keithstric.com :: BlogSphere tags defined

Over the past month or so I've been working on making keithstric.com a better looking BlogSphere blog. During all the tweaks, changes and fixes I've come to learn a lot more about all the tags available within BlogSphere.

Tags are used to put dynamic content within your BlogSphere template which is what allows you to fully customize the way your blog is laid out and also allows you to build links and use common text throughout your site to give it a more consistent look and feel across all areas of the site. Without the tags all of the things listed here would be hard coded or be done via clunky lookups all over. The tagging system of BlogSphere is a very elegant way to accomplish the task of customizing your blog.

The tagging system is basically made up of a LotusScript library called RenderEngine.Tags. Within this LotusScript library are functions for each of these tags which returns the proper value based on the context of the request. Like I said above, it's very elegant. So, I took all of those functions to come up with this list and hopefully make it easier for you to customize your blog. If you come across something I misrepresented or just plain got it wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it.

While writing this I discovered that the appropriate tags can be used within a blog entry, article or download also. When placed in one of these other elements the tag will be rendered as it should, which is a bonus for BlogSphere. But I had to modify the tags below to be formatted as <$ Tagname $> instead of <$TagName$>. So, when using these tags in your blog, just take the spaces out.

<$ BSAlbumURL $> - The URL of a photo album
<$ BSAttachments $> - Display the attachments on a download entry
<$ BSBlogDesc $> - The description that shows up underneath the Blog Name and is defined in the BlogSphere configuration document
<$ BSBlogName $> - The name of the blog and is defined in the BlogSphere configuration document
<$ BSCategoriesURL $> - The url for a blog entry's categories. This link opens all the blog entries for whatever category is clicked
<$ BSCommentAuthorLink $> - The link to a comment author's website and is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentAuthorName $> - The name of a comment author and is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentBody $> - The body of a comment and is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentCount $> - The number of comments for a particular blog entry, download or article. This is incremented when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentDate $> - The date a comment was left and is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentID $> - The number for a particular comment and it is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSCommentNumber $> - I can't figure out what this tag is for
<$ BSCommentsURL $> - The URL to the comments for a particular blog entry, download or article
<$ BSCommentTime $> - The time a comment was left and is defined when someone leaves a comment
<$ BSEmoticons $> - The emoticons that are configured for your blog. Emoticons are configured in the configuration view under Resources\Emoticons
<$ BSEntryAuthor $> - The author of a blog entry, download or article
<$ BSEntryCategories $> - The categories of a blog entry which is defined when a blog entry is created
<$ BSEntryDate $> - The date of a Blog Entry, download or article
<$ BSEntryHTML $> - The html of a blog entry, download or article
<$ BSEntryImage $> - The image that is defined for a blog entry, download or article
<$ BSEntryLocation $> - The location of the author as it is defined in the author's profile
<$ BSEntryMoreHTML $> - The html of a blog entry's "More" field. This is available when some text is placed in the "More" section of a blog entry
<$ BSEntrySubCategory $> - The sub category of an article
<$ BSEntryTechnorati $> - A link to technorati for the category of a blog entry
<$ BSEntryTime $> - The time a blog entry, download or article was created
<$ BSEntryTitle $> - The title of a blog entry, download or article
<$ BSGravatar $> - Displays an image based on an MD5 hash of the commentors email address. Check out www.gravatar.com for details.
<$ BSHomeURL $> - The URL of your blog
<$ BSMediaPlayer $> - I'm not entirely sure about this one, but I believe if you attach some kind of media to a blog entry, this will show the appropriate media player
<$ BSMenu $> - Displays a menu which you define in the Blogsphere menu under Resources\Navigation Menu. It must be enabled in the BlogSphere configuration document
<$ BSMonthName $> - The month name as listed in the language translation document
<$ BSNextEntryPermalink $> - The next blog entry's permalink url
<$ BSNextEntryTitle &> - The next blog entry's title
<$ BSPhoto $> - The html img tag of a photo
<$ BSPhotoAuthor $> - The author of a photo in a photo album
<$ BSPhotoDate $> - This will display the date a photo was added to a photo album
<$ BSPhotoDesc $> - The description of a photo
<$ BSPhotoEXIFInformation $> - This will display the EXIF info from an image in a photo album
<$ BSPhotoLocation $> - This will display whatever is in the Location field of a photo
<$ BSPhotoTitle $> - The title of a photo
<$ BSPlinkURL $> - This is the URL for a permalink for blog entries, downloads and articles
<$ BSPrevEntryPermalink $> - The previous blog entry's permalink url
<$ BSPrevEntryTitle $> - The previous blog entry's title
<$ BSRating $> - ~~I haven't been able to get this to work and it may be a future enhancement.~~ But it displays the rating of a blog entry, download or article. This must be enabled in the BlogSphere configuration document
<$ BSReadMoreLink $> - This is the link that shows up when something is present in the "More" part of a blog entry
<$ BSSearchScore $> - This is the score of an entry that is returned from a search of your blog
<$ BSThumbnail $> - A photo's thumbnail
<$ BSTrackbackCount $> - This is the number of track backs for a particular blog entry
<$ BSTrackbackURL $> - This is the URL for a track back
<$ BSUniqueID $> - This is the unique id of a blog entry, download or article
<$ BSYear $> - The year for an entry
<$ BSYYMM $> - I'm not sure what this is

I will continue updating this post as I find more tags. For the <$ Trans_xxx $> tags, continue reading.

Here are the <$ Trans_xxx $> tags that Declan Lynch pointed out to me. These are from the Language Translation form in the BlogSphere configuration menu item and are used to define common words that are scattered throughout your blog.

<$ Trans_At $> - The word for "At"
<$ Trans_Categories $> - The word for "Category"
<$ Trans_Comments $> - The word for comments. A prime example is the comments link at the bottom right of every post on this site
<$ Trans_CommentEmailAddress $> - The word for "Email" which is placed as the label for the email field on the comments entry form
<$ Trans_CommentName $> - The word for "Name" which is placed as the label for the name field on the comments entry form
<$ Trans_CommentPreview $> - The word or phrase for the heading over the comment preview at the bottom of the comments entry form
<$ Trans_CommentURL $> - The word or phrase for "Website" which is placed as the label for the website field on the comments entry form
<$ Trans_EnterComments $> - This is the same as <$ Trans_Comments $>
<$ Trans_HTMLAllowed $> - This is the word or phrase for the UBB Code Allowed label on top of the comments field on the comments entry form
<$ Trans_Location $> - The word for "Location". The location is usually defined in your user profile, so this would be the label for location, not the actual value of the location field, see <$ BSEntryLocation $>
<$ Trans_Main $> - The word or phrase for "Main". You can see this if you open a blog post, in the navigation that shows up at the top of that post, it's the link in the middle. On this site it should say "Home Page"
<$ Trans_NoComments $> - The word or phrase for "No Comments"
<$ Trans_NoDownloads $> - The word or phrase for "No Downloads"
<$ Trans_On $> - The word for "On"
<$ Trans_Permalink $> - The word for "Permalink". You can see this on this site in the bottom right corner to the left of comments
<$ Trans_PostAComment $> - The word or phrase for "Post A Comment". See the heading at the top of a comment entry form
<$ Trans_PostedBy $> - The word or phrase for "Posted By". See in the top right corner of a post on this site, you have the date then "By" then my name. "By" is what is defined in my Translation document
<$ Trans_ReadMore $> - The word of phrase for "Read More"
<$ Trans_RememberMe $> - The word or phrase for "Remember Me" which is placed as the label for the Remember Me field on the comments entry form
<$ Trans_SubmitComments$> - The word or phrase that is the label on the submit button of the comments entry form
<$ Trans_Trackbacks $> - The word for "Trackbacks"

This is all that I could find defined in the code. Now, there may be more tags that I'm not aware of, if that is the case please let me know and I'll update this list.

Comments

ID: 1
Date: 12/10/2009 07:14:18 PM
Name: Declan Lynch
Website: http://www.qtzar.com

<$ BSGravatar $> - If you're using co-comment, this is the picture that a person has setup for themselves.

Nothing to do with CoComment. It displays an image based on an MD5 hash of the commentors email address. Check out www.gravatar.com for details.

<$ BSMenu $>
yep. Displays a dropdown menu based on entries in that view. Needs to be enabled in the blogsphere config under the performance tabs.

There are also a load of <$ Trans_x $> tags to define.

ID: 2
Date: 12/11/2009 09:10:21 AM
Name: Keith Strickland
Website: http://www.keithstric.com

Thanks Declan! Where can I start tracking down all of those <$ Trans_x $> tags?