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Defining Render Handlers

In addition to Display Templates, which enable non-technical users to control Element presentation, CommonSpot supports the creation of Custom Render Handlers - ColdFusion or XSL modules that extend CommonSpot by providing alternate rendering for standard and custom Elements. You can apply render handlers to most standard CommonSpot Elements and any Custom Elements.

Note: Only standard Elements that display the Render Handler option in the Element edit menu support custom render handlers. See Elements with Support for Custom Render Handlers.

Because render handlers are implemented in code and take into account conditional logic, they can produce output to more exact specifications. Each Element type contains its own specific data structure to hold Element instance data. You can associate one or more render handlers with an Element. With release 10.0, CommonSpot includes a new "generic" render handler that allows you to use a single render handler for multiple elements and apply render handling to selected fields without coding. Access Generic Render Handlers from Manage Layouts. See Generic Render Handlers.

From the Manage Elements dialog, add a custom render handler to an Element by clicking the edit icon, and selecting the Add Render Handler option, as shown below. This option is also available from the Layout dialog or Choose Layout accessed from the Element menu within the page view for Elements supporting render handlers (see the Elements Reference for details).

For Elements with existing custom render handlers, click the Layouts link in the Description column then click the Add/Edit Render Handlers link.

 

Related Links

Generic Render Handlers Overview


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