pnRender is the Zikula implementation of the Smarty∞ templating engine. pnRender differs from pure Smarty in a number of ways
- Uses different template delimiters; <!--[ and ]-->.
- Provides additional functionality specific to Zikula including theme based template overrides.
- Provides additional plugin directories including theme and module specific plugins.
- Provides many additional plugins allowing access to the Zikula API and PostNuke modules system.
- Provides graphical configuration of Smarty options via the modules administration panel
In all other respects pnRender and Smarty are identical. The Smarty Documentation is useful reading for Zikula administrators and developers.
The pnRender administration block can be used to control the compilation and cache settings for your web site.
Smarty Version: This displays the currently installed version of Smarty and is not a setting that you can change.
Compiled templates directory: This displays the location of the compiled tempates directory and is not a setting that you can change.
Compile check: Checking this option will check to see if a new version of the template needs to be created. This setting is useful when making changes to your web site templates.
Force compilation: Checking this option will force the templated to be recompiled. This setting is useful when making changes to your web site templates.
Cached templates directory: This displays the location of the cached templates directory and is not a setting that you can change.
Enable caching: Checking this option will create cached versions of rendered pages and may speed up your web site.
Debug settings: A Zikula page will use many templates to build different parts of the page so a common question is how to identify which template is used to render each part of a page. pnRender offers the ability to output the name of the template used as a comment in the HTML source. This option is enabled via the pnRender admin panel via the 'Expose template information in comments' setting.