Why can't Go, html/template, and Fiber collaborate to compose templates?

Question

I want to render a template using a base template and one of two partial templates, based on the context. Something like:

   Patial A                          Base                          Template
|────────────|                 |───────────────|               |───────────────|
|            |                 |               |               |               |
|  AAAAAAAA  |  componse with  | {{ .Target }} |   to yield    |   AAAAAAAA    | 
|            |                 |               |               |               |
|────────────|                 |───────────────|               |───────────────|
    
    
   Patial A                          Base                          Template
|────────────|                 |───────────────|               |───────────────|
|            |                 |               |               |               |
|  BBBBBBBB  |  componse with  | {{ .Target }} |   to yield    |   BBBBBBBB    | 
|            |                 |               |               |               |
|────────────|                 |───────────────|               |───────────────|

Implementation

I constructed an experiement using the following folder structure, templates, and logic

Folder Structure

templates/
│
├── main.go
└── view/
    ├── base.html
    ├── partailA.html
    ├── partailB.html

Templates

I used the html/template define and block and layout actions:

{{ define "base" .}}
<!-- This is the base template -->
<div>
   <!-- insert particl template here -->
   {{ block "partial" . }}{{ end }}
</div>
    
{{ end }}

These are the partial templates:

**{{ define "partial" }}**
<!-- This is a partical template -->
<div>
    <p>Partial Template A</p>
</div>
{{ end }}

{{ define "partial"}}
<!-- This is another template -->
<div>
    <p>Partial Template B</p>
</div>
{{ end }}

Logic

package main

import (
    "log"

    "github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2"
    "github.com/gofiber/template/html/v2"
)
    
const (
    ADMIN         = "admin"
)

var LayoutDir string = "views/layouts"
var bootstrap *template.Template

func main() {
    var err error

    // Create a new engine
    engine := html.New("./views", ".html")

    // Pass the engine to the Views
    app := fiber.New(fiber.Config{
        Views: engine,
    })
    app.Static("/", "./public")

    app.Get("/patialA", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
        // Render index
        return c.Render("partialA", fiber.Map{}, "base")
    })

    app.Get("/patialB", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
        // Render index
        return c.Render("partialB", fiber.Map{}, "base")
    })
    log.Fatal(app.Listen(":3000"))
}

After trying all kinds of suggestions, including from ChatGPT, I gave up on the Go, html/template, and Fiber stack, switched to Go, html/template, and Gin, and made it work.

Regardless, I'm still curious about whether there is a way to make it work with Fiber.

Anatoly · Accepted Answer · 2025-11-11 20:19:49Z

2

The main correction (after correcting some typos including names like "view -> views") is using the tag `embed` in the template where you wish to insert other template at runtime and name partial templates uniquely:

views/base.html:

{{ define "base" }}
<!-- This is the base template -->
<div>
    <div>base block</div>
   <!-- insert partial template here -->
    {{embed}}
</div>

{{ end }}

views/partialA.html:

{{ define "partialA" }}
<!-- This is a partial template -->
<div>
    <p>Partial Template A</p>
</div>
{{ end }}

views/partialB.html:

{{ define "partialB"}}
<!-- This is another template -->
<div>
    <p>Partial Template B</p>
</div>
{{ end }}

main.go:

func main() {
    // var err error

    // Create a new engine
    engine := html.New("./views", ".html")

    // Pass the engine to the Views
    app := fiber.New(fiber.Config{
        Views: engine,
    })
    app.Static("/", "./public")

    app.Get("/patialA", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
        // Render index
        return c.Render("partialA", fiber.Map{}, "base")
    })

    app.Get("/patialB", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
        // Render index
        return c.Render("partialB", fiber.Map{}, "base")
    })
    log.Fatal(app.Listen(":3000"))
}

answered Nov 11 at 20:19

Anatoly

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1 Comment

Rodrigo Silveira Nov 13 at 6:35

Thanks. I discovered the subtlety of naming the partial templates uniquelly in their {{ define }} tags while experimenting with Gin.

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