Template File and Tag Swapping

When the i-Planet end user browses the i-Planet Desktop and the pages associated with these templates, an i-Planet application processes the template, substituting specific values (many specified through the Administration Console) for the place holders in the templates and sends the result to the user. This processing is required to allow you to customize the end-user interface easily through the Administration Console.

The processing and substitution are based on custom tags in the HTML template files. These are not HTML, but rather specialized extensions developed expressly for this application. The extension to HTML is provided by bracketed ([]) tags. Tags appear in-line like this: [tagName]. When a tag is found in any of the templates or other files processed by the i-Planet Desktop servlet, it is replaced with content retrieved from one of the following sources:

• User preferences

• System information

• i-Planet-provided services

• Configurable data that can be changed with the Administration Console

• Other configurable data

• Local files

• Content referenced by URLs.

These extensions function very much like server-side includes. Only when the file is served properly by the server, and in this case is processed through the Desktop servlet application, can you see the content accurately. If you try to view template files directly in your browser, they will appear to be broken, even if they are not.