tmplat

How do I create my own templates?

Either open the Guide tab or click the link under the content text box within the Templates tab on the options page to view the built-in guide for writing templates. If for some crazy reason you don't yet have tmplat installed (can't understand why not) you can still learn about writing templates here.

Why can't I use some features on certain pages?

Due to Chrome's security implementations some features won't work on certain pages. These pages include anything on the Chrome Web Store and any URL using something like the chrome:// protocol as these are pages internal to the browser (including pages specific to extensions/apps). In these cases keyboard shortcuts and variables extracted by parsing the DOM may not work.

Why can I not edit some templates?

The title and content fields of predefined templates (e.g. URL, Short, Anchor) are read-only and cannot be changed. Also, you cannot delete these templates but you can still disable them like any other template to prevent them from being accessible via the menus or keyboard shortcuts.

What URL is used when I right-click on a page?

Well, that absolutely depends what it is you right-clicked on. tmplat currently checks what you clicked on in the following priority;

  1. Link » Right-clicking on a link
  2. Media » Right-clicking on anything that has a src attribute (e.g. images)
  3. Frame » Right-clicking anywhere within an internal frame
  4. Page » Right-clicking anywhere else on the page that doesn't match any of the above

Why do you need this permission...?

We've seen people commenting a lot on extensions in the Chrome Web Store about the permissions required by that extension. Most of these comments are negative and usually posted by people who do not fully understand the creation of Chrome extensions. For this reason we have created a breakdown of the permissions used by tmplat. However, if you have trust issues and don't trust that summary why not look at the code and see for yourself.

How can I get tmplat in a different language?

We are using an online system powered by crowdin to manage translations. Please visit i18n.tmpl.at if you want to help.

Why am I seeing this error message...?

Due to the extent of customization options available for tmplat it's no surprise that something could go wrong. If it does, it's nice to know what that error message means;

  • "<template> output was empty" » This occurs if the template being used either has no content or the result after being rendered is empty. If you think about it, you can't exactly copy an empty string to the clipboard can you? Go on and try, We'll wait... We told you so. What would you expect to paste after all?
  • "The URL is not properly encoded" » This occurs if you are attempting to use tmplat on a URL that is not properly encoded. This is due to the underlying technology used for extract the information on each URL (e.g. domain, port, parameters). This should be extremely rare and could probably be impossible to occur.
  • "An error occurred while collecting information" » This occurs when an unexpected error occurred when building up the template data. Please can you raise a ticket while providing as much information as possible so we can investigate and fix it.
  • "An error occurred while deriving the activated template" » This occurs only in exceptional cases when the activated template cannot be found. Please can you raise a ticket while providing as much information as possible so we can investigate and fix it.
  • "An error occurred while requesting information" » This occurs if the extension receives an invalid request. This could either be a bug or another extension sending bad requests.
  • "There was a problem parsing an expression" » This occurs if the template contained an invalid CSS selector for a select* operation or XPath expression for an xpath* operation.
  • "<template> could not be copied" » This occurs when an unexpected error occurred somewhere during the process. Please can you raise a ticket while providing as much information as possible so we can investigate and fix it.
  • "<shortener> has not been configured correctly" » This occurs if the active URL shortener requires a target URL to be specified and this has not been done (e.g. YOURLS).
  • "<shortener> experienced a problem while shortening <url>" » This occurs if the tmplat is unable to get a successful response from the active URL shortener. This can be for multiple reasons but you should check your configuration for that service first.
  • "<shortener> experienced a problem" » This occurs when an unexpected error occurred during the request to the active URL shortener. Please can you raise a ticket while providing as much information as possible so we can investigate and fix it.

Why isn't Chrome updating tmplat?

Chrome's update frequency is slightly unpredictable (at least in our eyes) and we've found that sometimes it updates my extensions as soon as an update becomes available but we've also seen it some extensions not getting updated even when using the browser for hours. However, there is a little-known way (at least to non-developers) to force it to update your extensions;

  • Open the Extensions page via on of the following methods;
    • Main Menu: Tools > Extensions
    • Address Bar: chrome://extensions
    • Right-click tmplat's toolbar icon and select Manage extensions...
  • Ensure that Developer mode in the top right of the page is checked.
  • Click the Update extensions now button, et viola!

Your extensions should now be receiving updates (where available) and you may notice some extensions turning off and on again. If an extension requires any additional permissions that you have not already authorized it will not be turned back on until you have granted these permissions.

Why am I no longer logged in to my URL shortener accounts?

This section is only relevant for versions updating to 1.0.1 from a previous version as the OAuth implementation was upgraded to 2.0 in this release.

Unfortunately, the authorization provided by these services were not compatible with the latest version of this framework so you'll need to re-authorize each affected service in order to associate the links to your account. The API key and username for the bit.ly service has been replaced with the new login/logout functionality for easier use and improved security.

Why are the changes to my templates not being saved?

This section is only relevant for versions before 1.0.0 where changes are now saved automatically on the options page.

On the options page be sure that you always press Save & Close button whenever you want to save your changes. This applies even when you are only adding, deleting, reordering and importing templates.

What happened to URL Copy?

This extension was previously named URL Copy but was renamed to Template in version 0.2.0.0 as it had evolved far beyond just doing that so the name no longer did it justice. Template provided a much more accurate description of the functionality and power of this extension. However, as of version 2.0.0, the extension has been rebranded as tmplat. We found this more unique and memorable, not to mention much easier to find when searching.