Variables and constants available in FlatPress templates

This page documents the variables and constants that are actually exposed by FlatPress core to Smarty templates.

It is meant as a practical reference for:

themes
shared templates
admin templates
plugin templates

Plugin-specific variables are not listed exhaustively here. Any plugin may assign additional variables of its own.

How to access values

Smarty variables

Use normal Smarty syntax:

{$flatpress.title}
{$pagetitle}
{$subject}

PHP constants in Smarty

Use the built-in Smarty constant accessor:

{$smarty.const.BLOG_BASEURL}
{$smarty.const.ADMIN_DIR}
{$smarty.const.SYSTEM_VER}
{$smarty.const.PHP_VERSION}

Plugin templates

To include a template from a plugin, use the plugin: resource:

{include file="plugin:bbcode/toolbar"}
{include file="plugin:commentcenter/header"}

The first path segment is the plugin directory name inside fp-plugins/. PLUGINNAME is therefore not a global FlatPress constant.

Scope and conventions

FlatPress assigns some variables globally, for example $flatpress, $lang, $pagetitle and $fp_config.
Other variables only exist in a specific context, for example inside an {entry}, {comment} or {static} block.
Admin templates receive their own set of variables such as $panel, $action and $panelstrings.
Some variables are created locally inside templates with {assign} or {capture}. Those are documented separately at the end of this page.

Frontend

Global frontend variables

These variables are assigned by theme_init() and are available in normal frontend theme rendering.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$flatpress`	array	Blog configuration plus some runtime values
`$lang`	array	Active language strings
`$blogtitle`	string	Alias of the configured blog title
`$pagetitle`	string	Current HTML page title after FlatPress filters have run
`$fp_config`	array	Full FlatPress configuration array

The ''$flatpress'' array

$flatpress starts with the keys from $fp_config['general'] and then adds some runtime helpers.

Typical config-derived keys are:

title
subtitle
footer
www
author
email
startpage
maxentries
notify
theme
style
blogid
charset

FlatPress also adds these runtime keys:

Key	Type	Meaning
`loggedin`	bool	Whether a user is currently logged in
`user`	array	Current user data, only present when logged in
`themeurl`	string	URL of the active theme or style directory
`params`	array	Current parsed FlatPress request parameters

For backward compatibility, FlatPress also creates uppercase aliases for the keys in $flatpress. Example:

{$flatpress.title}
{$flatpress.TITLE}

Both forms refer to the same value.

Common frontend examples

{$flatpress.title}
{$flatpress.themeurl}imgs/logo.svg
{$flatpress.params.entry}
{$flatpress.user.userid}
{$fp_config.locale.lang}
{$smarty.const.BLOG_BASEURL}

Wrapper variables used by page templates

The following variables are used by wrapper templates such as default.tpl, comments.tpl, static.tpl, login.tpl, contact.tpl and search-related shared templates.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$subject`	string	Main headline or current item title, depending on context
`$content`	string	Main content or name of a shared template/resource
`$rawcontent`	bool	Marks `$content` as raw content instead of a template name
`$static_id`	string	Current static page id
`$static_page`	array	Parsed static page data
`$error`	array / string	Validation or form errors
`$success`	int / bool	Success state used by forms and admin notices
`$values`	array	Previously submitted form values
`$csrf_token`	string	CSRF token for login, comments and contact forms
`$panelstrings`	array	Small message array used by some shared templates
`$comment_formid`	string	HTML id used by the comment form
`$user`	string	Pre-filled login user name
`$noresults`	bool	Search returned no matches

Frontend block variables

Entry block variables

Inside an {entry} block, FlatPress assigns one entry at a time.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$id`	string	Entry id
`$subject`	string	Entry title
`$content`	string	Entry content
`$date`	string / int	Entry date/time value
`$author`	string	Entry author
`$categories`	array	Entry categories
`$comments`	int	Comment count when requested by the current query
`$entry_commslock`	bool	True if the entry has the special `commslock` category
`$version`	string	Entry file format version, mainly internal

Notes:

$comments is only present when the query asks for comments or comment counts.
Additional entry fields assigned by plugins may also appear here.

Static page block variables

Inside a {static} block, FlatPress assigns one static page at a time.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$id`	string	Static page id
`$subject`	string	Page title
`$content`	string	Page content
`$date`	string / int	Page date
`$author`	string	Page author
`$version`	string	Page file format version

Comment block variables

Inside a {comments} / {comment} context, FlatPress assigns one comment at a time.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$entryid`	string	Entry id of the surrounding comment list
`$id`	string	Comment id
`$subject`	string	Comment subject
`$content`	string	Comment text
`$date`	string / int	Comment date/time value
`$name`	string	Comment author name
`$url`	string	Comment author URL
`$email`	string	Comment author e-mail
`$loggedin`	bool / string	Logged-in flag stored with the comment
`$version`	string	Comment file format version
`$ip_address`	string	Comment IP metadata, if available

Note that comment keys with hyphens are normalized to underscores before they are assigned to Smarty. Example: ip-address becomes $ip_address.

Widget block variables

Inside widget templates, FlatPress uses the following variables for each widget item:

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$id`	string	Widget id
`$subject`	string	Widget title
`$content`	string	Widget body

Admin

Global admin variables

The admin area first sets admin-specific variables and then also runs theme_init() for the wrapper templates. This means that admin templates usually have access to both the normal global FlatPress variables and the admin variables below.

Variable	Type	Meaning
`$panel`	string	Current admin panel
`$action`	string	Current action inside the panel
`$panel_url`	string	Base URL of the current panel
`$action_url`	string	URL of the current panel action
`$subject`	string	Admin page headline
`$menubar`	array	Available admin panels
`$submenu`	array	Available actions for the current panel, if any
`$actionname`	string	Current action name
`$admin_panel_id`	string	Internal PHP class name of the current admin action
`$success`	int / bool	Success state for the current request
`$panelstrings`	array	Language strings for the current panel/action
`$plang`	array	Alias of `$panelstrings`

Frequently used admin panel variables

The variables below are not global to every admin page, but they are assigned by core panels and are useful to know.

Panel	Variables
Config	`$themes`, `$lang_list`, `$charset_list`, `$static_list`, `$user`
Entries	`$entry`, `$post`, `$preview`, `$id`, `$draft`, `$saved_flags`, `$categories_all`, `$perpage_options`, `$perpage_current`, `$perpage_base_query`
Static pages	`$statics`, `$entry`, `$post`, `$preview`, `$id`, `$static_id`
Themes / styles	`$current_theme`, `$available_themes`, `$current_style`, `$available_styles`
Uploader	`$upload_limits`, `$uploaded_files`, `$upload_errors`, `$upload_warnings`
Widgets	`$fp_registered_widgets`, `$widgetlist`, `$oldwidgetlist`, `$pluginconf`
Maintain	`$apcu_available`, `$apcu_status`, `$apcu`, `$stableversion`, `$unstableversion`, `$notice`, `$phpinfo`, `$files`
Plugins	`$pluginlist`, `$enabledlist`, `$warnings`

Admin language helpers

In the admin area, labels usually come from $panelstrings or $plang:

{$panelstrings.head}
{$panelstrings.descr}
{$plang.author}

For wrapper navigation, admin templates may also use the global language array:

{$lang.admin.panels[$tab]}
{$lang.admin[$panel].submenu[$subtab]}

Constants commonly useful in templates

All of these can be accessed as {$smarty.const.CONSTANT_NAME}.

Constant	Meaning
`BLOG_BASEURL`	Public base URL of the FlatPress installation
`ADMIN_DIR`	Admin directory path relative to the installation root
`PLUGINS_DIR`	Plugin directory path relative to the installation root
`THEMES_DIR`	Theme directory path relative to `fp-interface/`
`FP_INTERFACE`	Interface directory
`LANG_DIR`	Language directory
`SHARED_TPLS`	Absolute path to shared templates
`IMAGES_DIR`	Image upload directory
`ATTACHS_DIR`	Attachment upload directory
`SYSTEM_VER`	FlatPress version string
`RANDOM_HEX`	Per-request random token used in some admin templates

In practice, BLOG_BASEURL is the constant most often used directly in templates.

Template-local helper variables

Some names visible in core templates are not assigned globally by FlatPress. They are created locally inside the template itself, for example with {assign}, {capture} or {foreach}.

Examples from the default Leggero theme and the admin templates:

Variable	Where it comes from
`$fp_nextpage`	Captured output of `{nextpage}`
`$fp_prevpage`	Captured output of `{prevpage}`
`$tab` / `$subtab`	Loop variables used by admin navigation templates

Practical rules

Use $flatpress for normal blog data that should be theme-friendly.
Use $fp_config when you need the full configuration tree, for example locale settings.
Use $panelstrings in admin templates instead of hard-coded labels.
Use {$smarty.const.BLOG_BASEURL} when you need a stable base URL in a template.
Do not assume that plugin variables exist unless the plugin is active.
Do not treat PLUGINNAME as a real constant. For plugin templates, use the plugin: resource syntax instead.

Quick examples

Link to the blog root

<a href="{$smarty.const.BLOG_BASEURL}">{$flatpress.title}</a>

Link to an image inside the active theme

<img src="{$flatpress.themeurl}imgs/logo.svg" alt="{$flatpress.title|escape}">

Print the current page title

<title>{$pagetitle}</title>

Show admin panel heading

<h2>{$panelstrings.head}</h2>
<p>{$panelstrings.descr}</p>

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