When a Smarty template is loaded, the OJS or OMP application passes a number of template variables which can be used to display data in the templates.
For example, the /frontend/pages/article.tpl template is loaded, it receives variables for displaying article details ($article), the issue the article appears in ($issue), the section the article is assigned to ($section) and the journal the article appears in ($journal).
Each frontend template file documents the variables that are passed to it in the header of that file with the @uses prefix.
{**
* templates/frontend/pages/article.tpl
*
* Copyright (c) 2014-2016 Simon Fraser University Library
* Copyright (c) 2003-2016 John Willinsky
* Distributed under the GNU GPL v2. For full terms see the file docs/COPYING.
*
* @brief Display the page to view an article with all of it's details.
*
* @uses $article Article This article
* @uses $issue Issue The issue this article is assigned to
* @uses $section Section The journal section this article is assigned to
* @uses $journal Journal The journal currently being viewed.
*}
In addition to these documented variables, there are a number of variables which are received by all – or almost all – template files. This section will document many of the most common variables.
(Context|null) $currentContext is a reference to the current Journal or Press being viewed, and represents a PHP object of the class Journal or Press. It will be null if no journal is being viewed (ie - the site-wide index page).
You will also find $currentJournal and $currentPress variables for ease-of-use if you are building a theme for just one application.
(string) $siteTitle is the localized title of the current Journal or Press, or the overall site index.
(string) $currentLocale is the locale (language) the site is currently being viewed in. You’ll find an array of supported locales at ` $supportedLocales`.
(string) $displayPageHeaderTitle is the name of the current Journal or Press, or the site name if no Journal or Press is being viewed.
(string) $displayPageHeaderLogo is the logo of the current Journal or Press, or the site logo if no Journal or Press is being viewed.
(string) $baseUrl provides the base site URL (https://myjournal.com/index.php). This can be used to construct reliable URLs.
(string) $primaryLocale is the primary locale (language) the site is configured for. You’ll find an array of supported locales at ` $supportedLocales`.
(string|null) $disableUserReg is a flag which indicates whether or not users can self-register on the site.
(string) $dateFormatTrunc, (string) $dateFormatShort and (string) $dateFormatLong provide the date formats defined in your application’s configuration. These can be invoked to reformat machine-readable dates (2016-11-26) in Smarty templates: {$article->getDatePublished()|date_format:$dateFormatShort}
(string) $requestedPage and (string) $requestedOp provide the Page and Operation of the current request. This is useful if a template is loaded on different pages but you’d like to modify the display depending on where it appears.