Forum OpenACS Q&A: Finding Variable Source

I am new to OpenACS and need a little help.

With the layered pages and variables that can cross pages, I can not understand how to find the source of a variable so I can change it.  In other words, where was the var set?

For example:

<propertyname="header_stuff">@header_stuff;noquote@</property>

How can I find the original "set" of @header_stuff@

Also, in the following code, where can I find any documentation on how to deal with HTMLArea?

global acs_blank_master__htmlareas
if { [info exists acs_blank_master__htmlareas] } {
    foreach htmlarea_id $acs_blank_master__htmlareas {
        append header_stuff "<script type=\"text/javascript\">var editor_var_${htmlarea_id} = new HTMLArea(\"${htmlarea_id}\");</script>"
        lappend onload "acs_initHtmlArea(editor_var_${htmlarea_id}, '${htmlarea_id}');"
    }
}

Thank you for any help.

Thank you Ryan for the quick response.

So if I understand, the scope of a variable (unless Global or Namespace)is only within the page "stack".

So if I want to find the original set of a var it has to be in the hierarchy of pages?

How do I know the var e.g. @header_stuff@ is not a var set somewhere else as a Global?

Thanks.

Don

Typically, you do not have to look through the hierarchy of pages. If you are requesting /foo just override the master template value with a property tag in foo.tcl/adp.

The global value would only be used in your adp if it was the last value set, just like any other variable.

Here is another good reference:

https://openacs.org/doc/templates.html

Regards,
Ryan

Dear Don

I believe many people no longer use HTMLArea and instead use Xinha, so you may want to take a look at that too.

best wishes
Brian