Help with layout customization (Blank BS2) - nothing I'm doing is loading a new position or block

I want to have a position for a media player/slider and two modules beneath it WITHIN the Main Body Content BLOCK, above where the 'content' is loaded.

This is because I want the side-menu to be alongside the media player/slider - so putting it in a spotlight position above the Main Body Content Block doesn't achieve that.

Please see the attached image of what I want to achieve. The are outlined in RED is the main content block (and contains a side-bar position), the areas in YELLOW are new positions for media, and the area in GREEN is where the normal page/blog content should start to appear:

http://kandytech.net/images/misc/layout.jpg

I have followed the customization video and tutorial in the BS2 documentation pages, but whether I try to load another spotlight block in to the Main Body Content Block or just simply try to add a custom position - nothing seems to work.

I have cloned the layout, copied the relevant content block file to local/tpls/blocks/ folder, and updated the templateDetails.xml

The only thing that works is that my HTML comment and a new DIV added to the duplicated content block file is appearing!

Here is my code to try to add just a custom position under the content area. This is just to test if the customization is working and not the layout I am after:

1 - In the cloned layout file (local/tpls/ds-default-content-right.php):

  <body>



    <?php $this->loadBlock ('header') ?>

    

    <?php $this->loadBlock ('mainnav') ?>



    <?php $this->loadBlock ('spotlight-1') ?>



    <?php $this->loadBlock ('ds-mainbody-content-right') ?>

    

    <?php $this->loadBlock ('spotlight-2') ?>

    

    <?php $this->loadBlock ('navhelper') ?>

    

    <?php $this->loadBlock ('footer') ?>



</body>

2 - In the content block file (local/tpls/blocks/ds-mainbody-content-right.php)

  



....

  // positions configuration

  $mastcol  = 'mast-col';

  $sidebar1 = 'sidebar-1';

  $sidebar2 = 'sidebar-2';

  $custom = 'custom';

....



<!-- MAIN CONTENT -->

    <div id="t3-content" class="t3-content <?php echo $this->getClass($layout, $col) ?>" <?php echo $this->getData ($layout, $col++) ?>>

      <jdoc:include type="message" />

      <jdoc:include type="component" />

      

    <!-- MEDIA MODULES -->

    <div id="t3-media-block" class="t3-media-1">

      <jdoc:include type="modules" name="<?php $this->_p($custom) ?>" style="T3Xhtml" />

    </div>

    <!-- //MEDIA MODULES -->    

    </div>

        <!-- //MAIN CONTENT -->

3 - And I have defined the 'custom' position in the templateDetails.xml

4 - BUT when I look at the Layout tab in the T3 template manager - I do not see anything different, the custom position does not appear.

What am I doing wrong?

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Resolved Help with layout customization (Blank BS2) - nothing I'm doing is loading a new position or block