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Template Builder

Template Builder is a desktop application for creating, modifying and debugging Templates. To create a Template, add Template Building Blocks to it using Template Builder.

Compound Template View

The Compound Template View displays the sequence of Template Building Block invocations that form the Template. A Template Building Block invocation is a combination of a Template Building Block and the parameter values with which it is invoked. Template Building Blocks is invoked in the sequence in which they appear in this view (top to bottom).

Each Template Building Block invocation is represented by an icon and the title of the invoked Template Building Block. The icon indicates the type of Template Building Block, that is, the code in which the Template Building Block is written:

IconTemplate Type
C# fragment
.NET assembly
Compound Template Building Block
Adobe Dreamweaver Template
XSLT stylesheet
Building Blocks
The Building Blocks panel shows a list of Template Building Blocks you can add to the current Template. The Template Building Blocks are grouped according to the Content Manager Folder in which they reside.
Parameters

The Parameters panel shows an input form where the user can set the values of parameters for the currently selected Template Building Block invocation. Select a parameter to see its description in the bottom of the panel.

Properties
The Properties panel shows the read-only properties of the currently selected Template Building Block. The panel shows the following properties:
PropertyDescription
Item Typealways Template Building Block
Template Typethe type of Template Building Block
Item URIthe unique Content Manager identifier of this item
Locationthe path to the Folder in the current Publication in which this Template Building Block resides
Createdthe date and time at which this item was created
Modifiedthe date and time at which this item was last modified
Versionthe version number of the item
Approval Statusif a Workflow Process is defined for this Template Building Block, this is the Workflow status the item must have in order for it to be publishable
Lock typewhether the item is locked by another user, and if so, how
Package

The Package panel shows the contents of the package as it is handed from one Template Building Block to another.

When you run the Compound Template, you can see the package being modified as each Template Building Block invocation is executed. The contents of the package are used as both input and output for each of the Template Building Block invocations.

You can see the names of the items in the package in the Package view. For example, in the figure below, the package contains an item Components that is an array of items of type tridion/component , three items called Component , each of the type tridion/component, and one item called Page, of type tridion/page.

Item View
The Item View shows the details of a selected item in the package. For example, given a package that contains a Page and a Components array, Item View shows the following:
  • For the Page item: the XML of the Page.
  • For the Components array: a table of the Components in the array and, if present, the Component Template with which each Component is rendered.
Output
Contains any log information generated during the execution of the Compound Template. Check this panel to find out why your Compound Template did not execute correctly (see Output view).
For example, the following screenshot shows the Output panel telling the user that a "template to use in rendering could not be determined". The Item View panel above it indeed shows that the Components array (selected in the Package panel) contains Components, but no Templates.

Docking panels

The panels in the Template Builder are dockable so that you can choose the location and adjust the size of the views used in the application. When you drag a panel over the main window, the available docking zones are visually indicated by the user interface. If you drop a panel outside a docking zone, the panel floats outside the designer interfaces.