Noob looking for detailed answers

XTREEMMAK	#1 2011-10-07 16:29
Members	Hi everyone, I just started using Cotonti yesterday and so far I love it. I'm a tad edgy considering the size and frequency of the community here but I'm giving this a go regardless because I think I'd want to incorporate this management framework within my current website. Anyway to start, this is my current website: http://www.keyjaycompound.com What I've been trying to find and haven't really found any solid information yet is: 1. Proper or practical format of Themes. I know that most of the themes are consisting of tpl files based on the documentation, but looking through some of them, I did notice a couple PHP files and I dont know why or if thy are necessary. 2. How exactly to get the core tag list. I looked through the forum and found a detailed list of all the variables, but I did notice that a few values were missing, such as {PAGE_FILE_ICON} Those are my two biggest things right now. Everything else is looking good. With all hopes, I hope this project remains active as I haven't (besides Hotaru CMS) ran into a project like this and I think your support is greater than Hotaru. I'd just like a few more guides made or something, even though for the most part I'm not having too much trouble figuring this out. Thanks guys and looking forward to your response!

XTREEMMAK

#1 2011-10-07 16:29

Hi everyone,

I just started using Cotonti yesterday and so far I love it. I'm a tad edgy considering the size and frequency of the community here but I'm giving this a go regardless because I think I'd want to incorporate this management framework within my current website.

Anyway to start, this is my current website:
http://www.keyjaycompound.com

What I've been trying to find and haven't really found any solid information yet is:

1. Proper or practical format of Themes. I know that most of the themes are consisting of tpl files based on the documentation, but looking through some of them, I did notice a couple PHP files and I dont know why or if thy are necessary.

2. How exactly to get the core tag list. I looked through the forum and found a detailed list of all the variables, but I did notice that a few values were missing, such as {PAGE_FILE_ICON}

Those are my two biggest things right now. Everything else is looking good.
With all hopes, I hope this project remains active as I haven't (besides Hotaru CMS) ran into a project like this and I think your support is greater than Hotaru. I'd just like a few more guides made or something, even though for the most part I'm not having too much trouble figuring this out.

Thanks guys and looking forward to your response!

Dyllon	#2 2011-10-07 17:23
Contributors Thanked: 16 times	Hello there! Although Cotonti doesn't have the biggest community, and support is rather limited; Those who do help know what they are doing. With that said, I believe you have made a great decision by choosing Cotonti for your website. Now to answer your questions: Every theme consists of those TPL files you mentioned (for each individual page). In addition there are a few PHP files associated to every theme as well. theme_name.en.lang.php - This file(s) allows your site to be multi-lingual by having individual language packs. Cotonti by default comes with core language packs, but each theme will need their own as well. Note the "en" part is interchangable with each language abreviation (i.e. en=english, ru=russion). If you open the english language pack you will see something similar to this: $L['Contact'] = 'Contact'; Now in your TPL files that value can be called by using this tag: {PHP.L.Contact} theme_name.php - This file defines your themes name, and the schemes associated with it. It is done so through this portion of the file: /* ==================== [BEGIN_COT_THEME] Name=Nemesis ver. 1.00 Schemes=default:Default [END_COT_THEME] ==================== / theme_name.rc.php* - I believe it's in footer.tpl now, but there is a tag {FOOTER_RC}, which contains these javascript/css files that you want includes. I know we used to have a complete tag list, but unfortunatly I don't remember where it is located. I'm sure someone will reply to this thread with a direct link though (if it still exists). If you have any more questions please feel free to ask, i'd be glad to help you out! We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

Dyllon

#2 2011-10-07 17:23

Contributors
Thanked: 16 times

Hello there!

Although Cotonti doesn't have the biggest community, and support is rather limited; Those who do help know what they are doing. With that said, I believe you have made a great decision by choosing Cotonti for your website. Now to answer your questions:

Every theme consists of those TPL files you mentioned (for each individual page). In addition there are a few PHP files associated to every theme as well.

theme_name.en.lang.php - This file(s) allows your site to be multi-lingual by having individual language packs. Cotonti by default comes with core language packs, but each theme will need their own as well. Note the "en" part is interchangable with each language abreviation (i.e. en=english, ru=russion). If you open the english language pack you will see something similar to this:
```
$L['Contact'] = 'Contact';
```
Now in your TPL files that value can be called by using this tag:
```
{PHP.L.Contact}
```
theme_name.php - This file defines your themes name, and the schemes associated with it. It is done so through this portion of the file:
```
/* ====================
[BEGIN_COT_THEME]
Name=Nemesis ver. 1.00
Schemes=default:Default
[END_COT_THEME]
==================== */
```
theme_name.rc.php - I believe it's in footer.tpl now, but there is a tag {FOOTER_RC}, which contains these javascript/css files that you want includes.

I know we used to have a complete tag list, but unfortunatly I don't remember where it is located. I'm sure someone will reply to this thread with a direct link though (if it still exists).

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask, i'd be glad to help you out!

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

pieter	#3 2011-10-07 17:30
Team Thanked: 9 times	If you are looking for the tags. There is a way to display them. See:http://www.cotonti.com/docs/ext/themes/cotemplate_debug_mode ... can we help you ...

GHengeveld	#4 2011-10-07 20:02
Team Thanked: 52 times	Hi and welcome to the Cotonti community. Yes, we're not one of the big guys, but we do have a small team of active developers that are very willing to help. For most beginners Cotonti is attractive because it is easy to learn and understand. Because the Cotonti codebase is very small it's easy to find what you're looking for. The fact that most of the code is procedural (not object-oriented), it is very easy to read and understand. The best way to find what you're looking for is to look at the code itself. You can find all the TPL tags in the files in the 'inc' folder in most modules. For example most tags for pages are in modules/page/inc/page.main.php and page.functions.php. Maybe its not as simple as a list of all the tags, but it will give you valuable insight in how the system works. If you're going to create your own theme, it's easiest to copy an existing one and modify that.

GHengeveld

#4 2011-10-07 20:02

Team
Thanked: 52 times

Hi and welcome to the Cotonti community. Yes, we're not one of the big guys, but we do have a small team of active developers that are very willing to help. For most beginners Cotonti is attractive because it is easy to learn and understand. Because the Cotonti codebase is very small it's easy to find what you're looking for. The fact that most of the code is procedural (not object-oriented), it is very easy to read and understand.

The best way to find what you're looking for is to look at the code itself. You can find all the TPL tags in the files in the 'inc' folder in most modules. For example most tags for pages are in modules/page/inc/page.main.php and page.functions.php. Maybe its not as simple as a list of all the tags, but it will give you valuable insight in how the system works.

If you're going to create your own theme, it's easiest to copy an existing one and modify that.

Kingsley	#5 2011-10-08 01:06
Donator Thanked: 7 times	I create websites as a hobby, and I can tell you that Cotonti is one of the best systems to work with (over the years I tested quite some cms, and always came back to this one and it's predecessor LDU). Oke, the base is small, and support may not always be what you expect it to be (in comparison with the larger cms like drupal a.o.) but it's very easy to learn, and (personal opinion) in some uses quite unique (that's why I like it so much). As GHengeveld says, it's best to use a base skin (for 0.6.20 sed-light and for 0.9.5 Nemesis) as an example and create your own from there. Those skins use the most frequently used tags, so it's a good start. It's worth your while to give this small community your attention/love.. It will pay off..Personally I find it to be a good thing, coz the lines are quite short, and talking with an programmer which stands close to the project isn't hard at all, something that can be quite impossible with the larger cms's out there..

Kingsley

#5 2011-10-08 01:06

Donator
Thanked: 7 times

I create websites as a hobby, and I can tell you that Cotonti is one of the best systems to work with (over the years I tested quite some cms, and always came back to this one and it's predecessor LDU). Oke, the base is small, and support may not always be what you expect it to be (in comparison with the larger cms like drupal a.o.) but it's very easy to learn, and (personal opinion) in some uses quite unique (that's why I like it so much).
As GHengeveld says, it's best to use a base skin (for 0.6.20 sed-light and for 0.9.5 Nemesis) as an example and create your own from there. Those skins use the most frequently used tags, so it's a good start.

It's worth your while to give this small community your attention/love.. It will pay off..Personally I find it to be a good thing, coz the lines are quite short, and talking with an programmer which stands close to the project isn't hard at all, something that can be quite impossible with the larger cms's out there..

Twiebie	#6 2011-10-08 01:55
Team Thanked: 74 times	#30934 Kingsley: It's worth your while to give this small community your attention/love.. It will pay off..Personally I find it to be a good thing, coz the lines are quite short, and talking with an programmer which stands close to the project isn't hard at all, something that can be quite impossible with the larger cms's out there.. Very true.