Creating AE template extensions

Template extensions

The process of linking to template extensions is similar to linking new scripts. You must define extensions list that includes your custom made templates that need to be processed by AE. Activation Engine, initially processes its default template file, ae_template.xml and then searches for the extension settings. If the AE find the settings, it uses that list to process template files created by you. Templates created by you must match the predefined structure of AE template files described in the section, Schema. If the newly created template file does not match the exact structure required by AE, the template is not processed by the engine.

Just as with script extensions there are certain expectations from the templates created by you. Firstly, any custom template file must follow the defined structure as defined in Schema. See Creating AE Template File for more information. The template must contain a Settings section and a Rules section. The Settings section might or might not be filled out. If any or all of the rules in Settings section is not filled out by the template then its parents' rules are used. (The parent template is the ae_template.xml template file). Note that if the scriptsDirectory settings are not present in the custom template file, then the AE cannot call any scripts that are not defined in the parent template.