶

Inside profile-template.html, you can access:

• user – current user object (user-based webhook only)
• profile – custom data passed via data
• preferences – custom data passed via data
• params – URL query parameters
  { section: "settings", view: "compact" }
• All global TBL variables (Api, Bot, msg, request, etc.)

Example usage inside template:

<h1>Welcome <%= user.first_name %></h1>
<p>Profile: <%= profile %></p>

Practical Examples¶

Example 1: JSON API Endpoint¶

This example returns structured JSON data.

let userData = {
  id: user.id,
  name: user.first_name,
  premium: user.premium || false,
  join_date: user.join_date
}

res.status(200)
   .set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
   .json({
     status: "success",
     data: userData,
     timestamp: Date.now()
   })

Example 2: Render an HTML Page¶

res.render("dashboard.html", {
  data: {
    stats: statsData,
    user: user
  }
})

This renders an HTML page with EJS support.

Example 3: Render JSON via Template¶

res.render("api-response.json", {
  data: {
    ok: true,
    result: resultData
  }
})

Content type is automatically set to application/json.

Important Notes¶

• res.render() ends execution immediately
• Content type is detected automatically
• EJS rendering works for HTML and text
• params always contains query parameters
• User data is available only in user-based webhooks