Loading order and which theme wins #

This page is for designers whose theme overrides templates of another extension (for example a base theme), and for administrators who combine several themes.

The rule #

The order of the active extensions is the order of priority: an extension loaded earlier wins over a later one for settings and for design templates.

What decides the order #

1. The order of the ActiveExtensions[] lines (and ActiveAccessExtensions[] for a siteaccess).

2. With site.ini [ExtensionSettings] ExtensionOrdering=enabled (the default in settings/site.ini), the dependencies declared in each active extension's extension.xml reorder that list first:

   Declared in your extension.xml	Effect on loading
   <extends><extension name="base_theme" /></extends>	Your theme loads before base_theme, so it wins
   <requires> or <uses>	Your theme loads after the named extension

   See Declaring dependencies in extension.xml. The comment in site.ini lists the known limits: the ordering does not fix order issues across ActiveExtensions and ActiveAccessExtensions, and it still loads an extension whose dependency is not active.

Step by step: make your theme win over a base theme #

1. In your extension.xml add:

   <dependencies>
       <extends>
           <extension name="base_theme" />
       </extends>
   </dependencies>

2. Clear the INI cache: php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-tag=ini --allow-root-user.

3. Open Setup > Extensions: each card shows where the extension really loads.

4. Open a page that both themes have a template for. With template debugging on, the path comment names your file.

When you cannot declare it #

If you do not control the other extension or the order still is wrong, move your theme above the other one in the list on Setup > Extensions (the order is changed in the list, reviewed, then written).

Related pages #

• Setup > Extensions: loading order and safe saving
• The design cascade
• Override ordering
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.