Forum OpenACS Q&A: newbie question on templating and others

Collapse
Posted by Vince T on
This are really basic questions I suppose. Any help would be
appreciated.

1. I'm trying to customize the front page (index.adp/tcl). If I want
to add an <include src="test.adp"> to default-master pointing to an
adp file, I get request errors when I try to do this. Am I supposed
to register new adp/tcl files somewhere? I've been searching the docs
and can't find any info.

2. Are there any common/accepted procedures in modifying/customizing
packages. Right now I actually go into the code and make change from
there. Should I be creating copies of the modules and modifying
those? using cvs? any tips?

3. When I do make customizations to existing packages, what do I have
to look out for? I mean in terms of letting the system know of my
changes, additions, etc.

So far I've been making changes by just editing the adp pages or
making some minor changes to tcl code. Unfortunately I've been unable
to avoid having to make additional changes like creating new user
pages. I just wanted to know how most people go about this and if
there are any programming practices I should incorporate.

Thanks.

Collapse
Posted by Simon Carstensen on
Vincent,

It should be <include src="test"> instead of <include src="test.adp">.

Perhaps you should take a look at Using Templates in OpenACS 4.5 in the Developer's Guide. There's also The templates developer guide (I couldn't find it anywhere on openacs.org, so I linked to my own page).

Although all code should always be under version control when doing development work, I don't think you really need it if you're just making minor modifications. But I guess "creating new user pages" doesn't fall under that category. Perhaps look at CVS and 4.0 Client Development. Apart from what's outlined in the documentation, I don't know of any common way of conducting these matters.

Although you're not porting, Day in the Life of a Porter should give you some idea of the practices around here. And Lars also outlines his setup practices when doing client work in this article

Collapse
Posted by Vince T on
Thanks Simon, these are great docs! Exactly what I'm looking for to get started.