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< 3.1.3. Global variables, Constants and Classes

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3.1.5. Other reserved global variables >

3.1.4. The template class (template.php)

Most backend scripts include another core script than "init.php". That is "template.php".

  require ('init.php');

  require ('template.php');

"template.php" contains a class "template". This class is used to output HTML-header, footer and page content in the backend.

template.php does this:

Initially an obsolete function, fw($str), is defined. This just returns the input string un-altered. May be removed in the future as it's obsolete and here for backwards compatibility only. If you use this function in your modules, then stop doing that!
Defines the class "template" which contains the HTML output related methods for creating backend documents.
Defines four extension classes of the template class: bigDoc, noDoc, smallDoc, mediumDoc. Each of them presets a certain width of the outputted page by specifying a class for a wrapping DIV-tag.
Includes sysext/lang/lang.php which contains the class "language" for management of localized labels in the backend. It also contains an instance of the character set conversion class, "t3lib_cs".
Creates the global variables $TBE_TEMPLATE and $LANG as instances of the classes "template" and "language" respectively.

"template.php" requires init.php to have been included on beforehand.

This is the variables and classes available in addition after inclusion of "template.php":

Variables

Global variable	Defined in	Description	Avail. in FE
$TBE_TEMPLATE	template.php	Global backend template object for HTML-output in backend modules
$LANG	template.php	Localization object which returns the correct localized labels for various parts in the backend. It also contains an instance of the "t3lib_cs" class in $LANG->csConvObj
$LOCAL_LANG	Optionally included "locallang" file.	Stores language specific labels and messages. Requires a "local_lang" file to have been included in the global space. Notice: This variable is unset in "config_default .php" for your convenience. So don't set the $LOCAL_LANG array prior to "init.php".	-
$TCA_DESCR	[on-the-fly]	Could be set to contain help descriptions for fields and modules. Is set by API function in the "language" class. Unset in "config_default.php"

Classes

Class	Included in	Description	Avail. in FE
template	[optionally included after init.php, see next section]	Global backend template class for HTML-output in backend modules, instantiated inside template.php as $TBE_TEMPLATE	-
language	template.php	Localization class which returns the correct localized labels for various parts in the backend. Instantiated as $LANG	-

Example: A dummy backend script

As an good example of how backend scripts (modules) should be constructed, please look at the dummy.php file:

  

 /** 

 * Dummy document - displays nothing but background color.

 * 

 * @author    Kasper Skårhøj <kasper@typo3.com>

 * Revised for TYPO3 3.6 2/2003 by Kasper Skårhøj

 * XHTML compliant content

 */


 

 require ( 

 'init.php' 

 );

require ( 

 'template.php' 

 );


 

 // ***************************

// Script Classes

// ***************************
 

 class  

 SC_dummy  

 {

    var  

 $content 

 ;

    

     

 /**

     * Create content

     */

     

 function  

 main 

 ()    {

        global  

 $TBE_TEMPLATE 

 ;



             

 // Start page

         

 $TBE_TEMPLATE 

 -> 

 docType  

 =  

 'xhtml_trans' 

 ;

         

 $this 

 -> 

 content 

 .= 

 $TBE_TEMPLATE 

 -> 

 startPage 

 ( 

 'Dummy document' 

 );



             

 // End page:

         

 $this 

 -> 

 content 

 .= 

 $TBE_TEMPLATE 

 -> 

 endPage 

 ();

    }

    

     

 /**

     * Print output

     */

     

 function  

 printContent 

 ()    {

        echo  

 $this 

 -> 

 content 

 ;

    }

}


 

 // Include extension?
 

 if ( 

 defined 

 ( 

 'TYPO3_MODE' 

 ) &&  

 $TYPO3_CONF_VARS 

 [ 

 TYPO3_MODE 

 ][ 

 'XCLASS' 

 ][ 

 'typo3/dummy.php' 

 ])    {

    include_once( 

 $TYPO3_CONF_VARS 

 [ 

 TYPO3_MODE 

 ][ 

 'XCLASS' 

 ][ 

 'typo3/dummy.php' 

 ]);

}








 

 // Make instance:
 

 $SOBE  

 =  

 t3lib_div 

 :: 

 makeInstance 

 ( 

 'SC_dummy' 

 );
 

 $SOBE 

 -> 

 main 

 ();
 

 $SOBE 

 -> 

 printContent 

 ();

(In addition a script must include opening and closing tags for php (<?php ... ?>) and a copyright header defining the author and GNU/GPL license. See almost any script in the backend for an example)

In this example you see the following important elements:

init.php is included by require(): We can now know that a backend user is authenticated, that there is a database connection etc.
template.php is included by require(): We can now create backend HTML-output and localized labels.
Script class is defined (here: "SC_dummy", typically named "SC_" + script name). All processing should take place inside this class
Possible inclusion of an extension class for the "SC_dummy" (this is what happens in the lines after "// Include extension?"
Finally the script class is instantiated and the relevant functions are called - here main() and printContent(). Which functions needs to be called from the global space depends on what you have put into your class!

Inside the script class these basic steps for HTML output is taken:

The method $TBE_TEMPLATE->startPage('Dummy document') is called: This returns the header section of the output HTML page with the page title set to "Dummy document". Prior to this function call the docType is set to XHTML Transitional (optional). You can also specify other optional values like additional CSS styles, JavaScript etc.
The method $TBE_TEMPLATE->endPage() is called: This returns the page footer.
In between the two function calls you can basically output any HTML you like as the page content. <body> tags have been set and typically the whole page is wrapped in a DIV tag as well.

The HTML output of dummy.php will look like this:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>

  <?xml-stylesheet href="#internalStyle" type="text/css"?>

  <!DOCTYPE html

       PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

       "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

  <html>

  <head>

      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/>

      <meta name="GENERATOR" content="TYPO3 3.6.0-dev, http://typo3.com, &#169; Kasper Sk&#197;rh&#248;j 1998-2003, extensions are copyright of their respective owners." />

      <title>Dummy document</title>

          <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>

          <style type="text/css" id="internalStyle">

              /*<![CDATA[*/

                  A:hover {color: #254D7B}

                  H2 {background-color: #9BA1A8;}

                  H3 {background-color: #E7DBA8;}

                  BODY {background-color: #F7F3EF;}

              /*]]>*/

          </style>

  </head>

  <body>

  <!-- Wrapping DIV-section for whole page BEGIN -->

  <div class="typo3-def">

  ... [additional content between startPage() and endPage() will be inserted here!] ...

      <script type="text/javascript">

            /*<![CDATA[*/

          if (top.busy && top.busy.loginRefreshed) {

              top.busy.loginRefreshed();

           /*]]>*/

      </script>

  <!-- Wrapping DIV-section for whole page END -->

  </div>

  </body>

  </html>

The maroon coloured content is created by startPage()

The teal coloured content is created by endPage()

The green/bold line represents the position where your custom output will be placed in the document.

API documentation

There is a host of methods inside the template class which can be used. Some of these are documented in "TYPO3 Core API" and others by examples in various Extension Programming Tutorials.

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