Custom template vars for MODx Evo

DiegoBM, thanks for the report and I’m sorry there were still subfolder issues in the last release. I have fully tested it now when installed in a sub-folder and corrected all bugs I can find. If you download the latest MODx custom tvs release you should be able to run it without any problems.

Do let me know if it works for you

Hello Peter, thank you for your great addon.

Now the error is gone and the frame loads a message which says: "Sample popup window". Is this the intended behaviour?

Regards!

Quote from: DiegoBM at May 21, 2010, 05:24 PM

Now the error is gone and the frame loads a message which says: "Sample popup window". Is this the intended behaviour?

That’s correct - all ready for you to insert your code into

This looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing this Peter!

Correct me if I’m wrong but I got the impression that this can help solve a problem I’m facing. The applications discussed in this thread are quite different so I’m not 100% sure .. Allow me to elaborate:

I’ve been researching the various approaches for a more dynamic template layout. What is needed is the possibility to add arbitrary amounts of content blocks to one document. By adding a row and column setting to such a block content editors should be able to add and place their boxes as they please.

I was already affraid I’d have to do this (MODx wiki: multiple content areas). This would be horrible for the content editors’ user experience and performance of the site. I don’t even want to imagine the effort that’d be needed for maintaining a multilingual sites with multiple document trees.

On a sidenote: I am really looking forward to this (forum: xedit/blox). However its progress/timeline appears to be unsure. The advanced javascript based drag&drop is definately very fancy but for me it is not required. I encourage everyone involved to pursue this!

I got from a forum post that revo introduces new functionality which can help. Unfortunately I don’t grasp the fundamentals of that idea .

So what do the more experienced MODx coders think about this? Can the dynamic blocks layout feature be implemented with Custom Template Vars in MODx Evo?

I haven’t yet mastered how to make YouTube keep my videos nice and crisp, but this should whet your appetite for what can be done - a photo gallery fully managed from the MODx resource (the resource becomes the gallery). All of this implemented as a custom template variable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUbM_D2GT4s

Quote from: MrDutchy at May 25, 2010, 03:54 PM

I’ve been researching the various approaches for a more dynamic template layout. What is needed is the possibility to add arbitrary amounts of content blocks to one document. By adding a row and column setting to such a block content editors should be able to add and place their boxes as they please.

From your description I’m not sure how this would function - do you want the user to be able to drag blocks around on the resource screen in the manager to customise the page layout? XEdit shows that there is a lot of work involved in this task, and while I’m sure you could do something using custom TVs it wouldn’t be that much simpler than doing it on the frontend.

Good luck!

I have a quick question: How do I actually install the custom tv that was included in the package. I don’t know where to put the "tvs" folder and/or its contents. Please help........

Quote from: jamaicanburris at May 31, 2010, 09:57 AM

I have a quick question: How do I actually install the custom tv that was included in the package. I don’t know where to put the "tvs" folder and/or its contents. Please help........

If you downloaded the package there’s no need to "install" it - the TVs are located in the right place and pre-installed.

If you’re patching code, the correct location is assets/tvs/

Hope that helps!

Oh.... of course. Thanks a lot Mr. Bowyer. By the way, when I tried it, all I got was the sample text with no styling. I must be failing to do something properly since I am more of a designer than anything.... Any solutions will help Mr. Bowyer. I appreciate your willingness to share.

Quote from: Peter at May 17, 2010, 01:56 PM

Adam, I’ve posted a new release which will work for you - I’ve tested it in a subfolder of the webroot.

Hi Peter, I’ve got this installed and working on my server now! thanks for fixing the installation issues!

(on a completely unrelated note, I checked out your website, Maple Design, seems you’re based not too far from me! I’m in Southsea; if you’re interested in meeting up and discussing web dev and MODx drop me a line: [email protected])
Quote from: Peter at May 22, 2010, 08:54 AM

Quote from: DiegoBM at May 21, 2010, 05:24 PM

Now the error is gone and the frame loads a message which says: "Sample popup window". Is this the intended behaviour?

That’s correct - all ready for you to insert your code into

Quote from: Peter at Jun 01, 2010, 02:38 AM

Quote from: jamaicanburris at May 31, 2010, 09:57 AM

I have a quick question: How do I actually install the custom tv that was included in the package. I don’t know where to put the "tvs" folder and/or its contents. Please help........

If you downloaded the package there’s no need to "install" it - the TVs are located in the right place and pre-installed.

If you’re patching code, the correct location is assets/tvs/

Ah, I see. So this plugin/version of MODx is only the the bare bones, the foundations for other programmers to then go and make custom TVs?

In the /assets/tvs/ folder there’s just the one demo /faqs/ TV, I presume this is the "Sample popup window" TV, or do I need to activate this somehow?
Quote from: jamaicanburris at Jun 01, 2010, 10:50 AM

when I tried it, all I got was the sample text with no styling. I must be failing to do something properly since I am more of a designer than anything.... Any solutions will help

I too, like jamaicanburris, am mainly a designer first, then developer second.

Only yesterday I created this:

A series of static TVs (Product Image One, through to Product Image Five); which essentially has no way of scaling as the client’s site grows and generally requires extra attention and setup. I also had to do a lot of crazy things with PHx to detect if the image TVs were left empty so the front-end doesn’t display broken image tags if they only want one or two images, and there’s no way for the client to add a sixth or seventh image without me manually adding more TVs to the template.

Now I’ve seen what you’re developing I keep feeling I’m doing this all backwards :’(

The multi image uploaded TV you previewed earlier on this thread would seriously be invaluable to me and my business right now, it would save me many hours of work and future-proof many of my client sites...

Do you think its likely that you’ll release any sort of image organisation TV or eCommerce TVs in the near future, or will the code for those be exclusive for your clients?