Sitebuilder Controls and Variables

Sitebuilder template source code may include plain HTML code, special elements of the SiteBuilder namespace and Sitebuilder variables. For example, a source code file may contain the following element:

<SiteBuilder:MyControl ID="TopMenu" />

Elements of the Sitebuilder namespace are called controls. They are responsible for dynamic content of sites. When the template source code is rendered by Sitebuilder, controls are substituted by specific HTML code. The code depends on control name and its attributes.

Each element type of a Sitebuilder control consists of a start tag, content (optional) and end tag (optional). Start tag contains SiteBuilder string and the control name separated by the colon (:) character. The tag can also contain control attributes. For instance, control MyControl (form the above example) has the ID attribute. For the complete list of the controls, refer to the Appendix.

Template source code includes Sitebuilder variables. A variable is represented as a string bounded by $ characters. It is used for defining dynamic parameters of the template (like paths to images, a page title text, copyright information, etc.). When Sitebuilder parses the template code, it substitutes a variable for its value. For instance, variable $HomePageUrl$ is substituted for the URL of a site home page. Variables give those end users an opportunity to customize site's title, subtitle, copyright notice, etc. at the Design step of the Wizard.