Understanding Exponent Modules and Views
Overview
'Views' are the way that the module interacts with the user. Views are referred to as 'templates' and very similar to an HTML page or file, but also contain 'Smarty' tags to allow them to display information which has been dynamically extracted from the system.
Module and View Guides
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Customizing Exponent
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Though we strongly recommend you NOT change the 'guts' of Exponent (files inside the /framework folder), you can override most built-in features with custom views, etc... (modified copies) by placing them in the theme folder. Exponent is designed to be easily customized by the end user. However, if you edit the files shipped with Exponent, chances are, they will be overwritten when you upgrade the site to the newest version. Otherwise you're stuck with the old version, or you'll have to perform a pains-taking 'diff' to place your 'customized' edits into the new version.
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Creating a Custom Module View
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Here's a quick tutorial about creating a custom view. While you can replace a system view by creating a view with the same name or provide an additional alternate to it. We are going to create an additional custom view for the text module.
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Creating a User Configurable Custom View
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Additional control over a specific module view can be managed by creating view configurations providing options to the user which can be referenced in that view.
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Standard Smarty Variables
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Each template/view receives the following variables set by Exponent:
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