Documentation Wiki

Introduction to plugin architecture

PostNuke's templating system is built on top of Smarty∞ - a widely used php template engine. The purpose of the template engine is provide a level of seperation between the php code of the application and the output layer and, at the same time, make editing templates easier for those unfamiliar with php coding. Smarty templates utilise a very simple template language that results means working with these templates is as close to working with native HTML as is possible.

Smarty provides an architecure∞ that allows developers to build on the base functionality of the template system in order to extend the capabilities offered to template designers. These extensions are known as plugins.

Smarty offers several types of plugin some of which are aimed at use by designers within templates while others are aimed at developers extending the templating system itself. The types of plugins available are

1. Template functions
2. Modifiers
3. Block functions
4. Compiler functions
5. Pre and Post Filters
6. Output Filters
7. Resources
8. Inserts

Plugins for use by designers

Template functions, modifiers and blocks are plugins that extend the capabilities for the template designer.