Keeping templates up to date

[peter69]

Hello Aimeos!

Happy New Year!

The project I've been developing was done with a theme/package (recommended way to make modifications without losing changes when updating Aimeos packages).

However, I would like to know if you have any recommendations on how to somehow keep my theme "updated" with the new features/bug fixes in the client and admin templates.

Or the only way is to constantly check the repository releases and apply the new features/bug fixes manually to my theme/package so I don't lose all the work I have done?

I know I have already said it in other topics, but I say it again, Aimeos is without a doubt the best e-commerce package. I think it has a bright present and future!!!! Congratulations to the whole team!

Regards!

[aimeos]

Same to you!

You should only overwrite those HTML templates which you really need to adapt and don't copy all templates to your new theme regardless if the change them or not. All templates which are not available in your own theme are used from the Aimeos default theme and will be updated when running "composer up".

When developing a new theme, try to use the existing HTML templates as much as possible and change the styling which CSS. Only if you need to change the HTML structure of an template, copy it to your own extension and make the necessary modifications.

[peter69]

I created the theme/package with the extension generator: https://aimeos.org/extensions

The theme it created for me contains all the client and admin templates, so do you recommend that I delete the folders and files that I have not customized? This way I will be making modifications to specific parts of the framework and the rest will be kept up to date when I run composer up.

In this project, I have made quite a few UX/UI improvements/modifications in the client and admin. I have also developed several decorators to modify/filter/hide certain data and features that will not be used by my client. Also in several templates, I added Bootstrap classes.

Regarding the modifications in the .css files, it is also the same. I have to remove those .css files that I have not modified.

For those files that I did modify, should I keep them updated (in case Aimeos releases a new feature or bug fix) manually?

Regards!

[aimeos]

The theme it created for me contains all the client and admin templates, so do you recommend that I delete the folders and files that I have not customized? This way I will be making modifications to specific parts of the framework and the rest will be kept up to date when I run composer up.

The generated extensions doesn't contain any HTML client or admin templates. Only if you copy them to your new extension by hand and like said, you should do so only for templates you really need to modify.

Regarding the modifications in the .css files, it is also the same. I have to remove those .css files that I have not modified.

There it's different because all CSS/JS files must be available in your theme extension.

For those files that I did modify, should I keep them updated (in case Aimeos releases a new feature or bug fix) manually?

If you haven't missed the bugfixes when your project is going live, you don't have to update your code.

[peter69]

Ohh ok, thanks a lot for the clarification!

Is there any link to best practices for laravel theme/custom extension in Aimeos?

Regards!

[aimeos]

Not yet but it would be useful. Can you create a PR to add a few sentences to the docs?

[peter69]

Sure! no problem! I will do it!