README

General description

Exponential Layouts (explayouts) is a visual page builder for Exponential 6 / Exponential Legacy. It is the main integration extension of the Exponential Layouts suite: it owns the explayouts_* database tables, renders layouts, zones and blocks on the frontend, resolves which layout applies to a request via mapping rules, and adds a "Layouts" tab to the admin content view.

It is an Exponential Legacy port inspired by the netgen/layouts-ibexa package. Instead of Symfony services and Doctrine, it uses eZPersistentObject value classes, INI-driven block/layout type definitions (explayouts.ini) and legacy module views.

This extension provides the following capabilities:

Layout persistence - Store layouts, zones, blocks, block parameters, collections, collection items and mapping rules in dedicated explayouts_* database tables, with draft and published statuses.
Layout resolving - Decide which layout applies to a request path or content node through prioritized mapping rules with targets and conditions, with a configurable fallback layout.
Frontend rendering - Prepare a complete layout/zone/block tree for template rendering and ship the layout, zone and block view templates that render it.
Block handlers - Around 25 built-in, INI-wired block handlers (text, title, HTML, image, list, grid, gallery, carousel, map, video and more), all implementing a single simple interface.
Dynamic collections - Attach manual or query-driven content collections to blocks (children, parent, subtree, siblings, latest, random, manual and pluggable custom query types).
Admin integration - A legacy admin module with dashboard, layout/rule/block editors, preview, setup and template editor screens, plus a "Layouts" tab on the admin content node view.
Template fetch functions - Resolve and load layouts directly from templates via the explayouts module fetch functions.
Import / export - Transfer layouts and mapping rules between installations.
CLI tooling - Command line helpers for schema installation, base data seeding, listing, publishing and diagnostics.

Features

The following features are provided by the Exponential Layouts extension:

Persistent value objects - expLayoutsLayout, expLayoutsZone, expLayoutsBlock and expLayoutsBlockParameter model the layout tree; expLayoutsCollection and expLayoutsCollectionItem model block collections (manual and dynamic); expLayoutsRule, expLayoutsRuleTarget and expLayoutsRuleCondition model the layout resolver rules. All are eZPersistentObject classes mapped to the explayouts_* schema.
Layout resolver - expLayoutsResolver::resolve() resolves the layout for the current request URI, an explicit path or a content node, evaluating enabled rules by priority and falling back to explayouts.ini [ResolverSettings] DefaultLayout when no rule matches.
Renderer - expLayoutsRenderer::prepareLayout() turns a layout into a ready-to-render array (id, identifier, name, layout_type, zones each with their blocks, block_count) consumed by the shipped layout templates.
INI-defined layout types - expLayoutsLayoutType reads LayoutType_* definitions and their zones from explayouts.ini. Shipped layout types: 1_column, 2_column, 3_column, 4_column, hero, sidebar_left, sidebar_right, featured, mosaic.
INI-defined block definitions - expLayoutsBlockHandlerFactory instantiates block handlers from explayouts.ini BlockDefinition_* sections. Around 25 built-in handlers ship with the extension (expLayoutsTextBlockHandler, expLayoutsTitleBlockHandler, expLayoutsHtmlBlockHandler, expLayoutsImageBlockHandler, expLayoutsListBlockHandler, expLayoutsSingleBlockHandler, expLayoutsButtonBlockHandler, expLayoutsCardBlockHandler, expLayoutsGridBlockHandler, expLayoutsGalleryBlockHandler, expLayoutsCarouselBlockHandler, expLayoutsMapBlockHandler, expLayoutsVideoBlockHandler and more), all implementing expLayoutsBlockHandlerInterface.
Dynamic collection query handlers - expLayoutsQueryHandlerFactory instantiates the query handlers behind dynamic collections: children, parent, subtree, siblings, latest, random, manual, plus pluggable query types such as exp_content_relation_list, exp_content_reverse_relation_list and exp_content_tags provided by sibling extensions.
Template fetch functions - layout, resolve_layout, resolve_layout_for_node and rules_for_node on the explayouts module make layout resolution available to any template, including pagelayout.tpl.
Legacy admin module - modules/explayouts provides dashboard, layout list/edit, block edit, rule list/edit, preview, setup and template editor views.
Admin content view integration - settings/admininterface.ini.append.php adds the "Layouts" tab to the admin node view window controls, showing the layouts and rules that apply to the node.
Import / export - expLayoutsImporter and expLayoutsExporter transfer layouts and rules; used by the transfer endpoints of explayouts_ui_api and the Import screen of explayouts_ui.
Multi-database schema - sql/ ships the schema for MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite and PostgreSQL (plus an experimental MongoDB schema description).
Installation and demo data - expLayoutsInstall and expLayoutsFixtures handle schema installation and demo data seeding.
CLI helpers - bin/php/ contains command line scripts such as install_base_data.php, layout_list.php, layout_publish.php, layout_info.php and diagnose.php.
Frontend templates - design/standard/templates/explayouts/ ships layout.tpl, zone.tpl and the per-type layout templates in layouts/ (e.g. 2_column.tpl), all overridable through the design cascade.
Customization layers - Every shipped INI setting can be overridden through the standard INI cascade, every template through the design override cascade, and new blocks/queries are added purely in your own extension via the handler interfaces (see doc/USAGE.md).

Version

The current version of Exponential Layouts is 1.0.0
Last Major update: July 30, 2026

Copyright

Exponential Layouts is copyright 1998 - 2026 7x
See: LICENSE.md for more information on the terms of the copyright and license

License

Exponential Layouts is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

The complete license agreement is included in the LICENSE.md file.

Exponential Layouts is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License or at your option a later version.

Exponential Layouts is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

The GNU GPL gives you the right to use, modify and redistribute Exponential Layouts under certain conditions. The GNU GPL license is distributed with the software, see the file LICENSE.md.

It is also available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Exponential Layouts in LICENSE.md. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Using Exponential Layouts under the terms of the GNU GPL is free (as in freedom).

For more information or questions please contact info@se7enx.com

Requirements

The following requirements exists for using the Exponential Layouts extension:

Exponential version

Make sure you use Exponential 6 / eZ Publish Legacy (required) or higher.

PHP version

Make sure you have PHP 8.1 or higher.

Database server

Make sure you have MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite or PostgreSQL available; the extension ships a schema for each in its sql/ directory.

Sibling extensions (optional, for the full suite)

explayouts works standalone for rendering and resolving. For the full suite also activate:
- explayouts_core — service layer used by the admin UIs
- explayouts_standard — additional standard block handler set
- explayouts_ui — legacy admin module and assets
- explayouts_ui_api — modern SPA admin app and JSON API
- explayouts_api — content adapters for pickers/integration

Installation

In short: place the extension in extension/explayouts, activate it via site.ini [ExtensionSettings] ActiveExtensions[] (or per siteaccess via ActiveAccessExtensions[]), import the database schema for your database from the sql/ directory (this creates the explayouts_* tables: layout, zone, block, block_parameter, collection, collection_item, collection_query, rule, rule_target, rule_condition), optionally seed base data with php extension/explayouts/bin/php/install_base_data.php, then regenerate autoloads and clear all caches.

See INSTALL.md for the full step-by-step installation instructions, including the settings shipped with the extension (explayouts.ini, module.ini, design.ini, menu.ini, admininterface.ini).

Usage

The extension is used from three sides: PHP code, templates and the admin interface.

Key classes:

Class	Purpose
`expLayoutsLayout`, `expLayoutsZone`, `expLayoutsBlock`, `expLayoutsBlockParameter`	Persistent value objects for layouts, zones, blocks and block parameters
`expLayoutsCollection`, `expLayoutsCollectionItem`	Block collections and their items (manual and dynamic)
`expLayoutsRule`, `expLayoutsRuleTarget`, `expLayoutsRuleCondition`	Layout resolver rules, targets and conditions
`expLayoutsResolver`	Resolves the layout for a request path or node (`resolve()`)
`expLayoutsRenderer`	Prepares a layout/zone/block tree for template rendering (`prepareLayout()`)
`expLayoutsBlockHandlerFactory`	Instantiates block handlers from `explayouts.ini` `BlockDefinition_*` sections
`expLayoutsQueryHandlerFactory`	Instantiates dynamic collection query handlers (children, parent, subtree, siblings, latest, random, manual)
`expLayoutsLayoutType`	Reads `LayoutType_*` definitions and their zones from `explayouts.ini`
`expLayoutsImporter`, `expLayoutsExporter`	Transfer (import/export) of layouts and rules
`expLayoutsInstall`, `expLayoutsFixtures`	Schema installation and demo data

Resolving a layout in PHP:

<?php
$layout = expLayoutsResolver::resolve();                  // current request URI
$layout = expLayoutsResolver::resolve( 'about-us/team' ); // explicit path

if ( $layout instanceof expLayoutsLayout )
{
    $prepared = expLayoutsRenderer::prepareLayout( $layout, 2 ); // 2 = published
}

Resolving a layout in templates via the registered fetch functions:

{def $layout = fetch( 'explayouts', 'resolve_layout_for_node',
                      hash( 'node_id', $module_result.content_info.node_id ) )}
{def $layout2 = fetch( 'explayouts', 'resolve_layout', hash() )}
{def $layout3 = fetch( 'explayouts', 'layout', hash( 'identifier', 'homepage' ) )}
{def $rules = fetch( 'explayouts', 'rules_for_node',
                     hash( 'node_id', $module_result.content_info.node_id ) )}

What else is included:

modules/explayouts — legacy admin module: dashboard, layout list/edit, block edit, rule list/edit, preview, setup, template editor (/explayouts/dashboard, /explayouts/layout_list, /explayouts/rule_list, ...).
Template fetch functions: layout, resolve_layout, resolve_layout_for_node, rules_for_node.
settings/admininterface.ini.append.php — adds the "Layouts" tab to the admin node view window controls.
sql/ — schema for MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL (plus an experimental MongoDB schema description).
bin/php/ — CLI helpers (install_base_data.php, layout_list.php, layout_publish.php, diagnose.php, ...).
Frontend templates under design/standard/templates/explayouts/ including layout type templates (1_column, 2_column, 3_column, 4_column, featured).

See doc/USAGE.md for exhaustive usage scenarios: working with the value objects, block and query handlers, layout types, import/export, admin screens, CLI scripts, and the full customization guide covering the settings layer (INI cascade), the template layer (design override cascade) and the PHP layer (safe extension points such as custom block and query handlers).

Documentation

Document	Description
INSTALL.md	Step-by-step installation: activation, database schema, autoloads, shipped settings
doc/USAGE.md	PHP and template usage, fetch functions, handlers, CLI and the customization layers
doc/FAQ.md	Answers to the most common questions and problems
doc/TODO.md	Known gaps and planned improvements
doc/SUPPORT.md	How and where to get help
LICENSE.md	The complete GNU General Public License agreement

Troubleshooting

Read the FAQ

Some problems are more common than others. The most common ones are listed in doc/FAQ.md.

Use our support systems

If you have questions not handled by this document or the FAQ, you can reach us via 7x : se7enx.com.
If you find a bug or defect, please report it to the Exponential Layouts: Issue Tracker.

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