Documentation on how to install widgets

Posted by Byrne, 22 Dec 2005

It has been less than twelve hours since the release of Sidebar Manager, and I already have got some wonderful feedback and questions. One in particular I would like to highlight:

I am, however, a little confused on how the whole PERL thing works and how a user would add a widget to the list. This is where I separate myself from the developer world and place myself in the software user world. Do you have to add a new line of PERL to the MT:Template file for every new widget?

Absolutely not. Users need only click on the “Templates” button, and then the “Modules” tab, and create a new Template Module with a name that begins with the letters: “Sidebar: “. That’s it.

Developers on the other hand can use a little Perl code to automate the process users sometimes have to do manually. To create a template module using Perl, code you could execute during your plugin’s installation process, use the code discussed previously. It too I think is very simple. But I would love to hear how it could be even simpler!

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3 Comments

Can you clarify these instructions regarding creating and naming a new template module?

Absolutely not. Users need only click on the “Templates” button, and then the “Modules” tab, and create a new Template Module with a new that begins with the letters: “Sidebar: “. That’s it.

  • create a new Template Module with a new __ ? Is there a typo or missing word here?

  • what do we name this template module? Do we name it just as we would any module for the MTInclude tag? Or does the template module name need to be "Sidebar: some name" ?

    • The PageCoach at 2006-01-22T23:39:02-08:00

    I fixed the typo above. It should read, "create a new Template Module with a name that begins with the letters: “Sidebar: “. In other words, any template module whose name is prefixed with "Sidebar: " will automatically be pulled into Sidebar Manager's drag and drop interface.

    Byrne Reese at 2006-01-23T07:48:48-08:00

    I keep getting an Internal Server Error every time I click on 'Reorder My Sidebar', and I'm pretty sure I followed the directions.... Sidebar goes in MTHome/plugins, mt-static goes in MTHome/mt-static/plugins, and I've created the module 'Sidebar: ' and it appears on the module list. What am I doing wrong or what did I miss?

    Thanks -Patrick

    Patrick at 2006-08-12T03:10:00-08:00