Gossamer Forum: Products: Gossamer Links: Discussions: Is there a limit to number of templates?

Oct 27, 2011, 9:17 PM

User (108 posts)

Oct 27, 2011, 9:17 PM

Post #1 of 12

Shortcut

Is there a limit to number of templates?

There are some specific unique modifications I need to do on each category page. The only solution I can see is to create a template for each category. Is there a limit on number of templates I can create? Are there any other downsides to this kind of setup? At this point there are around 1,000 categories in the directory.

Oct 28, 2011, 2:47 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 2:47 AM

Post #2 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Mmm, I'd try and avoid that. What sort of modifications are you trying to do? I would try and do stuff more like:

Code:
<%if Full_Name istart "Root Category Name/"%>  
  ... show modification for all sub-categories in "Root Category Name" 
<%elsif Full_Name istart "Another Name/"%> 
   some more stuff to show, this time in "Another Name"   sub-categories 
<%endif%>

I just finished a job where he had over 20 different category.html templates - and trust me, it was a SOD to do any updates Wink

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Oct 28, 2011, 6:32 AM

User (108 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:32 AM

Post #3 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

I need to have a set of different tags like canonical tags, header tags, meta description, Facebook opnen graph tags, title tags, that would be different for each category.

Oct 28, 2011, 6:41 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:41 AM

Post #4 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Why not add a new field in the category table, called "Category_Specifics" (TEXT type, then TEXTAREA field) ... and then in your template you could use:

<%Category_Specifics%>

,...to load those values into the template. You can do the same for other parts of the category page too

Should be much easier than having thundreds/thousands of templates ;)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Oct 28, 2011, 6:47 AM

User (108 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:47 AM

Post #5 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Where is a category table? Not sure how specificly do (TEXT type, then TEXTAREA field).
Can you give me a specific example.Let's say I want to add canonical tag <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/specific_category/" /> to each category page. How would I do that?

Oct 28, 2011, 6:50 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:50 AM

Post #6 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Database > Category > Properties > Add Field (bottom of page)

For that canonical one, you could add:

Field name: category_canonical
Type: CHAR
Size: 255

Field name: Category Canonical
Field type: TEXT

...then submit that page. You then will have that option in your add/modify category pages.

To use that field in the template, you could use:

Code:
<%if category_canonical%> 
    <link rel="canonical" href="<%category_canonical%>" /> 
<%endif%>

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Oct 28, 2011, 6:53 AM

User (108 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:53 AM

Post #7 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Thanks Andy. I'll give it a try later today.
If I can do all the tags this way that would save a lot of time. :)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:54 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 6:54 AM

Post #8 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Yup - sure would. Whenever possible, try not to have too many category.html templates (unless of course the different "root" categories need a TOTALLY different design, in which case its fine) ... but if its only tags/small bits of HTML - then it makes it much easier for you to use database fields to do the hard work :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Oct 28, 2011, 7:18 AM

User (108 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 7:18 AM

Post #9 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

When I go to Database > Category > Properties > in the left top Editor window I select Category in the first field, properties in the second, and the third field says "id".
If I click on "Go" it brings me to Category:Table Editor. At the bottom there is "Add" optoin but this is for adding category, not field.
Seems like I need more help here. :)

Oct 28, 2011, 8:29 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 8:29 AM

Post #10 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Check the line below the one that has:

Add | Modify | Delete ... etc

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Oct 28, 2011, 10:25 PM

User (108 posts)

Oct 28, 2011, 10:25 PM

Post #11 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Andy] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

That worked great! Smile

I'm impressed!

Is your wish list still actual?
If it is, once I'm done with this project in a few weeks I'll buy you something from the list as a thank you gift.
Do you have a favorite item on that list?

Oct 30, 2011, 5:18 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Oct 30, 2011, 5:18 AM

Post #12 of 12

Shortcut

Re: [Z] Is there a limit to number of templates? In reply to

Hi,

Cool Smile

Quote:

Is your wish list still actual?
If it is, once I'm done with this project in a few weeks I'll buy you something from the list as a thank you gift.
Do you have a favorite item on that list?

Yup :) Can't say there is anything particular that I want more than the others - but any gift is appreciated Angelic

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk