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<h1>eTemplate - Templates and Dialog-Editor for eGroupWare</h1>
<h3>by Ralf Becker <a href="#" onclick="document.location='mai'+'lto:RalfBecker'+unescape('%40')+'outdoor-training'+unescape('%2E')+'de'; return false;">RalfBecker
AT outdoor-training DOT de</a></h3>
<h3>Updated by Raphael Alla <a href="#" onclick="document.location='mai'+'lto:raphael'+unescape('%40')+'olineopensolutions'+unescape('%2E')+'com'; return false;">>raphael AT olineopensolutions
DOT com</a></h3>
<p>A developers tutorial how to write an application with the new eTemplates.<br />
It is also an introduction how to write a eGW- and setup(3)-compatible app.</p>
<hr>
<h1>Introduction - The concept of the eTemplates</h1>
<p>The eTemplates
</p>
<ul>
<li>consist out of rows and cols with input-fields of several types</li>
<li>there is a dialog-editor (one part of the etemplate-app) to create the eTemplate</li>
<li>eTemplates can be (and are usually) nested, eg. a template-field can contain an other eTemplate</li>
<li>each field / cell of the template can have a label which is automaticaly run through lang() (the
content of the field can be run through lang() too)</li>
<li>the dialog editor can write all labels in a lang-file (mergeing it with the existing ones)</li>
<li>eTemplates have a name of the form app.function[.subtemplate] which is used to call them up</li>
<li>they can have further keys, on loading the class picks the most appropriate one for a user:
<ol>
<li>group: the id of a group if the template is just for that group (that allows admin to show differnt
views to each group)</li>
<li>lang: the 2 or 5 letter language code (or empty for a non-language specific template)</li>
<li>template set: they belong too (if the template-set key is empty it is an default-template)</li>
<li>version: version number like: '1.3.001'</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>they are stored in an array and in serialized form in the db-table 'egw_etemplate' </li>
<li>the dialog editor can dump all templates of an app for distribution (so they can be in the CVS too)</li>
<li><p>they encapsulate differnt UI (User Interface) types from the app: at the moment only a HTML one is ready,
but a GTK one (using <a href="http://gtk.php.net/" target="_blank">php-gtk</a>, <b>running
as native app under linux and win32</b>) and XUL is under development.<br>Here is a first screenshot of the DB-Tools as native
Linux Application:</li>
</ul>
<img src="gtk.png" name="Graphic1" align="bottom" border="0" height="575" width="1049">
</p>
<hr>
<h1>Tutorial / Example: a simple media database</h1>
<p>As an example we will run now through the necessary steps to
create a simple media database using eTemplates and other tools and
classes from the eTemplate app: db-tools and class.so_sql.inc.php.</p>
<p>Out media database should have the usual fields: name, author,
description, type: BOOK, CD, VIDEO and should be able to edit records
and search for them.</p>
<p>As a preaquistion you need to get / checkout the etemplate app,
install the app via setup/manage applications and enable your account
for using the app (Admin/User account: check eTemplates).</p>
<h2>1. Creating a new eGW app directory</h2>
<p>Each app need a name, eg. 'et_media'. We now need to create the
following directory structur above the eGroupWare dir:
</p>
<pre>et_media that has to be identical to our app-name
+ setup files necessary for the setup Programm, give the webserver write-permission to that dir
+ inc class-files
+ templates templates, still needed to store the images and get around a lot of complains from the api
+ default
+ images here goes our images / icons</pre><h2>
2. creating et_media/setup/setup.inc.php</h2>
<p>That files contains the necessary information for setup to install
the app.
</p>
<pre><?php
$setup_info['et_media']['name'] = 'et_media';
$setup_info['et_media']['title'] = 'eT-Media';
$setup_info['et_media']['version'] = '1.2';
$setup_info['et_media']['app_order'] = 100; // at the end
$setup_info['et_media']['tables'] = array('egw_et_media');
$setup_info['et_media']['enable'] = 1;
/* Dependencies for this app to work */
$setup_info['et_media']['depends'][] = array(
'appname' => 'phpgwapi',
'versions' => Array('1.2','1.3','1.4')
);
$setup_info['et_media']['depends'][] = array(
'appname' => 'etemplate',
'versions' => Array('1.2','1.3','1.4')
);</pre><h2>
3. setting up the db-table with the db_tools and setup</h2>
<p>To enable setup to create a db-table for us and to supply the
<b>so_sql</b>-class with the necessary information, we need to define
the type and size of the fields / columns in our db-table.</p>
<p><br><br>
</p>
<p><img src="dbtools.jpg" name="Graphic2" align="left" border="0" height="340" width="950"><br clear="left"><br>We
can use the db-Tools from the etemplate application to create the
file for us:
</p>
<ol>
<li>start the etemplate app and click on the button up, right which says db-Tools</li>
<li>select Application: eT-Media</li>
<li>type 'egw_et_media' in the field in front of the [Add Table] button and click on the button</li>
<li>now use [Add Column] to create thenecessary fields as shown on the screenshot</li>
<li>Click on [Write Table] (you need to give the webserver write-permission to the setup-dir of et_media
or you will get an error message, leave the write-permission as it is necessary later on too, click on write again)</li>
<li>log out and log into setup and start manage applications</li>
<li>eT-Media is shown as not installed and only install is offerd, check it and submit</li>
<li><p>you can now log out from setup, the db-table is now created</li>
<li><p>In order to be able to use your eT-Media application, do not forget to give yourself access to it
(Admin/User account: check eT-Media)</li>
</ol>
<h2>4. creating an eTemplates for the edit-dialog</h2>
<p>Now we need a nice edit dialog and use the eTemplate editor to set
it up:
</p>
<ol>
<li>start the etemplate app and type <b>'et_media.edit'</b> in the name field. Save the template in order
to create it</li>
<li>an empty template is displayed. An eTemplate can be thought off as a “grid”. The first cell may be
a bit tricky to find, but will be highlighted when moving the mouse
over it. On my computer this cell appears in pink as illustrated below:</li>
<li><img src="step0.jpg" name="Graphic3" align="left" border="0" height="509" width="922"><br clear="left">Double
click on the pink spot will bring the following dialog:</li>
<li><img src="step1.jpg" name="Graphic7" align="left" border="0" height="544" width="851"><br clear="left">The
top row allows you to add column and rows to the template. We will need 2 columns and 6 rows</li>
<li>Create the following label in the first top left cell:</li>
</ol>
<img src="step2.jpg" name="Graphic8" align="left" border="0" height="533" width="853"><br clear="left"><br>
</p>
<br>
</p>
<ol start="6">
<li>In the top right cell, we will create a user entry and call it “name”: this is the same name as thee column in our
egw_et_media table. This is important as those fields will be populated automatically for us by eGroupWare:</li>
<li><img src="step3.jpg" name="Graphic9" align="left" border="0" height="560" width="852"><br clear="left">
<p>Complete the template as follows. The widget used for “type” is a
Selectbox, the one used for “description” is a textarea. Note
that the name of the input is “descr” and not description, as
this is the name of the column in the table. Finally on the last row
we have two widgets of type “Submitbutton” of names “read”
and “save” and of corresponding label.</p>
<p><img src="step4.jpg" name="Graphic4" align="left" border="0" height="380" width="922"><br clear="left"></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Then before moving to the next stage save the template as an XML
file by clicking on “Export XML”. Once again the server must have
write permissions on the directory.</p>
<h2>5. Setting up the index page</h2>
<p>The index page is only used if someone clicks on the navbar icon
(or on the black cross as we haven't supplied one so far).<br>Create
the file <b>/et_media/index.php</b> with the following content:</p>
<pre><?php
$GLOBALS['phpgw_info']['flags'] = array(
'currentapp' => 'et_media',
'noheader' => True,
'nonavbar' => True
);
include('../header.inc.php');
$GLOBALS['egw']->redirect_link('/index.php', 'menuaction=et_media.ui_et_media.edit');
</pre>
<h2>6. The code for our application</h2>
<p>An eGroupWare application is organised around 3 application
layers:</p>
<ul>
<li>
the storage layer, managed by a “Storage Object” (so).
This object is responsible for handling all access to the storage
engine. We use the "stock" so_sql class for this, so we
need no extra so-object for the moment.
</li>
<li>
the business layer, managed by a “Business Ojbect” (bo).
This object is responsible for all the business logic.
The business object can extend the storage object,
to avoid passing the so-methods as stubs to the ui layer.
</li>
<li>
the user interface layer, managed by a “User Interface”
(ui) object. This object is responsible for all interaction with the
user, including displaying and gathering data to and from the user.
The ui object can extend the bo-object.
</li>
</ul>
<p>For this, we create 2 files in the “inc” directory, called
class.bo_et_media.inc.php and class.ui_et_media.inc.php.
In this simple application, the bo layer will be fairly minimal,
this said it is a good idea to create the application using the
right standards from the start.</p>
<p>Here is the file <b>/et_media/inc/class.bo_et_media.inc.php</b>:
</p>
<pre>
<?php
<span>/**
* eGroupWare editable Templates - Example media database (et_media)
*
* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GPL - GNU General Public License
* @package etemplate
* @subpackage et_media
* @link http://www.egroupware.org
* @author Ralf Becker <RalfBecker@outdoor-training.de>
*/</span>
include_once(EGW_INCLUDE_ROOT . '/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php');
<span>/**
* Business object for et_media
*/</span>
class bo_et_media extends so_sql
{
<span>/**
* Availible media types
*
* @var array
*/</span>
var $types = array(
'' => 'Select one ...',
'cd' => 'Compact Disc',
'dvd' => 'DVD',
'book' => 'Book',
'video' => 'Video Tape'
);
<span>/**
* Constructor initialising so_sql
*
* @return so_et_media
*/</span>
function bo_et_media()
{
$this->so_sql('et_media','egw_et_media'); <span>// calling the constructor of the extended bo object</span>
$this->empty_on_write = "''";
}
}
</pre>
<p>And finally the start of the
<b>/et_media/inc/class.ui_et_media.inc.php</b>:</p>
<pre>
<?php
<span>/**
* eGroupWare editable Templates - Example media database (et_media)
*
* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GPL - GNU General Public License
* @package etemplate
* @subpackage et_media
* @link http://www.egroupware.org
* @author Ralf Becker <RalfBecker@outdoor-training.de>
*/</span>
include_once(EGW_INCLUDE_ROOT . '/et_media/inc/class.bo_et_media.inc.php');
class ui_et_media extends bo_et_media
{
<span>/**
* Public functions callable via menuaction
*
* @var array
*/</span>
var $public_functions = array(
'edit' => True,
);
<span>/**
* Constructor
*
* @return ui_et_media
*/</span>
function ui_et_media()
{
$this->bo_et_media(); <span>// calling the constructor of the extended bo object</span>
$this->tmpl =& CreateObject('etemplate.etemplate','et_media.edit');
}
<span>/**
* Edit a media database entry
*
* @param array $content=null
* @param string $msg=''
*/</span>
function edit($content=null,$msg = '')
{
if (is_array($content)) <span>// not first call from index</span>
{
if ($content['id'] > 0)
{
$this->read($content);
}
<span>//echo "<p>edit: content ="; _debug_array($content);</span>
$this->data_merge($content);
<span>//echo "<p>edit: data ="; _debug_array($this->data);</span>
if (isset($content['save']))
{
$msg .= !$this->save() ? lang('Entry saved') : lang('Error: while saving !!!');
}
}
<span>// now we filling the content array for the next call to etemplate.exec</span>
$content = $this->data + array(
'msg' => $msg
);
$sel_options = array(
'type' => $this->types
);
$this->tmpl->exec('et_media.ui_et_media.edit',$content,$sel_options,$no_button,array(
'id' => $this->data['id']
));
}
</pre>
<p>
The edit function is called from our index.php file or as callback
for this form / dialog. In that case $content is an array with the
content the user put into the fields of the dialog.</p>
<p>Let first have a look what happend if we called the first time (or
what we do to show the dialog again with the changed data):</p>
<ol>
<li>the $content array is set up with our internal data-array (which is empty on the first call) and the message</li>
<li>$sel_options has the options for our selectbox: the options are an array where the keys are the
values returned by the selectbox and the values are what the
selectbox shows to the user. As we can have more than one selectbox
in a dialog, the key in $sel_options need to be the same as the name
of the selectbox.</li>
<li>$readonlys: if a fieldname is set in $readonlys to True, its content is showed readonly
(for regular fields like type Text) or left out for buttons (we use this later to
show the delete-button only when an entry is loaded)</li>
<li>the array $preserv is preserved, which means its stored in the app's session-data and is delivered
back like the content of the fields to the callback-function. We use
it here to store the id of the entry. This is similar to use a
hidden input-field in a form, but it does not need to be serialized
by the app and is NOT transmitted to the user and back.</li>
<li><p>at last we call etemplate::exec to show the template with the
content from $content and set the function itself as callback for
the dialog / form.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now let's have a look what happens if the user submits the form
and our callback is called:
</p>
<ol>
<li>the callback (this function) is
not the submit-address of the form, the form get's always submitted
to the function <b>process_exec</b> of the etemplate class. This
function changes for some field-types the content (eg. a date-field
consists of 3 single fields, process_exec takes care that it is
delivered back as timestamp, as we set it in content before). It can
even submit the form back to the user if for a address-selection a
search for a pattern has to be performed and the matches are shown
to the user. In this case the callback is NOT called. The same is
true if an int field contains letters or is not within the minimum
or maximum set. <i>Not all of the is allready working, it will
follow in the next days/weeks.</i><br>For the specialist
process_exec uses $_POST and ignores $_GET set as query in the url.</li>
<li>the so_sql function data_merge, copies all values from $content, which are columns in the db-table,
in our internal data array. Values which are not real data, like
buttons pressed are not copied (!).</li>
<li>if $content['save'] is set, the [Save] button has been pressed ('save' is the name NOT the label of
the save button), in that case we use so_sql's save function to save
the content of our internal data-array to the db.</li>
<li>the same check is used for the [Read]: we uses the content of all fields to search db for matching
entries. The user can use wildcards to perform a search on all
field. The wildcards are '*' and '?', so_sql translates them into sql-wildcards.</li>
<li>if the search return False we just set our message var.</li>
<li>if something is found we use so_sql's init-function to set the data of the first match. Lateron
we will show a list if more than one entry is found.</li>
<li><p>after that the content array is filled again as discriped above.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now we are able to store entries in the db and retrive them by
searching the database for patterns in the different fields. You can
try your new application now. You can create new records and save
them. By just entering the name or author, the database will find the
corresponding match and populate the form for you.</p>
<p><br>We are only lacking some way to show if we get more than one
match on a search, that's what we are going to implement next:</p>
<h2>7. adding a list-dialog for the search-function</h2>
<p>First we need to create an other eTemplate to show the list:
<b>'et_media.show'</b> as follows. This is made of a label of name
“msg” (to display messages), an HorizontalRule widget, and a
Template widget: we will use a “sub template” called
et_media.show.rows to display the rows of the search function. I have
set the option of the template widget to “entry” as this is the
name we will use to access to the data in the sub-template.
</p>
<p style=""><img src="step5.jpg" name="Graphic5" align="left" border="0" height="561" width="843"><br clear="left"><br><br>
</p>
<p style="">The 'et_media.show.rows' template is
created as a 3x2 table. On the header row, two labels “Name” and
“Author” and one empty cell.</p>
<p>ond row, two labels of name ${row}[name] and ${row}[author]. In the last cell a
submitButton of label “Edit” and of name “edit[$row_cont[id]]”
</p>
<p><img src="step6.jpg" name="Graphic6" align="left" border="0" height="515" width="847"><br clear="left"><br><br>
</p>
<p>The class of the header row is “th” and the class of the
content row is “row”. eTemplate will automatically vary the
colors of the “row” class to provide a nice visual effect.</p>
<p>Here is a view of the et_media.show template once the two
templates have been created:</p>
<p><img src="step7.jpg" name="Graphic10" align="left" border="0" height="419" width="950"><br clear="left"><br><br>
</p>
<p>We need some code / a function in the class to call the template
and fill the content:</p>
<pre>
<span>/**
* Showing entries from the media database
*
* @param array $found
*/</span>
function show($found=null)
{
if (!is_array($found) || !count($found))
{
$this->edit();
return;
}
array_unshift($found,false); <span>// change the array to start with index 1</span>
$content = array(
'msg' => lang('%1 matches on search criteria',count($found)),
'entry' => $found,
);
$this->tmpl->read('et_media.show');
$this->tmpl->exec('et_media.ui_et_media.edit',$content);
}
}
</pre><p>
This function is called by edit with the matches of a search:</p>
<ol>
<li>We build an array with all the matches, the index in that array is the row-number starting with 1(!)
($entry = array('empty') + $found; would do the same).<br />
The names in the data-row (last row) of 'et_media.show.rows' are like
'${row}[name]'. Variable expansion is performed on each name and
expands that for the first row to '1[name]' which addresses the name
in the first match.</li>
<li>$content contains again 'msg' which we set to the number of entris found and the above array with
the data of all rows under the key 'entry', as we put that in
Options for the field loading the sub-template 'et_media.show.rows'.
It not necessary to put something in Options-field / use a sub-array
for a sub-template, but it can be very helpful to organize a complex
content-array. (As an exercice you can remove 'entry' from the
Options-field and change the function arrcordingly).</li>
<li>we now explizitly read the template 'et_media.show' (the constructor reed 'et_media.edit') and
execute it again with the edit function as callback (because of
that, show does NOT need to be listed in public_functions)</li>
<li>as 'et_media.show.rows' contains only one data-row, but fieldnames with variables to expand, that row is autorepeated for as
many data we put into the content array (or the sub-array if we used the Options-field).</li>
</ol>
<p>To call the show function, we need to make some changes to the
edit-function too:</p>
<pre>
elseif (isset($content['read']))
{
unset($content['id']); <span>// not set by user, so dont use for seach</span>
unset($content['read']);
$found = $this->search($content,False,'name,author'); <span>// searches by using the no-empty fields</span>
if (!$found)
{
$msg .= lang('Nothing matched search criteria !!!');
}
elseif (count($found) == 1)
{
$this->init($found[0]); <span>// only one match --> show it in the editor</span>
}
else
{
$this->show($found); <span>// multiple matches --> use the show function/template</span>
return;
}
}
elseif (isset($content['entry']['edit'])) <span>// the callback from for the show function/template</span>
{ <span>// the id is set via the button name of '$row_cont[id]'</span>
list($id) = each($content['entry']['edit']); <span>// note its not only ['edit'] !!!</span>
if ($id > 0)
{
$this->read(array('id' => $id));
}
}
</pre>
<ol>
<li>the first part should be self-explaining, we call show with $found if it contain more than
one entry.</li>
<li>The show function uses edit as callback, the [Edit] buttons
in each row has 'edit[$row_cont[id]]' as name. If an [Edit] button
is pressed $content['entry']['edit'] is set to the id of the entry
of that row. We use that id to read the whole entry.</li>
</ol>
<p>This is what the new “show” template looks like:</p>
<p><img src="step8.jpg" name="Graphic11" align="left" border="0" height="349" width="950"><br clear="left"><br><br>
</p>
<p>While makeing this changes we can add a [Cancel] and [Delete]
button too:</p>
<pre>
elseif (isset($content['cancel']))
{
$content = array(); <span>// clear the contents</span>
}
elseif (isset($content['delete']))
{
$this->bo->so->delete($r_id);
$content = array(); <span>// clear the content</span>
}
$no_button = array( <span>// no delete button if id == 0 --> entry not saved</span>
'delete' => !$this->content['id'];
);
</pre>
<ol>
<li>on cancel we just clear the internal data-array with so_sql's init function.</li>
<li>on delete we have to call so_sql's delete before (it deletes the db-row coresponding
with our internal data-array)</li>
<li><p>the last block checks if the id field is set (it can only be
set by a read or save) and disables the [Delete] button if not
($this->db_key_cols[$this->autoinc_id] == 'id').</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course we have to add this buttons to the template
'et_media.edit'. I trust you can add 2 Submitbuttons with the names
'cancel' and 'delete', a Label and a nice helpmessages by now without
looking at a screenshot ;-).</p>
<h2>8. creating the english lang-file</h2>
<p>To get rid of the stars '*' behind each Label and to be able to
translate the app in other languages we need to create a
lang-file<br>There are 2 possibilties to create it automaticaly:</p>
<ol>
<li>Use the [Write Langfile] button in the eTemplate editor (put the app-name 'et_media' in the name-field
first)<br />That will NOT write the messages in the classes!!!</li>
<li>We can use the TranslationTools to scans our sources for lang('...') calls ([search new phrases] button).</li>
<li>Other phrases like the media types can be added manually via [Add] button in the Translation Tools.</li>
</ol>
<h2>9. dumping the eTemplate to a file for distribution</h2>
<p>To be able to put the eTemplates in CVS and to ship them with your
app, you need to dump them in a file first.
</p>
<p>This is done in the eTemplate editor by putting the app-name or an
template-name in the Name field and clicking on the button
[Dump4Setup]. This creates the file
<b>et_media/setup/etemplates.inc.php</b>. The etemplate-class loads
this file whenever it finds a new version automaticaly.</p>
<h2>10. further information</h2>
<p><b>Please note:</b> <i>all files of the et_media example can be found in the et_media sub-direcotry of
etemplate's doc directory. Symlinking or coping to the eGroupWare install directory, allows to
immediatly install it via setup.</i></p>
<ol>
<li>the <a href="reference.html">reference-documentation</a> of the eTemplates</li>
<li>for all functions and parameters of the <b>etemplate</b>-class(es) look in the
<a href="http://www.egroupware.org/egwdoc/li_etemplate.html" target="_blank">phpDocumentor docu of etemplate</a>
created from comments (yes there are comments) in the sources:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.egroupware.org/egwdoc/etemplate/api/etemplate.html" target="_blank">class.uietemplate.inc.php</a>
for the exec function</p></li>
<li><a href="http://www.egroupware.org/egwdoc/etemplate/api/boetemplate.html" target="_blank">class.boetemplate.inc.php</a>
for the variable replacement in names and about the autorepeat rows and columns</p></li>
<li><a href="http://www.egroupware.org/egwdoc/etemplate/api/boetemplate.html" target="_blank">class.soetemplate.inc.php</a>
for writeLangFile and all functions to read, store and dump an eTemplate</p></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>for all functions and parameters of the <b>so_sql</b>-class look in the comments of the file
<a href="http://www.egroupware.org/egwdoc/etemplate/api/so_sql.html" target="_blank">class.so_sql.inc.php</a></li>
<li><p>for setup, the necessary files of an app or the format of
tables_current.inc.php look at the exelent <a href="../../setup/doc/setup3.html">docu
of setup3</a> in the doc-dir of the setup app. </li>
</ol>
<h2><i>That's it</i> - please write to our <a href="#" onclick="document.location='mai'+'lto:egroupware-developer'+unescape('%40')+'lists'+unescape('%2E')+'sf.net'; return false;">developers list</a>
or <a href="http://forum.egroupware.org/" target="_blank">developer forum</a>,
if you have further questions or comments about the tutorial or eTemplate.</h2>
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