First, perhaps an explanation of what the templating system does will help us understand how it works. An ATS template itself serves as a reusable, unchanging framework that delivers dynamic data. The advantage to this is something you probably already realize: you need only build -and edit a few pages to maintain a consistent presentation style while accomodating numerous permutaions of changing data. +and edit a few pages to maintain a consistent presentation style while accommodating numerous permutaions of changing data.
This training module will teach largely by exercise and example, but you should also refer regularly to the ATS documents provided and more specific pointers will be given to help you out along the way. @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
-Exercise 1: Onevalues, onelists, multilists and multirows
+Exercise 1: Onevalues, onelists, multilists and multirows
(nestedlists, too?)
Let's first take a look at some list and variable tags in action. Open up another
@@ -77,12 +77,12 @@
.adp file, are cycled repeatedly to show multiple sets of information when displayed in
list-and-var-sample.acs; example:
- <multiple name="your_multirow">
- <tr><td>@your_multirow.first_names@ @your_multirow.last_name@ </td> </tr>
+ <multiple name="your_multirow">
+ <tr><td>@your_multirow.first_names@ @your_multirow.last_name@ </td> </tr>
</multiple>
your_multirow.
+ your_multirow.
-Exercise Two: <if> and <else>, the conditional tags +Exercise Two: <if> and <else>, the conditional tags
Dynamic data implies a changing page, and also changing presentation. The <if> and <else> tags allow -you to alter the format of your page to accomodate data changes. The +you to alter the format of your page to accommodate data changes. The function of <if> is straightforward enough: given a condition -- such as @x@ equals 5 -- all the text/html/dynamic data between the the opening @@ -149,16 +149,16 @@
<if @a@ between @b@ @c@> requires that @a@
is greater than or equal to @b@
- and less than or equal to @c@; so <if
+ and less than or equal to @c@; so <if
@x@ between 4 2> will always test falselikes_chocolate_p is "t",
"doesn't like chocolate" when likes_chocolate_p is "f", or
"probably like chocolate" if likes_chocolate_p is an empty string.
-Also, add one <if>, and one <if> only, so that a is appropriately
-changed to an for any 11-, 18- or 80- to 89-year olds.
+Also, add one <if>, and one <if> only, so that a is appropriately
+changed to an for any 11-, 18- or 80- to 89-year olds.
-Exercise Three: The <master> and <slave> tags -- a call to the dominatrix in you +Exercise Three: The <master> and <slave> tags -- a call to the dominatrix in you
The <master> and <slave> tags allow you to maintain a consistent style and format among pages @@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
-Exercise Four: The functions of <formtemplate>
+Exercise Four: The functions of <formtemplate>
Creating forms with ATS can be as simple as inserting two tags into a page. Try this:
open form-sample.adp and add the two following ATS tags:
-
+
<formtemplate id="add_entry"></formtemplate>
-
+
Save the page and reload it. You should see now see a big baby-blue form block; this is the
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@
There are noticeable differences between the two form templates, most obviously
the lack of background color and a few missing entry fields in the manually
constructed one. Maybe not so noticeable
-is the grouping of entry widgets into one HTML table row (check out the Name field) and
+is the grouping of entry widgets into one HTML table row (check out the Name field) and
the multi-input combination of text entry boxes and radio buttons for entering telephone number
information. Take a look at how the phone information entry section is constructed in
form-sample.adp. Note specifically: <formgroup> is somewhat similar to
@@ -298,17 +298,17 @@
-Exercise Five: more fun with multirows +Exercise Five: more fun with multirows
Now that you've confidently added the conditional <if> and <else> tags to
your ATS toolbelt, it's time to put those tools to good use in formatting
multirow data. First, read the docs to learn about
-the automatcally generated @your_multirow.rownum@ column,
-the @your_multirow:rowcount@ onevalue which contains
+the automatcally generated @your_multirow.rownum@ column,
+the @your_multirow:rowcount@ onevalue which contains
the total number of rows contained in your multirow, and the <multiple> startrow
and maxrows attributes. Possible point of confusion: the variable
-@your_multirow:rowcount@ is a onevalue and not a column of the
-multirow your_multirow, so it need not be used within <multiple>
+@your_multirow:rowcount@ is a onevalue and not a column of the
+multirow your_multirow, so it need not be used within <multiple>
tags and in many cases should not be used within <multiple> tags. Why is this? (Take
a look at how @address:rowcount@ is used.)