Jørn Wildt

No problem J?rn, I understood well that it was a joke and was not upset at all :D

I guess I just don't see that big a difference in the terms 'theme' and 'template'. Both are used to format a page via an HTML definition. And why this can't be done with basic HTML files, as Autotheme does, is beyond me. Generate the content in variables, replace the content codes in the HTML template with the content of the variables, and output the result. Simple, easy to understand, and just as flexible.

Anyways, my basic questions haven't been answered. What functions would not be available if pnRender isn't used? What does the reliance on Smarty give to the module that's not available by using HTML templates? Is it a speed issue?

And my other question. I already have Smarty installed on my site, as it is being used by a separate application. What effect will installing a second copy of Smarty via pnRender have on the first installation?

- Alan

[Edited on 1/3/2004 by AlanT]

Nothing will work. Beware that PostNuke .8 will depend on pnRender, so if you want to upgrade, you need it.



pnRender is a HTML template system!



Theme = the overall setup with stylesheets, images, HTML/PHP templates etc.
Template = a single HTML template file.



The installation of pnRender's Smarty may cause problems. See for instance http://www.elfisk.dk/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=7&pid=16.

I guess you're just not understanding my questions. My questions about the functionality that pnRender adds are meant to pull out the advantages of developing your module using that system as opposed to developing your system to use HTML templates instead.

Maybe I should ask: Why did you decide that you needed to use a Smarty-based templating system when using HTML templates could accomplish the same thing?

And since I use MD-Pro, to upgrade that system, I would not need to accept pnRender. Only if I decide to use a module dependant on that particular template/theme module.

You say that installing a second copy of Smarty could cause problems with my original application. Enough said. The original application is the membership management program for my site, and is far more important than any content module could be. I will not risk having that program crash.

The page you directed me to read says nothing about having 2 installations of Smarty, but is talking about converting PostCalendar to work with pnRender. This is complete non-applicable to my situation. Are we having a language barrier problem?

I would expect that having 2 installations of Smarty would only use more disk space on the server. However, I understand that there may be other factors at work under the surface.

I would like to use your module, but I am just trying to understand things before I take a chance on crashing my current setup.

Then I'm unable to answer your question, sorry, since I don't know what you mean by "HTML templates" - is it something that comes with PHP or?



Yes - the problem arises because of a dual installation of Smarty. Anyway - installing Smarty twice need not give any problems, but it may potentially - that depends quite a lot on how the different applications uses Smarty. So you will have to try for your self. I can although not guarantee that pnRender won't make trouble.

I really appreciate your efforts in trying to answer my questions. Sorry if I seem to be a pain on this issue.

What I mean by HTML templates is what happens normally with the News module in Autotheme (and maybe in other theme systems too - I don't know). Article summaries and full articles both use an HTML template that defines what database content (hometext, bodytext, author, post-date, etc.) will be displayed, and how it will be laid out.

It would seem to me that any module (not just Pagesetter) could use the same logic to provide the webmaster the ability to define layout templates using plain HTML and some content codes, like in the News situation above. With this type of setup, complete control over formatting and layout is possible without using Smarty.

My questions are to learn what Smarty offers the module developer (and user) in terms of functions and performance that using the News-type of HTML templates can't do?

- Alan

If I may jump in here, Smarty is an order of magnitude more feature-rich than what we have used in the past. Smarty has the ability to do the same things as the HTML templates that you are familiar with. However, they do so much more than that. It's like a Swiss Army Knife for page layout.

Smarty is a subproject of PHP and it located at smarty.php.net.

If I might make a suggestion... check out the crash course page on the site and skim through the documentation of the built-in Smarty functions. That should bring you closer to understanding why people are choosing to use it. Another desirable feature of Smarty is the plug-in architecture which allows us as programmers to build our own Smarty extensions. Jorn has already done that to exploit Pagesetter-specific functionality.

It is because it is so powerful and extensible that the PN team decided to incorporate it into the PN core in version 0.8. It is for the same reason that module developers have been using it. Postcalendar does. So does Pagesetter.

Because it is possible for one site to have multiple modules that use Smarty, there are potential issues. The link that Jorn posted helps solve some of those issues with Postcalendar.