Moving a template from Smarty #

This page ports one small Smarty template to the template language, step by step, and ends with a checklist for your own templates. Each step was rendered on a development installation against the "Fit & Healthy" front page (node 89).

Exponential runs Smarty templates itself: a design can hold Smarty 5 templates (.stpl) next to its .tpl templates, with every operator, fetch function, template function, override rule and cache of the template system. If you would rather keep writing Smarty, see Smarty templates (.stpl) next to .tpl and Moving from .tpl to .stpl, which also converts templates in both directions.

Exponential runs Smarty templates itself: a design can hold Smarty 5 templates (.stpl) next to its .tpl templates, with every operator, fetch function, template function, override rule and cache of the template system. If you would rather keep writing Smarty, see Smarty templates (.stpl) next to .tpl and Moving from .tpl to .stpl, which also converts templates in both directions.

Contents #

1. The Smarty template
2. Step 1: variables
3. Step 2: the data comes from fetch
4. Step 3: the loop, links, dates and escaping
5. Checklist
6. Related pages

The Smarty template #

A list of the latest pages of a section, as it might look in Smarty. The PHP that renders it assigns $site and $pages. This is Smarty, for comparison; it was not run here:

{assign var=limit value=3}
<h2>{$site.name|escape}</h2>
{if $pages|@count == 0}
<p>No pages yet.</p>
{else}
<ul>
{foreach from=$pages item=page}
  <li class="{cycle values='odd,even'}"><a href="{$page.url}">{$page.name|truncate:30|escape}</a>
      {$page.published|date_format:'%Y-%m-%d'}</li>
{/foreach}
</ul>
{/if}

Step 1: variables #

{assign} becomes {def}. Several variables can be defined in one tag, on several lines. Instead of receiving $site from PHP, the template fetches the node. escape becomes wash:

{def $site = fetch( 'content', 'node', hash( 'node_id', 89 ) )
     $limit = 3}
<h2>{$site.name|wash}</h2>

Output:

<h2>Fit &amp; Healthy</h2>

Step 2: the data comes from fetch #

The list is a content/list fetch with the parent, the limit and the sort order. The count test uses the count operator; there is no @ and no ==:

{def $site = fetch( 'content', 'node', hash( 'node_id', 89 ) )
     $limit = 3
     $pages = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash( 'parent_node_id', $site.node_id,
                                              'limit', $limit,
                                              'sort_by', array( 'published', false() ) ) )}
<h2>{$site.name|wash}</h2>
<p>{$pages|count} of {$site.children_count} pages</p>

Output:

<h2>Fit &amp; Healthy</h2>
<p>3 of 16 pages</p>

Step 3: the loop, links, dates and escaping #

The finished template. What changed:

• {if $pages|@count == 0} becomes {if $pages|count|eq( 0 )}.
• {foreach from=$pages item=page} becomes {foreach $pages as $page}.
• {cycle values='odd,even'} becomes the loop parameter sequence array( 'odd', 'even' ) as $row.
• A link is the node's url_alias passed through ezurl, which adds the siteaccess path and the quotes: href={$page.url_alias|ezurl}.
• truncate:30 becomes shorten( 30 ), and escape becomes wash (after shortening, so an entity is not cut).
• date_format becomes datetime( 'custom', ... ) on the object's published timestamp.
• {undef} at the end removes the variables; inside a full view template, variables made with {def} are removed at the end of the file anyway.

{def $site = fetch( 'content', 'node', hash( 'node_id', 89 ) )
     $limit = 3
     $pages = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash( 'parent_node_id', $site.node_id,
                                              'limit', $limit,
                                              'sort_by', array( 'published', false() ) ) )}
<h2>{$site.name|wash}</h2>
{if $pages|count|eq( 0 )}
<p>No pages yet.</p>
{else}
<ul>
{foreach $pages as $page sequence array( 'odd', 'even' ) as $row}
  <li class="{$row}"><a href={$page.url_alias|ezurl}>{$page.name|shorten( 30 )|wash}</a>
      {$page.object.published|datetime( 'custom', '%Y-%m-%d' )}</li>
{/foreach}
</ul>
{/if}
{undef $site $limit $pages}

Output:

<h2>Fit &amp; Healthy</h2><ul>  <li class="odd"><a href="/slash-quotes">Slash Quotes</a>
      2026-10-17</li>  <li class="even"><a href="/exponential-live">Tour</a>
      2026-10-05</li>  <li class="odd"><a href="/fit-healthy-site-info">Fit &amp; Healthy site info - [...</a>
      2026-08-31</li></ul>

The list shows what was published last on a development installation when this page was built, so the names will differ on your site.

Checklist #

After porting, render the template with debug output on and read the warnings: an operator that does not exist and a set on a variable that was never defined both fail quietly in the page (see Smarty and the template language: the differences in depth).

Related pages #

• Moving from Exponential templates (.tpl) to Exponential Smarty templates (.stpl) and Smarty templates (.stpl) next to .tpl: Smarty templates run by Exponential itself
• Previous: Smarty and the template language: the differences in depth
• Next: Moving from .tpl to .stpl
• Fetching nodes and lists
• URL operators
• Dates, numbers and localization
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.