Forums / Cotonti / Support / Simple Question

Hi eksplode,

You can manage these blocks in the .tpl files of your website.

For example if you want to remove the polls on the index, open index.tpl in your theme folder (themes/nemesis/index.tpl)

Find the block:

<!-- IF {INDEX_POLLS} -->
<div class="block">
    <h2 class="polls">{PHP.L.Polls}</h2>
    {INDEX_POLLS}
</div>
<!-- ENDIF -->

You can then simply remove it, change it, style it, etc.

The top main navigation is in the header.tpl file. Just open the file and look for:

	<ul id="nav" class="body">
		<li>
			<a href="{PHP.cfg.mainurl}" title="{PHP.L.Home}">
				{PHP.L.Home}
				<span>Start here</span>
			</a>
		</li>
		<!-- IF {PHP.cot_modules.forums} -->
		<li>
			<a href="{PHP|cot_url('forums')}" title="{PHP.L.Forums}">
				{PHP.L.Forums}
				<span>Discussions</span>
			</a>
		</li>
		<!-- ENDIF -->
		<li>
			<a href="{PHP|cot_url('page','c=news')}" title="{PHP.L.News}">
				{PHP.L.News}
				<span>Our updates</span>
			</a>
		</li>
		<!-- IF {PHP.cot_modules.rss} -->
		<li>
			<a href="{PHP|cot_url('rss')}" title="{PHP.L.RSS_Feeds}">
				RSS
				<span>Subscribe me</span>
			</a>
		</li>
		<!-- ENDIF -->
	</ul>

Here is some more information:

http://www.cotonti.com/docs/ext/themes/rendering_overview

Glad I could help! ;)

You have probably put the block right under the admin black, and before

    <!-- ENDIF -->
    <!-- IF {INDEX_POLLS} -->

place your block after the <!-- ENDIF --> but before the <!-- IF {INDEX_POLLS} -->

Everything put between the statement below is concidered te be for the administrator's eyes only. A user of visitor , whcich have lesser rights than you can't see what's in between.

<!-- IF {PHP.usr.isadmin} -->

put content here

  <!-- ENDIF -->

another example is this one:

   
    <!-- IF {INDEX_POLLS} -->

     {INDEX_POLLS}

    <!-- ENDIF -->

This statement tells the system that if  there is a poll that the block mush be shown, otherwise the content between the open and close statement will not be visible.

Here is a link that tells you more on this subject: http://www.cotonti.com/docs/ext/themes/cotemplate_advanced

To be honest I'm not sure why there's no such feature, but on the other hand the way it is now provides the developer with a system that is fully customizable. With some basic HTML/CSS knowledge you'll find yourself get the hang of it quite quickly and see the possibilities.

Personally I never really liked the feature that you can change the blocks in the admin panel on some CMS's. Most of the time you end up wanting to customize them in the template anyway.

With Cotonti you can basically drop any .TPL file in your theme folder and customize it to your needs.

Hello again guys,

I'm here with a SERIOUS question :) So, I'm getting used to cotonti little by little, but I still don't quite understand  the tpl feature.

I have my navigation block with my pages (articles) on the home page. The problem is that this block is only visible on the home page. I need my navigation on pages as well. What kind of "IF" do I need to define in order for blocks to appear in my pages? I tried to read the link that Kingsley provided above, but it contains only general information such as logical operators, etc. I need to know specifically.

Thank you. :)

Also in the administration section of your Cotonti website you will see a link to "Menu slots in tpl-files" somewhere like: www.yourdomain.com/admin.php?m=config&n=edit&o=core&p=menus and you can set your links there. Then you only need to include a {TAG}  in the header or footer tpls. 

For example, if you use the Menu slot #1 which I recommend, you would set your html links in the value box and then use the tag {PHP.cfg.menu1} which will work in any tpl. 

 I still don't quite understand  the tpl feature

One of the reasons Cotonti is so awesome is because it keeps all the PHP (logic) seperate from the HTML and styles using a very smart templating system. The template system uses TPL files to build its template. You will see you have a tpl file for each part of the website, header, footer, index and so on. This way you are never tied to certain html or styles because they are not hard coded in with the logic (PHP). 

The most important thing to remember, as Twiebie said: Your header and footer is always displayed. Only the middle bit changes depending on the page for example:

Header.tpl

Index.tpl or Page.tpl or Users.tpl etc.

Footer.tpl

Luke.