• Author: Bill Erickson
• Create Date: 2011-03-08

• Development todos

The code currently lives in an ESI Git branch called "template-toolkit-opac". You can view the code and watch changes here.

Downloading the code by creating a git clone of the branch

$ git clone git://git.evergreen-ils.org/evergreen/equinox.git
$ cd equinox
$ git checkout -tb template-toolkit-opac origin/template-toolkit-opac

The code changes frequently. You can update the code by pulling changes from the repository.

$ git checkout template-toolkit-opac # just in case
$ git pull

1. Install the following additional Perl modules via OS package manager or CPAN:
   • Template::Plugin::POSIX
   • Locale::Maketext::Lexicon

1. Copy these files from the repository into place on the file system. Your mileage may vary on OS-dependent paths. Note: Be careful not to clobber local changes you didn't want clobbered.

   • $ sudo cp Open-ILS/examples/apache/eg_vhost.conf /etc/apache2/
     $ sudo -u opensrf cp Open-ILS/examples/oils_web.xml.example /openils/conf/oils_web.xml
     $ sudo cp -r Open-ILS/src/perlmods/lib/OpenILS/WWW/* /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.1/OpenILS/WWW/
     $ sudo -u opensrf cp -r Open-ILS/src/templates* /openils/var/

2. Reload or restart Apache.
3. Navigate to http://SERVER/eg/opac/home and you should see the KCLS-skinned server-side OPAC.

• The eventual goal is to fully integrate the TT OPAC into the staff client. Until it's complete, it's necessary to manually configure the staff client to use the new OPAC.
• To use the Template Toolkit OPAC as the catalog in the staff client, as opensrf:

  echo "urls['opac'] = '/eg/opac/advanced';
  urls['opac_rdetail'] = '/eg/opac/record/';
  urls['opac_rresult'] = '/eg/opac/results';
  urls['opac_rresult_metarecord'] = '/eg/opac/results?metarecord=';
  urls['browser'] = urls.opac;" > /openils/var/web/xul/server/skin/custom.js;

Skinning the TT OPAC is much easier than skinning previous incarnations of the Evergreen OPAC.

• Create a directory where you will store your template customizations, let's say /openils/var/web/my_own_templates.

• Look for the node <template_paths> in your /openils/conf/oils_web.xml file.

• Add a new <path> child node directly above all existing ones so that everything within <template_paths> now looks something like this:

  <template_paths>
    <path>/openils/var/my_own_templates</path>
    <path>/openils/var/templates</path>
  </template_paths>

• Place your version of all .tt2 files that you would edit into a directory structure that mirrors that of the stock template path. That is, if you want to have your own version of /openils/var/web/templates/default/opac/parts/topnav.tt2, put it at /openils/var/web/my_own_templates/default/opac/parts/topnav.tt2.

• Do not copy every file under /openils/var/web/templates into my_own_templates – that is not necessary.

• Reload Apache.

It's possible to override specific behavior of the default OPAC mod_perl handler by sub-classing the default and selecting methods to override.

• Create a local Perl module that is a subclass of OpenILS::WWW::EGCatLoader. Example:

  package EGCatLoaderLocal;
  use base 'OpenILS::WWW::EGCatLoader';
  # override a single method
  sub redirect_auth {
      my $self = shift;
      return $self->generic_redirect("http://my-fancy-auth-service.example.org");
  }

• Configure the new Perl module as the OPAC handler in Apache

  <Location /eg/opac>
      #PerlSetVar OILSWebContextLoader "OpenILS::WWW::EGCatLoader"
      PerlSetVar OILSWebContextLoader "EGCatLoaderLocal"
  </Location>

• Reload Apache