Difference between revisions of "Designing Output Templates"
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<aafaq id=1715>~ToDo: 1715 How to create a Calendar </aafaq> | <aafaq id=1715>~ToDo: 1715 How to create a Calendar </aafaq> | ||
Revision as of 13:18, 8 August 2005
Let's assume we have some data in the ActionApps slice. In this chapter, we'll look at how to present the data on the website, that means how to create a (single) web page which lists the data in the desired format and look. First, let's look briefly at which parts of ActionApps are responsible for generating the design:
Contents
Index View
~ToDo: Describe index view
Fultext View
~ToDo: Describe fulltext view
Where can the design come from
Where is the HTML
The HTML for a typical APC-AA site can come from many places which can confuse people used to doing all their HTML in a single place.
| Location | What to put there |
| .shtml file | static HTML that doesn't repeat, and is not changed often. Can be edited with any standard web editor by someone who has write permissions on the web server. The HTML has lines like <!--#include "/apc-aa/view.php3 --> (or apc-aa/slice.php3) to include a PHP file which will fetch information from the Slice's design. |
| Design section of the Slice | This is used to list a range of items in a slice, or display a single item. Someone with Admin permission on the slice can go to apc-aa/admin -> Admin -> Views or apc-aa/admin -> Admin -> Display/Index or Display/Fulltext. HTML can be placed here associated with the top and bottom of a listing, with each item, and with groupings of items. The HTML includes alias such as _#HEADLINE |
| Aliases such as _#HEADLINE | Each alias defines how to show a particular field, it does this by choosing a function (e.g. f_h) and parameters. For example _#HEADLINE is usually just output, while a Link might be output surrounded by <a href=" and ">. They can be edited by anyone with administrator priviliges on your slice by going to Admin->Fields->choose field ->Edit. A field can have several different ways of being output, for example a date could have aliases for both short (1/1/200) and long (1 January 2000) forms of output. |
| Functions such as f_h | These define functions certain common ways fields are output. They are defined in the PHP code, and so have to be edited by developers, except that there is an extension function f_u that calls functions from apc-aa/include/usr_aliasfnc.php3, these can be written by anyone who understands PHP3. |
| Data | Lastly of course, the HTML could be in specific fields in your data. |
Exceptions:
- You don't have to put a .shtml at the top - you can just use a more complex URL refering to apc-aa/slice.php3 or apc-aa/view.php3
- You can include a view from within an alias by using the function f_v
Special views (Calendar,RSS,..)
What are Views good for?
Views are useful when you want functionality a little bit different from the standard Index, or Full-Text views. You can use them to customize sorting, or pick certain items or only a subset of the items.
Index View vs. Other Views
Which should I use, Item Listing View (View.php3) or Design-Index (slice.php3)?
The Item Listing View (View.php3) and Design-Index (slice.php3) provide overlapping features. Which to use will depend on which features you need. Here are some of the differences.
| Available features | View | Index |
| Search conditions from URL | Yes | Yes |
| Search Form | No | <#215>Yes |
| ?x=1699 | No (workaround) | Yes |
| Scroller | No | Yes |
| Slice id | Implicit, can be overridden by parameter | Parameter in include or URL |
| Copy with Template | Yes with new wizard, but may need to edit HTML because numbers change | Yes |
| Sorting | From Admin only | From URL parameters only |
Empty result set
How "No item found" message in view definition works?
In view you can specify "No item found" message, which is displayed if view (due to its current conditions) do not find an item to display.You can enter there:
- nothing - standard "no item found" message is displayed (this setting is historical)
- any text - the text is displayed. From AA v2.6 you can also use aliases and other AA expressions like {switch()...}...
- <--Vacuum--> - if you use this keyword (exactly!), nothing is displayed.
One recomendation is to write something that relates to the slice content, e.g. "No news found" or "No events found", with in visible HTML or a comment tag. This helps with both usability and view development problem solving.
