Overview
AnswerHub themes are highly customizable, leveraging macros and objects for theme development. Understanding these elements is crucial when creating new themes to ensure seamless integration and functionality.
Information
AnswerHub themes have a great deal of data exposed to them from the backend – another feature that enables AnswerHub to be completely customizable. When building your new theme, it will be helpful to keep in mind the different macros (easily called, bundled functionality) and objects that AnswerHub exposes.
Interceptors, controllers, and context (we isolate widget contexts to the widget) all add data to the model that FreeMarker uses to render itself.
- Table 1: Base; Index; Questions, Answers & Comments; Edits & Revisions
- Table 2: Users’ Profiles; Notifications
- Table 3: General
NOTES on base theme files located in answerhub/teamhub.home/themes/thub directory:
base-head.ftl: Contains the libraries we use. We encourage you to read about the libraries seen in this ftl file. The file also contains additional head content that will be pertinent to understanding what you can work with and how to properly modify a theme.
js_var_init.ftl: Contains variables for settings, translations, and security. This file will help you understand how to work with the backend.
i18n: We use this file for reference to better understand what changes you can make in.
js_var_extend.ftl: You can find all the translations in this file. This template is accessing URLs from JavaScript. You can see maximums for options, the type of markup language used, locale, etc.
js_var_extend.ftl: This file is where you can extend the JavaScript like grabbing settings and translations and using them in other locations. For example, to make them available everywhere, on all pages.
TABLE 1: Lists various form elements that help users post questions, answers, and comments. This table also lists items that determine the appearance of where the user does these changes:
BASE AND INDEX TEMPLATES
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
base.ftd |
themes/thub |
Main decorator; contains elements that will be present on (nearly) every page. |
|
index.ftl |
themes/thub |
Contains elements present on AnswerHub homepage in the main body (recent Activity). |
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS & COMMENTS TEMPLATES
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
list.ftl |
/questions |
Contains list of questions used for main Questions page. |
|
view.ftl |
/questions |
Shows single question as item with voting modules, user action and time stamps, etc. |
|
ask.ftl |
/questions |
Contains elements within the page that holds the ask form. |
|
question_item.ftl |
/actions |
Contains specific structure for question action item used in lists (question, author, timestamps). |
|
post.ftl |
/answers |
Contains form elements used for and completing answering a question. |
|
item.ftl |
/answers |
Produces view of completed answer. |
|
answer_item.ftl |
/answers |
Contains specific structure for answer action item used in lists (answer, author, timestamp). |
|
comment_item.ftl |
/actions |
Contains the specific structure for comment action item used in lists (comment, author, timestamp). |
|
comment_add.ftl |
/actions |
Contains form elements used for adding comments to questions or answers. |
|
comment_item.ftl |
/nodes |
Contains the display of comments beneath questions and answers. |
EDITS/REVISIONS TEMPLATES
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
revisions.ftl |
/nodes |
Contains the display of completed revised element (question, answer, or comment). |
TABLE 2 includes templates that determine what users see on their profiles and notifications.
USER'S PROFILES TEMPLATES
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
login.ftl |
/users |
Contains display of different methods of logging in (using OpenID, AnswerHub login info, Social Media). |
|
register.ftl |
/users |
Contains display and form elements for registering on the AnswerHub site. |
|
profile.ftl |
/users |
Contains basic structure for profile page and bypass information/code for new structure. |
|
preferences.ftl |
/users/profile |
Contains form elements/checklist of user preferences. |
|
sidebar.ftl |
/users/profile |
Contains elements present in the left sidebar, including the gravatar, and preferences button, email/inbox, etc. |
|
pref_alteregos.ftl |
/users/includes |
Contains form elements/checklist for “AlterEgos;” used within the preferences.ftl, as shown above. |
|
user_activity.ftl |
/users/includes |
Tab in the user profile; contains all activity for that specific user. Contains activity_item.ftl which is made up of other _item.ftl’s and includes votes, comments, Questions, Answers, edits, etc. |
|
user_answers.ftl |
/users/includes |
Shows how the answer item will look within the activity stream in the user profile. |
|
user_questions.ftl |
/users/includes |
Shows the display of the question item within the activity stream in the user profile. |
|
user_badges.ftl |
/users/includes |
Tab in the other profile; contains all user-specific badges. |
|
user_info.ftl |
/users/includes |
Tab in the user profile (profile); contains form elements (that are editable) that display user information such as name, email, bio, etc. |
|
user_info_editable.ftl |
/users/includes |
Changes form elements from user_info.ftl (above) into editable fields / inputs. |
|
user_karma.ftl |
/users/includes |
Tab in the user profile; contains all information related to Karma usage, displayed in graph form. |
NOTIFICATIONS TEMPLATES
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
newanswer.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the name of the author who answered. |
|
newfollower.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the name of the new follower. |
|
newquestion.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the name of the author to the new question. |
|
newsite.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the new site name and the username of the person who created the new site. |
|
newsitegroup.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the new site group name and the username of the person who created the new site group. |
|
statuschanged.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the name of the author who changed the status, the node title that had the status changed, the previous status, and the new status. |
|
welcome.ftl |
/notifications |
Displays the generic welcome email with a greeting, the login information (username), and a validate your email link. The type of message wording depends on whether you are the new user or the admin. The admin gets notified a new user joined and their username. |
TABLE 3 includes General listed templates that act as the skeleton for many of the pages on your AnswerHub site. For example, the header, footer, sidebar blocks, and error messages are all produced from the templates here:
| Template | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
flash_messages.ftl |
/includes |
Contains key messages that display success or failure due to permissions. |
|
footer.ftl |
/includes |
Contains structure for the footer. |
|
header.ftl |
/includes |
Acts as header for all pages; contains logo elements and navigation.ftl. |
|
main-navbar.ftl |
/includes |
Contains main navigation elements. |
TABLE 4 lists the AnswerHub objects available to templates. FreeMarker and SiteMesh may expose these additional objects in the course of rendering the templates.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
currentUser |
User |
Can be null (if anonymous user); points to the currently logged-in user and allows access to his or her properties. |
|
currentSite |
Site |
Priyanka Bhotika
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