Special codes to alter templates + Templates clipart filetring

Howdy,

I have a couple new features for you!

#1 - CLIPART FILTERING FOR TEMPLATES
When you create a tempalte in your RTD, there are some new stuffs in the Show Advanced Admin Options popup.
First, for both Text and Clipart items, there's a new Change Button Label option.
It will allow you to change, only for that specific item, the wording used in the Update Text button (for texts) or the Change Clipart button (for clips).
Useful? It is, especially for cliparts. Reason is the 2nd new one, which is specific to clipart entries.
It is the Keyword filter option.
If filled, only clip art with this string present in the keywords will be displayed. so, it will basically fake a search when user click clipart's "Change Clipart" button, but with some extras happening in the clipart popup:
1) there will be no navigation or links on top (IE, to upload your files)
2) only matching cliparts will be shown. Nothing else.
3) the search is not performed also against clipart/categories names (as it normally happens), but EXCLUSIVELY against clipart keywords.

Why this can be useful for templates?
Because it allows you to force a clipart to be changed only to something similar. For example, let's say you do drumheads, and you allow users to place also mic holes. mic holes are cliparts as well.
What you can do now is to create a template with a mic hole. for it, you can edit the Change Button Label to say "Pick your mic hole", and use Keyword filter so that users will only see other mic holes, instead of your entire clipart library.
All you need to do is to proper assign keywords to your cliparts so that you can have your match.

In general, it's a useful option to make templates more descriptive, and allow using decorative items in an easier way for users.

#2 - NEW SPECIAL CODE TO BE PASSED VIA URL TO RECOLOR TEMPLATES
Honestly, it's a while this was around. But undocumented.
I now feel it could be time to officially release these codes, to start trying and discussing them.

There are some new variables you can pass via url to "alter" a template. Could be extremely useful to avoid creating the same template for each color combination you may need, for example
The new codes are still considered beta, as I may add more in future. So far, they allow to alter the template's BGcolor, colors, fonts, cliparts and the limited color property.
They're pretty easy, you just need to add at the end of the template link a couple commands.
As I guess seeing it in action will explain it better, here's a test.

Consider this general template, in it's normal form.
Now look at what happens if I add to its URL these string:

Change the BGcolor only:
&ovrd_bgcol=deeppink
Click to see result

Change color of all items:
&ovrd_col=copper
Click to see result

Change fonts of all texts:
&ovrd_fonts=BrandyScript
Click to see result

Change the BGcolor, color of texts and cliparts:
&ovrd_bgcol=deeppink&ovrd_col_t=copper&ovrd_clips=4756
Click to see result (ok, this does not look that nice, but only because also the border is a clipart there!)

So, how does it work? Pretty easy.
You just need to add at the end of the template link something like this:
[template_link]&ovrd_bgcol=Black&ovrd_col=White&ovrd_fonts=ArabesqueScriptBold

The current list of available codes is this:

ovrd_bgcol - Change BG color
ovrd_fonts - Change all fonts
ovrd_clips - Change all cliparts
ovrd_col_t - Change all TEXT colors
ovrd_col_s - Change all SHAPES colors
ovrd_col_c - Change all CLIPARTS colors
ovrd_col - Change all colors
ovrd_limitedcol - Change all colors forcing also the color to be the only available one

How to compile them?
For color and font entries, the passed value must match one of your installed items for the product.
Only digits and letters are allowed, no spaces or special characters. So, if your color is named 22 Ultra Blue, the value you have to pass to match it will be 22UltraBlue.
Same for fonts: if yours is named Arabesque Script Bold, pass it as ArabesqueScriptBold.
If no match will be found, item will not be altered.

About cliparts, it s slightly different.
The ovrd_clips will replace every clipart in the template with the one you passed. The value you have to pass is a valid Clipart ID.
While logged in your RTD, you can see such IDs right into designer's clipart popup (below each clipart there a string like Admin - id: xxx. You need to pass that xxx).

I hope this makes sense.
this tool can be extremely useful, because it will allow you to create multiple template variation links while actually creating only a SINGLE template. Note that these codes works for both General and Product Templates.

Enjoy!

An extra note about CLIPART FILTERING FOR TEMPLATES.
One important thing I forgot to add is where the cliparts are searched.

When you perform a regular search in the clipart popup, results are obviously searched inside the clipart categories you assigned to product only.
If you use the template filter, this limit will be no more: this means it will search only against keywords as metnioned in the previous post, but against ALL THE AVAILABLE clipart categories of your entire company.

Keeping the drumhead example above, filter would allow you to show only micholes: but as they can also be from clipart categores NOT assigned to product, it means the same michole cliparts would not be shown as regular clips.
This is probably good, because if you're going to use such filter, you probably want such cliparts to be valid only for the precise item you want to use them for.

Extra update:

added also another feature, COLOR FILTERING FOR TEMPLATES.
It works just like the clipart filtering, there are only 2 main differences:

1) it is available for all items (texts, shapes and clips)
2) it looks for matches into the COLOR SOURCE field of colors

Just like clipart keywords, also color filtering searches in your entire library. So, it can reference colors that are even not associated to the product at all.

If you're asking yourself what all of this may be useful for, I think Mark will soon have ready a demo product to show you all of this in action. Stay tuned!

heres a very basic product configuration setup using the clipart and color filtering this is a product template so it is preloaded with design elements rather than a blank design

notice that the cap change clipart button leads only to cap clipart rather than the entire gallery of clipart

also the different parts of the bottle have color filters set to restrict which colors are available to each part

if u add a clipart or text you will have the entire gamut of colors and clipart for new design element

http://designer.realtimedesigner.com/zzzvisualizer/index.php&tng=Y3BpPTUzMzg2JmN0aT05NTU3

several of our non traditional users have requested these features so that they can tap into rtd's power for thier specialized products i hope to add more sophiticated examples of this technique soon

mark sr

Small extra, about clipart codes.
There's a new format now that allows replacing only specific cliparts.
Could be very useful if you want to force the change of one or more placeholders.
Here's a list of all the possible formats for the ovrd_clips code, should be clear enough:

&ovrd_clips=622 - will replace all cliparts with clip ID 622
&ovrd_clips=list|428-622 - will replace clip ID 428 with 622
&ovrd_clips=list|428-622|624-623 - will replace clip ID 428 with 622 and clip ID 624 with 623

So basically, if the list| string is found you will be able to set one or more "search and replace"-like codes

Enjoy!

Yet another extra I now noticed I forgot to add.

It is also possible to override specific TEXT entries.
The code is ovrd_txt.

Usage is like:
ovrd_txt=1-hello1|2-hello2 - will replace text 1 with "hello 1" and text 2 with "hello 1"