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[HOW TO - vB4] Rendering templates and registering variables - a short guide
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cellarius
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cellarius cellarius is offline 11-15-2009, 10:00 PM
Introduction

Starting with vB4, templates no longer get output using eval:
PHP Code:
eval('$mytemplate = "' . fetch_template('mytemplate') . '";'); 
is outdated.
What's more: Variables and arrays from plugins that are executed on a page no longer can automatically be accessed in the templates of that page. They need to be registered first.
.
 Basic functionality to render templates and register all variables/arrays you want to use inside

PHP Code:
/* Some Code, setting variables, (multidimensional) array */
$my_var = "abc";
$my_array = array(
        'key1' => 'value1',
        'key2' => array(' 
                'key21' => 'value21',
                'key22' => 'value22'
        ')
    );

/* render template and register variables */
$templater = vB_Template::create('mytemplate');
    $templater->register('my_var', $my_var);
    $templater->register('my_array', $my_array);
$templater->render(); 
  • The first line provides the template that is to be rendered, using the new vB_Template class (vB_Template::create). The method gets passed the name of the template as an argument.
  • The following two lines register a variable and an array that we want to use in our template. Arguments passed are 1. the name you want to use to access the variable, and 2. the variable from the code you want to register. You can register as many variables/arrays as you want. Just remember you have to register every variable and array that you want to use in your custom template in this way. If you don't register them, they will not be available.
  • The fourth line renders the template ($templater->render()).
In the template you know will be able to use the registered variables/arrays in this way:
HTML Code:
{vb:raw my_var}
{vb:raw my_array.key1}
{vb:raw my_array.key2.key21}
Note the last one: multidimensional arrays are perfectly possible.
.
.
.
Now, with the result of the rendering we can do several things:
.
Output template directly - custom pages

PHP Code:
$templater = vB_Template::create('mytemplate');
    $templater->register_page_templates(); 
    $templater->register('my_var', $my_var);
    $templater->register('my_array', $my_array);
print_output($templater->render()); 
This immediatly outputs the template. Use this if you have created your own page, for example.
Note the second line, which is special for this type of use:
PHP Code:
$templater->register_page_templates(); 
This auto-registers the page level templates header, footer and headinclude that you will use in the template of your custom page.
.
Use a template hook

PHP Code:
$templater = vB_Template::create('mytemplate');
    $templater->register('my_var', $my_var);
    $templater->register('my_array', $my_array);
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2] .= $templater->render(); 
The template will be shown using the choosen template hook (for example: $template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2]). See the dot before the = in the last line? The hook may be used by other modifications, too, so we don't want to overwrite it, but rather append our code to it, conserving everything that might already be there.
.
Save into a variable for later use in custom template
PHP Code:
$templater = vB_Template::create('mytemplate');
    $templater->register('my_var', $my_var);
    $templater->register('my_array', $my_array);
$mytemplate_rendered = $templater->render(); 
Now we have saved the rendered template into a variable. This variable in turn we can later on register in another template, if we want:
PHP Code:
$templater = vB_Template::create('my_other_template');
     $templater->register('my_template_rendered', $my_template_rendered);
 print_output($templater->render()); 
Again, inside my_other_template we now could call
HTML Code:
{vb:raw my_template_rendered}
If you're running the first template call inside a loop, you may want to use .= instead of = in the last line, so that the results of every loop get added instead of overwriting the existing. But that depends, of course.
.
Save into an array and preregister to use in an existing/stock template
PHP Code:
$templater = vB_Template::create('mytemplate');
    $templater->register('my_var', $my_var);
    $templater->register('my_array', $my_array);
$templatevalues['my_insertvar'] = $templater->render();
vB_Template::preRegister('FORUMHOME', $templatevalues); 
  • This is another, more flexible method to save the rendered template into a variable for future use in an already existing template. In this example, we want to show our own rendered template on forumhome.
  • Problem is: We have no direct way to register variables for already existing templates like FORUMHOME. It's created and rendered in the files, and we don't want to mess there.
  • To help with this, a new method was created for vB_Template class, called preRegister. Using this, we can pass our data to FORUMHOME before it is rendered. Note that the data needs to be saved into an array ($templatevalues['my_insertvar']), a simple variable will throw an error. In the last line the array is preregistered; you need to pass as arguments 1. the name of the existing template and 2. the array that contains the data. Again, this can be done for as many arrays as needed.
  • Of course, the preRegister functionality can be used for any kind of variables or arrays, no matter whether you have saved a rendered template (like in our example) into it or it contains just a simple boolean true/false statement.
To access the data inside the template it was preregistered for use:
HTML Code:
{vb:raw my_insertvar}
Note: it is not {vb:raw templatevalues.my_insertvar}!

Essentially the same as what I put for preRegister would be the following two lines. They could replace the last two lines in the above php codebox:
PHP Code:
$my_insertvar = $templater->render();
vB_Template::preRegister('FORUMHOME',array('my_insertvar ' => $my_insertvar)); 
Of course you could add further pairs to that array if you need to preregister more than one variable.
.
.
Bonus track: ...whatever you do, cache your templates!

Now you know how to get your templates on screen - once you succeeded in doing that, make sure to do it in a fast and ressource saving manner: make use of vB's template cache. To see whether your templates are cached or not, activate debug mode by adding $config['Misc']['debug'] = true;to your config.php (don't ever use that on your live site!). Among the debug info is a list of all templates called, and non-cached templates will show up in red.

To cache your templates, add a plugin at hook cache_templates with the following code:
PHP Code:
// for a single template
$cache[] = 'mytemplate'; 

// for more than one templates in one step
$cache = array_merge((array)$cache,array(
    'mytemplate',
    'myothertemplate',
    'mythirdtemplate'
)); 
.
.
Hope this helps!
-cel

----
Addendum - There are now two blog posts on vb.com related to this topic:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/entry...in-4-templates
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/entry...-4-based-files
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  #142  
Old 02-06-2011, 04:16 AM
TheInsaneManiac TheInsaneManiac is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckgreenman View Post
Hello, I hope someone can point in the right direction. I'm trying to port a mod to vb4 which has a number of templates. The php file contains a whole bunch of
Code:
eval('$template .= "' . fetch_template('templatename') . '";');
lines. The mod uses a main template which then calls the other templates from within the main template using $template references to the other templates.

I've tried a number of different iterations form the first post but I can't get anything but the main template to render. How does one go about making something like this work?


thanks.
Im wondering the same thing.
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  #143  
Old 03-05-2011, 07:07 AM
wonderfulwat wonderfulwat is offline
 
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I've created a custom template "memberaction_dropdown_one" which I want to have show up in another custom template "postbit1".

Please help show me how to declare this. If anyone has skype it would be very much appreciated if you could walk me through the process in realtime (probably 5 min max). Send me a PM.
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  #144  
Old 03-07-2011, 08:03 PM
brandondrury brandondrury is offline
 
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Just out of curiosity, is there any reason why this wouldn't work in vB 4.1.1? I'm getting some unexpected errors and wanted to rule out that element before I dig TOO deep.

Brandon
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  #145  
Old 03-11-2011, 03:50 PM
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cellarius cellarius is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brandondrury View Post
Just out of curiosity, is there any reason why this wouldn't work in vB 4.1.1?
No, none that I'm aware of. This is pretty basic vB4 architecture, and nothing did change there.
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  #146  
Old 03-18-2011, 07:51 AM
Phaedrus Phaedrus is offline
 
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This is where one of those "thank you" mods would come in handy. This was a lifesaver, I was able to upgrade a mod that I needed for any upgrade.
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  #147  
Old 03-23-2011, 04:47 PM
ninadbe ninadbe is offline
 
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Is there any way to make plugin that uses remote database connection or use to extract data from other server?
We have vbulletin forum for our site, but our site is located on one server and forum located on another server in order to avoid load.
I want to extract data from main site (which is located on another server) and display it on forum.

I tried lot , searched everywhere. But I not found any specific plugin / mod.

I created custom plugin on my own but it giving errors like
"MySql client ran out of memory"
"Invalid key error"
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  #148  
Old 03-23-2011, 05:44 PM
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cellarius cellarius is offline
 
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This is question has nothing to do with the article this discussion thread is for. Please open your own thread in an appropriate forum.
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  #149  
Old 04-01-2011, 06:29 AM
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TalkVirginia TalkVirginia is offline
 
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I'm trying to capture a rendered/parsed template to a variable like so:

PHP Code:

$templater = vB_Template::create('test');
$templater->register('userid', $userid);
$templater->register('bbtitle', $bbtitle);
$templater->register('homeurl', $homeurl);
$templater->register('forumurl', $forumurl);
$myvar = $templater->render(); 

echo $myvar; 
I would expect that myvar would contain the parsed template, but it comes up empty.

Can anyone help me?
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  #150  
Old 04-02-2011, 05:48 AM
gibigbig gibigbig is offline
 
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using in a mod:

1) make a new plugin
Hook: global_start
code:
PHP Code:
$template_hook['footer_javascript'] .= '<b>HTML goes here</b>'; 
spent a good few hours looking for how to do such a simple task this article has way over complicated.
also, tested and working in vb 4.1.2


also note that you can even make your own hook by using the code:
HTML Code:
{vb:raw template_hook.hook_name}
in any template
simple stuff.
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  #151  
Old 04-02-2011, 06:05 AM
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cellarius cellarius is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gibigbig View Post
using in a mod:

1) make a new plugin
Hook: global_start
code:
PHP Code:
$template_hook['footer_javascript'] .= '<b>HTML goes here</b>'; 
spent a good few hours looking for how to do such a simple task this article has way over complicated.
also, tested and working in vb 4.1.2
Sorry that my article turned out to be too complicated for you. If you don't want to render a template, it may have not been made for you. Anyway - leave the template rendering aside, and you have exactly your line of code at the end of the code that covers template hooks.

By the way: hook global_start is not a good choice. It does not exist in the CMS and will vanish from any part of the product that gets rewritten to the OOP framework in future.
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