Template files II

So, let’s see how we could have the administrator choose between various templates. Start by adding the following list to the XML file.

<param name="layout" type="list" default="random" 
       label="Layout" 
       description="The layout to display the link" >
          <option value="default">Default</option>
          <option value="divmania">Div-mania</option>
          <option value="olddog">Old-dog</option>
</param>

Then you need to alter mod_ranlatest.php. We just get the layout parameter and we pass it to the getLayoutPath method.

# Get the path to the layout for the module
$layout = $params->get('layout', 'default');
require(JModuleHelper::getLayoutPath('mod_ranlatest', $layout));

Final task, we need to write the rest layouts. Here comes the best, divmania.php.

<div class="ranlatest<?php echo $params->get('stylesfx'); ?>">
  <?php if ($link[0]) : ?>
  <p><?php print $link[0] ?></p>
  <?php endif; ?>
  <a href="<?php print $link[2] ?>"><?php print $link[1] ?></a>
</div>

And for historical reasons the olddog.php.

<table class="ranlatest<?php echo $params->get('stylesfx'); ?>">
  <?php if ($link[0]) : ?>
  <tr><td>
    <?php print $link[0] ?> 
  </td></tr>
  <?php endif; ?>
  <tr><td> 
    <a href="<?php print $link[2] ?>"><?php print $link[1] ?></a>
  </td></tr>
</table>

I know, td tags could have styling as well, could not be bothered.

That’s all folks. I would be pleased to hear about your endeavour and have some feedback on how to improve this.

Finally, I would like to point you to the J.L.LeBlanc's site who has provided good stuff for Joomla newcomers. Also, to find Joomla related books you may visit Packt Publishing.

Cheers!