With the release of Jamroom 2.20, Jamroom switched over to using a new “template” based system for the following scripts:
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ranking.php
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newsearch.php 1)
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newchart.php 2)
The way that these “new” versions of the scripts work has been confusing for those of you who were used to the way it worked in Jamroom 2.14 and older (namely that each “mode” to the scripts was limited to a single set of template files (or single template file)).
With Jamroom 2.2x though, these new scripts are more powerful in that they will allow you to customize your output in as many ways as you want. This was the biggest single request coming out of Jamroom 2.14, and was implemented in Jamroom 2.20.
If you attempt to call the “new” Jamroom scripts WITHOUT the required template names being passed in, you will receive a BLANK PAGE. Without passing in the template files you want Jamroom to parse, there is no where for Jamroom to place the output you are expecting to see.
For example, in Jamroom 2.14 you would have been able to list Artist’s by alphabetical order this way:
http://yoursite.com/jamroom/rank.php?mode=band&order=1
Since there were only 1 set of templates allowed for the “mode=band&order=1” option, Jamroom knew exactly what to look for and would output the results accordingly.
However, with Jamroom 2.20, Jamroom does NOT know how you want the output displayed. That is where the TEMPLATES come in to play. You pass in the (optional) “header_template” variable, the (optional) “footer_template” variable, and the (optional - but use it!) “row_template” variable. So the SAME ranking call as show above in the Jamroom 2.14 example, would look like this beginning with Jamroom 2.20:
http://yoursite.com/jamroom/ranking.php?mode=band&order=1&header_template=artist_header.tpl&row_template=artist_row.tpl&footer_template=common_footer.tpl
Note how the NAMES of the 3 templates we are going to use for display are passed INTO the script via the URL. Without telling the ranking.php the templates you want to use you will see a BLANK PAGE.
Note that all the other options to the script remain the same as in Jamroom 2.14 - nothing has changed there. You are just now required to give the template names you want the output placed on.
The good part of this is that you can now define multiple templates that correspond to different areas of your site - you are not stuck to ONE spotlight template, for example. You can have 500 different spotlight templates if you wish.
1) found in the Jamroom Bonus Pack
2) found in the Jamroom Bonus Pack
