Modular Templating Framework
SDL Tridion lets you create Template Building Blocks. A Template Building Block can contain an Adobe Dreamweaver Template (.dwt file), a C# fragment, a .NET assembly, or an XSLT stylesheet.
You implement and assemble functionality using the Modular Templating Framework as follows:
- Implementing functionality
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You implement functionality for Templates by creating Template Building Blocks which form the component parts of a Page Template or Component Template:
In Adobe Dreamweaver, you create an Adobe Dreamweaver Template (.dwt file), containing your page layout and design. You then upload this file into a Template Building Block in Content Manager Explorer.
In Visual Studio, you create a fragment of C# code or a .NET assembly (DLL file). Both can communicate with Content Manager through the TOM.NET (.NET Tridion Object Model) API.
If you create a C# fragment, you directly copy-paste your fragment into the Source tab of a Template Building Block in Content Manager Explorer.
If you create a .NET assembly, you upload the DLL file into a Template Building Block in Content Manager Explorer.
- In a plain-text editor or XML editor, you create an XSLT stylesheet. Your stylesheet can communicate with Content Manager using parameters passed to it. You directly copy-paste your stylesheet into the Source tab of a Template Building Block in Content Manager Explorer.
- Assembling functionality
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You use Template Builder to assemble Template Building Blocks together into a Template. You can create the following types of Templates:
- Page Templates
- Templates that turn an SDL Tridion Page into a publishable Web page
- Component Templates
- Templates that turn a Component into a Component Presentation, which can be included on a publishable Web page
- Compound Template Building Blocks
- Sequences of Template Building Blocks, to be added to a Page Template or Component Template as a single unit.
SDL Tridion ships with a number of predefined default Template Building Blocks, which have been designed to perform basic templating tasks, such as selecting Components, resizing screenshots, publishing the binaries in a package, and so on.