--- a/examples/doctest.txt	Thu Jan 06 18:04:58 2011 -0800
+++ b/examples/doctest.txt	Fri Jan 07 10:17:48 2011 -0800
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
     'Hello fleem'
     >>> os.remove(buffer)
 
-Directory case:
+Directory case::
 
     >>> exampledir = os.path.join(here, 'directory-example')
     >>> tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@
     'It'
     >>> shutil.rmtree(tempdir)
 
-Mixed case:
+Mixed case::
 
     >>> template = makeitso.PolyTemplate([example, exampledir], interactive=False)
     >>> variables = sorted(template.missing())
     >>> variables
     ['bar', 'foo', 'name', 'subdir']
 
-You need to provide output for mixing files and directory templates:
+You need to provide output for mixing files and directory templates::
 
     >>> variables = dict([(i, i.title()) for i in variables])
     >>> try:
@@ -70,10 +70,19 @@
     >>> e
     AssertionError('Must specify output ...
 
-Provide an output:
+Provide an output::
 
     >>> template = makeitso.PolyTemplate([example, exampledir], output=tempdir, interactive=False)
     >>> template.substitute(**variables)
     >>> sorted(os.listdir(tempdir))
     ['Subdir', 'example.txt', 'foo.txt']
     >>> shutil.rmtree(tempdir)
+
+Test API templates::
+
+    >>> from makeitso.template import MakeItSoTemplate, Variable
+    >>> class MyTemplate(MakeItSoTemplate):
+    ...    name = 'foo'
+    ...    templates = ['example.txt']
+    ...    vars = [Variable(name='name', default='bar')]
+    >>> apitemplate = MyTemplate()

--- a/makeitso/template.py	Thu Jan 06 18:04:58 2011 -0800
+++ b/makeitso/template.py	Fri Jan 07 10:17:48 2011 -0800
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 
 class Undefined(object):
     """marker class for variables"""
-    def __int__(self):
-        return 0
+    def __nonzero__(self):
+        return False
 Undefined = Undefined() # singleton
 
 class Variable(object):
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
 
         # boilerplate
         assert self.templates
+        variables = variables or {}
         self.output = output
         self.interactive = interactive
         self.location = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
@@ -87,14 +88,17 @@
             self.vardict[i.name] = i
 
         # ensure all of these templates exist
+        self._templates = []
         for template in self.templates:
             if template.startswith('http://') or template.startswith('https://'):
+                self._templates.append(template)
                 continue
             if os.path.isabs(template):
                 path = template
             else:
                 path = os.path.join(self.location, template)
-            assert os.path.exists(template)
+            assert os.path.exists(path), "%s does not exist" % path
+            self._templates.append(path)
 
     def get_variables(self, **variables):
         # XXX could do this in the ctor
@@ -127,6 +131,7 @@
 
     def substitute(self, **variables):
         """do the substitution"""
+        
         vars = self.get_variables(**variables)
         self.pre(**vars)
         self.check_missing(vars)
@@ -135,8 +140,7 @@
         PolyTemplate(self.templates,
                      output=self.output,
                      interactive=self.interactive,
-                     variables = vars
-                     
+                     variables=vars)
                      
         self.post(**variables)