TMPL:INCLUDE recursion for piecewise customization, or mixing in new features

3. Causing variable expansion in a section

4. Specifying variables to be expanded individually

You may want to mix variables to be expanded and variables not to be. By prepending a variable name with EOTC__ (EOTC followed by two underscores; EOTC stands for Expand On Topic Creation), you can have the variable expanded.

Here's an example.

%EOTC__SEARCH{"."
 topic="%URLPARAM{prefix}%*"
 nonoise="on"
 format="$percntINCLUDE{$topic}$percnt" separator="$n"
}%

The above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag named templatetopic specifies ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic to use. Here is the raw text of the form:

%EDITFORMFIELD{ "new" type="start" action="edit" topic="Sandbox.%TOPIC%" }%
   * New example topic: 
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "topic" type="text" value="ExampleTopicAUTOINC0001" size="30" }%
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "templatetopic" type="hidden" value="%SYSTEMWEB%.ExampleTopicTemplate" }%
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "topicparent" type="hidden" value="%HOMETOPIC%" }%
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "onlywikiname" type="hidden" value="on" }%
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "onlynewtopic" type="hidden" value="on" }%
     %EDITFORMFIELD{ "form" type="submit" value="Create" }%
%EDITFORMFIELD{ "form" type="end" }%

Example:

• BlogAUTOINC0001-my-first-blog - creates topic name Blog0001-my-first-blog
• BlogAUTOINC0001-my-crazy-cats - creates topic name Blog0002-my-crazy-cats
• BlogAUTOINC0001-fondue-recipe - creates topic name Blog0003-fondue-recipe

1. WebTopicEditTemplate in the Main web

• ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
• WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
• TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation

• ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
• WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
• TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation

Note:

<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{save}%/Sandbox/" method="post">
    ...
</form>

The edit and save scripts understand many more parameters, see TWikiScripts#edit and TWikiScripts#save for details.

1. Default variable expansion

The following variables used in a template topic automatically get expanded when new topic is created based on it:

2. Preventing variable expansion

In a template topic, embed text that you do not want expanded inside a %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% ... %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% section. For example, you might want to write this in the template topic:

%NOP% can be used to prevent expansion of TWiki variables that would otherwise be expanded during topic creation. For example, escape %SERVERTIME% with %SER%NOP%VERTIME%.

3. Control over variable expansion

%STARTSECTION{ type="expandvariables" }% ... %ENDSECTION{ type="expandvariables" }% 

If you have the following content in a template topic:

%STARTSECTION{ type="expandvariables" }%
   * %TWIKIWEB%.ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
   * %TWIKIWEB%.WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
   * %TWIKIWEB%.TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation
   * Sandbox.%HOMETOPIC% - try out TWiki on your own
   * Sandbox.%TOPIC%Sandbox - just for me
%ENDSECTION{ type="expandvariables" }%

you will get this raw text in new topics based on that template topic:

   * TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
   * TWiki.WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
   * TWiki.TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation
   * Sandbox.WebHome - try out TWiki on your own
   * Sandbox.JimmyNeutronSandbox - just for me

TWiki Templates

• Master Templates: Define the HTML used to display TWiki pages.
• Template Topics: Define default text when you create a new topic

Master Templates

Master templates are stored as text files with the extension .tmpl. They are usually HTML with embedded template directives. The directives are expanded when TWiki wants to generate a user interface screen.

You can save templates in other directories as long as they are listed in the {TemplatePath} configuration setting. The {TemplatePath} is defined in the Miscellaneous section of the configure page.

The out-of-the-box setting of {TemplatePath} supports the following search order to determine which template file or topic to use for a particular script or %TMPL:INCLUDE{"script"}% statement. The skin path is set as described in TWikiSkins.

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

1. TWiki.PrintSkinExampleTemplate
2. TWiki.PatternSkinExampleTemplate
3. TWiki.ExampleTemplate

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

Default master template

twiki.tmpl is the default master template. It defines the following sections.

When you create a new topic using the edit script, TWiki locates a topic to use as a content template according to the following search order:

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
2. WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web
3. WebTopicEditTemplate in the TWiki web

Variable Expansion

%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%

• Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.TWikiAdminGroup

Specifying a Form

Sometimes this isn't quite what you want, as it copies all the existing data from the template topic into the new topic. To avoid this and use the default values specified in the form definition instead, you can use the formtemplate CGI parameter to the edit script to specify the name of a form to attach.

See TWikiScripts for information about all the other parameters to edit.

Automatically Generated Topic Names

For TWiki applications it is useful to be able to automatically generate unique topicnames, such as BugID0001, BugID0002, etc. You can add AUTOINC<n> to the topic name in the edit and save scripts, and it will be replaced with an auto-incremented number on topic save. <n> is a number starting from 0, and may include leading zeros. Leading zeros are used to zero-pad numbers so that auto-incremented topic names can sort properly. Deleted topics are not re-used to ensure uniqueness of topic names. That is, the auto-incremented number is always higher than the existing ones, even if there are gaps in the number sequence.

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)

Example link to create a new topic:

[[%SCRIPTURLPATH{edit}%/%WEB%/BugIDAUTOINC00001?templatetopic=BugTemplate;topicparent=%TOPIC%;t=%SERVERTIME{"$day$hour$min$sec"}%][Create new item]]

Using Absolute vs Relative URLs in Templates

• • %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. 2024-11-01
%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.