Contents of the pkiserv.tmpl certificates templates file

The pkiserv.tmpl certificate templates file contains certificate templates that define the fields that comprise a specific certificate request. The file contains a mixture of true HTML and HTML-like tags. The HTML can contain JavaScript for input field verification.

The main sections of the pkiserv.tmpl certificate templates file are listed in Table 1:

Table 1. Structure and main divisions of the certificate template file (pkiserv.tmpl)
Structure and main divisions of the certificate template file (pkiserv.tmpl)
A prolog section of comments explaining main sections, subsections, named fields, and substitution variables.
A DEBUG flag appears right after the prolog section. (You can change `DEBUG=0` to `DEBUG=1` to get CGI debugging information.)
APPLICATION sections The APPLICATION sections contain subsections, which produce certain Web pages, such as the PKI Services home page shown in Figure 1. For details, see The APPLICATION sections.
TEMPLATE sections These are the certificate templates (models) that contain the HTML to produce certificate request forms. They also define the fields that are permissible in the certificate. For details, see TEMPLATE sections.
INSERT sections These contain HTML for certain Web pages, such as the "Request submitted successfully" Web page, and certificate field dialogs, such as text entry boxes (the common name INSERT produces a text box where the user enters this information) and drop-downs. For details, see Figure 3.

The pkiserv.tmpl file begins with a prolog. This is a section of comments that explains the main sections and subsections of the file. Any line with a # in column 1 is a comment.

Only the APPLICATION sections and TEMPLATE sections can contain subsections, but all three can contain named fields and substitution variables.