Documentation of the default skin templates

General purpose
When I started writing a skin, it took me quite some time to find out the interrelations of templates and modules (also definitions), which templates needed to be overridden and which did not. It seems there isn't a general documentation of this. So to help new skin developers, and ourselves, I would like to fill this gap. On this page I would like to get the description of the general purpose/functions of each template and also which modules are defined where.

Keep in mind that most of this architecture is simply the way the default skin does it. Just because the default skin uses twiki.tmpl to define all of its common code doesn't mean a new skin would have to do the same, or use the same template-macro names. In fact, I think that in creating a new default skin it would be a good idea to try and rethink just which elements need to be stored in a common include template. -- WalterMundt - 02 Sep 2003

Page summary:

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Twiki

template twiki

Summary	Master template: definitions are used by other templates
Last modified	10 Dec 2002

twiki.tmpl is included in: attach.tmpl, changeform.tmpl, changes.tmpl, edit.iejs.tmpl, edit.tmpl, moveattachment.tmpl, oopsaccesschange.tmpl, oopsaccesscreateweb.tmpl, oopsaccessgroup.tmpl, oopsaccessrename.tmpl, oopsaccessview.tmpl, oopsauth.tmpl, oopsbadpwformat.tmpl, oopschangepasswd.tmpl, oopsempty.tmpl, oopslocked.tmpl, oopslockedrename.tmpl, oopsmanage.tmpl, oopsmissing.tmpl, oopsmngcreateweb.tmpl, oopsmore.tmpl, oopsmoveerr.tmpl, oopsnoformdef.tmpl, oopsnotwikiuser.tmpl, oopsnoweb.tmpl, oopspreview.tmpl, oopsregemail.tmpl, oopsregexist.tmpl, oopsregpasswd.tmpl, oopsregrequ.tmpl, oopsregthanks.tmpl, oopsregwiki.tmpl, oopsrenameerr.tmpl, oopsrenamenotwikiword.tmpl, oopsresetpasswd.tmpl, oopsrev.tmpl, oopssave.tmpl, oopssaveerr.tmpl, oopssendmailerr.tmpl, oopstopicexists.tmpl, oopsupload.tmpl, oopswrongpassword.tmpl, preview.tmpl, rdiff.tmpl, renamebase.tmpl, search.tmpl, searchbookview.tmpl, searchformat.tmpl, searchrenameview.tmpl, view.plain.tmpl, view.print.tmpl, view.tmpl

(or better: included in all except for: attachagain.tmpl, attachnew.tmpl, mailnotify.tmpl, registernotify.tmpl, rename.tmpl, renameconfirm.tmpl, renamerefs.tmpl, searchmeta.tmpl, (twiki.tmpl), view.rss.tmpl).

Defines modules:

• sep
• htmldoctype
• standardheader
• simpleheader
• standardfooter
• oops It seems confusing to me to have the oops template defined in twiki.tmpl. Better in separate oops.tmpl file?

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sep

pipe character

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htmldoctype

XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Used in templates:

• attach.tmpl
• changeform.tmpl
• changes.tmpl
• edit.iejs.tmpl
• edit.tmpl
• moveattachment.tmpl
• preview.tmpl
• rdiff.tmpl
• renamebase.tmpl
• search.tmpl
• searchbookview.tmpl
• searchformat.tmpl
• searchrenameview.tmpl
• twiki.tmpl
• view.plain.tmpl
• view.print.tmpl
• view.tmpl

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standardheader

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WEBBGCOLOR
• WIKILOGOIMG
• WIKILOGOURL
• WIKILOGOALT
• WIKITOOLNAME
• WIKIWEBLIST

Calls modules:

• webaction (defined in view.tmpl) Could be defined in twiki.tmpl?
• titleaction (defined in view.tmpl) Could be defined in twiki.tmpl?
  • Probably not - the reason these are used in twiki.tmpl is so that the individual template pages can define them; then, when they include the common twiki.tmpl, it will use these definitions to customize the stardard header and footer elements. -- WalterMundt

Uses other elements:

• breadcrumb Should be put into new module

Used in templates:

• changes.tmpl
• rdiff.tmpl
• search.tmpl
• searchbookview.tmpl
• searchformat.tmpl
• searchrenameview.tmpl
• view.tmpl

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simpleheader

Used on form pages as simple header with less links to not distract user.

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WEBBGCOLOR
• WIKILOGOIMG
• WIKILOGOURL
• WIKILOGOALT
• WIKITOOLNAME

Calls modules:

• titleaction (defined in view.tmpl)
• webaction (defined in view.tmpl)
• headerhelp Not sure why this is here. headerhelp is defined in several places: preview.tmpl, attachnew.tmpl and attachagain.tmpl.
  • This is used to provide specific help for each of those pages within the header. Since the header is defined in the common file, there has to be a macro from the individual files that allows them to set what help to place there. This is a similar principle to webaction and topicaction above. -- WalterMundt

Used in templates:

• attach.tmpl
• changeform.tmpl
• edit.iejs.tmpl
• edit.tmpl
• moveattachment.tmpl
• preview.tmpl
• renamebase.tmpl
• twiki.tmpl (oops def)

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standardfooter

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WEBBGCOLOR

Calls modules:

• topicaction (defined in view.tmpl) Could be defined in twiki.tmpl?

Used in templates:

• attach.tmpl
• changeform.tmpl
• changes.tmpl
• edit.iejs.tmpl
• edit.tmpl
• moveattachment.tmpl
• preview.tmpl
• rdiff.tmpl
• renamebase.tmpl
• search.tmpl
• searchbookview.tmpl
• searchformat.tmpl
• searchrenameview.tmpl
• twiki.tmpl
• view.tmpl

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oops

Used on all oops pages (see below).

Calls modules:

• htmldoctype (defined in twiki.tmpl)
• simpleheader (defined in twiki.tmpl)
• heading (defined in each oops template - this is the main heading
• message (defined in each oops template) - this is the error message
• standardfooter (defined in twiki.tmpl)

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WIKITOOLNAME
• HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW (default empty variable)

Uses other elements:

• a new < head > section
• < meta name="robots" content="noindex" / >

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View

template view

Summary	Main topic view - the standard regular Web page
Last modified	8 Jan 2003

Defines modules:

• titleaction
• webaction
• topicaction

Uses other elements:

• CHARSET (defined as $siteLocale in TWiki.cfg)
• TEXT (the topic txt file)
• META{"form"}
• META{"attachments"}
• A closing line with revision information (REVINFO)
• META{"moved"} (if the topic was moved (renamed) and link to put it back)

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WEBCOPYRIGHT

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titleaction

Uses other elements:

• REVTITLE

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webaction

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WEBTOPICLIST

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topicaction

The area with action links (Edit, Attach, Ref-by, etc.).

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

Calls modules:

• standardfooter

Uses other elements:

• EDITTOPIC
• REVISIONS

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template view.plain

Summary	Skin to view the topic text only, without navigation and command links.
Last modified	10 Dec 2002

Contains TWikiPreferences variables:

• WIKITOOLNAME
• HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW (default empty variable)

Calls modules:

• htmldoctype

Uses other elements:

• TEXT
• META{"form"}
• META{"attachments"}

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template view.print

Summary	Skin for printable topic view with a simple header/footer
Last modified

template view.rss

Summary	Skin for topic view in RDF XML format
Last modified

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Edit

template edit

Summary	Main edit window
Last modified

template edit.iejs

Summary	Edit window with IE-specific JavaScript
Last modified

Preview

template preview

Summary	Preview topic changes screen
Last modified

Attach

template attach

Summary	Attach (FileAttachments ) control screen
Last modified

template attachagain

Summary	Attachment control screen
Last modified

template attachnew

Summary	Attachment control screen
Last modified

template moveattachment

Summary	Move attachment control screen
Last modified

Rename

template rename

Summary	Rename/move control screen (choose web & new topic title)
Last modified

template renamebase

Summary	Used by other rename templates
Last modified

template renameconfirm

Summary	Confirm screen when rename is pre-specified, for example undoing a rename
Last modified

template renamerefs

Summary	Display if rename done, but some references not changed (topics were locked)
Last modified

Search

template search

Summary	Search screen
Last modified

template searchbookview

Summary	Search results with full topic content (BookView)
Last modified

template searchformat

Summary	Search screen for formatted search
Last modified

template searchmeta

Summary	Search screen
Last modified

template searchrenameview

Summary	Used by rename to list references to topic being renamed
Last modified

Oops

template oopsaccesschange

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsaccesscreateweb

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsaccessgroup

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsaccessrename

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsaccessview

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsauth

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsbadpwformat

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopschangepasswd

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsempty

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopslocked

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopslockedrename

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsmanage

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsmissing

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsmngcreateweb

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsmore

Summary	More topic actions screen (rename/move/set parent/view revisions)
Last modified

template oopsmoveerr

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsnoformdef

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsnotwikiuser

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsnoweb

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsnoweb

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopspreview

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsregemail

Summary	Error message when email address is not valid
Last modified

template oopsregexist

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsregpasswd

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsregrequ

Summary	Error message for not filling in required fields
Last modified

template oopsregthanks

Summary	Feedback screen after successful registration
Last modified

template oopsregwiki

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsrenameerr

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsrenamenotwikiword

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsresetpasswd

Summary	Feedback screen after submitting new password
Last modified

template oopsrev

Summary	to write
Last modified

template oopssave

Summary	Error message: Inproper use of the save script
Last modified

template oopssaveerr

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopssendmailerr

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopstopicexists

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopsupload

Summary	Error message
Last modified

template oopswrongpassword

Summary	Error message
Last modified

Other

template changeform

Summary	Control screen to change the form in edit mode
Last modified

template changes

Summary	Displays list of recently changed topics
Last modified

template mailnotify

Summary	Email notification
Last modified

template rdiff

Summary	Displays text changes before & after Diffs
Last modified

template registernotify

Summary	Registration notification
Last modified

Discussion

Thank You! I've been printing out the template files and marking them all up in five different highlighter colors trying to figure everything out on my own before finding this. Unfortunately this doc is nearly three years old, does anyone know offhand of any major updates we should add? I'll add any updates or suggestions I find as I go through this process myself.

-- AmandaSmith - 16 Jan 2006