Changes between Version 2 and Version 3 of DolphinTutorialMyFirstModule

Timestamp:

Jan 29, 2010, 5:42:53 AM (14 years ago)

Author:

AlexT

Comment:

--

DolphinTutorialMyFirstModule

@@ -131 +131 @@
 Now we will make some easy modifications to this page.
 But, before proceeding to any modifications, let's disable all template caches in the Dolphin admin panel -> Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Template. It will make life easier by saving some time for you - you don't need to clear the cache manually after each change.
+
+== 2.1. Change Text ==
+
+This phrase on the page is located in the language file, so all we need is to change the translation. The easiest way is to go to the Dolphin admin panel -> Settings -> Language settings and change the phrase here, but in this case the phrase will not be remembered by our module and this modification would be lost upon module reinstall. To change it in the module forever, we need to edit the '''bloggie/install/langs/en.php''' file.
+
+File content looks like this (I omitted php tags and copyright info):
+
+{{{
+$sLangCategory = 'My Bloggie';
+
+$aLangContent = array(
+    '_me_blgg' => 'My Bloggie',
+    '_me_blgg_text' => 'For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people\'s love and concern for each other.',
+);
+}}}
+
+The language file is regular php file with one array, where array indexes are language keys and values are translations. Now we need to change the translation only. Take care when editing translations, some characters must be escaped properly as it is a regular php file and regular php string. Also, if you are translating the language file to another language, you need to be sure that you are using UTF-8 encoding during editing of this file. Change it in the following way:
+
+{{{
+
+$sLangCategory = 'My Bloggie';
+
+$aLangContent = array(
+    '_me_blgg' => 'My Bloggie',
+    '_me_blgg_text' => 'Hello World!',
+);
+}}}
+
+If you are brave enough you may enter you own text.
+
+After this change, you will not see the new message on the desired page until you reinstall the module, or you can select the module in the list of installed modules in the Dolphin admin panel -> Tools -> Modules and click Recompile language(s). Now the text is changed on your page, of course, after a page refresh.
+
+But what is this good for ? A simple text page can be created using an easier method ... you maybe already know that you can create such pages in the Dolphin page builder.
+Ok, lets add some dynamics to make a difference from static pages!
+
+== 2.2. Adding dynamic content. ==
+
+For some users, it maybe useful to see the difference between server time and user time, so this change will show both server and user time.
+
+It is easier to begin with the things we already know. First we need to add new language keys:
+
+{{{
+$sLangCategory = 'My Bloggie';
+
+$aLangContent = array(
+    '_me_blgg' => 'My Bloggie',
+    '_me_blgg_server_time' => 'Server time:',
+    '_me_blgg_user_time' => 'User time:',
+);
+}}}
+
+I assume that you didn't forget to recompile language files for the module after this change!
+
+Then, we will modify the template file '''bloggie/templates/base/main.html''' from the old one:
+
+{{{
+<div style="text-align:center;">
+    <bx_text:_me_blgg_text />
+</div>
+}}}
+
+to a new one:
+
+{{{
+<div style="text-align:center;">
+    <bx_text:_me_blgg_server_time /> __server_time__
+    <br />
+    <bx_text:_me_blgg_user_time />
+    <script type="text/javascript">
+        document.write(new Date());
+    </script>
+</div>
+}}}
+
+Some things need clarifying:
+
+    * '''bx_text''' is a special instruction. It outputs a translation for the key using the currently selected language.  
+    * '''__server_time__''' is a template variable which is not defined yet.
+    * For the user time, we use javascript, because javascript is executed in a browser, on the user side, so the time is user time here.
+
+Now, try to refresh the page to see what was changed, If everything is done right, you will see something like this:
+
+{{{
+Server time: __server_time__
+User time: Fri Jan 22 2010 13:46:07 GMT+1100
+}}}
+
+It almost works perfectly. The only thing is the server time display. All the underscores are displayed, because we have not defined a server variable yet. To define this we need to change the following code in the '''bloggie/classes/MeBlggModule.php''' file:
+
+{{{
+    function actionHome () {
+        $this->_oTemplate->pageStart();
+        $aVars = array ();
+        echo $this->_oTemplate->parseHtmlByName('main', $aVars);
+        $this->_oTemplate->pageCode(_t('_me_blgg'), true);
+    }
+}}}
+
+to this one:
+
+{{{
+    function actionHome () {
+        $this->_oTemplate->pageStart();
+        $aVars = array (
+            'server_time' => date('r'),
+        );
+        echo $this->_oTemplate->parseHtmlByName('main', $aVars);
+        $this->_oTemplate->pageCode(_t('_me_blgg'), true);
+    }
+}}}
+
+Before describing all these lines, refresh the page to see the result - Voila!
+
+{{{
+Server time: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:56:54 +1100
+User time: Fri Jan 22 2010 13:56:55 GMT+1100
+}}}
+
+The time is almost the same because I'm on a local server and probably you are,too. But in the case of a remote server in another timezone you will see a difference.
+
+    * '''_oTemplate''' is an automatically defined template class, In our case it is the instance of the '''MeBlggTemplate''' class
+    * '''pageStart''' tells you that output will be below
+    * '''pageCode''' tells you that output is completed, and the page will be displayed
+          o the first parameter is page name, and we take it from the language file using _t function
+          o the second parameter tells the script to wrap the output in a box
+    * '''parseHtmlByName''' function outputs the '''main.html''' file by making all the substitutions. It accepts the array '''$aVars''' of server variables - in this case we declared the '''server_time''' template variable, which is used in the template as '''__server_time__'''.
+