Trying to set up a new block

[angie]

Hello! Question from a "idiot" here...

I am trying to create a block to display text that simply announces a drawing winner. I can't get this block to show up on the home page. This is what I've done so far:

Created block.drawing_winners.html (uploaded to themes/kosmos/blocks)

 <table width="197" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
              <tr>
                <td style="background-image: url(<%$tpl_base%>/images/template_23.gif);" class="head">&nbsp;Latest Drawing Winner</td>
                <td width="31"><img src="<%$tpl_base%>/images/template_24.gif" alt="" /></td>
              </tr>
            </table>
            <table width="197" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="panel-bg">
              <tr>
                <td>        
                  <br>
					<b>Congratulations to<br>
					<font color="#0000FF">Burinvit A. of<br>
					Bangkok, Thailand!</font></b></p>
					<p>He is the lucky winner of our August 2006 Monthly Prize 
					Drawing for a $50.00 Amazon.com<br>
					Gift Certificate.</p>
					<p><b>September 2006 Prize:</b><br>
					$50.00 Amazon.com<br>
					Gift Certificate</p>
					<font size="1"><a href="page.php?id=winners">See more 
					winners!</a></font><br />
                  <br />
                </td>
               </tr>
             </table>

Next I created block.drawing_winners.php (uploaded to /blocks/):

<?php

/**
 *
 * INDEXU
 * Copyright(C), Nicecoder, 2000-2006, All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * INDEXU(tm) is protected by Indonesia and International copyright laws.
 * Unauthorized use or distribution of INDEXU(tm) is strictly prohibited,
 * violators will be prosecuted. To obtain a license for using INDEXU(tm),
 * please register at Nicecoder home page at http://www.nicecoder.com
 *
 * Author:
 *    Dody Rachmat Wicaksono (dody@nicecoder.com)
 *    M. Zuber (zubby@nicecoder.com)
 *
 */

function block_drawing_winners($params) {

  if (!$params['template']) {
    $params['template'] = 'block.drawing_winners.html';
  }

  $tpl = new Template;

  $tpl->display("blocks/" . $params['template']);
}

?>

Lastly, I added the following code to my index.html (using kosmos theme) at the point where I want it to show up (left side).

<%block_drawing_winners%>
          <br />

What do I do next?

Thank you!
Angie

Thank you!

[inspireme]

jsut paste what you have in block.drawing_winners.html

directly to your index.html page, no need to use a block. or, you could just use :

<%include file='themes/kosmos/blocks/block.drawing_winners.html'%>

[angie]

I thought about doing that, but it just seemed too easy!

(Can you tell I like to make things harder for myself?? HAHA!)

Thanks so much, inspireme!

[inspireme]

well, your just running a php script and asking it to inser the html, so you may as well just insert the html.

use the include code i posted if you want it on multiple pages, eg. maybe the browse page as well.

[angie]

I tried using the include code but got a smarty error. Rather than spend more time trying to figure it out, I just pasted the code from the block page as you suggested and it works great!

[ezykiwi]

I played around with some examples (Inspireme's Adsense one)
If you use this in your blocks.drawing_winners.php file, it should work, it does in 5.3

function block_drawing_winners($params) {
$tpl = new Template;
if (!$params['template']) {
$params['template'] = 'block.drawing_winners.html';
}
$tpl->display('blocks/'.$params['template'], 0);
}

Cheers Ezy

[dody]

Create a new block, if you need to run php codes, like fetching database. But if you just want to split insert html codes, just use smarty with include command.

[angie]

Thanks for the additional tips Ezy & Dody!