[Openinteract-dev] editing templates via the browser

[Chris W. <ch...@cw...>]

I'm finally going to fix editing templates in the browser. This has only
worked if you add your templates to the database, and using the
filesystem for template storage has been quietly touted since it was
implemented.

What I'd like to do is get rid of database storage for templates
altogether and use the new centralized package template storage in the
filesystem. Here's how I'm thinking this would work:

 - install package; the templates are saved in the normal way to
$WEBSITE_DIR/pkg/foo-1.25/template/foo.tmpl
 - use website; templates are loaded from
$WEBSITE_DIR/pkg/foo-1.25/template/foo.tmpl
 - edit template; modified template is saved to
$WEBSITE_DIR/template/foo/foo.tmpl
 - use website; templates are now loaded from
$WEBSITE_DIR/template/foo/foo.tmpl
 - upgrade package; templates are still loaded from
$WEBSITE_DIR/template/foo/foo.tmpl and you can see the current package
templates at $WEBSITE_DIR/pkg/foo-1.26/template/foo.tmpl

So once you edit a template it gets copied to the central location and
is used for all packages thereafter. You'd be able to view the template
that shipped with a package and copy over information as necessary.

This would eliminate the need for all .meta files associated with
templates, and you'd be able to edit your templates either by editing a
file in the filesystem or by editing the template in the browser.

However, I haven't used templates in the database for some time. There
may be folks using this feature that have good reason. If you think we
should keep an option for templates in the database, speak up!

Chris

-- 
Chris Winters (ch...@cw...)
Building enterprise-capable snack solutions since 1988.