This file is used to alter the way 20/20 DataShed looks on your web site. This file may contain HTML markup and client-side script (Javascript) and is used like a "skin" or container for dynamic content generated by 20/20 DataShed.
Permissions and Security
Server
This file may inherit the permissions from its parent folder; but at the very least it requires that the IUSR_<localmachinename> (or equivalent) user account have NTFS permissions to read the file.
This file does not require internal security measures.
How to Maintain
This file does not require any maintenance. However, if you have customized this file then we recommend you keep a local copy or backup copy of the revised/altered file.
Included In (Files)
The contents of this file are retrieved by the GetTemplateHTML() function in _globals.asp. This activity is not related to SSI (Server-Side Includes), but rather the contents are retrieved as necessary using the Scripting.FileSystemObject object.
There are three pages which utilize this file:
listings.asp
newuser.asp
login.asp
Inherits (Content)
This file inherits information from _globals.asp as necessary. However, the information available at runtime is dependent upon which page or interface is currently being viewed. The information is used to process tokens that may be included in the HTML code.
Other Features
20/20 DataShed will access HTML templates from within the templates folder by default. However, 20/20 DataShed can be instructed to use any valid template you wish, located anywhere on the internet. In a sense, even the template can be dynamic. This feature is helpful if:
You wish to create unique HTML templates in more than one language.
You wish to create unique HTML templates per listing agent/user.
Or you wish to create unique HTML templates for unique geographical areas.
This functionality is described in the _globals.asp reference.
How to Customize
Making Small Changes
This file is simply an HTML document and can be edited or created using any text or HTML editor. We recommend using a simple text editor such as NotePad, however WYSIWYG editors will work as well.
To make a simple change in the template.html file:
Access your web site with an FTP application such as CuteFTP, FTP Explorer, or Windows "My Network Places".
Download "template.html" from the "templates" folder of this application to your local computer.
Open "template.html" in a text editor such as Notepad or a WYSIWYG editor.
In that file, locate the text or HTML code you wish to edit and make the change(s) you desire.
Save the file.
Upload the file to your web site using the FTP application and overwrite the existing "template.html" file.
Reload the listings.asp, newuser.asp, or login.asp page and include the "?objApplication=RemoveAll" querystring in your URL to force 20/20 DataShed to flush out the old HTML template from the server's cache (and reload this new one).
The steps outlined above are applicable while making significant changes to the template.html file. However rather than rewrite the template.html file to make it look like your web site, you could simply use one of your existing web pages as a template. Consider the following basic steps:
Visit your web site's home page and choose "View Source" from your web browser's tools menu.
Save the HTML source code as "template.html" on your local computer.
Open this new "template.html" file in a text editor such as Notepad or a WYSIWYG editor.
Locate the body of the page (i.e. the main content area) where you would like 20/20 DataShed's content to be injected.
Update any URL's in that file (HREF links, and IMG src attributes for example) and ensure that they are accurate. We recommend that you use full URLs throughout this file rather than relative URLs. In some cases, this prevents a lot of confusion. If you wish to use relative URLs, remember that this file operates as though it's located in the parent folder of 20/20 DataShed (not the templates subfolder). If your web page utilizes external stylesheets or external scripts, we recommend that those files also use full URLs.
Save the file.
Upload the file to your web site using the FTP application and overwrite the existing "template.html" file.
Reload the listings.asp, newuser.asp, or login.asp page and include the "?objApplication=RemoveAll" querystring in your URL to force 20/20 DataShed to flush out the old HTML template from the server's cache (and reload this new one).
20/20 DataShed loads the HTML template into the web server's memory. This is called "cache". Therefore, if you upload a new/edited HTML template, your web site will use the old template until the cache is flushed and 20/20 DataShed is instructed to reload the files. This process can be initiated manually by using the "?objApplication=RemoveAll" querystring in your URL.
Although the template.html file resides in the templates folder, it is used by the listings.asp, newuser.asp, and login.asp which are located in the parent folder. Therefore, all URLs in the template.html file should be relative to the parent folder. While editing this file, it's best either to:
Locate the template.html file in the parent folder during development, then upload it to the "templates" folder.
Or pretend that the template.html file is located in the parent folder (even though it's actually located in the "templates" folder).
Or use full URLs so that the location of template.html is irrelevant and all linkage will work from any location on the internet.
The HTML in this file must be well-formed. A malformed file may cause errors. Particularly, the <head> tag must be exactly as written below:
<head>
Lower-case as recommended by the XHTML specification.
It must NOT contain any other text or attributes.
Warning
If you must access this file using another product or software, do so at your own risk; such activity is not supported by our license agreement and may void 20/20 Application's technical support obligations.
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