Movable Type Knowledge Base: Why Did I Get An "Out Of Context" Error?

Question

After making some changes to my template, I rebuilt my site, and Movable Type gave me an error saying I used a tag out of context. What does that mean?

Answer

Most Movable Type tags are context-dependent, meaning that they should only be used in the appropriate context. Context is generally determined by either the surrounding template or the surrounding container tags.

For example, since <MTEntryTitle> depends on reading a particular entry in order to return results, it must be placed inside either an MTEntries container, or used on an Individual Entry Archive page (where the context is always one entry, so an MTEntries container is not required).

Another example is the <MTCommentAuthor> tag. It belongs in an MTComments container so that it will know the specific comment for which to return the author name.

In some limited cases, an "out of context" error could indicate more serious problems in the system (i.e., database corruption).

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