Global Plugins

Like global variables, these plugins are available for use in any template. Of course, they aren't the only plugins you can use across your templates - the Smarty Template Engine has lots of built-in plugin functionality, as well.

{custom_field}

Display a form element from a standard custom field data array for one field.

Usage (assuming the template has been passed an array of custom fields as $custom_fields):

{foreach $custom_fields as $field}
	<li>
		<label for="field_{$field.name}">{$field.friendly_name}</label>
	</li>
	<li>
		{custom_field field=$field}
	</li>
	{if $field.help}
		<li>
			<div class="help">{$field.help}</div>
		</li>
	{/if}
{/foreach}

Usage (specifying a default value):

{custom_field field=$field value="Predefined Value"}

{money_format}

Format a given value as if it was currency.

Usage:

This product costs {money_format value=$product.price}.

{paginate}

Generate the HTML for a set of paginating links. These links provide an easy way for users to go forward or back through a series of pages, or click through to a specific page number.

Example (being passed certain variables such as $total_rows dynamically):

{paginate variable="page" base_url=$current_url total_rows=$total_rows per_page="50"}

Will display:

<ul>
	<li>
		<a class="active" href="http://www.example.com/blog?page=1">1</a>
	</li>
	<li>
		<a href="http://www.example.com/blog?page=2">2</a>
	</li>
	<li>
		<a href="http://www.example.com/blog?page=3">3</a>
	</li>
	<li>
		<a href="http://www.example.com/blog?page=2">Next</a>
	</li>
</ul>

{parse_as_template}

Parse the given variable as if it were a Smarty template itself. This is highly useful for when you may be using template tags within published content.

The variable will only be parsed as a template if the plugin auto-detects that it has Smarty variables or tags of some kind (this saves resources).

Example:

// within a content template

<h1>{$title}</h1>

{$body|parse_as_template}

{protected_link}

Protect a file download URL from being shared by using this tag to generate a unique file access URL which validates the member's member group status upon each request.

Basic usage, within a content template, where there are at least two content fields called file_download and file_size as well as standard access restrictions set in the control panel for this content:

<a href="{protected_link url=$file_download groups=$privileges}">Click here to download the file</a> ({$file_size}).

This would return an encrypted link that would verify the user has the proper privileges every time it is accessed, preventing the user from sharing the link.

We can also pass a filename so the user has the original name of the file:

<a href="{protected_link url=$file_download groups=$privileges filename="report"}">Click here to download the file</a> ({$file_size}).

{restricted}

Display or hide certain content in a template based on the user's being in (or not being in) specified member groups.

If the user is in the in_group and not in the not_in_group, the content between the tags is parsed. Both tags are optional. Furthermore, if you want to check either the in_group or not_in_group status of the user against multiple member group ID's, you can pass a string like "1|2" (each member group ID is separated by a pipe).

Note that, while most of the examples below show the parameters passed as integers or pipe-delimited strings, you can also pass arrays such as the standard {$privileges} array used in many Hero modules.

Basic usage:

{restricted in_group="3"}
Only users in group #3 can see this.
{/restricted}

Check against multiple member groups:

{restricted in_group="1|5"}
Users in either or both groups #1 and #5 can see this.
{/restricted}

User must be in a group but not in another group:

{restricted in_group="5" not_in_group="3"}
Content is only shown if user is in group #5 but no in group #3.
{/restricted}

Example with a content privileges array:

{restricted in_group=$privileges}
	You are in this group.  I'll show you the full article:
	
	{$title}
	Published on {$date}.
	
	{$body}
{/restricted}

{restricted not_in_group=$privileges}
	You are not in the group.  Sorry.
{/restricted}

{shorten}

Shorten a string of text to a specific length and attach "..." to the end of it.

Usage:

Print a summary of the article body: {shorten length="250" string=$body}

{setting}

Retrieve a site configuration or setting value. All standard Hero settings viewable in the control panel at Configuration > Settings. Furthermore, all configuration variables defined in /app/config (standard CodeIgniter variables) are also available.

Usage - site title:

{setting name="site_title}

Returns to template:

Your site title

Another example - site base URL:

{setting name="base_url"}

Returns to template:

http://www.yourbaseurl.com OR https://www.yourbaseurl.com, depending on SSL status

Final example - the site's currency symbol:

This product costs {setting name="currency_symbol"}{$product.price}

Returns to template:

This product costs $45.00

{theme_url}

Retrieve an absolute URL within your active theme's folder with a relative URL path. Will use HTTPS if necessary.

Usage:

{theme_url path="images/theme_header.gif"}

Returns to template:

http://www.yourdomain.com/themes/yourtheme/images/theme_header.gif

{thumbnail}

Create a thumbnail of an image and return the URL to this cached thumbnail image.

This function actually wraps the image_thumb helper function. It works with your Hero default image processing settings configured in config.php.

Usage:

{* This would occur within a product page *}
<img src="{thumbnail path=$image.path width="80" height="80"}" alt="Image Thumbnail" />

Returns to template:

<img src="http://www.example.com/writeable/image_thumbs/fsdf24r02j8paja3894dfkf8fj2a2.jpg" alt="Image Thumbnail" />

{url}

Retrieve an absolute URL relative to your site's base URL. Will use HTTPS if necessary.

Usage:

{url path="my_page.html"}

Returns to template:

http://www.yourdomain.com/my_page.html

{xss_clean}

Cleanse a string of all XSS maliciousness for displaying in a template.

Usage:

This is from a GET query parameter, so we should cleanse it: {xss_clean string=$smarty.get.test_param}

Returns to template:

This is from a GET query parameter, so we should cleanse it: Parameter value