[Tutorial] Basic notes on using Ditto 2.1

I spent a lot of time earlier this year converting a site from a custom-built mini-CMS to MODx, and learnt a lot about Ditto and MODx in general in the process. While doing this work, I decided I would try to save other beginners some of the time and trouble it took to hunt down information about using various basic facilities. And now I’ve made a start on that, with notes on using Ditto. These are on Pogwatch, a website I’m intending to develop as my personal blog and a repository of my development notes and code. The notes add live examples to the information on the Ditto site and bring the roundup of Ditto 2.0.1 by myfriendscallmebill up to date with Ditto 2.1, as installed with MODx 0.9.6.3

Don’t take too much notice of the design (or lack of it). Corrections, comments and suggestions on the content are welcome.

Enjoy.
KP http://www.pogwatch.com/ditto

Thanks Keith, well done! Following this keenly.

:D

cheers/k

Very nice! Thanks for the contribution.

One suggestion: It might be better to call them "tpl chunks" instead of "Templates" since a Template is something completely different that is created directly in the Manager. New users will almost certainly be confused if we call them Templates. The code examples should probably follow this as well: &tpl=`myTplChunk`

@BobRay: good point. I’ve renamed the menu and updated the text to reduce the ambiguity.
KP

Quote from: kp52 at May 30, 2009, 10:48 AM

@BobRay: good point. I’ve renamed the menu and updated the text to reduce the ambiguity.
KP

Good work.

I’m sure it will help a lot of people (probably me included).

I’d probably also change "template chunks" to "tpl chunks," but that may be just me. They certainly serve as templates. I figure that MODx is complex enough that whenever we can cut down on potential ambiguity we should do it.

I’m curious what others think about the usage.

This is wonderful. MODx needs clear documentation like this with examples, particularly about Ditto. Bravo!

yes, this went straight into my (ever-growing) modx bookmarks folder

I’ve just published an update to the Parameters & Placeholders page of pogwatch.com, covering as many as I can find of the parameters and placeholders in the main Ditto snippet and its extenders in three sections. Much has been boiled down from the information on the official Ditto site. I hope I have managed to clarify a few of the descriptions there.

Some time I hope to get around to adding links back to the example pages, and to add something on using &query parameter and generation of RSS feeds. But first I expect to be adding some other sections to the site, covering other aspects of the fun I had making a front-end managed website.
KP

Many thanks Keith!

I was about to ask you about placeholders. Brilliant work!

cheers/k