Appendix B: Customization
In this section:
- AppB: Customizing the EDatCat templates
- AppB.2: Understanding the templates
- AppB.3: EDatCat Shortcuts
- AppB.4: EDatCat Functions
- AppB.5: Various Notes and Resources
Appendix B: Customizing the EDatCat Templates
The fact that EDatCat is so customizable comes as a joyous surprise to most developers. It's no surprise to us...we designed it that way. The whole point of EDatCat is to give you total control over the output of the software. You should be able to design your shopping cart pages around your site, not vice-versa.
In order to make EDatCat so flexible, we had to depart from the standard approach to CGI and Perl software. We had to, in essence, create our own style. Due to this, there is sometimes a slight learning curve during your first encounter with EDatCat. After all, you're most likely not used to this much contol. Don't worry- it's a snap...you just need to broaden your thinking into a broader world of software customization.
This appendix is designed to give you a basic understanding of how the EDatCat templates work and a few of the possible things you can do with them.