Layouts - Place holders

Place holders in a layout determine what and where information is shown. In a layout they appear in {} as if they are a type of plugin!
For example a typical line in a Download layout is
{file_pic} {file_title} {release} {pic_is_new} {pic_is_hot} {pic_is_updated} 

This would produce a view such as that opposite. In this example only the, and placeholders produce output.  The  appears as the downloadable file has been downloaded a sufficient number of times. 
The placeholder does not cause any output as no version number was set.  Similarly the and the  place holders produce no output as they do not meet the relevant criteria to be shown as set in Options -Frontend tab.

This article has a reference list of all the known placeholders used in layouts.  It is useful if you are modifying a layout to add or remove some place holders.

The layouts themselves are like mini-templates defining what goes where when Categories and Dowloads are shown in the front end. For an overall understanding of layouts please see the article An Introduction to Layouts (opens in a new window/tab)

There are six different types of layout as noted below. In general each type has several different layouts.

Most Layout have six sections:

Not all parts are used in every layout, for instance the Use Before and Use After sections are rarely used.

The placeholders available in Categories layout Header are

{home_link} {search_link} {upload_link} {upper_link} and {category_listbox} and for some layout types {cat_title} and {cat_description} 

The available place holders are:{subheader_title} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} {page_navigation_pages_counter} and {count_of_sub_categories}.

The available placeholder variables are {cat_title} {cat_description} {cat_pic} {sum_subcats} {sum_files_cat} {google_adsense} {tags} The placeholder variables {cat_info_begin} and {cat_info_end} mark the zone where the information about a category will be displayed.

The available placeholder variables are {back_link} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} and {page_navigation_pages_counter}..

There are  no Header, Subheading or Footer parts in Subcategories but it does employ both 'use Before Layout' and 'Use After Layout' section.

The available placeholder variables are {cat_title} {cat_description} {cat_pic} {sum_subcats} {sum_files_cat} {google_adsense} {tags}. The placeholder variables {cat_info_begin} and {cat_info_end} mark the zone where the information about a category will be displayed.

This is how a single Category is displayed in the frontend.

The header placeholder variables are {home_link} {search_link} {upload_link} {category_listbox} and for some layout types {upper_link} {cat_title} and {cat_description}.

The available placeholder variables are {subheader_title} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} {page_navigation_pages_counter} {count_of_sub_categories}.

The available placeholder variables are {cat_title} {cat_description} {cat_pic} {sub_categories} {files} {checkbox_top} {sum_subcats} {sum_files_cat} {google_adsense} and {tags}. Use the placeholder variables {cat_title_begin} {subcats_title_text} {cat_title_end} to insert a title above the subcategories.

Note: The {sub_categories} {files} {form_hidden} {form_button} {checkbox_top} placeholder variables should NOT be removed from the code. Also only remove placeholder variable {checkbox_top} from the layout if placeholder variable {url_download} is used in the file layout. The {files} placeholder variable is replaced with data from the file layout and the {sub_categories} placeholder variable is replaced with the sub categories which used the categories layout.

The Category footer placeholder variables are {back_link} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} {page_navigation_pages_counter}. and for some layout types: {cat_title} and {cat_description}.

The available placeholder variables are {home_link} {search_link} {upload_link} {category_listbox} and for some layout types {upper_link} {cat_title} and {cat_description}.

The available placeholder variables are {subheader_title} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} {page_navigation_pages_counter} {count_of_sub_categories} and only for Downloads layouts: {sort_order}.

The general placeholder variables are noted in the two sections below. The first section are those which generally appear by themseves.

{url_download} {checkbox_list} {cat_id} {file_id} {file_pic} {file_title} {pic_is_new} {pic_is_hot} {pic_is_updated} {thumbnail} {description} {link_to_details} {mirror_1} {mirror_2} {preview_player} {preview_url} {mp3_id3_tag} {google_adsense} {report_link} {sum_jcomments} {featured_class} {featured_detail_class} {featured_pic} and {show_association}.

In this second section the placeholders shown below are usually paired together.

{category_title} {category_name}, {file_name_title} {file_name}, {release_title} {release},
{file_date_title} {file_date}, {license_title} {license_text},  {language_title} {language_text},
{filesize_title} {filesize_value}, {system_title} {system_text}, {price_title} {price_value},
{author_title} {author_text}, {author_url_title} {author_url_text}, {created_date_title} {created_date_value},
{hits_title} {hits_value}; {created_by_title} {created_by_value}; {modified_by_title} {modified_by_value};
{modified_date_title} {modified_date_value}; {rating_title} {rating}; {tags_title} {tags} 

To insert Fields use placeholders {jdfield_title 'id'} and {jdfield 'id'} where 'id' is the ID of the required Field.

To insert an image (screenshot), which are used with the Lightbox Function, requires placeholders as described below.
For the first image: {screenshot_begin} {screenshot_end} 

For subsequent images include a sequence number, starting at 2, as indicated in the following:
{screenshot_begin2} {screenshot_end2} {screenshot_begin3} {screenshot_end3} and so on.

The available placeholder variables are {back_link} {page_navigation} {page_navigation_results_counter} and {page_navigation_pages_counter}.

The available placeholder variables are {home_link} {search_link} {upload_link} {category_listbox} and for some layout types {upper_link} {cat_title} and {cat_description}.

The only available placeholder variable is {detail_title}.

The regular placeholders are the same as those in the Main part of the Downloads.

Tabs may be used in the Downloads Details layouts if required.

If you use TABS for the frontend output, you must select a tabs type in the configuration. Then you must place {tabs begin} where the tabs are to start and {tabs end} where they are to end in the TABS area in the layout.

Inside the TABS area you can define the following areas:
{tab description} {tab description end}; {tab pics} {tab pics end}; {tab mp3} {tab mp3 end};
{tab data} {tab data end}; {tab download} {tab download end}; {tab custom1} {tab custom1 end};
{tab custom2} {tab custom2 end}; {tab custom3} {tab custom3 end}.

The only available placeholder variable in the footer is {back_link}.

The available placeholder variables are:
{home_link} {search_link} {upload_link} {category_listbox} and for some layout types {upper_link} {cat_title} and {cat_description}.

The only available placeholder variable is {summary_title}.

The {download_liste} and {download_link} placeholder variables should NOT be removed from the code. The {captcha} or {password} placeholder variables may also be inserted if you use those options and you wish to show that information.

Available placeholder variables are:
{summary_pic} {title_text} {download_liste} {download_link} {external_download_info} {aup_points_info} {license_title} {license_text} {license_checkbox} {info_zip_file_size} {google_adsense} {user_limitations} {captcha} and {password}.

The only available placeholder variable is {back_link}.

ColinM February 2020, modified April 2021, May 2023 and July 2023.