Error Pages

The other top-level file in a site directory structure is the Error template. By default this renders any Blueprint error messages (such as 404) inside your site's layout, but you can customise it to add other stuff, such as a search form or a picture of a cat holding a screwdriver, et cetera. If you delete this file, Blueprint will just use its default error page.

Blueprint templates

Blueprint templates reside in the blueprints/ subdirectory of your site, in further sub-directories organised by blueprint code. Initially, you get a default template for each action in the blueprint. Default action templates are named like this:

action.render_type.renderer (eg: index.html.erb)

Note: if the action doesn't exist, an empty (action_missing) action will be used, and the action will be treated as the template name.

You can also create an alternative template for a given action:

template.action.render_type.renderer (eg: foo.index.html.erb)

When modifying a page in the Structure tab, a user can select the template they want to display when the page is requested. This might imply an action -- for instance, if they select "index" or "archive" for a blog page. Or it might not -- if they select the alternative template "foo", and there are foo.index.html.erb and foo.archive.html.erb templates for the site. In the latter case, they'll also need to select a default action.

If they select an alternative template as the default template (again, say "foo"), then any request to view a different action for that page will look for a corresponding "foo" template for that action, and only fall back to the default template if it doesn't exist.