ezflow: pages, zones and blocks #

This page is for site builders and editors who compose front pages and landing pages. ezflow ("eZ Flow LS") is the page builder of the classic design. It provides a page datatype whose content is laid out in zones (for example left and right) that hold blocks (a list of items, a campaign, a banner, RSS, a keyword list and so on).

Editors rearrange blocks with drag and drop, push an object into a block from the content view, schedule when items appear in a block, and see the change on a timeline. The extension requires ezjscore, extends ezwebin and ezwt, and comes with workflow event types, a datatype, cronjobs and a Flash chart module (modules/flash). Version 6.1.5 (2 October 2026) is current.

Use it #

1. Give a class a page attribute (the demo's frontpage and landing_page have one).
2. When editing, choose a zone layout. The choice comes from zone.ini [General] AllowedTypes[] (GlobalZoneLayout, 2ZonesLayout1, 2ZonesLayout2, 2ZonesLayout3, 3ZonesLayout1, 3ZonesLayout2, CallForActionLayout), restricted by AvailableForClasses[].
3. Add blocks to the zones. Blocks are defined in block.ini.
4. Fill a block: use push to block in the content view, or let items arrive automatically from the block's source (a fetch, RSS, keywords).
5. Run the two cronjob parts from cron:

php runcronjobs.php ezflow          # ezflowupdate.php: rotates and updates blocks
php runcronjobs.php ezflow-cleanup  # ezflowcleanup.php

Settings #

What changed in the Exponential 6 releases #

About 6.1.4: the page editor, block tools, push to block, schedule dialog and timeline run on jQuery with the same server calls, POST fields, ids and events (blocktools.js, zonetools.js, scheduledialog.js, ezpushtoblock.js, ezajaxsearch.js). Drag and drop uses pointer events. The new ezflowcalendar.js and ezflowwidgets.css provide calendar, tabs, dialog, buttons and menu. The ezpage edit tabs use .ezpage-tabs*, and the timeline page has the class ezflow-skin. The unused Prototype library and YUI's sprite copy are removed.

Upgrade note: if you wrote custom block tools that call the YUI widgets, port them to the jQuery modules; the server API did not change. See YUI removal.

Languages #

The extension carries translation files in translations/<locale>/translation.ts: cat-ES, cro-HR, esl-ES, fre-FR, ger-DE, ita-IT, jpn-JP, por-BR, swe-SE. The German file holds 128 messages, 16 of them still marked unfinished (count <message in translations/ger-DE/translation.ts). The texts are looked up in design/admin/... contexts (the page editor menus). List them:

grep -o '<name>[^<]*</name>' extension/ezflow/translations/ger-DE/translation.ts | sort -u

After editing a translation file, refresh the compiled translation cache with ./console exp:ezgeneratetranslationcache and clear the template and content caches. ./console exp:ezchecktranslation ger-DE prints statistics of the kernel's share/translations/ger-DE/translation.ts, not of this extension's file.

Related pages #

• ezwebin, ezdemo, ezwt
• Velocity engines
• CLI, cronjob and view abstractions
• Extension metadata specification
• Chronicle and release notes
• Change ledger
• Months: 2023-12, 2024-01, 2026-09, 2026-10 (all extensions)