Templates are a content management feature of the Java Web Server. You create a template and format definitions which the Template Servlet then applies to the content of your HTML files. This creates pages with a consistent format which are then sent to the client's browser.
You define templates in template files and definition files.
The default.template
file is an HTML file. You use it to
specify
whatever graphics, banners, footers, tables, etc. that you that you want
to insert in your files. It also contains extensions to HTML
that direct the Template Servlet to copy the contents of the HEAD section
and the BODY section of your files into the template. The template applies
its own HEAD attributes (such as background
color, text color, etc.) that overrides the HEAD attributes of your HTML
files. Note that everything inside the HEAD and BODY sections of
your files is
copied; anything outside of those sections is ignored.
The default.definitions
file is a simple Java properties
file that behaves like any other Java properties file.
It contains a list of name/value pairs that are used by the
template file. You usually store the definition file
in the same directory as your HTML content files.
The definition file is not required, but it is useful for changing values without having to alter the template file. You can also customize your pages by storing variations of the definition file in subdirectories.
A definition file contained in a subdirectory inherits the attributes defined in the definition file in the directory above it. You can use the definition file in the subdirectory to override or redefine selected attributes in the definitions file in the directory above it. Thus you can create a different look for your files on a directory-by-directory basis.
To see examples of the template and definition files, see the
default.template
and default.definitions
files that are located in this
directory and its subdirectories.
.definitions
file