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Using Portal Skins

Change the Default Skin

Use the Portal Admin page to change the default. In the Default Skin drop-down list, select the skin you want, then click Save.

Embed a Skin

To embed a portal page in another website, you can use a skin with no header or footer and embed it in an iframe element.

Example: Event Calendar

Here is an example in codepen embedding the Event calendar. This uses the Barebones skin.

Example: Custom Form

<iframe src="https://ministryplatform.com/portal/get_form.aspx?template=embedded&remembertemplate=true&id=21104ba5-026c-42e5-9f2d-6cd5b5eb3e08"></iframe>

Use Multiple Skins

It is possible to use multiple skins at the same time. Some multi-site churches like to brand each campus with different colors or websites. The Portal can be tuned to allow these different websites to each have access to the same Portal, but with different skins. Another example is having a specific Portal page (e.g., Opportunity Details page for a specific Opportunity) skinned differently than the rest of the Portal.

To accomplish this, you would create multiple skins with customized URLs in your menus. This can be combined with filters. You could also create a stripped-down skin and have it in either an iframe or a popup window.

Change Skins in the URL

This process works on any page ending in aspx. It does not work on the Portal root. To use a skin other than the default (set in the Portal Admin page) add the following after aspx: ?template=[your skin name here]

Make the Change Stick

To make this stick temporarily, you can add the following query. The non-default skin will be remembered for the duration of your browser session, but not affect anyone else. &remembertemplate=true

Set the Skin Back to Default

After a user visits a URL with this switch, they will no longer see the default skin unless they are directed to a URL which resets the skin settings to the default (unless you have a skin named "default." In this case, it just sets the skin temporarily to the skin named "default"). ?template=default

Example

For example, this url uses the "Sunshine" skin to display Event 9999. The change will stay in effect until the user closes the browser or session times out on the server (due to user inactivity).

https://my.example.com/portal/event_detail.aspx?id=9999&template=NewWine&remebertemplate=true&filter=month:2|year:2017|campus:0|ministry:0|listview:0|featuredevents:0

Notice that the skin settings can be incorporated into the url with other settings (query strings).

The whole query string starts with "?" and follows aspx in the page's file-name. All following settings are separated with "&" symbols. A common mistake is to introduce an extra "?" symbol after the initial one.

The example above can be broken down into 4 parts (only the first one starts with "?" and the others start with "&"):
  • ?id=9999
  • &template=Sunshine
  • &remebertemplate=true
  • &filter=month:2|year:2017|campus:0|ministry:0|listview:0|featuredevents:0

Download a Skin

You can download a skin from your production server using the Portal Admin page. Select the skin in the list, then click Download.

Create a New Skin Version

If you want to alter your skin, you should copy an existing one. Download the skin, rename the htm file, edit the skin files, then deploy and test the new skin.

Replace a Skin in Use

If your church uses multiple skins in your portal, you may need to take additional steps to make sure everything looks correct. The skins in use should retain the same names (since they are referred to in URLs), so this procedure must be followed.

Since this can be a tricky operation, you may want to make changes directly on your server.

Or, you can do the following. Make sure you have a working copy of the skin (the zip file). If the skin is your default, set a different one. (You may upload a temporary copy with a different name.) Delete the skin using the Portal Admin page. Upload the new version, then set it back to the default, if needed.

Troubleshooting Skins By Using URLs

When you have issues with the default skin, you can always override this in the URL and reset the session to use a working skin (such as "Responsive").

Use the following URL to reset your default: /portal/site_index.aspx?template=Responsive&remebertemplate=true