EkML Variables

EkML Variable List

Below is a list of EkML variables with a short description, a link to additional information and whether the variable is common or specific.

[$Comment]

The content’s comment information appears. Comment information can be added in the Workarea via the content item’s Comment tab.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] <br/> [$Comment]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ContentId]

Displays the content item’s ID.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] Content ID = [$ContentId]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$DateCreated]

Displays the date the content was created.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] - <i>[$DateCreated]</i>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$DateModified]

Displays the date and time the content was last modified. To display the date only, use [$ShortDateModified]].

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] <br/>Date Modified: <b>[$DateModified]</b>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$EditorFirstName]

Displays the last editor’s first name for a content item.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] Last Editor: [$EditorFirstName]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$EditorLastName]

Displays the last editor’s last name for a content item.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] Last Editor: [$EditorLastName]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$FolderId]

Displays the folder ID of a content item.

[$Html]

Displays the HTML contained in the content item. In the server control, the control’s GetHTML property must be set to True; otherwise nothing appears. The exception to this is when the [$Html] appears between the <ekbubbleinfo> tags. In that case, the GetHTML property can be set to True or False.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$HyperLink]<br/>[$Html]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$HyperLink]

Adds a hyperlink using the title of the content block as the text. You do not add an <a href=””> tag when using this variable. That functionality is built into the EkML. Use this variable when you do not want to create a custom hyperlink. If you want to create a custom hyperlink, use the [$QuickLink] variable. See Also: [$QuickLink]

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$Image]

Displays the path for the image defined in a content item’s Metadata. When wrapped in <img src=””/> tag, the image appears. For example, <img src=”[$Image]”/>.

An example of using this variable is on the developer sample page > List Summary > Flash news. That sample (flashnews.aspx) refers to flashnews.ekml, which illustrates using this variable.

[$ImageIcon]

Displays an image icon for the content item. Except for HTML content, these icons are the same icons used in the Workarea to show the content type. HTML content uses the Internet Explorer icon (). For example, Forms use the Form icon ().

When using this variable with the server control, the IncludeIcons property is automatically set to True.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] [$ImageIcon]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ImageThumbnail]

Displays the path for the image’s thumbnail defined in a content item’s Metadata. When wrapped in <img src=””/> tag, the image thumbnail appears. For example, <img src=”[$ImageThumbnail]”/>.

An example of using this variable is on the developer sample page > List Summary > Flash news. That sample (flashnews.aspx) refers to flashnews.ekml, which illustrates using this variable.

[$Index]

Serialize the content items in a numbered list.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
         [$Index]. [$HyperLink] [$ImageIcon] 
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ItemCount]

The total number of items in a list. In the server control, the EnablePaging property must be set to True; otherwise nothing appears.

[$Language]

Displays the language ID for the content item.

[$LinkTarget]

When added to an <a href=””> tag’s target=”” attribute, this variable reads the server control’s LinkTarget property and uses its setting. For example, If you want to create a custom hyperlink that opens in a new window, you set the server control’s LinkTarget property to _Blank. Then, in the Ektron Markup Language file, add the [$LinkTarget] variable to the <a href=””> tag’s Taget=”” attribute. A code example appears below.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
         <a href=”[$QuickLink]” target=”[$LinkTarget]”>[$Title]</a>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$QuickLink]

This property displays the Quicklink information for the content item. When wrapped in an <a href=””> tag, you can create a Hyperlink. Use this property instead of the [$HyperLink] if you want to customize your hyperlinks. See Also: [$HyperLink]

The first image shows the variable displaying the Quicklink information. The second image shows the Quicklink as a Hyperlink with a custom text.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$QuickLink]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. <a href="[$QuickLink]">Click Here For Item #[$Index]</a>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$SERVER_NAME]

Displays the server name for the page on which this variable appears. For example, If this variable is applied to http://www.example.com/demo.aspx, the return is www.example.com.

[$ShortDateModified]

Displays the date the content was last modified. The variable show the date only. To show the Date and Time, use the [$DateModified] variable.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] <br/>Date Modified: <b>[$ShortDateModified]</b>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ShowAllcategory]

If a Directory server control’s EnableSearch property is set to true, this variable adds the checkbox circled below to the right of the search field.

By default, the Directory server control only shows categories to which at least one content block is assigned. If you check this box, all categories appear, even those with no content assigned.

[$ShowBubble]

Calls the <ekbubbleinfo> tags and places the information contained within those tags in a pop-up bubble. This bubble is typically assigned to the onclick or onmouseover attribute in an <a href=””> tag. See the following example EkML code.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekbubbleinfo>
    <table border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>[$Html]</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </ekbubbleinfo>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
        <tr>
          <td>
            [$Index].<a href="#" onmouseover="[$ShowBubble]">[$Title]</a>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ShowBubble(width,height)]

This is similar to [$ShowBubble]. It calls the <ekbubbleinfo> tags and places the information contained within those tags in a pop-up bubble. This variable lets you set the width and height of the bubble. For example, [$ShowBubble(300,400). In this example, the first number represents the width. The second number represents the height.

If you enter a single number, it sets the width. The height of the bubble is then limited to the length of the content. For example, if you had a video that was formatted at 200 pixels wide and you wanted to launch it in a bubble, you would add the function as [$ShowBubble(200)].

The minimum width for a bubble is 287. The minimum height is 101.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekbubbleinfo>
    <table border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>[$Html]</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </ekbubbleinfo>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
        <tr>
          <td>
           [$Index].<a href="#" onmouseover="[$ShowBubble(200)]">[$Title]</a>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$ShowContent(‘htmltagid’)]

Calls the <ekcontentinfo> tags and places the information contained within those tags in the specified HTML tag ID. Replace the htmltagid with the ID of the tag. This tag is typically assigned to the onclick or onmouseover attribute in an <a href=””> tag. See the example EkML code below.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekcontentinfo>
    <table border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>[$Html]</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </ekcontentinfo>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
        <tr>
          <td>
           [$Index].<a href="#" onmouseover="[$ShowContent(‘contarea’)]">[$Title]</a>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$Status]

Displays the status of a content item. For example, Approved, Checked in, or Submitted for Approval. For additional information, see Content Statuses.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
   <table width="100%"  border="0">
    <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
       <td>
         [$Index]. [$Hyperlink]
          The content status is <i>[$Status]</i>
       </td>
      </tr>
    </ekrepeat>
   </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$Teaser]

Displays the content item’s summary information. Summary information is added to content in the Workarea via the Summary tab. A code example appears below.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. [$HyperLink] <br/> [$Teaser]
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$Title]

Displays the content item’s title. Use this variable if you want to display the title as normal text. If you want to display the title as a hyperlink, use [$HyperLink]. See Also: [$HyperLink]. If you want to create a custom hyperlink with the title as the text of the hyperlink, use this property in conjunction with the <a href=””> tag and the [$QuickLink] variable. See Also: [$QuickLink].

<ekmarkup>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
      <ekrepeat>
      <tr>
        <td>
          [$Index]. <a href="[$QuickLink]">[$Title]</a>
        </td>
      </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$UrlParam(‘paramname’)]

Displays the value of a query string’s parameter. For example, if you have a collection and want to display its ID, add the [$UrlParam(‘coll_id’)] where you want the collection’s ID to appear.

<ekmarkup>
  <ekbubbleinfo>
    <table border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>[$Html]</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </ekbubbleinfo>
  <ekoutput>
    <table width="100%"  border="0">
    <tr>
      <td>
        <b>This Collection's ID is: [$UrlParam('coll_id')]</b>
        <br/><hr/>
      </td>
    </tr>
      <ekrepeat>
        <tr>
          <td>
            [$Index].<a href="#" onclick="[$ShowBubble]">[$Title]</a>[$Teaser]<hr/>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </ekrepeat>
    </table>
  </ekoutput>
</ekmarkup>

[$UrlEncode(‘str’)]

Encodes the string information in the variable. This variable can be used to encode another EkML variable and place it in an email. For example, You want the title of the content block to appear as the subject of an email. A code example appears below.

<ekcontentinfo>
    <table border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>
          <strong>Title:&#160;</strong>
          <span style="color:red;">[$Title]</span>
          <a href="mailto:?subject=[$UrlEncode('[$Title]')]&body=
            http://[$SERVER_NAME]/CMS400Developer/wiki.aspx?id=
            [$ContentId]">&nbsp;
            <img src="WorkArea/images/application/icon_email.gif"
              align="absmiddle" alt="[$Title]" border="0"/></a>
          <hr />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>[$Html]</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </ekcontentinfo>