The Module Skin Manager module is used to configure the available module skins available for styling modules for display in the browser.

This module functions outside the realm of the normal permissions hierarchy. It can be viewed only by a user with membership in Site Administrators site-level roles with no regard to permissions assigned to the tab on which the module is placed. For more information on the roles referenced in this section please see the role based security topic. Administrative users can configure additional module settings by clicking the button.

Module Skin Authoring

Module skins are used to wrap all content rendered from a module definition before insertion into a page. They have the ability to provide new styles and formatting and override styles already defined by the style sheet system. Module skins are small snippets of HTML code usually in the form of DIV tags encapsulate STYLE tags and additional formatting markup.

Module skins are managed hierarchically in module => tab => dashboard => system order. This means that the system will first apply a module skin as defined at the module level in the module settings. If no module-level skin is found the skin for the tab on which the module is located will be used. If the tab has no module skin defined in the tab designer the system will use the skin associated with the active dashboard. If the dashboard does not have a default skin assigned or the tab is not a dashboard-level tab then the system level default skin is used. There is always one and only one system default module skin.

Within a module skin an author can use placeholder keywords (case-sensitive) to indicate where content is rendered into the skin.

•[MODULE]: Required. This is the place holder for the content rendered by the module definition.

•[MODULENAME]: Optional. If present, this place holder will be replaced with the local name of the module at render time.

•[MODULEMENU]: Optional: If present, this place holder will be replaced with the module settings drop down menu. If omitted, the system will automatically inject this content into the skin.

Adding New Module Skins

To add a new module skin members of the Site Administrators role click the button which will open the module skin editor and allow an administrative user to define the details of the new module skin.

Editing Existing Module Skins

To edit an existing module skin members of the Site Administrators role click the button which will open the module skin editor and allow an administrative user to define the details of a new module skin.

Module Skin Attributes

The following attributes are exposed through the editor:

•Module Skin Name: This is name of the module skin. It may not be blank and must be unique within the system.

•Is Default: Determines whether this is the default skin for the system used to wrap content when not explicitly specified at the module, tab, or dashboard levels.

•Content: This is the markup of the skin. It can be manipulated in the WYSIWYG editor but it is recommended that the source is closely reviewed prior to saving.

Send comments on this topic.