// from PHP script

// put these function somewhere in your application
function db_get_template ($tpl_name, &$tpl_source, &$smarty_obj)
{
    // do database call here to fetch your template,
    // populating $tpl_source
    $sql = new SQL;
    $sql->query("select tpl_source
                   from my_table
                  where tpl_name='$tpl_name'");
    if ($sql->num_rows) {
        $tpl_source = $sql->record['tpl_source'];
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

function db_get_timestamp($tpl_name, &$tpl_timestamp, &$smarty_obj)
{
    // do database call here to populate $tpl_timestamp.
    $sql = new SQL;
    $sql->query("select tpl_timestamp
                   from my_table
                  where tpl_name='$tpl_name'");
    if ($sql->num_rows) {
        $tpl_timestamp = $sql->record['tpl_timestamp'];
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

function db_get_secure($tpl_name, &$smarty_obj)
{
    // assume all templates are secure
    return true;
}

function db_get_trusted($tpl_name, &$smarty_obj)
{
    // not used for templates
}

// register the resource name "db"
$smarty->register_resource("db", array("db_get_template",
                                       "db_get_timestamp",
                                       "db_get_secure",
                                       "db_get_trusted"));

// using resource from php script
$smarty->display("db:index.tpl");

{* using resource from within Smarty template *}
{include file="db:/extras/navigation.tpl"}