CodeBlog.ch

Concrete5 – Blocks within Templates

Posted in Concrete5 by Remo Laubacher on the April 15th, 2009

Template that contains a block

When you create a new theme you sometimes need a custom autonav layout to make sure the navigation matches the theme. You can of course create a custom template and publish it somewhere. You could also create a Concrete5 package that puts everything into a single directory. But you would still have to select that custom template a few times.

As a theme create, you can actually create a theme that contains everything out of the box. No need for the user to add a navigation!

If you’re not familiar with the process of creating a theme, you should read this tutorial first: Create a Concrete5 Theme

We’re going to modify a template. It doesn’t matter which one you choose as long as there’s a little space left for a navigation. In this tutorial, we modify this template:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

<?php
defined('C5_EXECUTE') or die(_("Access Denied."));
$this->inc('elements/header.php');
?>
<div id="logo">
    <a href="<?php echo DIR_REL?>/"><img src="<?php echo $this->getThemePath()?>/images/logo.gif" alt="Micropark Pilatus"/></a></div>
<div id="menu">
    <?php
    $nav = new Area('Navigation');
    $nav->display($c);
    ?></div>
<div id="nebenlinks">
    <?php
    $sub_nav = new Area('Sub Navigation');
    $sub_nav->display($c);
    ?></div>
<div id="page">
    <?php
    $content = new Area('Content');
    $content->display($c);
    ?></div>
<?php
$this->inc('elements/footer.php');
?>

There are two area’s we’re going to replace “Navigation” and “Sub Navigation”. The users shouldn’t be able to modify anything within these areas.

The new template looks like this:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

<?php
defined('C5_EXECUTE') or die(_("Access Denied."));
$this->inc('elements/header.php');
?>
<div id="logo">
    <a href="<?php echo DIR_REL?>/"><img src="<?php echo $this->getThemePath()?>/images/logo.gif" alt="Micropark Pilatus"/></a></div>
<div id="menu">
    <?php
    $bt = BlockType::getByHandle('autonav');
    $bt->controller->displayPages = 'top';
    $bt->controller->orderBy = 'display_asc';                    
    $bt->controller->displaySubPages = 'none';                    
    $bt->render('templates/header_nav');
    ?></div>
<div id="nebenlinks">
    <?php
    $bt_links = BlockType::getByHandle('autonav');
    $bt_links->controller->displayPages = 'top';
    $bt_links->controller->orderBy = 'display_asc';                    
    $bt_links->controller->displaySubPages = 'none';                    
    $bt_links->render('view');
    ?></div>
<div id="page">
    <?php
    $content = new Area('Content');
    $content->display($c);
    ?></div>
<?php
$this->inc('elements/footer.php');
?>
  • Line 9 – Instead of an area, we get the handle to our block. autonav in this case
  • Line 10-12 – These are block specific settings we have to set. Unfortunately you have to look into the code to learn about these properties (until I publish a list of them)
  • Line 13 – Output the block! The default template is called “view”. In this case we specified a custom template which we want to use. Whatever suits you!

The same thing again with our sub navigation on lines 22-26.

Done! When you now create a new page, it will always contain our navigations. And if you want to replace it, just edit your template or custom template. You’ll notice that once you’ve added a new page, you don’t see the “red rectangle” around the navigation area. The user can’t (doesn’t have to) edit the navigation anymore!

block-in-template

Please note – if you’re using a block template which has its own css file – it doesn’t get included automatically anymore! You must include it in your theme.

I showed you two different methods to add default content. Which one you choose depends on your needs and probably also on your background. If you have any further questions/problems with this tutorials, leave me a message and I’ll try to modify the tutorials if possible.

Pages: 1 2

8 Comments

8 Responses to 'Concrete5 – Blocks within Templates'

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Concrete5 – Blocks within Templates'.

  1. luix said,

    on May 12th, 2009 at 16:18:40

    Wie schaffe ich es, dass der Menüpunkt der aktuellen Seite hervorgehoben wird (active)?

  2. Remo Laubacher said,

    on May 12th, 2009 at 16:23:27

    Das ist abhängig vom Template. Im Standard-Template wird zum Beispiel die CSS Klasse “nav-selected” verwendet. Also ganz einfach im CSS eine Anweisung wie diese einfügen:

    .nav-selected {
    font-weight: bold;
    }

  3. ep2000 said,

    on September 29th, 2009 at 17:12:39

    Sprekenzie deutsch? No, not really, but I am learning C5 thanks to these tutorials. Thanks!

  4. ep2000 said,

    on September 29th, 2009 at 18:35:34

    Here are the autonav attributes and values I found by looking at the code:
    controller->orderBy = ‘display_asc’;
    //$bt_links->controller->displayUnavailablePages = ‘false’;
    $bt_links->controller->displayPages=’second_level’;
    $bt_links->controller->displaySubPages = ‘none’;
    $bt_links->controller->displaySubPageLevels = ‘enough’;
    $bt_links->render(‘view’);
    ?>

    ‘orderBy’
    ‘display_asc’ - in their sitemap order
    ‘display_desc’ - in reverse sitemap order
    ‘chrono_desc’ - with the most recent first
    ‘chrono_asc’ - with the earliest first
    ‘alpha_asc’ - in alphabetical order
    ‘alpha_desc’ - in reverse alphabetical order

    ‘displayUnavailablePages’
    ?’true’/'false’? (not sure if value be quoted)

    ‘displayPages’
    ‘top’ - at the top level
    ’second_level’ - at the second level
    ‘third_level’ - at the third level
    ‘above’ - at the level above
    ‘current’ - at the current level
    ‘below’ - at the level below
    ‘custom’ - beneath a particular page

    ‘displaySubPages’
    ‘none’ - none
    ‘relevant’ - Relevant sub pages
    ‘relevant_breadcrumb’ - Display breadcrumb trail
    ‘all’ - Display all

    ‘displaySubPageLevels’
    ‘enough’ - Display sub pages to current
    ‘enough_plus1′ - Display sub pages to current +1
    ‘all’ - Display all
    ‘custom’ - Display a custom amount

    ‘render’
    ‘view’ – use default view
    ‘templates/custom_view’ – apply custom template

  5. Mark A. said,

    on November 8th, 2009 at 07:54:19

    Die Zeilenangaben passen überhaupt nicht zum angezeigten Code.

    Gruß

  6. Remo Laubacher said,

    on November 8th, 2009 at 10:19:35

    Hab’s korrigiert! Danke!

  7. Pixelfixer said,

    on June 1st, 2010 at 16:08:32

    I used this method to modify the “full width” page type, adding a phone number above the navigation. But when I view the site following the update, the phone number is located below the navigation. If I go back to the “full width” template, the phone number is in the correct location. Why is it flipping positions on the child pages?

  8. Remo Laubacher said,

    on June 3rd, 2010 at 09:40:17

    I doubt that’s related to this block. You should probably use a forum and post a link to the site – it’s a lot easier to help you if it isn’t just about theory.

Leave a Reply