Theme Development Guide

1. Folder Structure

A standardized CI4MS theme (e.g., starter) spans across app/ and public/ directories:

• app/Config/templates/starter/
  Contains ThemeConfig.php and Routes.php. Used for defining custom frontend routes or CSRF exclusions for theme-specific API/POST requests.


• app/Controllers/templates/starter/
  Contains custom controllers (e.g., Forms.php). Use this to handle theme-specific POST logic such as Contact Forms, Surveys, or Auth customizations.


• app/Helpers/templates/starter/
  Specifically designed for funcs_helper.php. You can define custom helper methods (e.g., get_custom_widget()) available directly within your views.


• app/Libraries/templates/starter/
  Contains Ci4mstemplateLib.php. Extended from the core template manager, use this class to create View Cells or theme-specific data injection logic.


• app/Views/templates/starter/
  Holds the entire layout components: base.php, pages.php, blog/list.php, etc.


• public/templates/starter/
  The public-facing assets (CSS, JS, Images, Vendors) and the most important info.xml that registers your theme in the administrative panel.

2. The info.xml Ecosystem

Before activating your theme, ensure info.xml is present in your public/templates/{themeSlug}/ folder.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<theme>
    <name>Starter Theme</name>
    <slug>starter</slug> <!-- Must match your folder names logically -->
    <author>Your Identity</author>
    <screenshotPNG>starter/screenshot.png</screenshotPNG>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <description>Your theme specification</description>
</theme>

3. Getting Started: base.php

The core structural file is app/Views/templates/{themeSlug}/base.php. It serves as the master HTML layout.

CRITICAL: The module renderer will automatically parse and output the main response to a variable named $content. You must echo $content inside the body element.
Example snippet:

<main>
    <?= $content ?? '' ?>
</main>

Available Core Variables in base.php:

• $seo: Pre-constructed HTML string containing the title, description, keywords generated by ci4seopro.
• $meta: Additional system-level meta tags or language alternatives.
• $content: Executed HTML output derived from specific Module Controllers (Pages, Blog, etc).

4. How Routing Works

If you define custom routes in app/Config/templates/starter/Routes.php, they will take precedence matching before the catch-all dynamic URL handlers in CI4MS. Thus, any post logic (/form-submit) should be registered here instead of core routes.