The template systems allows for separation of code and layout by moving the layout part into template files. These template files are parsed and processed with template variables set by the PHP code.

The template system in itself does not do much, it parses template files according to a rule set, sets up a tree hierarchy and processes the data using functions and operators. The standard template system comes with only a few functions and no operators, it is meant for these functions and operators to be specified by the users of the template system. But for simplicity a few help classes is available which can be easily enabled.

In keeping with the spirit of being simple the template system does not know how to get the template files itself. Instead it relies on resource handlers, these handlers fetches the template files using different kind of transport mechanism. For simplicity a default resource class is available, eZTemplateFileResource fetches templates from the filesystem.

Note: When developing templates you should disable the view cache. When this is enabled, the template engine does not check the modification date of the templates, thus you will not see any changes. Edit settings/site.ini and set ViewCaching=disabled in [ContentSettings].

eZ template uses the following eZ publish libraries.

• eZ utils
• eZ i18n
• eZ locale