[Python] Alternative to "with" template command for loops

I have a template file letter.txt in the format

Hello {{ first_name }} {{ last_name }}!


(In reality there are many more variables than these two, but for simplicity I'll stick with only first_name and last_name.)

This works nicely with a call like

from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader
environment = Environment(loader=FileSystemLoader("./"))

template = environment.get_template("letter.txt")
template.render(first_name='Jane', last_name='Doe')


Now if I have a list of names that should appear, like in a form letter, I need to do the following VERY verbose with statement in the form_letter.txt template file which includes the original untouched letter.txt template.

{% for person in people %}
{% with first_name=person.first_name, last_name=person.last_name %}
{% include 'letter.txt' %}
{% endwith %}
------8<---cut here------------
{% endfor %}


and rendering the template via:

template = environment.get_template("form_letter.txt")
template.render(people=[{'first_name': 'Jane', 'last_name': 'Doe'},
{'first_name': 'Bob', 'last_name': 'Builder'},
{'first_name': 'Sara', 'last_name': 'Sample'}])


Creating and possibly having to expand the with statement by hand is cumbersome and error prone. Is there a better way to "create a namespace inside a template" automatically from key/value of a dict like object? Like {% with **person %} or something similar?

Continue reading...