[Phpgroupware-developers] tips for porting your application to xslt

[ceb]

hey,
some more introduction how to port your app to use the xslt framework:

you add a xsl tpl file with '$GLOBALS['phpgw']->xslttpl->add' and for the
vars you use 'set_var'. this is all, since the final parsing is done by
the framework now. also you shouldnt create an extra tpl object within the
app anymore, please always use $GLOBALS['phpgw']->xslttpl, which is
created by the framework as well. the header- and navbar call are gone.

there are some requirements for the tpl names now. the main app xslt
file has to be called 'app_data.xsl'.

if an app uses extra html for the home screen data (hook_home), the tpl is
called 'extradata.xsl' (example: stocks). some more apps are
already updated to use the xslt based hook_home, i.e. news_admin.

if you want to use pages without the navbar, like a printview, this can be
done by using $GLOBALS['phpgw_info']['flags']['headonly'] = True;.

the about page now is created by using the data in setup.inc.php. no
hook_about file is needed anymore.

the help system now uses a hook_help. i moved out of the manual
app all of the app help data. only the framework help parts, like allover
descriptions of the welcome page etc still are located in manual. the
manual app will not appear in the navbar anymore. for the help
system i added a '?' at the top right navbar of each layout. about now
uses a '!'. (for the idsociety and the justweb layout we still need to
create the '!' icons. right now there are two '?')
the help system will now be available automatically for each user, like
preferences. as an example for the new help system, please have a look at
the addressbook app. there i got some conent done already so you can get
an impression on how it should work.

reiner jung (reinerj) would like to work on the help contents. please
help him out if he is asking you for facts about how your app works.

the notes app is nearly complettly ported to use xslt. this app can
be used as a simple example how to get it done.

the framework and the main services, like hook_home, hook_about, the new
help system and the graphically api-functions i.e. in class.categories and
class.nextmatchs work well so far.

at this point, the app which already use the xslt tpl system, have to be
listed in the main phpgw index.php file. this is a temporarily situation
only. otherwise we would have to add an argument to the menuaction, which
i want to avoid. when we have more apps using xslt, we could add such an
option to the menuaction for nonxslt apps only.

i think while porting the apps we sure will notice parts of the
environment which will have to be improved. comments and suggestions are
appreciated.

if you got some more questions, dont wait to ask.

happy coding
grtx. ceb