Creating the templateDetails.xml File

The templateDetails.xml file contains all structural information about your template and tells Mambo what to do with the files contained within the template. It should look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<mosinstall version="4.6.4" type="template">
  <name>MyfirstTemplate</name>
  <creationDate>16/04/2008</creationDate>
  <version>1.0</version>
  <author>Your name</author>
  <authorEmail>mail@something.com</authorEmail>
  <authorUrl>www.yourhomepage.com</authorUrl>
  <copyright>2008 Your Name</copyright>
  <license>GNU/GPL</license>
  <description>A little description.</description>
  <files>
   <filename>index.php</filename>
   <filename>template_thumbnail.png</filename>
  </files>
  <images>
   <filename>images/image.gif</filename>
  </images>
  <css>
   <filename>css/template_css.css</filename>
  </css>
</mosinstall>

templateDetails.xml must include the details of all files that make up your completed template. You can have as many entries as you need - just add the file details between
<filename></filename> tags. Note: where files are to be placed within directories, the directory name is included (see the "images" and CSS examples above).

You can download a templateDetails.xml file here to use as a base for your own file. Just enter your data between the tags. If you don't wish to add some author information or license information, just leave those fields empty.

In the next tutorial we will look at how to package the template files ready for uploading and installing on your Mambo site.

For the other articles in this series on building your own custom Mambo template see my Mambo CSS Guide and my blank template for Mambo.