Customizing Template

A template is a zip file of code snippets needed to generate the output files. Template is fully customizable, you can customize the default template shipped with the product to suit your own needs in your web applications.

Customizing templates requires necessary knowledge in the related web technologies, HTML and JavaScript, and understanding on how template works. Please read the follows carefully before customizing the template.

The template engine is Windows Script and the scripting language is VBScript, to customize template you need to have basic knowledge of VBScript. If you are not familiar with the scripting language, refer to the VBScript User's Guide and VBScript Language Reference.

Zipped Template, Unzipped Template and Template Cache

To generate output files, the code generator first unzips the template to the subfolder \<product name>\Templates\<template name> under your Documents folder, pre-processes the scripts in the template into template cache, then use the template cache to generate output files. If the unzipped template already exists, the code generator will skip the unzip process and reuse the template cache so the time required for generation is minimized.

If you want to customize a template, normally you customize the files in the zipped template, but you'll need to zip it back after customization, for example, by dragging the customized files back to the zipped template. The unzipped template under the Documents folder provides an optional way to customize the template without re-zipping the template. Either way, you should zip it back after all the customizations are done.

Note: The Documents folder is your personal folder in which you can store your personal files. For example, in Windows XP, the actual location of the Documents folder is C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\My Documents by default, where C is the drive in which Windows is installed, and <user name> is the currently logged-on user. In Windows Vista (or later), the folder is C:\Users\<user Name>\Documents.

If you prefer to work with the unzipped template but you have not generated any files yet, do once first. Then you can modify the unzipped files under the subfolder named "Script". For example, if the template archive is named as "default.zip", it will be unzipped to the folder <document folder>\<product name>\Templates\default.zip\, you can modify files under the subfolder "Script" under it.

Note: The customized files will not be zipped back to the template archive automatically. It you want to transfer or share your template, you need to zip the template files back to a template archive yourself. When you zip the template files, make sure you zip the files and subfolders in the unzipped folder, not the unzipped folder itself. Otherwise there will be one level different.

Using above example, you should add the files and subfolders under <document folder>\<product name>\Templates\default.zip\ to the template archive, NOT the whole folder.

When changes in the zipped template is detected, the code generator will ask you to confirm overwriting the old unzipped version, you should answer carefully, especially if you've implemented some customizations previously. Always back up your customized template first!

Control File

The core of the template file is a control file named control.xml. It is an XML file containing all the necessary instructions for the generation process. During generation the code generator will parse the control.xml and follows the instructions to generate the output files one by one. If you want to add an output file, you need to add a <control> tag in the control file. If the file is to be included in other file(s), you may need to add <session> tags in control.xml also. See Control File for details.

Language Files

All the phrases in the template are separated into a single XML language file for easy translation to other languages and sharing. If you want to translate a template, this should be the only file you need to translate.

Language files are placed in the subfolder "languages" under the installed folder. The files are used for all templates.

You can edit or even add your own phrases. Just open the language file with any text or XML editor, edit/add your <phrase> nodes. Make sure you provide an unique id to each phrase. The id must be alphanumerical only.

The phrases are not limited to text, you can use HTML tags if applicable. However, note that a language file is an XML file, when you edit the file, make sure that you keep it well-formed. If you use HTML tags or special characters in the attributes of the XML tags, you need to use entity references. For example, to insert the ">" symbol, you need to use "&lt;". Make sure your characters are supported by the encoding of the XML file specified in the processing instruction node (the first line). You can load the file in Internet Explorer or Firefox to check if the file is still well-formed, if it is, the browsers should be able to load and display it without any errors.

Read Tools on how to select language file(s) for a mulit-language project before generation.

Note: Only the English language file is provided by our products, you'll need to prepare the language files for other languages yourself. You may check our website and see if there are any user submitted language files. If you want to share your language files with others (without any conditions), you can submit your language file to us too.

File Encoding

The template files and output files are in ASCII encoding by default. Since the phrases are separated into XML language files in utf-8 encoding, ASCII encoding will suit most cases as the scripts contain code only. When you customize a template, it is recommended you use the language file also. If you have to put unicode characters directly in the template files, you must always use utf-8 and save the file in utf-8 encoding with the byte order mark (EF BB BF), and enable the Advanced Setting UTF-8 output Files (see Tools) to make the code generator output files in utf-8 encoding.

General Layout

To change the general layout, just modify the file "template.php" in the template. This file will be generated as header and footer.

Images and Subfolders

If you want to add or change images, you can add to the "images" subfolder. The "images" folder will be copied to the destination folder by default. If you add new subfolders, you also need to add a <control> tag in the control file.

Template Tags and Object Properties

The code generator processes the Template Tags, assembles the output files using the code snippets from template files and generate code according to Template Object Properties. Template object properties are project settings either inputted from the user interface or restored from a project file. Template Tags are in the format of HTML comment, when you customize template you should use an editor that will not unexpectedly alter or remove the HTML comments, otherwise incorrect result may occur.

User Code File

Advanced users can customize the dynamically generated code by overriding an existing template tag using User Code. To override an existing template tag, you need to add your own function in the User Code File. (See Using User Code.) By default, the User Code File is named as "usercode.vbs" and can be found under the "src" subfolder of the installed directory.

You can use your own custom functions in the template. To use custom functions, write and put them in the User Code File. Then just use template tag to call them in the template. (See Using User Code)

Extensions

Integrating third-party tools can be done by extensions. An extension is modification of template to make the template supports additional feature(s) implemented in the extension. An extension has the same structure as template and you can modify them in exactly the same way as modifying the main template. Extensions are processed after the main template, it may add or change some files in the template. Extension supports User Code also.

Extensions files (in zipped format) must be placed under the subfolder "extensions" of the installation folder. Each extension must have a XML description file so the product can load the available extensions in the user interface for selection. You can open an XML file in the "extensions" subfolder to see the content, which is self-explanatory.

Read Tools on how to select extensions for a project before generation.

Note: An extension is NOT a template, do NOT select an extension as a template for generation.

Also see Third-party Tools for more information on the third-party tools.

Also See:

Control File
Template Tags
Template Object Properties
Using User Code
Third-party Tools
Tools