Adjusting the component's look and feel through template overrides

RSTickets!Pro's default frontend design (and functionality) may not be suitable for all of our customers, as each Joomla! template has it's own, custom arrangement when it comes to layouts (and some users might actually need some additional functionality which isn't available by default).

This does not only apply to our own components, but for any Joomla! extension. Joomla! was designed having this into consideration, by including the template overrides feature. What this feature does, it allows you to override a component's / module's layout without altering the original files (in order to keep changes after future updates).

 

General implementation

As the name implies, template overrides are performed through your template. Assuming that your component's name is com_component, the file that controls the view you wish to alter is called your_view.php and the template's name is your_template, here's how you can create a template override for one of the component's views:

Basically, you will need to replicate, in the template's html folder, most of the folder structure found in the component's views folder, as in the following example:

the /components/com_component/views/component/tmpl/your_view.php file needs to be copied to:

templates/your_template/html/com_component/component/your_view.php

After doing so, you will be able to perform your modifications without worrying about losing your changes upon possible future updates.

 

RSTickets!Pro's layout files

All of RSTickets!Pro's frontend menu item layouts are being controlled by the following files:

• The Dashboard Default Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/dashboard/tmpl/default.php
• The Article Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/article/tmpl/default.php
• The Knowledgebase Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/knowledgebase/tmpl/default.php
• The Search Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/search/tmpl/default.php
• The Predefined Searches Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/predefinedsearches/tmpl/default.php
• The Submit Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/submit/tmpl/default.php
• The Change Signature Layout menu item - /components/com_rsticketspro/views/signature/tmpl/default.php

 

Additional Functionality Example

Let's say that you are using the Protostar template (Joomla! 3.x) and you wish to display, at the bottom of the page, the date when an article was created, in the Article Layout menu item. Please take the following steps in order to achieve this:

• Create the following folder structure:

/templates/protostar/html/com_rsticketspro/article

• Copy the \components\com_rsticketspro\views\article\tmpl\default.php file to the previously created folder
• Edit the copied file and add the following code at the bottom of the page:

• <p>Created on <?php echo $this->article->created;?></p>

After doing so, simply refresh the page that displays the Article Layout menu item, the date the article was created on should be displayed below the article's text.