README

General description

Exponential Site App (extension name: expsite_app) is the application-level glue for Exponential CMS (eZ Publish Legacy) sites: the designated place for per-project design overrides and installation customizations, layered over the simple site design shipped by sevenx_themes_simple. Site projects put their template overrides and project-specific settings here instead of editing the theme or feature extensions. It provides the following capabilities:

Template override layer - Shadow any template of the managed simple design by placing a copy at the same relative path, or via override.ini matched templates, without touching composer-managed theme code.
Project settings container - Hold project-wide INI additions (override.ini rules, content.ini tweaks, project site.ini URL and mail settings) in one committed, per-project extension.
Project PHP helpers - Host site-specific helper classes so feature extensions (explayouts*, expsite_*) stay generic and reusable across projects.

How it fits in: sevenx_themes_simple provides the composer-managed, read-only simple design. expsite_app sits on top of it in the design cascade so that a project can override any simple template without touching managed code. Feature extensions stay generic; anything site-specific belongs in this extension.

Features

Exponential Site App provides the following features in detail:

What is included

classes/expsiteapp.php - the expSiteApp helper class. Currently a placeholder exposing designExtensionName(), which returns 'expsite_app'.
design/simple/override/templates/ - empty override directory for the simple site design; project template overrides go here.
settings/site.ini.append.php - declares the extension in [DesignSettings] DesignExtensions[] and [ExtensionSettings] ActiveExtensions[] (see doc/TODO.md for caveats about these declarations).

Key classes

Class	File	Purpose
`expSiteApp`	`classes/expsiteapp.php`	Placeholder helper; `designExtensionName()` returns the extension name

Design cascade behaviour

The design cascade searches design extensions in DesignExtensions[] order, so expsite_app must be listed before the theme extension for its template copies to win.
Direct overrides go to extension/expsite_app/design/simple/templates/<path>/<template>.tpl.
Full-template overrides driven by override.ini conditions go into extension/expsite_app/design/simple/override/templates/.
Other extensions can in turn override expsite_app by registering their design extension earlier in DesignExtensions[] - the cascade is ordinary INI-ordered design resolution.

Settings layering

Extension settings/ files are merged once the extension is active and can still be trumped by siteaccess and settings/override/ files.
Because expsite_app is itself the top customization layer, most projects put their per-site values directly in this extension's settings/, reserving settings/override/ for machine-specific values that must not be committed.

Version

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

Copyright

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

License

Exponential Site App is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

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

Exponential Site App 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 Site App 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 Site App under certain conditions. The GNU GPL license is distributed with the software, see the file LICENSE.md.

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

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

Using Exponential Site App 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 Exponential Site App extension:

Exponential CMS / eZ Publish Legacy version

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

PHP version

Make sure you have PHP 8.1 or higher.

Site design

A site design named simple (normally provided by sevenx_themes_simple) if you intend to use the shipped design/simple/override/templates/ directory.

Installation

Installation is the standard legacy extension procedure with one design step: place the extension in extension/expsite_app, activate it via [ExtensionSettings] ActiveExtensions[] (or ActiveAccessExtensions[] for a single siteaccess), register it as a design extension in DesignExtensions[] (listed before the theme extension so its overrides win), regenerate the extension autoloads and clear all caches.

Note: do not rely on the ActiveExtensions[] line inside the extension's own settings/site.ini.append.php - an extension cannot activate itself; that file is only read after the extension is already active.

See the complete step-by-step instructions in INSTALL.md.

Usage

expsite_app is intentionally almost empty: it is the container a site project fills with its own overrides and glue.

The helper class:

$name = expSiteApp::designExtensionName(); // 'expsite_app'

classes/expsiteapp.php is a placeholder for per-project site application helpers. Add your project's static helpers to this extension (in new class files under classes/) rather than extending kernel or theme extensions.

Override a template from the simple design by copying it from the theme (for example extension/sevenx_themes_simple/design/simple/...) into the same relative path under this extension:

extension/expsite_app/design/simple/templates/<path>/<template>.tpl

Full-template overrides driven by override.ini conditions go into:

extension/expsite_app/design/simple/override/templates/<template>.tpl

with a matching rule in your siteaccess override.ini.append.php:

[article_full_view]
Source=node/view/full.tpl
MatchFile=article_full.tpl
Subdir=templates
Match[class_identifier]=article

Then clear caches:

php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-all --purge --allow-root-user

Add project PHP helpers by creating extension/expsite_app/classes/<yourclass>.php, regenerating autoloads with php bin/php/ezpgenerateautoloads.php -e, and using the class from templates (via a template operator extension) or modules.

See doc/USAGE.md for the full walk-through and the customization guide covering all three layers: the settings layer (the INI cascade and where per-site values belong), the template layer (how the design/simple/ tree shadows the theme and how other extensions can shadow this one) and the PHP layer (extend the extension by adding new classes, not by subclassing the placeholder).

Documentation

Document	Description
INSTALL.md	Activation and design cascade setup
doc/USAGE.md	Override and customization walk-through plus the settings / template / PHP customization layers
doc/FAQ.md	Answers to the most common questions
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 the doc/FAQ.md.

Use our support systems

If you have any questions not handled by this document or the FAQ you can reach us through se7enx.com
If you find a bug or defect, please report it to the Exponential Site App: Issue Tracker

se7enxweb / expsite-app

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