Template path comments #

This page is for designers who look at a page and need the template behind a piece of it. With template path comments on, every rendered template is wrapped in two HTML comments naming its file. The feature page is Template path comments.

Contents #

1. Switch it on
2. Read it
3. Cautions

Switch it on #

On a test siteaccess:

# settings/siteaccess/<test siteaccess>/site.ini.append.php
[TemplateSettings]
ShowTemplatePathComments=enabled

then clear the template cache (php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-tag=template), because compiled templates carry the check. The Exp debug bar can toggle the same setting.

Read it #

<!-- START design/media/templates/pagelayout/footer.tpl -->
...the footer markup...
<!-- STOP design/media/templates/pagelayout/footer.tpl -->

When an override answered, the requested template is named in brackets:

<!-- START design/media/templates/node/view/full/article.tpl (node/view/full.tpl) -->

"the file article.tpl answered the request node/view/full.tpl". In the browser's element inspector, the comments appear around the elements, so you can climb from any element to its template.

Cautions #

• Development only: the comments add markup to every template, break JSON, XML and RSS output, and reveal file paths. Keep the setting disabled on live siteaccesses (its comment in settings/site.ini says the same).
• Cached output keeps the comments it was rendered with: clear content and template caches after switching.

Related pages #

• Template debugging
• Debugging a design
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.