Template Toolbar
Version
0.9.3 (last update on Nov 6, 2011)
Rating
Compatibility
Votes
Favoured
52
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Views
136954
Date Added
26 October 2007
Thank you for using JTT!
Program has been updated to version 0.9.3!
What's New?
[New] Support for Joomla! 1.6+ has been added!
[Upd] Slight code revision.
System Requirements
Joomla! 1.5+ Template Toolbar requires Microsoft .NET Framework to be installed on your Windows system, version 3.5 or above to be more precise.
Installation and Uninstallation
Program is fully portable in its nature, an therefore does not require any special installation.
Note that earlier versions of Joomla! 1.5+ Template Toolbar (< 0.8.4) used to save program settings into System Registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JTT). If you want full uninstallation, you might consider deleting the created entries from your System Registry.
Usage
Joomla! 1.5+ Template Toolbar control layout is intended to be self-explanatory. The program consists of four main buttons. First button (Insert Module) opens a pop-up menu displaying the most common Joomla! 1.5+ Template Modules. By clicking on a module name certain Joomla! PHP code is copied to a clipboard so it can be pasted into your favorite text editor. Second button (Insert CSS) copies basic CSS code that you can use to change look and feel of various template regions. Third button (XML Editor) opens a menu enabling you to open templateDetails.xml file editor, or create sample templateDetails.xml file. XML Editor can easily open, edit and create templateDetails.xml file from which Joomla! is reading the general template information. Fourth button (Options) displays a pop-up menu from which you can either change program options or display the Help and About window.
License Agreement and Disclaimer
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Refer to Readme.txt file within the program distribution archive for more info.
Images
I use HTML-kit for building sites and templates because i can FTP up from it and then refresh my browser.
This extention/stand alone program is perfect. I am just strating to experiment with Joomla templates and 'Joomla! 1.5 Template Toolbar' stays at the front. All i need to do id click what i want then paste into my edit.
Installed nicely on my PC Win Vista operating system.
This extention/stand alone program is perfect. I am just strating to experiment with Joomla templates and 'Joomla! 1.5 Template Toolbar' stays at the front. All i need to do id click what i want then paste into my edit.
Installed nicely on my PC Win Vista operating system.
I had tried another Joomla! 1.5 template tool in mxp format for Dreamweaver MX, but it can't be installed into my Dreamweaver CS3. So I gave it up. This one can work with ANY editor since it only generate code and put them into the clipboard, then user can paste the code into any editor.
Cool! Now I can use some OpenSource HTML/php editor to design my Joomla! 1.5 template.
Thanks to the author!
Cool! Now I can use some OpenSource HTML/php editor to design my Joomla! 1.5 template.
Thanks to the author!
Excellent. Only had a small problem with the mainbody insert so had to re code that (seems to be over complex but that could be just me)
I've just switched to Joomla 1.5 and working hard to get my head around the new templating system so I can make my own from scratch. This wonderful tool is going to save me so much time I am doing a happy dance after taking it for a test drive.
I haven't given it the full rating yet because there is one small thing (not sure if it is a bug or a feature) where the templateDetails.xml has generated some module positions that are not present in my index.php file and missed two custom positions I coded into it.
I would be interested to know how it generates module positions, does it scan the index.php file and extract them from there? Or does it just insert a generic list of default positions from the Joomla core template system? If it could be made (or fixed, if this is a bug rather than a feature) to generate only those present in the index.php then it would get my 5-star rating.
Also, I am just curious to know where the blank list of CSS styles is generated from? Do you use the list from a known Joomla template or template designer (eg: Barrie North's J1.5 templating tutorial sample CSS) or is this your own list? It would be a very interesting possibility for a new feature if we were able to create our own CSS master code, or even import one from a known "sample template".
The downside of that idea of course would be that the application would loose its standalone portability, by needing to have an app directory to save custom user CSS templates. But, being the huge lover of portable apps that I am, I'm not sure if sacrificing the standalone nature of the .exe would be worth an additional user feature. Hrmmmmm.
I hope word gets out around the Joomla communities that such a brilliant concept-of-a-tool exists and you get the credit you deserve for developing this for our use. Good luck in your future developments.
Cheers!
Zana
I haven't given it the full rating yet because there is one small thing (not sure if it is a bug or a feature) where the templateDetails.xml has generated some module positions that are not present in my index.php file and missed two custom positions I coded into it.
I would be interested to know how it generates module positions, does it scan the index.php file and extract them from there? Or does it just insert a generic list of default positions from the Joomla core template system? If it could be made (or fixed, if this is a bug rather than a feature) to generate only those present in the index.php then it would get my 5-star rating.
Also, I am just curious to know where the blank list of CSS styles is generated from? Do you use the list from a known Joomla template or template designer (eg: Barrie North's J1.5 templating tutorial sample CSS) or is this your own list? It would be a very interesting possibility for a new feature if we were able to create our own CSS master code, or even import one from a known "sample template".
The downside of that idea of course would be that the application would loose its standalone portability, by needing to have an app directory to save custom user CSS templates. But, being the huge lover of portable apps that I am, I'm not sure if sacrificing the standalone nature of the .exe would be worth an additional user feature. Hrmmmmm.
I hope word gets out around the Joomla communities that such a brilliant concept-of-a-tool exists and you get the credit you deserve for developing this for our use. Good luck in your future developments.
Cheers!
Zana
Owner's reply
Hi, thanks for your in-depth reply!
JTT uses it's own built-in routine for writing the templateDetails.xml file (if you're familiar with C++/C# you can always check the source code), at this point it does not scan the index.php file (but you throw me a good hint for future development). As for CSS, I used my own "gatherings" which I collected from various resources (sometimes by reverse engineer templates, and sometimes in Joomla! code).
I'm sorry I don't have more spare time to write better reply, but I simply had to write this short reply to your post.
Once again, thank you all for using JTT!
