I have searched forums/docs but so far have not found the answer, so maybe some more enlightened soul will illuminate me.
I had been successfully hacking on a module and changing a cloned set of templates to suit my purposes when I needed to add a new template for a new set of functionality.
My first thought was to copy an existing file and modify it. This new file shows up in the template manager with a "generate" button enabled. Locating my new file with brose box and attempting to generate produces a file not found error.
This sent me searching forums/docs which led to the thought of updating the module in question. However, I became concerned that this might actually overwrite the changes that I made to the templates in the database with the originals from the module/template/ directory.
This brings me to my main questions:
- How do I ensure that changes to templates in the database get saved to module files?
- How do I add a new template file to a module?

adding a new template to a module altogether, will need to edit the module php files itself, as those templates are called from the module, if u simply add a template, then the module doesn't know u have added 1 as that template is not coded in the module if u get me..

editing a template should be ok, updating will only regenerate the default tewmplates, your cloned set shouldn't be affected unless u regenerate them..

thanks for responding mOnty,
after reading your reply and a little more meditation I found the location in the xoops_version.php for the mondule where its' templates are listed for inclusion/installation. After adding a new entry and updating the module the new template could then be generated from the template manager.

thanks again