diff --git a/api/src/Egw.php b/api/src/Egw.php
index f324f5ee91..3c91308ff3 100644
--- a/api/src/Egw.php
+++ b/api/src/Egw.php
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ namespace EGroupware\Api;
 // they are only used, if phpgwapi is installed
 use accounts as egw_accounts;
 use egw_session;
+use common;
 
 /**
  * New written class to create the eGW enviroment AND restore it from a php-session
@@ -409,14 +410,20 @@ class Egw extends Egw\Base
 		// A few hacker resistant constants that will be used throught the program
 		if (file_exists(EGW_SERVER_ROOT.'/phpgwapi'))
 		{
-			define('EGW_TEMPLATE_DIR', $this->common->get_tpl_dir('phpgwapi'));
-			define('EGW_IMAGES_DIR', $this->common->get_image_path('phpgwapi'));
-			define('EGW_IMAGES_FILEDIR', $this->common->get_image_dir('phpgwapi'));
-			define('EGW_APP_ROOT', $this->common->get_app_dir());
-			define('EGW_APP_INC', $this->common->get_inc_dir());
-			define('EGW_APP_TPL', $this->common->get_tpl_dir());
-			define('EGW_IMAGES', $this->common->get_image_path());
-			define('EGW_APP_IMAGES_DIR', $this->common->get_image_dir());
+			define('EGW_TEMPLATE_DIR', Framework\Template::get_dir('phpgwapi'));
+			define('EGW_IMAGES_DIR', common::get_image_path('phpgwapi'));
+			define('EGW_IMAGES_FILEDIR', common::get_image_dir('phpgwapi'));
+			define('EGW_APP_ROOT', common::get_app_dir());
+			define('EGW_APP_INC', common::get_inc_dir());
+			try {
+				define('EGW_APP_TPL', Framework\Template::get_dir());
+			}
+			catch (Exception\WrongParameter $e) {
+				unset($e);
+				define('EGW_APP_TPL', null);
+			}
+			define('EGW_IMAGES', common::get_image_path());
+			define('EGW_APP_IMAGES_DIR', common::get_image_dir());
 			// and the old ones
 			define('PHPGW_TEMPLATE_DIR',EGW_TEMPLATE_DIR);
 			define('PHPGW_IMAGES_DIR',EGW_IMAGES_DIR);
diff --git a/api/src/Egw/Base.php b/api/src/Egw/Base.php
index 8464e59d44..3bfafad330 100644
--- a/api/src/Egw/Base.php
+++ b/api/src/Egw/Base.php
@@ -112,11 +112,13 @@ class Base
 			case 'framework':
 				return $this->framework = Api\Framework::factory();
 			case 'template':	// need to be instancated for the current app
-				if (!($tpl_dir = Api\Framework\Template::get_dir($this->currentapp)))
-				{
+				try {
+					return $this->template = new Api\Framework\Template(Api\Framework\Template::get_dir($this->currentapp));
+				}
+				catch (EGroupware\Api\Exception\WrongParameter $e) {
+					unset($e);
 					return null;
 				}
-				return $this->template = new Api\Framework\Template($tpl_dir);
 			case 'ldap':
 				return $this->ldap = Api\Ldap::factory(false);
 			default:
diff --git a/api/src/Framework/Template.php b/api/src/Framework/Template.php
index 1a5636cf47..1e2655560b 100644
--- a/api/src/Framework/Template.php
+++ b/api/src/Framework/Template.php
@@ -564,7 +564,8 @@ class Template
 	 * get template dir of an application
 	 *
 	 * @param $appname appication name optional can be derived from $GLOBALS['egw_info']['flags']['currentapp'];
-	 * @return string|boolean dir or false if no dir is found
+	 * @return string template directory
+	 * @throws Api\Exception\WrongParameter if no directory is found
 	 */
 	static function get_dir($appname = '')
 	{
@@ -612,6 +613,6 @@ class Template
 		{
 			return $tpldir_default;
 		}
-		return False;
+		throw new Api\Exception\WrongParameter("Template directory for app '$appname' not found!");
 	}
 }