Introduction

However before transmission the Portalsuite looks for special commands. With these commands the Portalsuite includes further contents from the Portalsuite data base at the corresponding places, like, e. g., articles, pictures, category names etc. The combination of contents, layout and design takes place in the templates. Therewith the separation of contents, structure, layout and design (which actually is the basic principal of every Content Management System) is rescinded.

The Portalsuite hereby synthesises on the language "PHP" in its version 4. PHP is an open language and is often used on webservers in the internet for dynamic pages. The Portalsuite itself is developed with PHP as well. In the Light version the Portalsuite functions are available as PHP functions, beginning at the Advanced version the complete PHP language extent is available including all PHP functions. Thus you can realize instance discriminations, loops or your own applications. This offers multifarious possibilities for template developers. Since Portunity uses PHP in templates, many hundreds of thousands developers worldwide are able to create websites and portals quickly with the Portalsuite’s template technology.

In the Advanced version (and in higher versions) the object-oriented library "Portalsuite Objects"is available beside the Portalsuite functions. The Portalsuite Objects library is a object-oriented library, which maps almost every kind of data of the Portalsuite data base as well as further useful features from the fields of Content Management and portals. With the Portalsuite Objects both is possible, reading and writing access to the Portalsuite data base. If the possibilities of the functions and features provided by the Portalsuite "out-of-the-box" do not suffice, you can amend and programme functions on your own in PHP through this open library. The Portalsuite applications are mainly programmed with the "Portalsuite Objects" as well. In chapter 9 we cater to the "Portalsuite Objects" library in a separate paragraph more detailed.

Back to the templates. The templates are interpreted by the Portalsuite through PHP before HTML code transmission and the included PHP commands are executed. Hereby the commands are taken out resp. replaced with the output of the corresponding functions. There are finished commands, which, e. g., show the articles from the Content Manager etc.

In order to apply portals you have to have knowledge in HTML and learn just two things: first, the template’s conception and second, the syntax and functionality of the few Portalsuite template functions. PHP knowledge is not necessarily required and is explained parenthetic in this tutorial.

If you know your way around in PHP or in another programming language, of course it’s going to be easier for you, since a lot may seem familiar to you. Paragraphs or chapters, that cater to PHP language conceptions or functions exclusively, have been marked by the note "For PHP Learner". PHP programmer and PHP professionals can skip those paragraphs and save some time.

The following chapters refer to all versions of the Portalsuite 2002, including the Light version. Please note that the complete set of PHP and Portalsuite commands is not available in the Light version. If not indicated otherwise, we use examples and commands in this chapter, which are also operative with the Light version. The used screen shots are taken from the Portalsuite 2002 Light. Examples are always stepped. If an example is continued in the progression of the text, the altered passages are emphasized in bold typeface.