Views within PrestaShop

PrestaShop uses the Smarty template engine to generate its views: http://www.smarty.net/.

Theme views

The views are stored in .tpl files, and are used throughout PrestaShop:

• Front-office view: the files belong to the enabled theme, which is located in the /themes/ folder.
  For instance, with the default theme: /themes/default-bootstrap/product.tpl
• Back-office view: the files belong to the enabled theme, which is located in the /admin-dev/themes/ folder.
  For instance, the the default back-office theme: /admin-dev/themes/default/template/controllers/products/information.tpl

Module views

Modules can add their own templates to adapt parts of the interface:

• the front-office: /modules/bankwire/views/templates/front/payment_execution.tpl
• the back-office: /modules/blocklayered/views/templates/admin/view.tpl

There's a third template folder, called /hook/, which can be used for view files that are tied to a specific hook. For instance,

Best practices

A view name is generally the same as the name for the code using it. For instance, 404.php uses 404.tpl.

Overriding a view file

As there is no inheritance, there is no way to override a view. In order to change a view, you must rewrite the template file, and place it in your theme/module's folder, in the same path.

For views tied to a Helper, you can use the PrestaShop /override/ folder.
For instance, if you want to change the way the front-office order template file: /admin-dev/themes/default/template/controllers/orders/helpers/view/view.tpl
...you must copy the template file and its path to the override folder: /override/controllers/admin/templates/orders/helpers/view/view.tpl
...then edit the copied template file to better suit your needs.

When adding an override file manually, do not forget to delete the /cache/class_index.php file so that PrestaShop can take your changes into account.

See the Overriding default behaviors page for more information.