The main menu (just below the site-banner) contains a link called "News". When this link is accessed, eZ publish should display the seven latest news articles. We'll achieve this functionality by creating a custom version of the "Folder" content class' full-view template. The full-view template will list the children of the node that is being accessed. Each child will be shown using a custom line-view template.

Fixing the menu
First, we have to make sure that the link in the menu works. The following piece of code takes care of this:

<a href={"/news"|ezurl}>News</a>

Insert this code into the "pagelayout.tpl" file (replace the previous News-link). Note that we're not telling eZ publish the ID of the node that contains the "News" folder. We're using the URL alias of the "News" folder, which is "news". The URL alias is piped into the "ezurl" operator. The operator takes care of setting the correct path based on the siteaccess settings.

Browse the TSCM site. Click on the "News" link. eZ publish will then display the contents of the "News" folder using the standard full-view folder template. A standard line-view template will be used to display each child of the folder. The browser should display something that resembles the following screenshot:

Creating custom templates
The following text explains how to generate a custom full-view-template for the "Folder" content class within the "News" section.

1. Bring up the administration interface.
2. Click on the "Design" tab.
3. Click on "Templates" (in the menu on the left hand side).
   A list of template files will appear.
4. Locate "/node/view/full.tpl" and click on it.
5. On the next page, simply click "New override".
6. Type in "full_view_news_folder" into the "Filename" field.
7. Set the "Class" dropdown box to "Folder".
8. Set the "Selection" dropdown box to "News section".
9. Do not enter anything into the node field (leave it blank).
10. In the "Base template on" section, select "Empty file".
11. Click "OK".

This will generate an empty file ("design/tscm/override/templates/full_view_news_folder.tpl") and instruct eZ publish to use it every time a folder in the "News section" is viewed. Put the following lines into the file, raise the priority (with 1 being the highest), and clear the cache.

<h1>Latest news</h1>

 

{* Grab some of the content of the node that is being viewed. *}

{let children=fetch( content, list, hash( parent_node_id, $node.node_id,

                                    sort_by, $node.sort_array,

                                    limit, 7,

                                    class_filter_type, include,

                                    class_filter_array, array( 'article' ) ) )}

 

{* LOOP: For each child of the node... *}

{section name=Child loop=$children}

 

   {* Display the content of the child using a line-view template. *}

   {node_view_gui view=line content_node=$Child:item}

 

   <hr>

 

{* End of loop. *}

{/section}

 

{* End of namespace. *}

{/let}

This piece of template code does the following:

• Displays the name of the node that is being viewed.
• Grabs the seven most recent articles from the node that is being viewed.
• Displays the grabbed articles using a line-view template.

Try to access the "News" page again (either by refreshing the page or by clicking on the "News" link on the main menu). You should be presented with something like this:

The newly generated full-view template will automatically make use of the standard line-view template. The following text explains how to create a custom template for the line-view of the "Article" class within the "News section".

1. Bring up the admininstration interface.
2. Click on the "Design" tab.
3. Click on "Templates" (in the menu on the left hand side).
   A list of template files will appear.
4. Locate "/node/view/line.tpl" and click on it.
5. On the next page, simply click "New override".
6. Type in "line_view_news_article" into the "Name" field.
7. Set the "Class" dropdown box to "Article".
8. Set the "Selection" dropdown box to "News section".
9. Do not enter anything into the node field (leave it blank).
10. In the "Base template on" section, select "Emtpy file".
11. Click "OK".

This will generate the "design/tscm/override/templates/line_view_news_article.tpl" template file. eZ publish will use this template every time it is instructed to display a list-view of article objects within the "News section". Put the following lines into the file:

<table class="latest_news">

   <tr>

       <td colspan="2">

           <div class="headline_link">

               <a href={$node.url_alias|ezurl}>

                   {attribute_view_gui attribute=$node.object.data_map.title}

               </a>

           </div>

       </td>

   </tr>

   <tr>

       <td>

           {attribute_view_gui attribute=$node.object.data_map.intro}

       </td>

       <td valign="top">

           <a href={$node.url_alias|ezurl}>

               {attribute_view_gui attribute=$node.object.data_map.image image_class="small"}

           </a>

       </td>

   </tr>

</table>

This code snippet takes care of getting and displaying some the contents of a news article. For each article, the headline, the intro and the article's thumbnail image is displayed. Browse the "News" page again. You should be looking at a page that resembles the following screenshot: