The Geo software extends the Smarty Template Engine, a 3rd party "software library", for the software's template system. You can read the smarty.net documentation to learn about the main functionality available in Smarty-based templates. The Geo software adds much more functionality on top of what is built into the Smarty template engine system, as noted below.

The plugins are divided into different sections: resources, block functions, functions, and modifiers. Each section describes how that type of plugin works.

In Smarty, a resource is something that gets a template. For instance, Smarty has a built-in file resource that simply retrieves the requested template from the Smarty template folder.

Added in Version 6.0.0. ¹⁾

This resource makes the cascading template set model possible. In a nutshell, it looks through all of the active template sets for the requested template, and gets the template from the first template set it can find the template in.

See How a Template Set is Chosen for more info.

In a Smarty template, a block function is a block of the template surrounded by special Smarty tags, something like:

{function_name} ... {/function_name}

This has a few different uses. Currently there is only one custom block function but there may be more added in future versions.

Added in Version 7.3.0.

The {add_footer_html} block is used to move the contents inside the block to the end of the contents for the {footer_html} tag, or to display the contents in-line if the admin settings disable using {footer_html}. The setting that affects this, is in the admin at Design > Settings, the setting "Use {footer_html} to delay loading of certain javascript". If that is enabled, the contents are moved to {footer_html}, if disabled the contents are displayed in-line.

Any time that you insert JS into a template in-line, if the JS uses jQuery, jQuery-UI, or any of the "built in" JS, it will need to use the {add_footer_html} block in order to work correctly when the above mentioned setting is turned on. And the JS needs to be coded such that it does not need to be in that exact location within the template, it "can be" or it could be moved to the end depending on settings.

Typical Usage:

{add_footer_html}
<script type="text/javascript">
//Some JS that uses something "built in" like jQuery, the gjUtil object, the geoUtil
//object, jQuery UI, etc.
</script>
{/add_footer_html}

Required Parameters:

• There are no required parameters. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:²⁾

• There are no non-standard optional parameters <

In a Smarty template, a template function is a special tag that looks something like:

{function_name var1='value' var2='value2'}

See Smarty Docs for more information on what a Smarty function is.

The {body_html} is used to display the content specific for the current page being displayed. For instance, on the login page, the {body_html} displays the login form on the page.

This custom function behaves very similarly to the built-in {include …} function, except that it uses a system template to display the contents³⁾. What template is used, depends on the current page being viewed.

Typical Usage:

{body_html}

Required Parameters:

• There are no required parameters. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:⁴⁾

• file - Added in Version 6.0.0. You can over-write what file is normally used to display the body_html contents. Be careful when using this on templates that are attached to many different pages! <
• g_type - Added in Version 6.0.0. Over-write the template type (system, module, addon, external, or main_page) by specifying g_type='type_name' in the tag. Doing so will make it look in the alternate template type location for the template. <
• g_resource - Added in Version 6.0.0. Over-write the g_resource, which is basically the "top folder" once inside the template type folder. If you used a g_type of system, and g_resource of cart, and the file-name requested was sub_dir/display.tpl, the actual location would be system/cart/sub_dir/display.tpl. The g_resource is not always required, and not typically used for main_page templates, in which case it would be set to an empty string. <
• assign - Added in Version 6.0.0. Allows assigning the output to the variable specified. <
• Variables - Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named body_html variables that are set by the script, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag. <

Added in Version 7.3.0

In version 7.3.0, we re-named the old {header_html} tag to be {head_html} instead. This is because the name {header_html} might make it sound like it is meant for the "header", which has become the standard way to refer to the top part of the page, rather than what it is really meant for, the <head> section of the HTML.

We just thought if the tag goes inside the <head>…</head> inside HTML, which in the default template, is in a file named head.tpl, we might want to use the name {head_html} instead of {header_html} just so it is clear.

Note that the old {header_html} will continue to work for the forseeable future. But if you are using version 7.3.0 or higher we recommend to go ahead and change any uses of {header_html} to the new name.

See {header_html} for documentation on this tag.

The {header_html} is used to display any HTML that needs to be included in the <head> section of the page, such as javascript, CSS links, etc. that are needed for the page being displayed. For instance, on the listing details page, needed javascript is added to allow the lightbox to function properly.

One question we get a lot is what template is used to display the {header_html} or what PHP file generates the contents. The answer is that there is no one single template or single spot that generates the entire contents. The contents are pooled together from different parts of the script, for instance one module might need a specific JS file to be loaded, another might need some CSS to be loaded, etc. The contents of this tag consist of many different parts that are needed for the different parts of the page being displayed. There are a few specific pages that do use a template to display the "bulk" of the content⁵⁾, but even then most of the content is put together from across the software.

Typical Usage:⁶⁾

{header_html}

Required Parameters:

• There are no required parameters. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:⁷⁾

• file - Added in Version 6.0.0. You can over-write what file is normally used to display the header_html contents. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. Be careful when using this on templates that are attached to many different pages! <
• g_type - Added in Version 6.0.0. Over-write the template type (system, module, addon, external, or main_page) by specifying g_type='type_name' in the tag. Doing so will make it look in the alternate template type location for the template. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. <
• g_resource - Added in Version 6.0.0. Over-write the g_resource, which is basically the "top folder" once inside the template type folder. If you used a g_type of system, and g_resource of cart, and the file-name requested was sub_dir/display.tpl, the actual location would be system/cart/sub_dir/display.tpl. The g_resource is not always required, and not typically used for main_page templates, in which case it would be set to an empty string. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. <
• assign - Added in Version 6.0.0. Allows assigning the output to the variable specified. <
• Variables - Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named header_html variables that are set by the script, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag. <

Added in Version 7.3.0

The {footer_html} is used to display "delayed" contents that do not need to be loaded until the end of the page, typically JS. This tag will only be used if the setting in the admin page Design > Settings named Use {footer_html} to delay loading of certain javascript is enabled (checked).

Normally all of the JS for the page used by the system, such as the JS that makes the lightbox work, is loaded by {head_html} inside the <head> section of the page. But if the above mentioned setting is enabled, the JS is displayed in the {footer_html} instead. This is referred to as delaying the JS loading, the "overall" page speed is not affected since it still has to load everything, but the "perceived page speed" is faster since it delays loading the JS until the end of the page. See the user manual for the setting Use {footer_html} to delay loading of certain javascript for more information.

So in other words, the {footer_html} is basically the parts of the {head_html} tag that can be "delayed" until the very end of the page. See the notes on {head_html} for more information.

Typical Usage:⁸⁾

{footer_html}

Required Parameters:

• There are no required parameters. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:⁹⁾

• file - You can over-write what file is normally used to display the header_html contents. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. Be careful when using this on templates that are attached to many different pages! <
• g_type - Over-write the template type (system, module, addon, external, or main_page) by specifying g_type='type_name' in the tag. Doing so will make it look in the alternate template type location for the template. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. <
• g_resource - Over-write the g_resource, which is basically the "top folder" once inside the template type folder. If you used a g_type of system, and g_resource of cart, and the file-name requested was sub_dir/display.tpl, the actual location would be system/cart/sub_dir/display.tpl. The g_resource is not always required, and not typically used for main_page templates, in which case it would be set to an empty string. This will only have an effect on the rare pages that use a template to display the main part of the contents. <
• assign - Allows assigning the output to the variable specified. <
• Variables - Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named footer_html variables that are set by the script, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag. <

See Also: The {add_footer_html} function block.

The {addon …} tag displays the contents of a tag generated by an addon. You don't have to guess at what the exact tag should be, in the admin at Addons > Manage Addons when you hover over any addon, it lists the tags available for that addon. See each of the addon's documentation for the usage of each addon tag.

Typical Usage:

{addon author='auth_tag' addon='addon_name' tag='tag_name'}

Requires Attachment: Addon tags are attached to main_page templates¹⁰⁾, every time you edit a template in the admin panel, the template is re-scanned and attachments re-saved. If you edit the template outside the admin panel, in Design > Template Sets, use the Re-Scan Attachments button.

<tip c t>Tip: In the admin template editor, at Design > Manager, use the Insert Tag blue button. Then click on the Addon Tags tab within the tool, and you will see a drop-down of all the available addon tags in all of your currently enabled addons!</tip>

Required Parameters:

• author - This should be set to the addon's "Author Tag"¹¹⁾. <
• addon - The addon's folder name. <
• tag - The tag name for which tag to display. Addons can have multiple tags. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• headOnly - Added in Version 6.0.0 Set this parameter to 1 to make it so that only the header stuff is added, the addon tag itself is not displayed. Useful for times when you need the automatic header contents to be added to {header_html} but the addon tag is not inside a main_page template. In such cases, you can just add the addon tag to the main page template used to display that same page, and add headerOnly=1 to the tag, and it will keep the template from actually displaying the tag in the spot inserted. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:¹²⁾

• g_type - Added in Version 6.0.0. Only used if the addon tag uses the built-in template methods to display the tag contents. Over-write the template type (system, module, addon, external, or main_page) by specifying g_type='type_name' in the tag. Doing so will make it look in the alternate template type location for the template. <
• g_resource - Added in Version 6.0.0. Only used if the addon tag uses the built-in template methods to display the tag contents. Over-write the g_resource, which is basically the "top folder" once inside the template type folder. <
• assign - Added in Version 6.0.0. Allows assigning the output to the variable specified. <
• Other:
  • Template Variables - Only used if the addon tag uses the built-in template methods to display the tag contents. Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named template variables that are set by the addon, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag. <
  • Other parameters - See the addon tag documentation. The addon tag does have available the parameters that were used in the tag, so it is possible for a specific addon tag to use, or perhaps even "require" additional parameters. You would need to refer to the addon documentation provided by the addon's author for any information about such "additional" parameters.

The {external …} tag will display the URL for the requested external file, such as an image, CSS, or JS file located in the external/ folder in a template set.

<tip c t>Tip: In the admin template editor, at Design > Manager, use the Insert Tag blue button. Then click on the external tab within the tool, and you will see a drop-down of all the external files found.</tip>

See How a Template Set is Chosen for more info on how it determines which template set to use.

Typical Usage:

{external file='images/background.jpg'}

Required Parameters:

• file - What file to look for in the external folder in each of the template sets. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:¹³⁾

• There are no non-standard optional parameters for this tag. <

The {module …} tag will display the specified built-in module. You can easily find and insert any built-in module tag into a template, when using the template editor in Design > Manage, by using the Insert Tag tool. It will give a drop-down list of all the modules available, just select the one desired and click the button to insert the tag.

Typical Usage:

{module tag='title_module'}

<tip c t>Tip: In the admin template editor, at Design > Manager, use the Insert Tag blue button. Then click on the module tab within the tool, and you will see a drop-down of all the available modules! Select one to insert the tag into your template.</tip>

Requires Attachment: Addon tags are attached to main_page templates¹⁴⁾, every time you edit a template in the admin panel, the template is re-scanned and attachments re-saved. If you edit the template outside the admin panel, in Design > Template Sets, use the Re-Scan Attachments button.

Required Parameters:

• tag - The tag name used by the module you want to display. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• There are no standard optional parameters. <

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:¹⁵⁾

• assign - Added in Version 6.0.0. Allows assigning the output to the variable specified. <
• Template Variables - Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named module template variables that are set by that module, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag. A few of the most commonly changed template variables are listed below¹⁶⁾:
  • browse_tpl : Added in Version 7.1.0: Can use this to change what template to use to display the listings. This only works with browsing modules, modules that display a set of listings, such as the featured modules or the hottest listings module. Set this to common/list_view.tpl for list view, common/grid_view.tpl for the grid view, or common/gallery_view.tpl for the gallery view. <

<

• Module Settings - (As of Version 7.0.2) Any module setting, which is normally set in the admin panel, is able to be overridden by a tag parameter. See the list below for a complete list of module settings and what each one does. <

Module Settings (requires version 7.0.2 or higher to work)

When to Use: Note that each of these settings are normally changed in the admin panel. We only advise to use a module tag parameter to change this if the same module is used in multiple locations, and you wish to use different module settings for the different locations.

Added in Version 7.1.0.

The {listing …} tag displays blocks of information about a listing. It can be used in the listing details page in any part of the templates for that page, or in a browsing sub-template, the template used to display each individual listing when browsing the site. Note that this includes browsing / featured pic / featured modules inside the module templates as well! When used in those contexts, the system will automatically detect what listing to display the info for. Or to be more technical, as long as there is $listing array, with "id" set in the array, OR $listing_id set in the template, it will be able to detect that automatically. This allows it to be used in a great variety of places within templates and makes it a very versatile tag.

It can also be used anywhere in any template, even when not browsing or not on listing details, as long as you specify the listing_id parameter in the tag so that it knows what listing to use.

<tip c t>Tip: In the admin template editor, at Design > Manager, use the Insert Tag blue button. Then click on the Listing tab within the tool, and you will see a drop-down of all the available listing tags! It even shows any listing tags added by enabled addons as well!</tip>

Typical Usage examples:

• Standard listing tag

  {listing tag='image_block'}

  <

• Standard listing field

  {listing field='price'}

  <

• Standard listing addon tag

  {listing addon='example' tag='listing_tag_example'}

  <

Advanced Usage Examples:

• Assign array of listing tags to template var $these_listing_tags:

  {listing field='tags' format='array' assign='these_listing_tags'}

  <

• Assign the pre-currency symbol unformatted to the template var $precurrency_raw:

  {listing field='precurrency' format='raw' assign='precurrency_raw'}

  <

• Assign the category questions, and display the value for question with ID of 123²¹⁾ (Requires at least 7.2.1):

  {listing field='extra_questions' format='array' assign='questions'}
  {if $questions.123}
  	{* only display if question with ID 123 exists *}
  	<strong>Question:</strong>  {$questions.123.question}<br />
  	<strong>Value:</strong> 
  	{if $questions.123.value}
  		{* This is a standard value *}
  		{$questions.123.value}
  	{elseif $questions.123.link}
  		{* This is a URL question, so make it use a link *}
  		<a href="{$questions.123.link}">{$questions.123.link}</a>
  	{/if}
  {/if}

  <

Required Parameters: Requires ONE of the parameters to be defined in the tag, not both:

• tag - What tag to show. Tags typically take some data attached to the listing, and display it in a friendly way. For instance, the image_block will display all of the images attached to the listing, using gallery or filmstrip style to show them. <
• field - What listing field to display. This will be information about a listing displayed with no HTML markup "added", that does not require a sub-template to display, such as the listing title or description. <

Standard Optional Parameters:

• addon - Requires using tag parameter, does not work with field. This is used to allow an addon to display information about a listing. <
• format - Requires using field parameter. Recommended to use assign²²⁾ in conjunction with this parameter. There are only 2 valid values:
  • format='raw' - Gets the raw value of the field requested, in the format as stored in the database. Make sure you perform any formatting necessary depending on the field. <
  • format='array' - Only works with a few select fields:
    • listing²³⁾<
    • tags²⁴⁾<
    • order_items²⁵⁾<
    • images<
    • seller<
    • high_bidder - Added in Version 7.1.1 ²⁶⁾<
    • multi_level_fields (or "leveled" for short)<
    • regions - includes "additional" regions if used.<
    • extra_questions - Added in Version 7.2.1 ²⁷⁾<
    • checkboxes - Added in Version 7.2.1<

< <

• listing_id - Used to force it to use the specified listing. If expired or invalid ID is given, and it cannot detect a listing ID to use based on the context/location of the tag, the tag will not display anything. This is required if using the listing in a template used on a page where the listing cannot be detected. The typical use of this would be to display information about a specific "example listing" that is perhaps set to not expire, within an extra page template, or similar location. Note that this is not commonly used, but it is here if you need it²⁸⁾.<

Non-Standard Optional Parameters:²⁹⁾

• file - You can over-write what file is normally used to display the tag contents.³⁰⁾ <
• g_type - Over-write the template type (system, module, addon, external, or main_page) by specifying g_type='type_name' in the tag. Doing so will make it look in the alternate template type location for the template.³¹⁾ <
• g_resource - Over-write the g_resource, which is basically the "top folder" once inside the template type folder, or the addon folder for an addon tag. If you used a g_type of system, and g_resource of cart, and the file-name requested was sub_dir/display.tpl, the actual location would be system/cart/sub_dir/display.tpl. The g_resource is not always required, and not typically used for main_page templates, in which case it would be set to an empty string.³²⁾ <
• assign - Allows assigning the output to the variable specified.³³⁾ <
• Variables - Any other parameters used in the tag, will over-write the same-named template variables that are set by the script for the sub-template used, much like the effect of adding extra parameters to an {include …} tag.³⁴⁾ <

Added in version 6.0.0.

The {debug_templates_used} displays all template files referenced at all up until the point the tag is inserted. If a template is included below the tag for instance, that template would not be listed in the list. It is a great tool for designers needing to see exactly what system templates are used to build a page.

When you insert the tag, it will display tips and notes above the list, read those for important and useful info about the tag and its usage.

Special Tag: Not recommended for live sites:

This tag is made for developers and designers already familiar with the software and how Smarty templates work, to be able to quickly and easily see what templates (including system templates) are used to build a page. It is not intended for live sites.

Modifiers are used to manipulate a variable in some way, for instance the custom modifier displayPrice will change something that normally looks like 12345.67 into something that looks like $12,345.67 USD. See the Smarty.net docs for more information about modifiers.

This is used to take a number like 1234.56 and display it in price format like $1,234.56 USD.

Anything non-numeric will be converted to 0.

Typical Usage:

{$number|displayPrice}

Use site-wide settings for pre and post currency.

{$number|displayPrice:'pre':'post'}

Use specified pre and post currency values instead of site-wide settings.

{$number|displayPrice:false:false:cart}

Use site-wide settings for pre and post currency, and specify that the "type" of cost is cart cost, so that if cost is 0 it can potentially be replaced by value specified in admin.

Parameters:

• Parameter 1 - optional - Pre-currency string. If not specified or set to null, will use site-wide settings. <
• Parameter 2 - optional - Post-currency string. If not specified or set to null, will use site-wide settings. <
• Parameter 2 - optional - Price type, either 'cart' or 'listing'. If not specified or set to null, 0 prices will display normally with no replacements. <

Used to escape a string to be usable inside JS. Replaces any newlines, tabs, or carriage returns with a single space, and adds slashes to escape the string.

Typical Usage:

{$string_var|escape_js}

No additional parameters

Similar to the Smarty modifier date_format, but uses the PHP function date() to format the date instead of strftime(). The var being modified should be a unix timestamp.

Typical Usage:

{$timestamp|format_date}

Will use the date format as set in the admin settings.

{$timestamp|format_date:'F j, Y, g:i a'}

Format the date as specified in the first parameter.

{$smarty.now|format_date}

Display the current time in the format specified in the admin panel settings.

Parameters:

• Parameter 1 - optional - The date format, should use syntax as described on PHP's date() docs. If not specified, will use date format settings set in the admin panel. <

Decodes the a string that was previously encoded to save in the database. This is not typically needed in main_page templates, unless you are making use of "raw" data directly from the database that has not already been "decoded" for you. One example of this is in listing details template, the array $listing_data_raw holds all of the listing's data "un-encoded".

Typical Usage:

{$listing_data_raw.description|fromDB}

No additional parameters

Transforms a string (usually a URL) into a QR Code (Requires Geo v6.0.0+)

Typical Usage:

{$someText|qr_code}

Will create a QR code with the default parameters (size 100, UTF-8, error correction level 'L')

{$someText|qr_code:125:'UTF-8':'M'}

Will create a physically larger code with more error correction

Parameters:

• Parameter 1 - optional - integer (default: 100) containing the height and width (its square) of the finished image, in pixels. Note that this INCLUDES a border of whitespace around the code (part of the QR spec). Also note that images much smaller than size 75 or so are not likely to be readable by current smartphones (in testing, an iPhone4 had no problem with size 75, but didn't have enough camera resolution to read size 50)
• Parameter 2 - optional - The character encoding of the original string. This should almost always be 'UTF-8'
• Parameter 3 - optional - The error correction level. One of the following characters: 'L', 'M', 'Q', or 'H' (default 'L'), offering automatic correction of up to 7%, 15%, 25%, and 30% (respectively) of missing, misread, or obscured data, at the cost of less room for actual data in the code (redundant error checking)