Themes

Themes are completely file-based and can be managed with any version control system, for example, Git. This page gives you a high-level description of October CMS themes. You will find more details about pages, partials, layouts and content files in the corresponding articles below.

Themes are directories that reside in the themes directory by default. Themes can contain the following objects:

# Directory Structure

Below, you can see an example theme directory structure. Each theme represents a separate directory, and generally, one theme is active to display the website. This example demonstrates the website theme directory.

├── themes
|   └── website  ← Theme Starts Here
|       ├── pages
|       │   └── index.htm
|       ├── layouts
|       │   └── default.htm
|       ├── partials
|       │   └── sidebar.htm
|       ├── content
|       │   └── footer-contacts.md
|       └── assets
|           ├── css
|           |   └── my-styles.css
|           ├── js
|           └── images

# Subdirectories

October CMS supports a depth of five subdirectories for pages, partials, layouts and content files, while the assets directory can have an unlimited depth. This approach simplifies the organization of large websites. In the example directory structure below, the pages and partials directories contain the blog subdirectory, and the content directory contains the home subdirectory.

├── themes
|   └── website
|       ├── pages
|       │   ├── index.htm
|       │   └── blog  ← Page Subdirectory
|       │       ├── index.htm
|       │       └── category.htm
|       ├── layouts
|       │   └── default.htm
|       ├── partials
|       │   ├── sidebar.htm
|       │   └── blog  ← Partial Subdirectory
|       │       └── category-list.htm
|       ├── content
|       │   ├── footer-contacts.md
|       │   └── home  ← Content Subdirectory
|       │       └── intro.md
|       └── assets

To refer to a template in a subdirectory, specify the subdirectory's name before the template's name. For example, rendering the category-list partial from a blog subdirectory.

{% partial "blog/category-list" %}

# Template Structure

Pages, partials and layout templates can include up to 3 sections: configuration, PHP code, and Twig markup. Sections are separated with the == sequence.

url = "/blog"
layout = "default"

function onStart()
{
    $this['posts'] = [...];
}

<h3>Blog archive</h3>
{% for post in posts %}
    <h4>{{ post.title }}</h4>
    {{ post.content }}
{% endfor %}

# Configuration Section

The configuration section sets the template parameters. Supported configuration parameters are specific for different CMS templates and described in their corresponding documentation articles. The configuration section uses the simple INI format (opens new window), where string parameter values are enclosed within quotes. Example configuration section for a page template:

url = "/blog"
layout = "default"

[component]
parameter = "value"

# PHP Code Section

The code in the PHP section executes every time before the template is rendered. The PHP section is optional for all CMS templates and its contents depend on the template type where it is defined. The PHP code section can contain optional open and close PHP tags to enable syntax highlighting in text editors. The open and close tags should always be specified on a different line to the section separator ==.

url = "/blog"
layout = "default"

<?
function onStart()
{
    $this['posts'] = [...];
}
?>

<h3>Blog archive</h3>
{% for post in posts %}
    <h4>{{ post.title }}</h4>
    {{ post.content }}
{% endfor %}

In the PHP section, you can only define functions and refer to namespaces with the PHP use keyword. No other PHP code is allowed in the PHP section. This is because the PHP section is converted to a PHP class when the page is parsed. Here is an example of using a namespace reference.

url = "/blog"
layout = "default"

<?
use Acme\Blog\Classes\Post;

function onStart()
{
    $this['posts'] = Post::get();
}
?>

As a general way of setting variables, you should use the array access method on $this, although for simplicity you can use object access as read-only, for example:

// Write via array
$this['foo'] = 'bar';

// Read via array
echo $this['foo'];

// Read-only via object
echo $this->foo;

When defining functions, they become available as methods via the $this property in PHP and this variable in Twig. The following example defines a doSomething function and calls the method in both places.

url = "/"

function onStart()
{
    $this['foo'] = $this->doSomething();
}

function doSomething()
{
    return 'bar';
}

<h3>{{ this.doSomething() }}</h3>

# Twig Markup Section

The Twig section defines the markup to be rendered by the template. In the Twig section, you can use functions, tags, and filters provided by October CMS, all the native Twig features (opens new window), or those provided by plugins. The content of the Twig section depends on the template type (page, layout, or partial). You can find more information about specific Twig objects further in the documentation.

# Theme Logging

Since layouts and pages store most of the data in flat files, you or your clients can lose content accidentally. For example, switching the layout of a page will modify the scaffold of the page and, as such, will result in data loss.

October CMS can record every change made to a theme called Theme Logging, and this feature is disabled by default. To enable Theme Logging, go to Settings → Log Settings and enable Log Theme Changes.

You may now view the theme changelog via Settings → Theme Log where you can observe an overview of each change. You can use this information to decide the appropriate action to aid the regression of these changes, if necessary.

# See Also