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TopRank generates static HTML pages from a shop’s product range, one per category, plus an overview page per subshop. These pages exist as real files on the server and are therefore also reachable for search engines that cannot do anything with a shop system. From there, deep links lead into the shop. Two templates determine what these pages look like. During generation, the shop system replaces placeholders in them with the data of the respective category. This page describes all placeholders and states in which of the two templates and where within it they may be placed. Guide: Customising templates for TopRank
The placeholders on this page are not shop template tags. They are not evaluated by the shop system when a page is called, but replaced once when the TopRank pages are generated. Conversely, not a single PR-, CAT- or WS- tag works in these templates.

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The two templates

Both files are in the shop’s TopRank directory. The shop system first looks for a subshop-specific version with the subshop identifier appended, for example template-category-deutsch.htm. Only if it does not find one does it use the general file. This lets you design individual subshops separately without touching the others.
If either of the two templates is missing, generation aborts. Always create both, even if you hardly want to design the overview page.
Placeholders are written as in the shop template, that is, ~Name~ for a value, {Name} and {/Name} for an area and {@Name} and {/@Name} for a loop.
Placeholders that have not been replaced are removed from the finished page at the end. A typo in the name therefore goes unnoticed; the spot simply remains empty. After changing the template, always check a generated page.

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Shop details

These placeholders are freely available in both templates.
StartUrl and URL-Template exist in the shop system but are not described in the previous documentation. StartUrl is the more useful of the two, because it lets you build the way back to the TopRank overview on every category page.
Do not confuse HomeUrl and StartUrl. HomeUrl leads into the shop, StartUrl to the static overview page. Both have their place, but they mean different things.
ShopID and SubshopID are suitable for tracking scripts that should also run on the static pages.

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The category page

Everything in this section applies exclusively in template-category.htm.

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The displayed category

The description is called CatDescr, not Cat-Descr. At this point, the previous documentation writes a hyphen that the shop system does not recognise, which also contradicts its own SCatDescr for subcategories. A template with ~Cat-Descr~ produces an empty spot.
CatDescr() shortens to the number of characters specified in parentheses and removes all HTML markup in the process. This is intentional, because otherwise cutting off in the middle of the text would leave an open element without its closing counterpart. This is the right version for the description entry in the page header.
CatPage, CatPage-1 and CatShortDescr exist in the shop system but are not described in the previous documentation. CatPage-1 is the missing half of Catname-1, because without the file name you cannot build a link from the name of the parent category.
Keywords is generated by the shop system and contains the name of the category as well as the names of up to three parent categories. If there are fewer, the shop system fills up with fixed terms. The word from ShopKeyword is always included.
The five free fields per category are maintained in the TopRank Manager and hold up to 4000 characters. They can be used as a value and as an area; the area applies if the field is filled.

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The products of the category

{Products} is the area that only appears if the category contains products. {@Products} is the loop over them.
All product placeholders are placed exclusively within the {@Products} loop. This also applies to {RobotProdIndex}, even though the previous documentation lists it separately from the loop. Outside, it has no effect.
PrdDescr exists in the shop system but is not described in the previous documentation. It returns the full description of the product including HTML markup.
PrdShortDescr uses the maintained short description. If it is missing, the shop system instead shortens the full description to about 150 characters. The spot therefore only remains empty if both fields are empty.
If the TopRank Manager is set so that the products of a category should not be indexed, {RobotProdIndex} does not apply and Shopurlprd remains empty. Therefore, always bracket the deep link, otherwise you get a link that leads nowhere.
Not every product in the category ends up on the page. Products that are not visible at the time of generation and products of the autobasket category are skipped. The previous documentation does not mention this.

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Paging with many products

The number of products per page is limited in the TopRank configuration. If a category has more, the shop system distributes them across several files.
Splitlinks does not return the individual links but a ready-made HTML block with forward and back arrows and the page numbers. The markup in it is predefined by the shop system and contains no CSS classes. It can only be styled via a surrounding element. The previous documentation does not make clear that ready-made HTML is returned here.
If the category fits on one page, Splitlinks remains empty. Therefore, place the paging navigation in a bracketing, otherwise short pages will contain an empty element.

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The subcategories

This section applies in both templates. On the overview page, you use it to loop over the top-level categories; on a category page, over its subcategories.
{RobotIndex} refers to the subcategory in the current iteration, not to the currently displayed category, and is therefore placed within {@Categories}. The previous documentation lists it separately from the loop, which suggests that it could also be used at page level. This is not the case; there is no corresponding bracketing for the category itself.
If a subcategory should not be indexed, SShopurlcat additionally remains empty. The deep link therefore belongs inside {RobotIndex} in any case. The link to the TopRank page via SCatPage is not affected by this and continues to work.
SCatName is not simply the category name but the search term stored in the TopRank Manager, if one is maintained there. Only otherwise does the shop system fall back on the category name.
SCatDescr() shortens and removes HTML markup in the process, just like CatDescr() at category level.

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The overview page

Two placeholders exist only in template-subshop.htm.
ShopDescr exists in the shop system but is not described in the previous documentation. It is the counterpart to CatDescr on the category page and usually belongs in the description entry in the page header of the overview.
CreateDate contains date and time in the format TT.MM.JJJJ HH:MM:SS. The value comes from the moment of generation, not from the page call. On a static page, this is exactly the sensible value.

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Placeholders at a glance

The “Placed in” column names the loop within which the placeholder must be placed. Anything marked “free” may be placed anywhere in the respective template.
  • Guide: Customising templates for TopRank
  • Guide: SEO optimisation with TopRank
  • Guide: SEO URLs
  • Reference: SEO- (TopRank URL settings)