• • %TMPL:DEF{"block"}%: Define a block. All text between this and the next %TMPL:END% directive is removed and saved for later use with %TMPL:P.

1. The TWiki topic aweb.atopic if the template name can be parsed into aweb.atopic

1. The TWiki topic %TWIKIWEB%.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
2. The TWiki topic %TWIKIWEB%.ScriptTemplate

TMPL:INCLUDE recusion for piecewise customisation, or mixing in new features

If there is recusion in the TMPL:INCLUDE chain (eg twiki.classic.tmpl contains %TMPL:INCLUDE{"twiki"}%, the templating system will include the next twiki.SKIN in the skin path. For example, to create a customisation of pattern skin, where you only want to over-ride the breadcrumbs for the view script, you can create only a view.yourlocal.tmpl:

%TMPL:INCLUDE{"view"}%
%TMPL:DEF{"breadcrumb"}% We don't want any crumbs %TMPL:END%

Examples:

• BugAUTOINC0 - creates topic names Bug0, Bug1, Bug2, ... (does not sort properly)
• ItemAUTOINC0000 - creates topic names Item0000, Item0001, Item0002, ... (sorts properly up to 9999)
• DocIDAUTOINC10001 - start with DocID10001, DocID10002, ... (sorts properly up to 99999; auto-links)

• Master Templates: Define blocks of text for use in other templates
• HTML Page Templates: Define the layout of TWiki pages
• Template Topics: Define default text when you create a new topic

The TWiki Template System

How Template Directives Work

• Template directives are embedded in templates.

• • %TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The file is found as described below.
  • %TMPL:DEF{"block"}%: Define a block. Text between this and the %TMPL:END% directive is not used in-place, but is saved for later use with %TMPL:P. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored.
  • %TMPL:END%: Ends a block definition.
  • %TMPL:P{"var"}%: Includes a previously defined block.
  • %{...}%: is a comment.

• NOTE: Template directives work only for templates: they do not get processed in normal topic text.

Any alphanumeric characters can be used in parameter names. You are highly recommended to use parameter names that cannot be confused with TWikiVariables.

%TMPL:DEF{"link_inactive"}%<input type="button" disabled value="Link>%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"link_active"}%<input type="button" onclick="link()" value="Link" />%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:P{context="inactive" then="inactive_link" else="active_link"}% for %CONTEXT%

Finding Templates

Templates are stored either in the twiki/templates directory, or can also be read from user topics. As an example, twiki/templates/view.tmpl is the default template file for the twiki/bin/view script.

Templates that are included using %TMPL:INCLUDE% are also found using the same search algorithm, unless you explicitly put '.tmpl' at the end of the template name. In this case, the string is assumed to be the full name of a template in the templates directory, and the algorithm isn't used.

TWiki uses the following search order to determine which template file or topic to use for a particular script. The skin path is set as described in TWikiSkins.

1. templates/web/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
   • this usage is supported for compatibility only and is deprecated. Store web-specific templates in TWiki topics instead.
2. templates/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
3. templates/web/script.tmpl
   • this usage is supported for compatibility only and is deprecated. Store web-specific templates in TWiki topics instead.
4. templates/script.tmpl
5. The TWiki topic web.topic if the template name can be parsed into web.topic
6. The TWiki topic web.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
7. The TWiki topic web.ScriptTemplate
8. The TWiki topic TWiki.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
9. The TWiki topic TWiki.ScriptTemplate

Legend:

• script refers to the script name, e.g view, edit
• Script refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g View
• skin refers to a skin name, e.g dragon, pattern. All skins are checked at each stage, in the order they appear in the skin path.
• Skin refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g Dragon
• web refers to the current web

1. templates/Thisweb/example.print.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
2. templates/Thisweb/example.pattern.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
3. templates/example.print.tmpl
4. templates/example.pattern.tmpl
5. templates/Thisweb/example.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
6. templates/example.tmpl
7. Thisweb.PrintSkinExampleTemplate
8. Thisweb.PatternSkinExampleTemplate
9. Thisweb.ExampleTemplate
10. TWiki.PrintSkinExampleTemplate
11. TWiki.PatternSkinExampleTemplate
12. TWiki.ExampleTemplate

Template names are usually derived from the name of the currently executing script; however it is also possible to override these settings in the view and edit scripts, for example when a topic-specific template is required. Two preference variables can be user to override the templates used:

• VIEW_TEMPLATE sets the template to be used for viewing a topic
• EDIT_TEMPLATE sets the template for editing a topic.

Master Templates

HTML Page Templates

Template Topics

1. A topic name specified by the templatetopic CGI parameter
   • if no web is specified, the current web is searched first and then the TWiki web

Edit Template Topics and Variable Expansion

%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
This template can only be changed by:
   * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup
%ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%

%NOP% can be used to prevent expansion of TWiki variables that would otherwise be expanded during topic creation e.g.i escape %nop>SERVERTIME% with %SER%NOP%VERTIME%.

Template Topics in Action

Automatically Generated Topicname

If you want to make a TWiki application where you need automatically generated unique topicnames, you can use 10 X's in the edit / save URL, and they will be replaced on topic save with a count value. For example, BugIDXXXXXXXXXX will result in topics named BugID0, BugID1, BugID2 etc.

[[%SCRIPTURLPATH{"edit"}%/%WEB%/BugIDXXXXXXXXXX?templatetopic=BugTemplate&topicparent=%TOPIC%&t=%SERVERTIME{"$day$hour$min$sec"}%][Create new item]]=

Master Templates by Example

Attached is an example of an oops based template oopsbase.tmpl and an example oops dialog oopstest.tmpl based on the base template. NOTE: This isn't the release version, just a quick, simple demo.

TWiki uses the following search order to determine which template to use:

If a skin is specified	If no skin is specified
templates/%WEB%/script.skin.tmpl	templates/%WEB%/script.tmpl
templates/script.skin.tmpl	templates/script.tmpl
data/%WEB%/SkinSkinScriptTemplate.txt	data/%WEB%/ScriptTemplate.txt
data/TWiki/SkinSkinScriptTemplate.txt	data/TWiki/ScriptTemplate.txt
Legend: • script refers to the script name, e.g view, edit • Script refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g View • skin refers to the skin name, e.g dragon, pattern • Skin refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g Dragon • %WEB% refers to the current web

Additionally (and primarily for use in %TMPL:INCLUDE{}%) the template name may be a wiki topic name, specified as Web.Topic, in which case the search is:

If a skin is specified	If no skin is specified
templates/web/Web.Topic.skin.tmpl	templates/web/Web.Topic.tmpl
templates/Web.Topic.skin.tmpl	templates/Web.Topic.tmpl
data/Web/Topic.txt

Parameter:	Description:
topic	Name of topic to create. Can be set in a text field, or is set programmatically (e.g. with a sequential number)
onlywikiname	If set, TWiki will complain if the topic name is not a WikiWord
templatetopic	The name of the template topic, e.g. topic used to copy the initial content
topicparent	Sets the parent topic
TopicClassification	Assuming the template topic has a form with a field called "TopicClassification", it will set the value of the field
anyname	Any parameter can passed to the new topic; if the template topic contains %URLPARAM{"anyname"}%, it will be replaced by its value

Edit Template Topics and Variable Expansion

The following variables get expanded when a user creates a new topic based on a template topic:

Variable:	Description:
%DATE%	Current date, e.g. 29 Dec 2024
%WIKIUSERNAME%	User name, e.g. Main.TWikiGuest
%URLPARAM{"name"}%	Value of a named URL parameter
%NOP%	A no-operation variable that gets removed. Useful to prevent a SEARCH from hitting an edit template topic; also useful to escape a variable like %URLPARAM%NOP%{...}%
%NOP{ ... }%	A no-operation text that gets removed. Useful to write-protect an edit template topic, but not the topics based this template topic. See notes below. Example: %NOP{    * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.TWikiAdminGroup }%

Notes:

• Unlike other variables, %NOP{ ... }% can span multiple lines.
• The scan for the closing }% pattern is "non-greedy", that is, it stops at the first occurance. That means, you need to escape variables with parameters located inside %NOP{ ... }%: Insert a %NOP% between } and %. Silly example: %NOP{ %GMTIME{"$year"}%NOP%% }%.

All other variables are unchanged, e.g. are carried over "as is" into the new topic.

How Template Variables Work

• Directives are of the form %TMPL:<key>% and %TMPL:<key>{"attr"}%.

• • %TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The template directory of the current web is searched first, then the templates root (twiki/templates).
  • %TMPL:DEF{"var"}%: Define a variable. Text between this and the END directive is not returned, but put into a hash for later use.
  • %TMPL:END%: Ends variable definition.
  • %TMPL:P{"var"}%: Prints a previously defined variable.
• Variables live in a global name space: there is no parameter passing.
• Two-pass processing lets you use a variable before or after declaring it.
• Templates and TWikiSkins work transparently and interchangeably. For example, you can create a skin that overloads only the twiki.tmpl master template, like twiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer.
• Use of template directives is optional: templates work without them.
• NOTE: Template directives work only for templates: they do not get processed in topic text.

Types of Template

There are three types of template:

• Master Template: Stores common parts; included by other templates
• HTML Page Templates: Defines the layout of TWiki pages
• Template Topics: Defines default text when you create a new topic

Master Templates

• • $webName is the name of the web (ex: Main)
  • $scriptName is the script (ex: view).

1. A topic name specified by the templatetopic CGI parameter.
2. WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web
3. WebTopicEditTemplate in the TWiki web

• A drawback of referring to a master template is that you can only test a template from within TWiki, where the include variables are resolved. In the previous system, each template was a structurally complete HTML document with a .tmpl filename extension - it contained unresolved %VARIABLES%, but could still be previewed directly in a browser.

TWiki Templates

• NOTE: The template directives work only for templates, they do not get processed in topic text.

1. The topic name specified by the templatetopic CGI parameter.

TWiki Master Template

All common parts are defined in a master template, twiki.tmpl, that all other templates use.

Template variable:	Defines:
%TMPL:DEF{"sep"}%	"|" separator
%TMPL:DEF{"htmldoctype"}%	Start of all HTML pages
%TMPL:DEF{"standardheader"}%	Standard header (ex: view, index, seach)
%TMPL:DEF{"simpleheader"}%	Simple header with reduced links (ex: edit, attach, oops)
%TMPL:DEF{"standardfooter"}%	Footer, excluding revision and copyright parts
%TMPL:DEF{"oops"}%	Skeleton of oops dialog

Types of Template

• HTML Page Templates: Defines layout of TWiki pages
• Template Topics: Defines default text when you create a new topic

HTML Page Templates

TWiki uses HTML template files for all actions like topic view, edit, preview and so on. This allows you to change the look and feel of all pages by editing just some template files.

The template files are in the twiki/templates directory. As an example, twiki/templates/view.tmpl is the template file for the twiki/bin/view script. Templates can be overloaded per web. The following search order applies:

1. twiki/templates/$webName/$scriptName.tmpl
2. twiki/templates/$scriptName.tmpl

Note: $webName is the name of the web ( i.e. Main ), and $scriptName is the script ( i.e. view ).

Note: TWikiSkins can be defined to overload the standard templates.

Some special variables are used in templates ( especially view ) to show meta data - see Meta Data Rendering

Template Topics

Template topics define the default text for new topics. There are three types of template topics:

Topic Name:	What it is:
WebTopicViewTemplate	Help text shown when you view a non existing topic.
WebTopicNonWikiTemplate	Help text shown when you view a non existing topic that has not a WikiName.
WebTopicEditTemplate	Default text shown when you create a new topic.

1. The topic name specified by the templatetopic parameter.
2. WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web.
3. WebTopicEditTemplate in the TWiki web.

Template Topics in Action

Here is an example for creating new topics based on a specific template topic:

Above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag of name "templatetopic" specifies the ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic. Here is the HTML source of the form:

<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH%/edit%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%WEB%/">
	* New example topic: 
	  <input type="text" name="topic" value="ExampleTopic%SERVERTIME{$year$mo$day}%" size="22">
	  <input type="hidden" name="templatetopic" value="ExampleTopicTemplate">
	  <input type="hidden" name="onlywikiname" value="on">
	  <input type="submit" value="Create"> (date format is YYYYMMDD)
</form>

The "onlywikiname" parameter enforces WikiWords for topic names.

Note: Use can use the %WIKIUSERNAME% and %DATE% variables in your topic templates as the signature; those variables are expanded when a new topic is created. The standard topic signature is:
-- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE%

Templates by Example

• Directives:
  • %TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The template directory of the current web is searched first, then the templates root (twiki/templates).

• Templates and TWikiSkins work transparently and interchangeably. For example, you can create a skin that overloads just the twiki.tmpl, like twiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer.

%TMPL:DEF{"titleaction"}% (test =titleaction=) %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"webaction"}% test =webaction= %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"heading"}%
Test heading %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"message"}%

• Param1: %PARAM1%
• Param2: %PARAM2%
• Param3: %PARAM3%
• Param4: %PARAM4%

TWiki master template

Overview

Major changes from the previous template system

• separates a set of common template parts into a base template that is included by all of the related templates;

• defines common variables, like a standard separator (ex: "|"), in the base template;

• defines variable text in the individual templates and passes it back to the base template.

Functional Specifications

• All template preprocessing is done in &TWiki::Store::readTemplate() so that the caller simply gets an expanded template file (the same as before).
• Directives are of the form %TMPL:<key>% and %TMPL:<key>{"attr"}%.

• New directives can be added over time when needed, ex: IF-THEN-ELSE.
• Variables are live in a global name space, there is no parameter passing.
• Two-pass processing, so that you can use a variable before declaring it or after.
• Templates and skins work transparently and interchangeably. For example, you can create a skin that overloads just the twiki.tmpl, like twiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer.
• Note: The template directives work only for templates, they do not get processed in topic text.

New Template System by Example

Base template oopsbase.tmpl

Test template oopstest.tmpl

Sample screen shot of oopstest.tmpl

Example: preview.tmpl template

Known Issues

• A drawback of referring to a master template is that you can only test a template from within TWiki, where the include variables are resolved. In the previous system, each template is a structurally complete HTML document with a .tmpl filename extension - it contains unresolved %VARIABLES%, but can still be previewed directly in a browser.

TWiki Template System

Overview

Needs of the TWiki templating system

Functional Spec

Examples

Base template oopsbase.tmpl

Test template oopstest.tmpl

Sample screen shot of oopstest.tmpl

Comments and feedback

new topic for the final doc

Slightly edited down, but waiting for new docs, hopefully.

see also for ref: orig TWikiTemplatingSystem?

TWiki Template System

Define the templates used to render all HTML pages displayed in TWiki

Overview

We have a need for more advanced template handling. As JohnTalintyre? pointed out in CommonHeaderFooterTemplate? it makes sense to separate the header and footer into one file so that it can be easily altered (or even overloaded by a skin). Also the oops dialog messages are all identical except for a few variables like heading, and so on.

Using external modules like the TemplateToolkit? would be one way to go, but this will add a lot of baggage to TWiki.

Needs of the TWiki templating system

• Separate common parts into one (or more) base template file(s) and include that from other template files like view.tmpl.
• Define common variables like a "|" separator in the base template and use them in other template files
• Define variable text in templates (i.e. view.tmpl) and pass them to the base template

Functional Spec

I tried to define a simple but powerful solution that can be extended over time. Here we go:

• Special template directives (or preprocessor commands) are embedded in normal templates.
• Use of template directives is optional, templates work without them.
• All template preprocessing is done in &TWiki::Store::readTemplate() so that the caller simply gets an expanded template file (the same as before)
• Directives are of form %TMPL:<key>% and %TMPL:<key>{"attr"}%.
• Initial set of directives:
  • %TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The usual search path is applied.
  • %TMPL:DEF{"var"}%: Define a variable. Text between this and the END directive is not returned, but put into a hash for later use.
  • %TMPL:END%: Ends variable definition.
  • %TMPL:P{"var"}%: Prints a previously defined variable.
• New directives can be added over time when needed, i.e. IF-THEN-ELSE.
• Variables live in a global name space, there is no parameter passing.
• Two pass processing, so that you can use a variable before declaring it or after.
• Templates and skins work transparently and interchangeably. You could for example define a new skin just for the header & footer and keep the other template files unchanged.
• Note: The template directive work only for templates, they do not get processed in topic text.

Examples

Attached is an example of an oops base template oopsbase.tmpl and a example oops dialog oopstest.tmpl which is based on the base template. This is not the version that will go into the release, it is just a quick hack.

Base template oopsbase.tmpl

The first line declares the delimiter variable called "sep", used to separate multiple link items. The variable can be called anywhere by writing %TMPL:P{"sep"}%

Note: Added a dot to escape rendering of variables, i.e. read %.WEB% as %WEB%.

<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1">
<tr><td>
<verbatim>
%.TMPL:DEF{"sep"}% | %.TMPL:END%
<html>
<head>
  <title> %.WIKITOOLNAME% . %.WEB% . %.TOPIC% %.TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</title>
  <base href="%.SCRIPTURL%/view%.SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%.WEB%/%.TOPIC%">
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
	 <td bgcolor="%.WEBBGCOLOR%" rowspan="2" valign="top" width="1%">
		<a href="%.WIKIHOMEURL%">
		<img src="%.PUBURLPATH%/wikiHome.gif" border="0"></a>
	 </td>
	 <td>
		<b>%.WIKITOOLNAME% . %.WEB% . </b><font size="+2">
		<B>%.TOPIC%</b> %.TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</font>
	 </td>
  </tr>
  <tr bgcolor="%.WEBBGCOLOR%">
	 <td colspan="2">
		%.TMPL:P{"webaction"}%
	 </td>
  </tr>
</table>
--- ++ %.TMPL:P{"heading"}%
%.TMPL:P{"message"}%
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0">
  <tr bgcolor="%.WEBBGCOLOR%">
	 <td valign="top">
		Topic <b>TWikiTemplates</b> . {
		  %.TMPL:P{"topicaction"}%
		}
	 </td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body>
</verbatim>
</td></tr>
</table >

Test template oopstest.tmpl

Each oops template basically just defines some variables and includes the base template that does the layout work.

Sample screen shot of oopstest.tmpl

With URL: .../bin/oops/Test/TestTopic2?template=oopstest&param1=WebHome&param2=WebNotify

%.TMPL:DEF{"titleaction"}% (test =titleaction=) %.TMPL:END%
%.TMPL:DEF{"webaction"}% test =webaction= %.TMPL:END%
%.TMPL:DEF{"heading"}%
Test heading %.TMPL:END%
%.TMPL:DEF{"message"}%
Test =message=. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...

   * Some more blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
   * Param1: %PARAM1%
   * Param2: %PARAM2%
   * Param3: %PARAM3%
   * Param4: %PARAM4%
%.TMPL:END%
%.TMPL:DEF{"topicaction"}%
Test =topicaction=:
[[%.WEB%.%TOPIC%][OK]] %.TMPL:P{"sep"}%
[[%.TWIKIWEB%.TWikiRegistration][Register]] %.TMPL:END%
%.TMPL:INCLUDE{"oopsbase"}%

Comments and feedback

• The itching factor to put this into the upcoming release is to easy the pending converstion of the templates into XHTML format and to have a more flexible solution for templates and skins.
• Is the terminology OK?
• Is the spec OK?
• Are there any other directives that are needed urgently?
• One drawback by using the directives is that you can only test a template from within TWiki. This is because you don't have a text that has a linear flow when you use TMPL:DEF, TMPL:P and TMPL:INCLUDE.

-- PeterThoeny? - 21 Jul 2001

• It's probably more readable to enforce variables being defined before use, which would avoid need for slower two-pass processing.
  • [ PeterThoeny? ] You need two-pass processing because you need to define the "|" separator in the included template onone side, and on the other side define variables for the included template. The processing happens as regex in memory, so there is no mesurable speed penalty.
• It would be nice to simplify the syntax a bit, e.g. not using "" around variable names (they don't really need it, unlike filenames), and not using braces - however, this is not a big deal and there is some merit in keeping consistent with the current TWiki syntax.
  • [ PeterThoeny? ] The templating system uses the standard internal TWiki function to parse variable attributes. The "" can be skipped (is possible but is not documented).

Please have a look at the latest templates in the TWikiAlphaRelease? . There is now one master template called twiki.tmpl that all other templates include (well, will include when all done). The idea is to define all common parts of the templates in twiki.tmpl and simply use that from all other templates.

I.e. the preview.tmpl template is now simply:

%TMPL:INCLUDE{"twiki"}%
%TMPL:DEF{"titleaction"}% (oops) %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"webaction"}% *Attention* %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"heading"}% Topic is not saved yet %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"message"}%
  Please go back in your browser and save the topic. %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"topicaction"}% %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:P{"oops"}%

With this it should be possible to create a skin that overloads just the twiki.tmpl, i.e. a twiki.print.tmpl that redefines the header and footer.

-- PeterThoeny? - 23 Jul 2001
-- MikeMannix? - 30 Aug 2001