[ic] Templating in 5.3.1

[Andreas Grau]

Kevin Walsh wrote:
> Andreas Grau [agrau at esquat.com] wrote:
> 
>>The variable reference @_LEFTRIGHT_TOP_@ and @_LEFTRIGHT_BOTTOM_@ in
>>pages/index.html is a leftover (which could be used by defining them in
>>variables/) and is not used. Right ?
> 
> Those are used, and are the most important parts.  See the
> LEFTRIGHT_TOP and LEFTRIGHT_BOTTOM files in your "templates/regions"
> directory.  The variables are picked up from that directory because
> of the "DirConfig Variable templates/regions" directive in your
> "catalog.cfg" file.

Ok. Makes sense. I haven't noticed the DirConfig.

> The LEFTRIGHT_TOP file/variable defines a bunch of named [output] areas.
> The LEFTRIGHT_BOTTOM file/variable also defines a couple of named
> [output] areas but, more importantly, handles the actual output of
> these areas.

So, eg, output="[control output left] make this component enter the 
{{LEFT}} area that is later used in the file include/layout/leftright

>>Below are a couple of [component group=vertical output="[control output
>>left]"] (which are referred to as 'Slots') in the admin - what do they do
> 
> Note the [component] tag's output="foo" parameter.  This forces the
> component's HTML into a named output area, for later use by [unpack],
> as described above.

Looking into pages/index.html, I see the different components for this 
particular page. Is the assumption thus right, that the order of the 
components listed must match the component slots from LEFTRIGHT_TOP. 
With the consequence that, if I add a slot to a region, I must fix all 
pages/ that use LEFTRIGHT_TOP, otherwise my layout will break ?

>>{{:DEFAULT}} is the content from pages/index.html ?
> The "{{:DEFAULT}}" area is used if no output area name is currently
> defined.  Note the [output name=""] at the end of the LEFTRIGHT_TOP
> file.

So this is just a dummy for html disaster prevention

> I hope this fills in some gaps.  Someone will correct me if any of
> the above is inaccurate or incomplete.

You certainly did !

Andreas