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TWiki Reference Manual (TWiki-4.1.2, Sat, 03 Mar 2007, build 13046)This page contains all documentation topics as one long, complete reference sheet.Doubleclick anywhere to return to the top of the page.
TWiki System RequirementsServer and client requirements Low client and server base requirements are core features that keep TWiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions. Many Plugins and contrib modules exist which enhance and expand TWiki's capabilities; they may have additional requirements.Server RequirementsTWiki is written in Perl 5, uses a number of shell commands, and requires RCS (Revision Control System), a GNU Free Software package. TWiki is developed in a basic Linux/Apache environment. It also works with Microsoft Windows, and should have no problem on any other platform that meets the requirements.
Required CPAN ModulesThe following Perl modules are used by TWiki:
Optional CPAN ModulesThe following Perl modules may be used by TWiki:
configure script, or if you're still trying to get to that point, check from the command line like this:
perl -e 'use FileHandle; print $FileHandle::VERSION."\n"' Client RequirementsThe TWiki standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:
Important note about TWiki Plugins
TWiki Installation GuideThe following is installation instructions for the TWiki 4.1 production release on an Apache web server on Linux. Visit TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki for the latest updates to this guide and supplemental information for installing or upgrading TWiki, including notes on installing TWiki on different platforms, environments and web hosting sites. If you are upgrading from a previous version of TWiki, you probably want to read TWikiUpgradeGuide instead (both this document and the TWikiUpgradeGuide are also available in the root of the distribution as HTML files)
Preparing to install TWikiBefore attempting to install TWiki, you are encouraged to review the TWiki:TWiki.AdminSkillsAssumptions. This guide assumes the person installing TWiki has, at a minimum, basic knowledge of server administration and cgi script management on the system on which TWiki is to be installed. While it is possible to install TWiki with FTP access alone (for example, on a hosted site), it is tricky and may require additional support from your hosting service (for example, in setting file ownership). To help setup a correct Apache configuration, you can use the automatic TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator which generates the contents for an Apache config file for TWiki based on your inputs. While this installation guide specifically describes installation on an Apache web server on Linux, TWiki should be fine with any web server and OS that meet the system requirements (see below). For additional notes on installing TWiki on other systems, see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#OtherPlatforms. If you are installing TWiki without Unix/Linux root (administrator) privileges (for example, on a hosted domain), see "Notes on Installing TWiki on Non-Root Account" below for supplemental instructions to the basic steps presented below. If you are upgrading from an earlier major version of TWiki such a Cairo (TWiki 3) you will need the information found in TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUpgradeGuide which includes a description of both an automated and a manual procedure. The manual procedure is probably the safest to follow but takes more time. The upgrade guide describes essential steps needed to avoid problems with locked topics. Upgrading from a recent TWiki4 release is much simpler. Upgraders from earlier TWiki4 versions can with advantage follow the steps described in TWiki:TWiki.UpgradingTWiki04x00PatchReleases to ensure a safe upgrade without accidently overwriting customizations. If you need help, ask a question in the TWiki:Support web or on TWiki:Codev.TWikiIRC (irc.freenode.net, channel #twiki)Basic Installation
http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/view and start TWiki-ing away!
Important Server Security SettingsBefore you continue any further there are some basic and very important security settings you have to make sure are set correctly.
Next StepsOnce you have TWiki installed and running, you might consider the following optional steps for setting up and customizing your TWiki site. Many of the references below refer to topics within your TWiki installation. For example,TWiki.TWikiSkins refers to the TWikiSkins topic in your TWiki web. If not available locally, you can find these topics in the on-line reference copy of TWiki Release 4.1.
Enable Authentication of UsersThis step provides for site access control and user activity tracking on your TWiki site. This is particularly important for sites that are publicly accessible on the web. This guide describes only the most common of several possible authentication setups for TWiki and is suitable for public web sites. For information about other setups, seeTWiki.TWikiUserAuthentication, and TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUserAuthenticationSupplement.
These are the steps for enabling "Template Login" which asks for a username and password in a web page, and processes them using the Apache 'htpasswd' password manager. Users can log in and log out.
TWiki.TWikiUserAuthentication, TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUserAuthenticationSupplement, and TWiki:TWiki.SecuringTWikiSite for further information about managing users and security of your TWiki site.
Set TWiki PreferencesPreferences for customizing many aspects of TWiki are set simply by editing a special topic with TWiki.
Enable Email NotificationEach TWiki web has an automatic email notification service that sends you an email with links to all of the topics modified since the last alert. To enable this service:
Enable WebStatisticsYou can generate a listing manually, or on an automated schedule, of visits to individual pages, on a per web basis. For information on setting up this feature, see theTWiki.TWikiSiteTools topic.
Automate removal of expired sessions and lease filesPer default TWiki cleans out expired session and lease files each time any topic is viewed. This however cost performance. It is an advantage to define a negative value inconfigure for {Sessions}{ExpireAfter} and install let cron run the tools/tick_twiki.pl script. Read The topic TWikiScripts#tick_twiki_pl for details how to do this.
Enable LocalisationTWiki now supports displaying of national (non-ascii) characters and presentation of basic interface elements in different languages. To enable these features, see theLocalisation section of configure. For more information about these features, see TWiki:TWiki.InternationalizationSupplement.
Tailor New Users Home TopicWhen a new users registers on your TWiki a home topic is created for him based on theTWiki/NewUserTemplate template topic. This can be tailored. It contains additional resources you can use to:
Install PluginsTWiki:Plugins is an extensive library of Plugins for TWiki, that enhance functionality in a huge number of ways. A few plugins are pre-installed in the TWiki distribution. For more information on these, seeTWiki.InstalledPlugins.
You activate installed plugin in the Plugins section of configure. In this section you also find a Find More Extensions button which opens an application which can install additional plugins from the TWiki.org website. If you are behind a firewall or your server has no access to the Internet it is also possible to install plugins manually. Manual installation instructions for the plugins can be found in the plugin topics on TWiki.org. Additional documenation on TWiki plugins can be found at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiPluginsSupplement.
Some plugins require that you define their settings in configure. You fill find these under the Extensions section of configure.
Customize your TWiki!The real power of TWiki lies in it's flexibility to be customized to meet your needs. A good place to start for exploring what's possible is TWiki:TWiki.TWikiAdminCookBook which offers tips and tricks for customizing your TWiki site. Many of these are appropriate to implement immediately after installing TWiki and before adding content so now's a good time to look at these. If you would like to customize the look of your TWiki, see TWiki:TWiki.TWikiSkinsSupplement.TroubleshootingThe first step is to re-run theconfigure script and make sure you have resolved all errors, and are satisfied that you understand any warnings.
Failing that, please check TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki on TWiki.org, the supplemental documentation that help you install TWiki on different platforms, environments and web hosting sites. For example:
AppendixesTWiki System RequirementsLow client and server base requirements are core features that keep TWiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions.Server RequirementsTWiki is written in Perl 5, uses a number of shell commands, and requires RCS (Revision Control System), a GNU Free Software package. TWiki is developed in a basic Linux/Apache environment. It also works with Microsoft Windows, and should have no problem on any other platform that meets the requirements.
Required CPAN ModulesThe following Perl CPAN modules are used by TWiki:
Optional CPAN ModulesThe following Perl modules may be used by TWiki:
configure script, or if you're still trying to get to that point, check from the command line like this:
perl -e 'use FileHandle; print $FileHandle::VERSION."\n"' Client RequirementsThe TWiki standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:
TWiki/TWikiSkinBrowser and more at TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackage.
Important note about TWiki Plugins
Notes on Installing TWiki on Non-Root AccountThe following supplemental notes to the Basic Installation instructions apply to installing TWiki on a system where you don't have Unix/Linux root (administrator) privileges, for example, on a hosted Web account or an intranet server administered by someone else. Referring to the Basic Installation steps presented above:
Installing Manually Without ConfigureIt is highly recommended to use run configure from the browser when setting up TWiki. Configure does a lot of the hard work for you. But there may be instances where you do not want to use configure or where configure simply won't run because of a missing dependency. The manual steps you have to take are:
TWiki Upgrade GuideThis guide covers upgrading from a previous version of TWiki (such as Cairo or TWiki4.0) to TWiki 4.1_
OverviewTWiki-4.0.0 was a major new release. TWiki-4.1.0 is a minor release without dramatic changes since 4.0.0Upgrade Requirements
Major Changes Compared to TWiki Release 01-Sep-2004 and TWiki Release 4.0.0See TWikiReleaseNotes04x00 and TWikiReleaseNotes04x01Upgrade ProcedureThe following steps are a rough guide to upgrading only. It is impossible to give detailed instructions, as what you have to do may depend on whether you can configure the webserver or not, and how much you have changed distributed files in your current TWiki release. The main steps are:
Installation
Install Extensions
Copy your old webs to new TWiki
Copy Users And Their Topics From Main Web
Apply Customizations To The Skin
Apply Preferences From Old Installation
Upgrading from Cairo to TWiki4 (additional advice)FaviconTWiki4's PatternSkin introduces the use of the favicon feature which most browsers use to show a small icon in front of the URL and for bookmarks. In TWiki4 it is assumed that each web has a favicon.ico file attached to the WebPreferences topic. When you upgrade from Cairo to TWiki4 you do not have this file and you will get flooded with errors the error log of your web server. There are two solutions to this.
* Set FAVICON = %PUBURLPATH%/%TWIKIWEB%/%WEBPREFSTOPIC%/favicon.ico TWikiUsers topic in Main webYour Cairo Main.TWikiUsers topic will work in TWiki4 but you will need to ensure that these 4 users from the default TWiki4 version of TWikiUsers are copied to the existing TWikiUsers topic. TWikiGuest is probably already there but the others are new
Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = TWikiAdminGroup, TWikiRegistrationAgent. Otherwise people will not be able to register.
Important Changes since 4.0.5Supported Perl versionTWiki 4.0.5 worked on Perl version 5.6.X. Reports from users has shown that unfortunately TWiki 4.1.0 does not support Perl versions older then 5.8.0. It is the goal that TWiki should work on at least Perl version 5.6.X but none of the developers have had access to Perl installations older than 5.8.0. Since TWiki 4.1.0 has some urgent bugs the development team decided to release TWiki 4.1.1 without resolving the issue with Perl 5.6.X. We will however address this and try and resolve it for a planned 4.1.2 release. The TWiki community is very interested in contributions from users that have fixes for the code which will enable TWiki to run on older versions of Perl. See the WhatVersionsOfPerlAreSupported topic to keep up to date with the discussion how to get back support for earlier Perl versions.Template spec changedUntil TWiki 4.0.5 TWikiTemplates the text inside template definition blocks (anything between %TMPL:DEF{"block"}% and %TMPL:END% was stripped of leading and trailing white space incl new lines. This caused a lot of problems for skin developers when you wanted a newline before or after the block text. From TWiki 4.1.0 this has changed so that white space is no longer stripped. Skins like PatternSkin and NatSkin have been updated so that they work with the new behavior. But if you use an older skin or have written your own you will most likely need to make some adjustments. It is not difficult. The general rule is - if you get mysterious blank lines in your skin, the newline after the %TMPL:DEF{"block"}% needs to be removed. Ie. the content of the block must follow on the same line as the TMPL:DEF. The spec change have the same impact on CommentPlugin templates where you may have to remove the first line break after the TMPL:DEF. See the CommentPluginTemplate for examples of how comment template definitions should look like in TWiki-4.1.X An example: A CommentPlugin template that adds a comment as appending a row to a table. Before the spec change this would work.
<verbatim>
%TMPL:DEF{OUTPUT:tabletest}%%POS:BEFORE%
|%URLPARAM{"comment"}%| -- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE% |
%TMPL:END%
</verbatim>
From Twiki 4.1.0 the old template definition will add an empty line before the new table row. To fix it simply remove the new line before the table.
<verbatim>
%TMPL:DEF{OUTPUT:tabletest}%%POS:BEFORE%|%URLPARAM{"comment"}%| -- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE% |
%TMPL:END%
</verbatim>
The advantage of the spec change is that now you can add leading and trailing white space including new lines. This was not possible before.
Important Changes since 4.1.0New location for session filesAn upgrader upgrading to 4.1.1 should note the following important change The directory for passthrough files and session files have been replaced by a common directory for temporary files used by TWiki. Previously the two configure settings{PassthroughDir} and {Sessions}{Dir} were by default set to /tmp. These config settings have been replaced by {TempfileDir} with the default setting value /tmp/twiki. If the twiki directory does not exist twiki will create it first time it needs it.
It is highly recommended no longer to use the tmp directory common to other web applications and the new default will work fine for most. You may want to delete all the old session files in /tmp after the upgrade to 4.1.1. They all start with cgisess_. It is additionally highly recommended to limit write access to the {TempfileDir} for security reasons if you have non-admin users with login access to the webserver just like you would do with the other webserver directories.
TWiki User AuthenticationTWiki site access control and user activity tracking optionsOverviewAuthentication, or "login", is the process by which a user lets TWiki know who they are. Authentication isn't just to do with access control. TWiki uses authentication to identify users, so it can keep track of who made changes, and manage a wide range of personal settings. With authentication enabled, users can personalise TWiki and contribute as recognised individuals, instead of shadows. TWiki authentication is very flexible, and can either stand alone or integrate with existing authentication schemes. You can set up TWiki to require authentication for every access, or only for changes. Authentication is also essential for access control. Quick Authentication Test - Use the %USERINFO% variable to return your current identity:
 Tip: TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUserAuthenticationSupplement on TWiki.org has supplemental documentation on user authentication.
Password ManagementAs shipped, TWiki supports the Apache 'htpasswd' password manager. This manager supports the use of.htpasswd files on the server. These files can be unique to TWiki, or can be shared with other applications (such as an Apache webserver). A variety of password encodings are supported for flexibility when re-using existing files. See the descriptive comments in the Security Settings section of the [[/twiki/bin/configure][configure] interface for more details.
You can easily plug in alternate password management modules to support interfaces to other third-party authentication databases.
User MappingOften when you are using an external authentication method, you want to map from an unfriendly "login name" to a more friendly WikiName. Also, an external authentication database may well have user information you want to import to TWiki, such as user groups. By default, TWiki supports mapping of usernames to wikinames, and supports TWiki groups internal to TWiki. If you want, you can plug in an alternate user mapping module to support import of groups etc.User RegistrationNew user registration uses the password manager to set and change passwords and store email addresses. It is also responsible for the new user verification process. the registration process supports single user registration via the TWikiRegistration page, and bulk user registration via the BulkRegistration page (for admins only). The registration process is also responsible for creating user topics, and setting up the mapping information used by the User Mapping support.Login ManagementLogin management controls the way users have to log in. There are three basic options; no login, login via a TWiki login page, and login using the webserver authentication support. No Login (select
Does exactly what it says on the tin. Forget about authentication to make your site completely public - anyone can browse and edit freely, in classic Wiki style. All visitors are given the TWikiGuest default identity, so you can't track individual user activity.
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| Web | Sitemap | VIEW | CHANGE | RENAME | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed | DENY | ALLOW | DENY | ALLOW | DENY | ALLOW | |
  Main | on | ||||||
| TWiki | on | TWikiAdminGroup | |||||
| AmLegalHist | on | ||||||
| CompPrivConst | on | ||||||
| EngLegalHist | on | ||||||
| LawContempSoc | on | ||||||
| LawNetSoc | on | ||||||
| Sandbox | on | ||||||
- A blank in the the above table may mean either the corresponding control is absent or commented out or that it has been set to a null value. The two conditions have dramatically different and possibly opposed semantics.
- TWikiGuest is the guest account - used by unauthenticated users.
- The TWiki web must not deny view to TWikiGuest; otherwise, people will not be able to register.
Authentication vs. Access Control
Authentication: Identifies who a user is based on a login procedure. See TWikiUserAuthentication. Access control: Restrict access to content based on users and groups once a user is identified.Users and Groups
Access control is based on the familiar concept of Users and Groups. Users are defined by their WikiNames. They can then be organized in unlimited combinations by inclusion in one or more user Groups. For convenience, Groups can also be included in other Groups.Managing Users
A user can create an account in TWikiRegistration. The following actions are performed:- WikiName and encrypted password are recorded using the password manager if authentication is enabled.
- A confirmation e-mail is sent to the user.
- A user home page with the WikiName of the user is created in the Main web.
- The user is added to the TWikiUsers topic.
Managing Groups
The following describes the standard TWiki support for groups. Your local TWiki may have an alternate group mapping manager installed. Check with your TWiki administrator if you are in doubt. Groups are defined by group topics located in theMain web. To create a new group, visit TWikiGroups and enter the name of the new group ending in Group into the "new group" form field. This will create a new group topic with two important settings: -
Set GROUP = < list of Users and/or Groups > -
Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = < list of Users and/or Groups >
-
Set GROUP = Main.SomeUser, Main.OtherUser, Main.SomeGroup
-
Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.KasabianGroup
Note: TWiki has strict formatting rules. Make sure you have three spaces, an asterisk, and an extra space in front of any access control rule.
The Super Admin Group
A number of TWiki functions (for example, renaming webs) are only available to administrators. Administrators are simply users who belong to the SuperAdminGroup. This is a standard user group, the name of which is defined by {SuperAdminGroup} setting in configure. The default name of this group is theTWikiAdminGroup. The system administrator may have chosen a different name for this group if your local TWiki uses an alternate group mapping manager but for simplicity we will use the default name TWikiAdminGroup in the rest of this topic.
You can create new administrators simply by adding them to the TWikiAdminGroup topic. For example, -
Set GROUP= Main.ElizabethWindsor, Main.TonyBlair
Restricting Access
You can define who is allowed to read or write to a web or a topic. Note that some plugins may not respect access permissions.- Restricting VIEW blocks viewing and searching of content.
- Restricting CHANGE blocks creating new topics, changing topics or attaching files.
- Restricting RENAME prevents renaming of topics within a web.
Controlling access to a Web
You can define restrictions on who is allowed to view a TWiki web. You can restrict access to certain webs to selected Users and Groups, by:- authenticating all webs and restricting selected webs: Topic access in all webs is authenticated, and selected webs have restricted access.
- authenticating and restricting selected webs only: Provide unrestricted viewing access to open webs, with authentication and restriction only on selected webs.
- You can define these settings in the WebPreferences topic, preferable towards the end of the topic:
-
Set DENYWEBVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWWEBVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set DENYWEBCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWWEBCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set DENYWEBRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWWEBRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
-
ALLOWWEBVIEW set, this will also apply to the subweb.
Creation and renaming of sub-webs is controlled by the WEBCHANGE setting on the parent web (or ROOTCHANGE for root webs). Renaming is additionally restricted by the setting of WEBRENAME in the web itself.
Note: For Web level access rights Setting any of these settings to an empty value has the same effect as not setting them at all. Please note that the documentation of TWiki 4.0 and earlier versions of TWiki 4.1 did not reflect the actual implementation, e.g. an empty ALLOWWEBVIEW does not prevent anyone from viewing the web, and an an empty DENYWEBVIEW does not allow all to view the web.
Controlling access to a Topic
- You can define these settings in any topic, preferable towards the end of the topic:
-
Set DENYTOPICVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set DENYTOPICCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set DENYTOPICRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWTOPICRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
-
-
Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW =
This means the same as not setting it at all. (This was documented wrong in versions 4.0.X, 4.1.0 and 4.1.1)
-
Set DENYTOPICVIEW =
Since TWiki 4.0 this means do not deny anyone the right to view this topic. If DENYTOPICVIEW is set to an empty value anyone has access even if ALLOWTOPICVIEW or ALLOWWEBVIEW is defined. This allows to have very restrictive default access rights to an entire web and still allow individual topics to have more open access.
The setting to an empty has caused confusion and great debate and it has been decided that the empty setting syntax will be replaced by something which is easier to understand in the 4.2 version of TWiki. A method to upgrade will be provided. Please read the release notes carefully when you upgrade.
See "How TWiki evaluates ALLOW/DENY settings" below for more on how ALLOW and DENY interacts.
Controlling access to Attachments
Attachments are referred to directly, and are not normally indirected via TWiki scripts. This means that the above instructions for access control will not apply to attachments. It is possible that someone may inadvertently publicise a URL that they expected to be access-controlled. The easiest way to apply the same access control rules for attachments as apply to topics is to use the Apachemod_rewrite module, and configure your webserver to redirect accesses to attachments to the TWiki viewfile script. For example,
ScriptAlias /twiki/bin/ /filesystem/path/to/twiki/bin/
Alias /twiki/pub/ /filesystem/path/to/twiki/pub/
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/+twiki/+pub/+TWiki/+.+
RewriteRule ^/+twiki/+pub/+([^/]+)/+((([^/]+)/+)+)(.+) /twiki/bin/viewfile/$1/$4?filename=$5 [L,PT]
That way all the controls that apply to the topic also apply to attachments to the topic. Other types of webserver have similar support.
Note: Images embedded in topics will load much slower since each image will be delivered by the viewfile script.
Controlling who can manage top-level webs
Top level webs are a special case, because they don't have a parent web with a WebPreferences. So there has to be a special control just for the root level.- You can define these settings in the Main.%TWIKIPREFSTOPIC% topic, preferable towards the end of the topic:
-
Set DENYROOTCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWROOTCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
-
ROOTCHANGE access to rename an existing top-level web. You just need WEBCHANGE in the web itself.
How TWiki evaluates ALLOW/DENY settings
When deciding whether to grant access, TWiki evaluates the following rules in order (read from the top of the list; if the logic arrives at PERMITTED or DENIED that applies immediately and no more rules are applied). You need to read the rules bearing in mind that VIEW, CHANGE and RENAME access may be granted/denied separately.- If the user is an administrator
- access is PERMITTED.
- If DENYTOPIC is set to a list of wikinames
- people in the list will be DENIED.
- If DENYTOPIC is set to empty ( i.e. Set DENYTOPIC = )
- access is PERMITTED i.e no-one is denied access to this topic.
Attention: Use this with caution. This is deprecated and will likely change in the next release.
- access is PERMITTED i.e no-one is denied access to this topic.
- If ALLOWTOPIC is set
- people in the list are PERMITTED
- everyone else is DENIED
- If DENYWEB is set to a list of wikinames
- people in the list are DENIED access
- If ALLOWWEB is set to a list of wikinames
- people in the list will be PERMITTED
- everyone else will be DENIED
- If you got this far, access is PERMITTED
Access Control quick recipes
Obfuscating Webs
Another way of hiding webs is to keep them hidden by not publishing the URL and by preventing theall webs search option from accessing obfuscated webs. Do so by enabling the NOSEARCHALL variable in WebPreferences: -
Set NOSEARCHALL = on
Note: Obfuscating a web without view access control is very insecure, as anyone who knows the URL can access the web.
Authenticate all Webs and Restrict Selected Webs
Use the following setup to authenticate users for topic viewing in all webs and to restrict access to selected webs. Requires TWikiUserAuthentication to be enabled.- Restrict view access to selected Users and Groups. Set one or both of these variables in its WebPreferences topic:
-
Set DENYWEBVIEW = < list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWWEBVIEW = < list of Users and Groups > - Note:
DENYWEBVIEWis evaluated beforeALLOWWEBVIEW. Access is denied if the authenticated person is in theDENYWEBVIEWlist, or not in theALLOWWEBVIEWlist. Access is granted in caseDENYWEBVIEWandALLOWWEBVIEWis not defined.
-
Authenticate and Restrict Selected Webs Only
Use the following setup to provide unrestricted viewing access to open webs, with authentication only on selected webs. Requires TWikiUserAuthentication to be enabled.- Restrict view access to selected Users and Groups. Set one or both of these variables in its WebPreferences topic:
-
Set DENYWEBVIEW = < list of Users and Groups > -
Set ALLOWWEBVIEW = < list of Users and Groups > - Note:
DENYWEBVIEWis evaluated beforeALLOWWEBVIEW. Access is denied if the authenticated person is in theDENYWEBVIEWlist, or not in theALLOWWEBVIEWlist. Access is granted in caseDENYWEBVIEWandALLOWWEBVIEWis not defined.
-
Hide Control Settings
Tip: To hide access control settings from normal browser viewing, you can put them into the topic-local settings. You can access those settings via the "More" screen, as explained in TWikiVariables.
Alternatively, place them in HTML comment markers, but this exposes the access setting during ordinary editing.
<!--
* Set DENYTOPICCHANGE = Main.SomeGroup
-->
TWiki Text Formatting
Working in TWiki is as easy as typing in text. You don't need to know HTML, though you can use it if you prefer. Links to topics are created automatically when you enter WikiWords. And TWiki shorthand gives you all the power of HTML with a simple coding system that takes no time to learn. It's all laid out below.TWiki Editing Shorthand
| Formatting Command: | You write: | You get: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paragraphs: Blank lines will create new paragraphs. |
1st paragraph 2nd paragraph | 1st paragraph 2nd paragraph | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Headings: Three or more dashes at the beginning of a line, followed by plus signs and the heading text. One plus creates a top level heading, two pluses a second level heading, etc. The maximum heading depth is 6. You can create a table of contents with the %TOC% variable. If you want to exclude a heading from the TOC, put !! after the ---+.
Empty headings are allowed, but won't appear in the table of contents.
|
---++ Sushi ---+++ Maguro ---+++!! Not in TOC |
SushiMaguroNot in TOC |
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|
Bold Text: Words get shown in bold by enclosing them in * asterisks.
|
*Bold* | Bold | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Italic Text: Words get shown in italic by enclosing them in _ underscores.
|
_Italic_ | Italic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bold Italic: Words get shown in bold italic by enclosing them in __ double-underscores.
|
__Bold italic__ | Bold italic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Fixed Font: Words get shown in fixed font by enclosing them in = equal signs.
|
=Fixed font= |
Fixed font
|
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|
Bold Fixed Font: Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in |
==Bold fixed== |
Bold fixed
|
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You can follow the closing bold, italic, or other (* _ __ = ==) indicator
with normal punctuation, such as commas and full stops.
Make sure there is no space between the text and the indicators.
|
_This works_, _this does not _ |
This works, _this does not _ |
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|
Verbatim (Literal) Text: Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags. verbatim tags disable HTML code. Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want the HTML code within the tags to be interpreted. NOTE: Preferences variables (* Set NAME = value) are set within verbatim tags.
|
<verbatim>
class CatAnimal {
void purr() {
<code here>
}
}
</verbatim>
|
class CatAnimal {
void purr() {
<code here>
}
}
|
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|
Separator (Horizontal Rule): Three or more three dashes at the beginning of a line.. |
------- |
|
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|
Bulleted List: Multiple of three spaces, an asterisk, and another space.  For all the list types, you can break a list item over several lines by indenting lines after the first one by at least 3 spaces.
|
* level 1
* level 2
* back on 1
* A bullet
broken over
three lines
* last bullet
|
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|
Numbered List: Multiple of three spaces, a type character, a dot, and another space. Several types are available besides a number:
|
1. Sushi 1. Dim Sum 1. Fondue A. Sushi A. Dim Sum A. Fondue i. Sushi i. Dim Sum i. Fondue |
|
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|
Definition List: Three spaces, a dollar sign, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition. |
$ Sushi: Japan $ Dim Sum: S.F. |
|
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|
Table: Each row of the table is a line containing of one or more cells. Each cell starts and ends with a vertical bar '|'. Any spaces at the beginning of a line are ignored.
The TablePlugin provides the |^| multiple-span row functionality and additional rendering features
|
| *L* | *C* | *R* | | A2 | B2 | C2 | | A3 | B3 | C3 | | multi span ||| | A5-7 | 5 | 5 | |^| six | six | |^| seven | seven | | split\ | over\ | 3 lines | | A9 | B9 | C9 | |
|
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|
WikiWord Links: CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically if preceded by whitespace or parenthesis. If you want to link to a topic in a different web write Otherweb.TopicName. The link label excludes the name of the web, e.g. only the topic name is shown. As an exception, the name of the web is shown for the WebHome topic.
It's generally a good idea to use the TWikiVariables %TWIKIWEB% and %MAINWEB% instead of TWiki and Main.
|
WebStatistics Sandbox.WebNotify Sandbox.WebHome | WebStatistics WebNotify Sandbox | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Anchors: You can define a reference inside a TWiki topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To define an anchor write #AnchorName at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a WikiWord. To link to an anchor name use the [[MyTopic#MyAnchor]] syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic.
|
[[WikiWord#NotThere]] [[#MyAnchor][Jump]] #MyAnchor To here | WikiWord#NotThere Jump To here | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Forced Links: You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets. Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; for example, [[text formatting FAQ]] links to topic TextFormattingFAQ. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors.
To "escape" double square brackets that would otherwise make a link, prefix the leading left square bracket with an exclamation point.
|
[[wiki syntax]] [[Main.TWiki users]] escaped: ![[wiki syntax]] | wiki syntax Main.TWiki users escaped: [[wiki syntax]] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Specific Links: You can create a link where you specify the link text and the URL separately using nested square brackets [[reference][text]]. Internal link references (e.g. WikiSyntax) and URLs (e.g. http://TWiki.org/) are both supported.
The rules described under Forced Links apply for internal link references.
Anchor names can be added as well, to create a link to a specific place in a topic.
|
[[WikiSyntax][wiki syntax]] [[http://gnu.org][GNU]] | wiki syntax GNU | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Prevent a Link: Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with an exclamation point. |
!SunOS | SunOS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Disable Links: You can disable automatic linking of WikiWords by surrounding text with <noautolink> and </noautolink> tags. It is possible to turn off all auto-linking with a NOAUTOLINK preferences setting.
|
<noautolink> RedHat & SuSE </noautolink> | RedHat & SuSE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mailto Links: E-mail addresses are linked automatically. To create e-mail links that have more descriptive link text, specify subject lines or message bodies, or omit the e-mail address, you can write [[mailto:user@domain][descriptive text]].
|
a@b.com [[mailto:a@b.com]\ [Mail]] [[mailto:?subject=\ Hi][Hi]] | a@b.com Mail Hi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Using HTML
You can use just about any HTML tag without a problem. You can add HTML if there is no TWiki equivalent, for example, write<strike>deleted text</strike> to get There are a few usability and technical considerations to keep in mind: - On collaboration pages, it's better not to use HTML, but to use TWiki shorthand instead - this keeps the text uncluttered and easy to edit.
- If you use HTML use XHTML 1.0 Transitional syntax.
- Script tags may be filtered out, at the discretion of your TWiki administrator.
- Copy only text between
<body>and</body>tags. - Remove all empty lines. TWiki inserts
<p />paragraph tags on empty lines, which causes problems if done between HTML tags that do not allow paragraph tags, like for example between table tags. - Remove leading spaces. TWiki might interpret some text as lists.
- Do not span a tag over more than one line. TWiki requires that the opening and closing angle brackets -
<...>- of an HTML tag are on the same line, or the tag will be broken. - In your HTML editing program, save without hard line breaks on text wrap.
TWiki converts shorthand notation to HTML for display. To copy a fully marked-up page, simply view the source in your browser and save the contents. If you need to save HTML frequently, you may want to check out TWiki:Plugins/PublishAddOn.
Script tags
You can use HTML<script> tags for your TWiki applications. However note that your TWiki administrator can disable <script> in topics, and may have chosen to do so for security considerations. TWiki markup and TWikiVariables are not expanded inside script tags.
Hyperlinks
Being able to create links without any special formatting is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords and inline URLs.Internal Links
- NotExistingYet? is a topic waiting to be written. Create the topic by clicking on the ?. (Try clicking, but then, Cancel - creating the topic would wreck this example!)
External Links
-
http://...,https://...,ftp://...,gopher://...,news://...,file://...,telnet://...andmailto:...@...are linked automatically.
- E-mail addresses like
name@domain.comare linked automatically.
-
[[Square bracket rules]]let you easily create non-WikiWord links.- You can also write
[[http://yahoo.com Yahoo home page]]as an easier way of doing external links with descriptive text for the link, such as Yahoo home page.
- You can also write
TWiki Variables
TWiki Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs% that are expanded on the fly. Some variables take arguments, such as %INCLUDE%. For those variables, the arguments are included in curly braces ({ and }).
| Variable | In brief | Full documentation |
|---|---|---|
%ATTACHURL% | The attachment URL of the current topic. Example usage: If you attach a file to a topic you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif to show the URL of the file or the image in your text. | VarATTACHURL |
%INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}% | Server side include, includes another topic. The current web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}% | VarINCLUDE |
%SEARCH{"sushi"}% | Inline search showing the search result embedded in a topic. FormattedSearch gives you control over formatting, useful for creating web-based applications. | VarSEARCH |
%TOC% | Automatically generates a table of contents based on headings in a topic - see the top of this page for an example. | VarTOC |
%TOPIC% | The current topic name, is TWikiDocumentation. | VarTOPIC |
%WEB% | The current web, is TWiki. | VarWEB |
- Line break: Write
%BR%to start a new line. - Colored text: Write:
%RED% Red %ENDCOLOR% and %BLUE% blue %ENDCOLOR% colorsto get: Red and blue colors.
%ICON{"help"}%, %ICON{"tip"}%, and %ICON{"warning"}% to get: , , and , respectively. TWikiDocGraphics lists them all.
To "escape" a variable, prefix it with an exclamation mark. Write: !%SOMEVARIABLE% to get: %SOMEVARIABLE%.
TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions
Plugins can extend the functionality of TWiki into many other areas. There are a huge number of TWiki plugins available from the Plugins web on TWiki.org. Currently enabled plugins on this TWiki installation, as listed by%PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%:
- SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like
"$SUM( $ABOVE() )"to TWiki tables and other topic text - ActionTrackerPlugin (21 May 2007, $Rev: 14969 (20 Sep 2007) $): Adds support for action tags in topics, and automatic notification of action statuses
- AttachmentListPlugin (1.0.1, $Rev: 15921 (07 Dec 2007) $): Displays a formattable list of topic attachments, anywhere in a topic.
- BreadCrumbsPlugin (v1.00, $Rev: 13657 (08 May 2007) $): A flexible way to display breadcrumbs navigation
- CalendarPlugin (Dakar, 9113): Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events
- CommentPlugin (Dakar, 11359): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
- CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 9808$):
- EditTablePlugin (any TWiki, 11646): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
- FilterPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 15932 (07 Dec 2007) $): Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
- FlexWebListPlugin (v1.21, $Rev: 16132 (03 Jan 2008) $): Flexible way to display hierarchical weblists
- FootNotePlugin (2.006): Footnotes are notes placed at the end of a topic.
- GluePlugin (2.00, $Rev: 15708 (23 Nov 2007) $): Enable markup to span multiple lines
- IfDefinedPlugin (v1.01, $Rev: 15157 (05 Oct 2007) $): Render content conditionally
- InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 11935$): Link
ExternalSite:Pagetext to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic - JQueryPlugin (v0.4, $Rev: 15608 (15 Nov 2007) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
- NatSkinPlugin (3.00-pre17, $Rev: 15581 (13 Nov 2007) $): Supplements the bare bones NatSkin theme for TWiki
- PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 9839): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
- RedDotPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 16137 (03 Jan 2008) $): Renders edit-links as little red dots
- RenderListPlugin (any TWiki, 1.034): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
- SlideShowPlugin (Any TWiki, $Rev: 12847$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
- SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 8154): Render smilies as icons, like
for :-)or
for = :eek:= - TablePlugin (1.020, 12339): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
- TreeBrowserPlugin (v1.8): Renders a list as a collapsable/expandable tree.
- TreePlugin (1.7): Dynamic generation of TWiki topic trees
- TwistyPlugin (1.2.0, $Rev: 12154$): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
- VotePlugin (1.33, $Rev: 14312 (01 Jul 2007) $): Simple way to count votes
- WysiwygPlugin (Dakar, 12422): Translator framework for Wysiwyg editors
Common Editing Errors
TWiki formatting rules are fairly simple to use and quick to type. However, there are some things to watch out for, taken from the TextFormattingFAQ:- Q: Text enclosed in angle brackets like
<filename>is not displayed. How can I show it as it is?- A: The
'<'and'>'characters have a special meaning in HTML, they define HTML tags. You need to escape them, so write'<'instead of'<', and'>'instead of'>'.
Example: Type'prog <filename>'to get'prog <filename>'.
- A: The
- Q: Why is the
'&'character sometimes not displayed?- A: The
'&'character has a special meaning in HTML, it starts a so called character entity, i.e.'©'is the©copyright character. You need to escape'&'to see it as it is, so write'&'instead of'&'.
Example: Type'This & that'to get'This & that'.
- A: The
TWiki Variables
Special text strings expand on the fly to display user data or system info TWikiVariables are text strings -%VARIABLE% or %VARIABLE{ parameter="value" }% - that expand into content whenever a topic is rendered for viewing. There are two types of variables: - Preferences variables: Can be defined and changed by the user
- Predefined variables: Defined by the TWiki system or by Plugins (for example, the SpreadSheetPlugin introduces a
%CALC{}%variable)
Using Variables
To use a variable type its name. For example,- type
%T%to get (a preferences variable)
- type
%TOPIC%to getTWikiVariables(a predefined variable) - type
%CALC{ "$UPPER(Text)" }%to getTEXT(a variable defined by Plugin)
- To leave a variable unexpanded, precede it with an exclamation point, e.g. type
!%TOPIC%to get%TOPIC% - Variables are expanded relative to the topic they are used in, not the topic they are defined in
- Type
%ALLVARIABLES%to get a full listing of all variables defined for a particular topic
Variable Names
Variable names must start with a letter. The following characters can be letters, numbers and the underscore '_'. You can use both upper-case and lower-case letters and you can mix the characteres. E.g.%MYVAR%, %MyVar%, %My2ndVar%, and %My_Var% are all valid variable names. Variables are case sensitive. %MyVAR% and %MYVAR% are not the same variable.
By convention all settings, predefined variables and variables used by plugins are always UPPER-CASE.
Preferences Variables
Unlike predefined variables, preferences variables can be defined by the user in various places.Setting Preferences Variables
You can set variables in all the following places:- local site level in TWiki.TWikiPreferences
- plugin topics (see TWikiPlugins)
- local site level in Main.TWikiPreferences
- user level in individual user topics in Main web
- web level in WebPreferences of each web
- topic level in topics in webs
- session variables (if sessions are enabled)
[multiple of 3 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [space] value
Examples:Spaces between the = sign and the value will be ignored. You can split a value over several lines by indenting following lines with spaces - as long as you don't try to use * as the first character on the following line.
Set VARIABLENAME = value
Set VARIABLENAME = value
Example:
* Set VARIABLENAME = value starts here
and continues here
Whatever you include in your Variable will be expanded on display, exactly as if it had been entered directly.
Example: Create a custom logo variableYou can also set preferences variables on a topic by clicking the link
- To place a logo anywhere in a web by typing
%MYLOGO%, define the Variable on the web's WebPreferences topic, and upload a logo file, ex:mylogo.gif. You can upload by attaching the file to WebPreferences, or, to avoid clutter, to any other topic in the same web, e.g.LogoTopic. Sample variable setting in WebPreferences:
Set MYLOGO = %PUBURL%/%WEB%/LogoTopic/mylogo.gif
Edit topic preference settings under More topic actions. Preferences set in this manner are not visible in the topic text, but take effect nevertheless.
Access Control Variables
These are special types of preferences variables to control access to content. TWikiAccessControl explains these security settings in detail.Local values for variables
Certain topics (a users home topic, web site and default preferences topics) have a problem; variables defined in those topics can have two meanings. For example, consider a user topic. A user may want to use a double-height edit box when they are editing their home topic - but only when editing their home topic. The rest of the time, they want to have a normal edit box. This separation is achieved usingLocal in place of Set in the variable definition. For example, if the user sets the following in their home topic:
* Set EDITBOXHEIGHT = 10 * Local EDITBOXHEIGHT = 20Then when they are editing any other topic, they will get a 10 high edit box. However when they are editing their home topic, they will get a 20 high edit box.
Local can be used wherever a preference needs to take a different value depending on where the current operation is being performed.
Use this powerful feature with great care! %ALLVARIABLES% can be used to get a listing of the values of all variables in their evaluation order, so you can see variable scope if you get confused.
Frequently Used Preferences Variables
The following preferences variables are frequently used. They are defined in TWikiPreferences#Miscellaneous_Settings:-
%BR%- line break -
%BULLET%- bullet sign -
%BB%- line break and bullet combined -
%BB2%- indented line break and bullet -
%RED% text %ENDCOLOR%- colored text (also%YELLOW%,%ORANGE%,%PINK%,%PURPLE%,%TEAL%,%NAVY%,%BLUE%,%AQUA%,%LIME%,%GREEN%,%OLIVE%,%MAROON%,%BROWN%,%BLACK%,%GRAY%,%SILVER%,%WHITE%) -
%H%- Help icon
-
%I%- Idea icon
-
%M%-
Moved to icon
-
%N%-
New icon
-
%P%-
Refactor icon
-
%Q%- Question icon
-
%S%-
Pick icon
-
%T%- Tip icon
-
%U%-
Updated icon
-
%X%- Alert icon
-
%Y%-
Done icon
Predefined Variables
Most predefined variables return values that were either set in the configuration when TWiki was installed, or taken from server info (such as current username, or date and time). Some, like%SEARCH%, are powerful and general tools.
- Predefined variables can be overridden by preferences variables
- Plugins may extend the set of predefined variables (see individual Plugins topics for details)
- Take the time to thoroughly read through ALL preference variables. If you actively configure your site, review variables periodically. They cover a wide range of functions, and it can be easy to miss the one perfect variable for something you have in mind. For example, see
%INCLUDINGTOPIC%,%INCLUDE%, and the mighty%SEARCH%.
ACTIVATEDPLUGINS -- list of currently activated plugins
- Syntax:
%ACTIVATEDPLUGINS% - Expands to: SpreadSheetPlugin, ActionTrackerPlugin, AttachmentListPlugin, BreadCrumbsPlugin, CalendarPlugin, CommentPlugin, CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin, EditTablePlugin, FilterPlugin, FlexWebListPlugin, FootNotePlugin, GluePlugin, IfDefinedPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, NatSkinPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedDotPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TablePlugin, TreeBrowserPlugin, TreePlugin, TwistyPlugin, VotePlugin, WysiwygPlugin
- Related: PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS, FAILEDPLUGINS, PLUGINVERSION
ALLVARIABLES -- list of currently defined TWikiVariables
- Syntax:
%ALLVARIABLES% - Expands to: a table showing all defined TWikiVariables in the current context
AQUA -- start aqua colored text
-
AQUAis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%AQUA% aqua text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: aqua text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
ATTACHURL -- full URL for attachments in the current topic
- Syntax:
%ATTACHURL% - Expands to:
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub/TWiki/VarATTACHURL - Example: If you attach a file you can refer to it as
%ATTACHURL%/image.gif - Related: ATTACHURLPATH, PUBURL, PUBURLPATH, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, FileAttachments
ATTACHURLPATH -- path of the attachment URL of the current topic
- Syntax:
%ATTACHURLPATH% - Expands to:
/twiki/pub/TWiki/VarATTACHURLPATH - Related: ATTACHURL, PUBURL, PUBURLPATH, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, FileAttachments
AUTHREALM -- authentication realm
- String defined as {AuthRealm} in configure. This is used in certain password encodings, and in login templates as part of the login prompt.
- Syntax:
%AUTHREALM% - Expands to: Twiki
- Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, SESSIONID, SESSIONVAR, LOGIN, LOGOUT, SESSION_VARIABLE
BASETOPIC -- base topic where an INCLUDE started
- The name of the topic where a single or nested INCLUDE started - same as
%TOPIC%if there is no INCLUDE - Syntax:
%BASETOPIC% - Related: BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDE, TOPIC
BASEWEB -- base web where an INCLUDE started
- The web name where the includes started, e.g. the web of the first topic of nested includes. Same as
%WEB%in case there is no include. - Syntax:
%BASEWEB% - Related: BASETOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, INCLUDE, WEB
BB -- bullet with line break
- Line break and bullet without indentation.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BB =
• - Related: BR, BULLET, BB2, BB3, BB4, VBAR
BB2 -- level 2 bullet with line break
- Line break and bullet, level 2.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BB2 =
• - Related: BR, BULLET, BB, BB3, BB4, VBAR
BB3 -- level 3 bullet with line break
- Line break and bullet, level 3.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BB3 =
• - Related: BR, BULLET, BB, BB2, BB4, VBAR
BB4 -- level 4 bullet with line break
- Line break and bullet, level 4.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BB4 =
• - Related: BR, BULLET, BB, BB2, BB3, VBAR
BLACK -- start black colored text
-
BLACKis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%BLACK% black text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: black text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
BLUE -- start blue colored text
-
BLUEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%BLUE% blue text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: blue text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
BR -- line break
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BR =
- Related: BULLET, BB, BB2, BB3, BB4, VBAR
BROWN -- start brown colored text
-
BROWNis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%BROWN% brown text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: brown text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
BULLET -- bullet character
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: BULLET = •
- Related: BR, BB, BB2, BB3, BB4, VBAR
DATE -- signature format date
- Syntax:
%DATE% - Expands to:
22 Jan 2020 - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME{"format"}, SERVERTIME
DISPLAYTIME -- display time
- Syntax:
%DISPLAYTIME% - Expands to:
22 Jan 2020 - 13:58 - Related: DISPLAYTIME{"format"}, GMTIME, SERVERTIME
DISPLAYTIME{"format"} -- formatted display time
- Formatted time - either GMT or Local server time, depending on setting in configure. Same format qualifiers as
%GMTIME% - Syntax:
%DISPLAYTIME{"format"}% - Example:
%DISPLAYTIME{"$hou:$min"}%expands to13:58 - Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME
ENCODE{"string"} -- encodes a string to HTML entities
- Encode "special" characters to HTML numeric entities. Encoded characters are:
- all non-printable ASCII characters below space, except newline (
"\n") and linefeed ("\r") - HTML special characters
"<",">","&", single quote (') and double quote (") - TWiki special characters
"%","[","]","@","_","*","="and"|"
- all non-printable ASCII characters below space, except newline (
- Syntax:
%ENCODE{"string"}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "string"String to encode required (can be empty) type="entity"Encode special characters into HTML entities, like a double quote into ". Does not encode\nor\r.type="url"type="html"As type="entity"except it also encodes\nand\rtype="url"type="quote"Escape double quotes with backslashes ( \"), does not change other characterstype="url"type="url"Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22(this is the default) - Example:
%ENCODE{"spaced name"}%expands tospaced%20name - Note: Values of HTML input fields must be entity encoded.
Example:<input type="text" name="address" value="%ENCODE{ "any text" type="entity" }%" /> - Note: Double quotes in strings must be escaped when passed into other TWiki variables.
Example:%SEARCH{ "%ENCODE{ "string with "quotes"" type="quotes" }%" noheader="on" }%
- Related: URLPARAM
ENDCOLOR -- end colored text
-
ENDCOLORis a rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%RED% red text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: red text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: VarAQUA, VarBLACK, VarBLUE, VarBROWN, VarGRAY, VarGREEN, VarLIME, VarMAROON, VarNAVY, VarOLIVE, VarORANGE, VarPINK, VarPURPLE, VarRED, VarSILVER, VarTEAL, VarWHITE, VarYELLOW, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
ENDSECTION{"name"} -- marks the end of a named section within a topic
- Syntax:
%ENDSECTION{"name"}% - Syntax:
%ENDSECTION{type="include"}% - Supported parameter:
Parameter: Description: "name"Name of the section. type="..."Type of the section being terminated; supported types "section","include","templateonly". - If the
STARTSECTIONis named, the correspondingENDSECTIONmust also be named with the same name. If theSTARTSECTIONspecifies a type, then the correspondingENDSECTIONmust also specify the same type. If the section is unnamed,ENDSECTIONwill match with the nearest unnamed%STARTSECTION%of the same type above it. - Related: STARTSECTION
FAILEDPLUGINS -- debugging for plugins that failed to load, and handler list
- Syntax:
%FAILEDPLUGINS% - Expands to: See TWikiPlugins#FAILEDPLUGINS
- Related: PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS, ACTIVATEDPLUGINS, PLUGINVERSION
FORMFIELD{"fieldname"} -- renders a field in the form attached to some topic
- Syntax:
%FORMFIELD{"fieldname"}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "fieldname"The name of a TWiki form field required topic="..."Topic where form data is located. May be of the form Web.TopicNameCurrent topic format="..."Format string. $valueexpands to the field value, and$titleexpands to the field title"$value"default="..."Text shown when no value is defined for the field ""alttext="..."Text shown when field is not found in the form "" - Example:
%FORMFIELD{"ProjectName" topic="Projects.SushiProject" default="(not set)" alttext="ProjectName field found"}% - Related: SEARCH
GMTIME -- GM time
- Syntax:
%GMTIME% - Expands to:
22 Jan 2020 - 13:58 - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME{"format"}, SERVERTIME
GMTIME{"format"} -- formatted GM time
- Syntax:
%GMTIME{"format"}% - Supported variables:
Variable: Unit: Example $secondsseconds 59 $minutesminutes 59 $hourshours 23 $dayday of month 31 $wdayday of the Week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Thu $dowday of the week (Sun = 0) 2 $weeknumber of week in year (ISO 8601) 34 $monthmonth in ISO format Dec $mo2 digit month 12 $year4 digit year 1999 $ye2 digit year 99 $tzeither "GMT" (if set to gmtime), or "Local" (if set to servertime) GMT $isoISO format timestamp 2020-01-22T13:58:58Z $rcsRCS format timestamp 2020/01/22 13:58:58 $httpE-mail & http format timestamp Wed, 22 Jan 2020 13:58:58 GMT $epochNumber of seconds since 00:00 on 1st January, 1970 1579701538 - Variables can be shortened to 3 characters
- Example:
%GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}%expands to22 Jan, 2020 - 13:58:58 - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, REVINFO, SERVERTIME
GRAY -- start gray colored text
-
GRAYis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%GRAY% gray text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: gray text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
GREEN -- start green colored text
-
GREENis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%GREEN% green text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: green text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
GROUPS -- a formatted list of groups
- Expands to a formatted list of user groups in your TWiki.
- Syntax:
%GROUPS% - The variable is intended to be used in TWikiGroups, to allow a group listing for various user mapping managers.
- Related: REMOTE_USER, USERINFO, USERNAME, WIKIUSERNAME, WIKIUSERSTOPIC
H -- help icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: H =
- Related: I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, T, U, X, Y
HOMETOPIC -- home topic in each web
- Syntax:
%HOMETOPIC% - Expands to:
WebHome, renders as WebHome - Related: NOTIFYTOPIC, STATISTICSTOPIC, TOPIC
HTTP -- get HTTP headers
- Called with the name of an HTTP header field, returns its value. Capitalization and the use of hyphens versus underscores are not significant.
- Syntax:
%HTTP% - Syntax:
%HTTP{"Header-name"}% - Examples:
%HTTP%%HTTP{"Accept-language"}%en-US,en;q=0.5 %HTTP{"User-Agent"}%CCBot/2.0 (https://commoncrawl.org/faq/) - Note: You can see the HTTP headers your browser sends to the server on a number of sites e.g. http://www.ericgiguere.com/tools/http-header-viewer.html
- Related: HTTPS, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER
HTTP_HOST -- environment variable
- Syntax:
%HTTP_HOST% - Expands to:
emoglen.law.columbia.edu - Related: REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER
HTTPS -- get HTTPS headers
- The same as
%HTTP%but operates on the HTTPS environment variables present when the SSL protocol is in effect. Can be used to determine whether SSL is turned on. - Syntax:
%HTTPS% - Syntax:
%HTTPS{"Header-name"}% - Related: HTTP, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER
I -- idea icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: I =
- Related: H, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, T, U, X, Y
ICON{"name"} -- small documentation graphic or icon of common attachment types
- Generates the HTML img tag of a small graphic image attached to TWikiDocGraphics. Images typically have a 16x16 pixel size. You can select a specific image by name, or you can give a full filename, in which case the type of the file will be used to select one of a collection of common file type icons.
- Syntax:
%ICON{"name"}% - Examples:
-
%ICON{"flag-gray"}%returns
-
%ICON{"pdf"}%returns
-
%ICON{"smile.pdf"}%returns
-
%ICON{"/dont/you/dare/smile.pdf"}%returns
-
%ICON{"http://twiki.org/doc/xhtml.xsl"}%returns
-
- Graphic samples:
arrowbright,
bubble, choice-yes,
hand - File type samples:
bmp,
doc,
gif,
hlp,
html,
mp3, pdf,
ppt,
txt,
xls,
xml,
zip - Related: ICONURL, ICONURLPATH, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics
ICONURL{"name"} -- URL of small documentation graphic or icon
- Generates the full URL of a TWikiDocGraphics image, which TWiki renders as an image. The related
%ICON{"name"}%generates the full HTML img tag. Specify image name or full filename (see ICON for details on filenames.) - Syntax:
%ICONURL{"name"}% - Examples:
-
%ICONURL{"arrowbright"}%returns http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/arrowbright.gif -
%ICONURL{"novel.pdf"}%returns http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/pdf.gif -
%ICONURL{"/queen/boheme.mp3"}%returns http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/mp3.gif
-
- Related: ICONURLPATH, ICON, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics
ICONURLPATH{"name"} -- URL path of small documentation graphic or icon
- Generates the URL path of a TWikiDocGraphics image, typically used in an HTML img tag. Specify image name or full filename (see ICON for details on filenames.)
- Syntax:
%ICONURLPATH{"name"}% - Examples:
-
%ICONURLPATH{"locktopic"}%returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/locktopic.gif -
%ICONURLPATH{"eggysmell.xml"}%returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/xml.gif -
%ICONURLPATH{"/doc/xhtml.xsl"}%returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/xsl.gif
-
- Related: ICONURL, ICON, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics
IF{"condition" ...} -- simple conditionals
- Evaluate a condition and show one text or another based on the result. See details in IfStatements
- Syntax:
%IF{"CONDITION" then="THEN" else="ELSE"}%shows"THEN"if"CONDITION"evaluates toTRUE, otherwise"ELSE"will be shown - Example:
%IF{"defined FUNFACTOR" then="FUNFACTOR is defined" else=" is not defined"}%renders as == - Related: $IF() of SpreadSheetPlugin
INCLUDE{"page"} -- include other topic or web page
- Syntax:
%INCLUDE{"page" ...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "SomeTopic"The name of a topic located in the current web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"WebNotify"}%"Web.Topic"A topic in another web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%"http://..."A full qualified URL, i.e. %INCLUDE{"http://twiki.org:80/index.html"}%. Supported content types aretext/htmlandtext/plain.
if the URL resolves to an attachment file on the server this will automatically translate to a server-side include. pattern="..."Include a subset of a topic or a web page. Specify a RegularExpression that scans from start ( '^') to end and contains the text you want to keep in parenthesis, e.g.,pattern="^.*?(from here.*?to here).*". IncludeTopicsAndWebPages has more.none rev="2"Include a previous topic revision; N/A for URLs top revision raw="on"When a page is included, normally TWiki will process it, doing the following: 1) Alter relative links to point back to originating host, 2) Remove some basic HTML tags (html, head, body, script) and finally 3) Remove newlines from HTML tags spanning multiple lines. If you prefer to include exactly what is in the source of the originating page set this to on.
raw="on"is short fordisableremoveheaders="on",disableremovescript="on",disableremovebody="on",disablecompresstags="on"anddisablerewriteurls="on".disabled literal="on"While using the rawoption will indeed include the raw content, the included content will still be processed and rendered like regular topic content. To disable parsing of the included content, set theliteraloption to"on".disabled disableremoveheaders="on"Bypass stripping headers from included HTML (everything until first </head>tag)disabled disableremovescript="on"Bypass stripping all <script>tags from included HTMLdisabled disableremovebody="on"Bypass stripping the </body>tag and everything around over and below itdisabled disablecompresstags="on"Bypass replacing newlines in HTML tags with spaces. This compression step rewrites unmatched <'s into <entities unless bypasseddisabled disablerewriteurls="on"Bypass rewriting relative URLs into absolute ones disabled warn="off"Warn if topic include fails: Fail silently (if off); output default warning (if set toon); else, output specific text (use$topicfor topic name)%INCLUDEWARNING%preferences settingsection="name"Includes only the specified named section, as defined in the included topic by the STARTSECTION and ENDSECTION variables. Nothing is shown if the named section does not exists. PARONE="val 1"
PARTWO="val 2"Any other parameter will be defined as a variable within the scope of the included topic. The example parameters on the left will result in %PARONE%and%PARTWO%being defined within the included topic. - Note: JavaScript in included webpages is filtered out as a security precaution per default (disable filter with
disableremovescriptparameter) - Examples: See IncludeTopicsAndWebPages
- Related: BASETOPIC, BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, STARTINCLUDE, STOPINCLUDE, STARTSECTION, ENDSECTION
INCLUDINGTOPIC -- name of topic that includes current topic
- The name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as
%TOPIC%in case there is no include - Syntax:
%INCLUDINGTOPIC% - Related: BASETOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, INCLUDE, TOPIC
INCLUDINGWEB -- web that includes current topic
- The web name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as
%WEB%if there is no INCLUDE. - Syntax:
%INCLUDINGWEB% - Related: BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDE, WEB
LANGUAGE -- current user's language
- Returns the language code for the language used as the current user. This is the language actually used by TWiki Internationalization (e.g. in user interface).
- The language is detected from the user's browser, unless some site/web/user/session-defined setting overrides it:
- If the
LANGUAGEpreference is set, it's used as user's language instead of any language detected from the browser. - Avoid defining
LANGUAGEat a non per-user way, so each user can choose his/her preferred language.
- If the
- Related: LANGUAGES
LANGUAGES -- list available TWiki languages
- List the languages available (as
POfiles) to TWiki. Those are the languages in which TWiki's user interface is available. - Syntax:
%LANGUAGES{...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: formatformat for each item. See below for variables available in the format string. " * $langname"separatorseparator between items. "\n"(newline)marker="selected"Text for $markerif the item matchesselection"selected"selection="%LANGUAGE%"Current language to be selected in list (none) -
formatvariables:Variable Meaning $langnamelanguage's name, as informed by the translators $langtaglanguage's tag. Ex: en,pt-br, etc. - Example:
<select>%LANGUAGES{format="<option $marker value='$langtag'>$langname</option>" selection="%LANGUAGE%"}%</select>creates an option list of the available languages with the current language selected
LIME -- start lime colored text
-
LIMEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%LIME% lime text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: lime text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
LOCALSITEPREFS -- web.topicname of site preferences topic
- The full name of the local site preferences topic. This topic is read for preferences before TWiki.%TWIKIPREFSTOPIC% is read.
- Syntax:
%LOCALSITEPREFS% - Expands to:
Main.TWikiPreferences, renders as TWikiPreferences
LOGIN -- present a full login link
- Syntax:
%LOGIN% - Expand to: Login
- Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, SESSIONID, SESSIONVAR, LOGOUT, SESSION_VARIABLE
LOGOUT -- present a full logout link
- Syntax:
%LOGOUT% - Expand to:
- Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, SESSIONID, SESSIONVAR, LOGIN, SESSION_VARIABLE
M -- moved to... icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: M =
- Related: H, I, ICON, N, P, Q, S, T, U, X, Y
MAINWEB -- name of Main web
- The web containing TWikiUsers, individual user topics and TWikiGroups
- Syntax:
%MAINWEB% - Expands to:
Main - Related: TWIKIWEB
MAKETEXT -- creates text using TWiki's I18N infrastructure
- Syntax:
%MAKETEXT{"string" args="..."} - Supported parameters:
Parameter Description Default "text"orstring="text"The text to be displayed. none args="param1, param2"a comma-separated list of arguments to be interpolated in the string, replacing the [_N]placeholders in it.none - Examples:
-
%MAKETEXT{string="Notes:"}%
expands to
Notes: -
%MAKETEXT{"If you have any questions, please contact [_1]." args="%WIKIWEBMASTER%"}%
expands to
If you have any questions, please contact webmaster@new.law.columbia.edu. -
%MAKETEXT{"Did you want to [[[_1]][reset [_2]'s password]]?" args="%TWIKIWEB%.ResetPassword,%WIKIUSERNAME%"}%
expands to
Did you want to reset Main.TWikiGuest's password?
-
- Notes:
- TWiki will translate the
stringto the current user's language only if it has such string in its translation table for that language. - Amperstands (
&) followed by one letter (one of a...z, A...Z) (say,X) in the translatable string will be translated to<span class='twikiAccessKey'>X</span>. This is used to implement access keys. If you want to write an actual amperstand that stays just before a letter, write two consecutive amperstands (&&): they will be transformed in just one. - translatable string starting with underscores (
_) are reserved. You cannot use translatable phrases starting with an underscore. - Make sure that the translatable string is constant. Specially, do not include
%VARIABLES%inside the translatable strings (since they will get expanded before the%MAKETEXT{...}%itself is handled).
- TWiki will translate the
MAROON -- start maroon colored text
-
MAROONis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%MAROON% maroon text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: maroon text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
META -- displays meta-data
- Provided mainly for use in templates, this variable generates the parts of the topic view that relate to meta-data (attachments, forms etc.) The
formfielditem is the most likely to be useful to casual users. - Syntax:
%META{ "item" ...}% - Parameters:
Item Options Description "formfield"name="...": name of the field. The field value can be shortened as described in FormattedSearch for$formfield
newline="...": by default, each newline character will be rewritten to<br />to allow metadata that contains newlines to be used in tables, etc.$nindicates a newline character.
bar="...": by default, each vertical bar is rewritten to an HTML entity so as to not be mistaken for a table separator.Show a single form field "form"none Generates the table showing the form fields. See Form Templates "attachments"all="on"to show hidden attachments.
title="..."to show a title - only if attachments are displayed.
template="..."to use a custom template for the rendering of attachments; defaultattachtablesis used.Generates the list of attachments "moved"none Details of any topic moves "parent"dontrecurse="on": By default recurses up tree, this has some cost.
nowebhome="on": Suppress WebHome.
prefix="...": Prefix that goes before parents, but only if there are parents, default"".
format="...": Format string used to display each parent topic where$webexpands to the web name, and$topicexpands to the topic name; default:"[[$web.$topic][$topic]]"
suffix="...": Suffix, only appears if there are parents; default"".
separator="...": Separator between parents; default" > ".Generates the parent link - Related: METASEARCH
METASEARCH -- special search of meta data
- Syntax:
%METASEARCH{...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: type="topicmoved"What sort of search is required?
"topicmoved"if search for a topic that may have been moved
"parent"if searching for topics that have a specific parent i.e. its children
"field"if searching for topics that have a particular form field value (use thenameandvalueparameters to specify which field to search)required web="%WEB%"Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or allwebs.current web topic="%TOPIC%"The topic the search relates to, for topicmovedandparentsearchescurrent topic nameform field to search, for fieldtype searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH).valueform field value, for fieldtype searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH).title="Title"Text that is prefixed to any search results empty default="none"Default text shown if no search hit empty - Example:
%METASEARCH{type="topicmoved" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "}% - Example: You may want to use this in WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate:
%METASEARCH{type="parent" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="Children: "}% - Example:
%METASEARCH{type="field" name="Country" value="China"}% - Related: SEARCH, META
N -- "new" icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: N =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, P, Q, S, T, U, X, Y
NAVY -- start navy blue colored text
-
NAVYis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%NAVY% navy text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: navy text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
NOP -- template text not to be expanded in instantiated topics
- Syntax:
%NOP%- In normal topic text, expands to <nop>, which prevents expansion of adjacent variables and wikiwords
- When the topic containing this is used as a template for another topic, it is removed.
- Syntax:
%NOP{...}%deprecated- In normal topic text, expands to whatever is in the curly braces (if anything).
- Note: This is deprecated. Do not use it. Use
%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%..%ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%instead (see TWikiTemplates for more details).
- Related: STARTSECTION, TWikiTemplates
NOTIFYTOPIC -- name of the notify topic
- Syntax:
%NOTIFYTOPIC% - Expands to:
WebNotify, renders as WebNotify - Related: HOMETOPIC, STATISTICSTOPIC, TOPIC
OLIVE -- start olive green colored text
-
OLIVEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%OLIVE% olive text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: olive text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
ORANGE -- start orange colored text
-
ORANGEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%ORANGE% orange text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: orange text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
P -- pencil icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: P =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, Q, S, T, U, X, Y
PINK -- start pink colored text
-
PINKis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%PINK% pink text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: pink text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS -- list of plugin descriptions
- Syntax:
%PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS% - Expands to:
- SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like
"$SUM( $ABOVE() )"to TWiki tables and other topic text - ActionTrackerPlugin (21 May 2007, $Rev: 14969 (20 Sep 2007) $): Adds support for action tags in topics, and automatic notification of action statuses
- AttachmentListPlugin (1.0.1, $Rev: 15921 (07 Dec 2007) $): Displays a formattable list of topic attachments, anywhere in a topic.
- BreadCrumbsPlugin (v1.00, $Rev: 13657 (08 May 2007) $): A flexible way to display breadcrumbs navigation
- CalendarPlugin (Dakar, 9113): Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events
- CommentPlugin (Dakar, 11359): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
- CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 9808$):
- EditTablePlugin (any TWiki, 11646): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
- FilterPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 15932 (07 Dec 2007) $): Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
- FlexWebListPlugin (v1.21, $Rev: 16132 (03 Jan 2008) $): Flexible way to display hierarchical weblists
- FootNotePlugin (2.006): Footnotes are notes placed at the end of a topic.
- GluePlugin (2.00, $Rev: 15708 (23 Nov 2007) $): Enable markup to span multiple lines
- IfDefinedPlugin (v1.01, $Rev: 15157 (05 Oct 2007) $): Render content conditionally
- InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 11935$): Link
ExternalSite:Pagetext to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic - JQueryPlugin (v0.4, $Rev: 15608 (15 Nov 2007) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
- NatSkinPlugin (3.00-pre17, $Rev: 15581 (13 Nov 2007) $): Supplements the bare bones NatSkin theme for TWiki
- PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 9839): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
- RedDotPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 16137 (03 Jan 2008) $): Renders edit-links as little red dots
- RenderListPlugin (any TWiki, 1.034): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
- SlideShowPlugin (Any TWiki, $Rev: 12847$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
- SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 8154): Render smilies as icons, like for
:-)or for = :eek:= - TablePlugin (1.020, 12339): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
- TreeBrowserPlugin (v1.8): Renders a list as a collapsable/expandable tree.
- TreePlugin (1.7): Dynamic generation of TWiki topic trees
- TwistyPlugin (1.2.0, $Rev: 12154$): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
- VotePlugin (1.33, $Rev: 14312 (01 Jul 2007) $): Simple way to count votes
- WysiwygPlugin (Dakar, 12422): Translator framework for Wysiwyg editors
- SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like
- Related: ACTIVATEDPLUGINS, FAILEDPLUGINS, PLUGINVERSION
PLUGINVERSION -- the version of a TWiki Plugin, or the TWiki Plugins API
- Syntax:
%PLUGINVERSION{"name"}%to get the version of a specific plugin - Example:
%PLUGINVERSION{"InterwikiPlugin"}%expands to$Rev: 11935$ - Syntax:
%PLUGINVERSION%to get the version of the API - Expands to:
1.11 - Related: WIKIVERSION, ACTIVATEDPLUGINS, FAILEDPLUGINS, PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS
PUBURL -- the base URL of attachments
- Syntax:
%PUBURL% - Expands to:
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/pub - Example: You can refer to a file attached to another topic with
%PUBURL%/%WEB%/OtherTopic/image.gif - Related: ATTACHURL, ATTACHURLPATH, PUBURLPATH, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, FileAttachments
PUBURLPATH -- the base URL path of attachments
- Syntax:
%PUBURLPATH% - Expands to:
/twiki/pub - Related: ATTACHURL, ATTACHURLPATH, PUBURL, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, FileAttachments
PURPLE -- start purple colored text
-
PURPLEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%PURPLE% purple text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: purple text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
Q -- question icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: Q =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, S, T, U, X, Y
QUERYPARAMS -- show paramaters to the query
- Expands the parameters to the query that was used to display the page.
- Syntax:
%QUERYPARAMS{...}% - Parameters:
-
format="..."format string for each entry, default$name=$value -
separator="..."separator string, defaultseparator="$n"(newline)
-
- The following escape sequences are expanded in the format string:
Sequence: Expands To: $nameName of the parameter $valueString value of the parameter. Multi-valued parameters will have a "row" for each value. $nor$n()New line. Use $n()if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. writeFoo$n()Barinstead ofFoo$nBar$nopor$nop()Is a "no operation". $quotDouble quote ( ")$percntPercent sign ( %)$dollarDollar sign ( $) - Example:
-
%QUERYPARAMS{format="<input type='hidden' name='$name' value='$percntENCODE{$quot()$value$quot type=$quot()html$quot}$percnt' />"}%
-
- See also QUERYSTRING, URLPARAM
QUERYSTRING -- full, unprocessed string of parameters to this URL
- String of all the URL parameters that were on the URL used to get to the current page. For example, if you add ?name=Samantha;age=24;eyes=blue to this URL you can see this in action. This string can be appended to a URL to pass parameter values on to another page.
- Note: URLs built this way are typically restricted in length, typically to 2048 characters. If you need more space than this, you will need to use an HTML form and
%QUERYPARAMS%. - Syntax:
%QUERYSTRING% - Expands to:
sortcol=2;table=11;up=0 - Related: QUERYPARAMS, URLPARAM
RED -- start red colored text
-
REDis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%RED% red text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: red text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
REMOTE_ADDR -- environment variable
- Syntax:
%REMOTE_ADDR% - Expands to:
3.83.32.171 - Related: HTTP_HOST, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER
REMOTE_PORT -- environment variable
- Syntax:
%REMOTE_PORT% - Expands to:
52422 - Related: HTTP_HOST, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_USER
REMOTE_USER -- environment variable
- Syntax:
%REMOTE_USER% - Expands to:
- Related: HTTP_HOST, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, USERNAME, WIKINAME, WIKIUSERNAME
REVINFO -- revision information of current topic
- Syntax:
%REVINFO% - Expands to:
r1 - 27 Mar 2005 - 13:14:15 - TWikiContributor - Related: REVINFO{"format"}
REVINFO{"format"} -- formatted revision information of topic
- Syntax:
%REVINFO{"format"}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "format"Format of revision information, see supported variables below "r1.$rev - $date - $wikiusername"web="..."Name of web Current web topic="..."Topic name Current topic rev="1.5"Specific revison number Latest revision - Supported variables in format:
Variable: Unit: Example $webName of web Current web $topicTopic name Current topic $revRevison number. Prefix r1.to get the usualr1.5format5$usernameLogin username of revision jsmith$wikinameWikiName of revision JohnSmith$wikiusernameWikiName with Main web prefix Main.JohnSmith$dateRevision date 21 Sep 2006$timeRevision time 23:24:25$isoRevision date in ISO date format 2006-09-22T06:24:25Z$min,$sec, etc.Same date format qualifiers as GMTIME{"format"} - Example:
%REVINFO{"$date - $wikiusername" rev="1.1"}%returns revision info of first revision - Related: GMTIME{"format"}, REVINFO
S -- red star icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: S =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, T, U, X, Y
SCRIPTNAME -- name of current script
- The name of the current script is shown, including script suffix, if any (for example
viewauth.cgi) - Syntax:
%SCRIPTNAME% - Expands to:
view - Related: SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH
SCRIPTSUFFIX -- script suffix
- Some TWiki installations require a file extension for CGI scripts, such as
.plor.cgi - Syntax:
%SCRIPTSUFFIX% - Expands to:
- Related: SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH
SCRIPTURL -- base URL of TWiki scripts
- Syntax:
%SCRIPTURL% - Expands to:
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin - Related: PUBURL, SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL{"script"}, SCRIPTURLPATH
SCRIPTURL{"script"} -- URL of TWiki script
- Syntax:
%SCRIPTURL{"script"}% - Expands to:
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/script - Example: To get the authenticated version of the current topic you can write
%SCRIPTURL{"viewauth"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%which expands tohttp://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/viewauth/TWiki/TWikiVariables - Note: In most cases you should use
%SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}%instead, as it works with URL rewriting much better - Related: PUBURL, SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}
SCRIPTURLPATH -- base URL path of TWiki scripts
- As
%SCRIPTURL%, but doesn't include the protocol and host part of the URL - Syntax:
%SCRIPTURLPATH% - Expands to:
/twiki/bin - Related: PUBURLPATH, SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}
SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"} -- URL path of TWiki script
- As
%SCRIPTURL{"script"}%, but doesn't include the protocol and host part of the URL - Syntax:
%SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}% - Expands to:
/twiki/bin/script - Related: PUBURLPATH, SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURL{"script"}, SCRIPTURLPATH
SEARCH{"text"} -- search content
- Inline search, shows a search result embedded in a topic
- Syntax:
%SEARCH{"text" ...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "text"Search term. Is a keyword search, literal search or regular expression search, depending on the typeparameter. SearchHelp has morerequired search="text"(Alternative to above) N/A web="Name"
web="Main, Know"
web="all"Comma-separated list of webs to search. You can specifically exclude webs from an allsearch using a minus sign - for example,web="all,-Secretweb". The special wordallmeans all webs that do not have theNOSEARCHALLvariable set toonin their WebPreferences. Note that TWikiAccessControls are respected when searching webs; it is much better to use them thanNOSEARCHALL.Current web topic="WebPreferences"
topic="*Bug"Limit search to topics: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. Note this is a list of topic names and must not include web names. All topics in a web excludetopic="Web*"
excludetopic="WebHome, WebChanges"Exclude topics from search: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. Note this is a list of topic names and must not include web names. None type="keyword"
type="literal"
type="regex"Do a keyword search like soap "web service" -shampoo; a literal search likeweb service; or RegularExpression search likesoap;web service;!shampoo%SEARCHVAR- DEFAULTTYPE%preferences setting (literal)scope="topic"
scope="text"
scope="all"Search topic name (title); the text (body) of topic; or all (both) "text"order="topic"
order="created"
order="modified"
order="editby"
order=
"formfield(name)"Sort the results of search by the topic names, topic creation time, last modified time, last editor, or named field of TWikiForms. The sorting is done web by web; if you want to sort across webs, create a formatted table and sort it with TablePlugin's initsort. Note that dates are sorted most recent date last (i.e at the bottom of the table). Sort by topic name limit="all"
limit="16"Limit the number of results returned. This is done after sorting if orderis specifiedAll results date="..."limits the results to those pages with latest edit time in the given TimeInterval. All results reverse="on"Reverse the direction of the search Ascending search casesensitive="on"Case sensitive search Ignore case bookview="on"BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text Show topic summary nonoise="on"Shorthand for nosummary="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" zeroresults="off" noheader="on" noempty="on"Off nosummary="on"Show topic title only Show topic summary nosearch="on"Suppress search string Show search string noheader="on"Suppress default search header
Topics: Changed: By: , unless aheaderis explicitly specifiedShow default search header, unless search is inline and a format is specified (Cairo compatibility) nototal="on"Do not show number of topics found Show number zeroresults="off"Suppress all output if there are no hits zeroresults="on", displays: "Number of topics: 0"noempty="on"Suppress results for webs that have no hits. Show webs with no hits header="..."
format="..."Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage, variables & examples Results in table expandvariables="on"Expand variables before applying a FormattedSearch on a search hit. Useful to show the expanded text, e.g. to show the result of a SpreadSheetPlugin %CALC{}%instead of the formulaRaw text multiple="on"Multiple hits per topic. Each hit can be formatted. The last token is used in case of a regular expression ";" and search Only one hit per topic nofinalnewline="on"If on, the search variable does not end in a line by itself. Any text continuing immediately after the search variable on the same line will be rendered as part of the table generated by the search, if appropriate.offrecurse="on"Recurse into subwebs, if subwebs are enabled. offseparator=", "Line separator between search hits "$n"(Newline)newline="%BR%"Line separator within a search hit. Useful if the format="" parameter contains a $pattern() that captures more than one line, i.e. contents of a textfield in a form. "$n"(Newline) - Example:
%SEARCH{"wiki" web="Main" scope="topic"}% - Example with format:
%SEARCH{"FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="| *Topic: * | *Summary: * |" format="| $topic | $summary |"%(displays results in a table with header - details) - Hint: If the TWiki:Plugins.TablePlugin is installed, you may set a
%TABLE{}%variable just before the%SEARCH{}%to alter the output of a search. Example:%TABLE{ tablewidth="90%" }% - Related: METASEARCH, TOPICLIST, WEBLIST, FormattedSearch, SearchHelp, SearchPatternCookbook, RegularExpression
SERVERTIME -- server time
- Syntax:
%SERVERTIME% - Expands to:
22 Jan 2020 - 08:58 - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME{"format"}
SERVERTIME{"format"} -- formatted server time
- Same format qualifiers as
%GMTIME% - Syntax:
%SERVERTIME{"format"}% - Example:
%SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}%expands to08:58 - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME
SESSIONID -- unique ID for this session
- Syntax:
%SESSIONID% - Expand to: 873bf3655377ce1fd11e67e929a8aa81
- Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, AUTHREALM, SESSIONVAR, LOGIN, LOGOUT, SESSION_VARIABLE
SESSIONVAR -- name of CGI and session variable that stores the session ID
- Syntax:
%SESSIONVAR% - Expand to: TWIKISID
- Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, AUTHREALM, SESSIONID, LOGIN, LOGOUT, SESSION_VARIABLE
SESSION_VARIABLE -- get, set or clear a session variable
- Syntax:
%SESSION_VARIABLE{"name"}% - Syntax:
%SESSION_VARIABLE{"name" set="value"}% - Syntax:
%SESSION_VARIABLE{"name" clear=""}% - Hint: The users ID is in the
AUTHUSERsession variable, and is read-only - Related: TWikiUserAuthentication, AUTHREALM, SESSIONID, SESSIONVAR, LOGIN, LOGOUT
SILVER -- start silver colored text
-
SILVERis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%SILVER% silver text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: silver text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
SPACEDTOPIC -- topic name, spaced and URL-encoded deprecated
- The current topic name with added URL-encoded spaces, for use in regular expressions that search for backlinks to the current topic
- Syntax:
%SPACEDTOPIC% - Expands to:
Var%20*SPACEDTOPIC - Note: This is a deprecated variable. It can be duplicated with
%ENCODE{%SPACEOUT{"%TOPIC%" separator=" *"}%}% - Related: SPACEOUT, TOPIC, ENCODE
SPACEOUT{"string"} -- renders string with spaces inserted in sensible places
- Inserts spaces after lower case letters that are followed by a digit or a capital letter, and after digits that are followed by a capital letter.
- Useful for spacing out WikiWords
- Syntax:
%SPACEOUT{ "%TOPIC%" }% - Expands to:
TWiki Variables - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: separatorThe separator to put between words e.g. %SPACEOUT{"DogsCatsBudgies" separator=", "}% -> Dogs, Cats, Budgies ' ' - Hint: Spaced out WikiWords are not automatically linked. To SPACEOUT a WikiWord but preserve the link use "double bracket" format. For example,
[[WebHome][%SPACEOUT{"WebHome"}%]]expands to Web Home - Related: SPACEDTOPIC, $PROPERSPACE() of SpreadSheetPlugin
STARTINCLUDE -- start position of topic text if included
- If present in included topic, start to include text from this location up to the end, or up to the location of the
%STOPINCLUDE%variable. A normal view of the topic shows everything exept the%STARTINCLUDE%variable itself. - Note: If you want more than one part of the topic included, use
%STARTSECTION{type="include"}%instead - Syntax:
%STARTINCLUDE% - Related: INCLUDE, STARTSECTION, STOPINCLUDE
STARTSECTION -- marks the start of a section within a topic
- Section boundaries are defined with
%STARTSECTION{}%and%ENDSECTION{}%. - Sections may be given a name to help identify them, and/or a type, which changes how they are used.
-
type="section"- the default, used for a generic section, such as a named section used by INCLUDE. -
type="include"- like%STARTINCLUDE%...%STOPINCLUDE%except that you can have as many include blocks as you want (%STARTINCLUDE%is restricted to only one). -
type="templateonly"- start position of text to be removed when a template topic is used. This is used to embed text that you do not want expanded when a new topic based on the template topic is created. See TWikiTemplates for more information.
-
- Syntax:
%STARTSECTION{"name"}% ................ %ENDSECTION{"name"}% - Syntax:
%STARTSECTION{type="include"}% ........ %ENDSECTION{type="include"}% - Syntax:
%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% ... %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default "name"Name of the section. Must be unique inside a topic. Generated name type="..."Type of the section; type "section","include"or"templateonly""section" - Note: If a section is not given a name, it will be assigned one. Unnamed sections are assigned names starting with
_SECTION0for the first unnamed section in the topic,_SECTION1for the second, etc.. - Note: You can define nested sections. It is not recommended to overlap sections, although it is valid in TWiki. Use named sections to make sure that the correct START and ENDs are matched. Section markers are not displayed when a topic is viewed.
- Related: ENDSECTION, INCLUDE, NOP, STARTINCLUDE, STOPINCLUDE
STATISTICSTOPIC -- name of statistics topic
- Syntax:
%STATISTICSTOPIC% - Expands to:
WebStatistics, renders as WebStatistics - Related: HOMETOPIC, NOTIFYTOPIC, TOPIC
STOPINCLUDE -- end position of topic text if included
- If present in included topic, stop to include text at this location and ignore the remaining text. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the
%STOPINCLUDE%variable itself. - Syntax:
%STOPINCLUDE% - Related: INCLUDE, STARTINCLUDE
T -- tip icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: T =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, U, X, Y
TEAL -- start teal colored text
-
TEALis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%TEAL% teal text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: teal text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
TOC -- table of contents of current topic
- Syntax:
%TOC% - Related: TOC{"Topic"}
TOC{"Topic"} -- table of contents
- Table of Contents. Shows a TOC that is generated automatically based on headings of a topic. Headings in WikiSyntax (
"---++ text") and HTML ("<h2>text</h2>") are taken into account. Any heading text after"!!"is excluded from the TOC; for example, write"---+!! text"if you do not want to list a header in the TOC - Syntax:
%TOC{"SomeTopic" ...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "TopicName"topic name Current topic web="Name"Name of web Current web depth="2"Limit depth of headings shown in TOC 6 title="Some text"Title to appear at top of TOC none - Example:
%TOC{depth="2"}% - Example:
%TOC{"TWikiDocumentation" web="TWiki" title="Contents:"}% - Example: see TWiki:Sandbox.TestTopicInclude
- Hint: TOC will generate links to the headings, so when a reader clicks on a heading it will jump straight where that heading is anchored in the text. If you have two headings with exactly the same text, then their anchors will also be identical and they won't be able to jump to them. To make the anchors unique, you can add an invisible HTML comment to the text of the heading. This will be hidden in normal view, but will force the anchors to be different. For example, ---+ Heading <!--5-->.
- Related: TOC
TOPIC -- name of current topic
-
%TOPIC%expands to the name of the topic. If you are looking at the text of an included topic, it is the name of the included topic. - Syntax:
%TOPIC% - Expands to:
TWikiVariables, renders as TWikiVariables - Related: BASETOPIC, INCLUDINGTOPIC, TOPICLIST, WEB
TOPICLIST{"format"} -- topic index of a web
- List of all topics in a web. The "format" defines the format of one topic item. It may include variables: The
$namevariable gets expanded to the topic name,$qnameto double quoted name,$markertomarkerparameter where topic matchesselection, and$webto the name of the web. - Syntax:
%TOPICLIST{"format" ...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "format"Format of one line, may include $web(name of web),$name(name of the topic),$qname(name of topic in double quotes),$marker(which expands tomarkerfor the item matchingselectiononly)"$name"format="format"(Alternative to above) "$name"separator=", "line separator "$n"(new line)marker="selected"Text for $markerif the item matchesselection"selected"selection="TopicA, TopicB"Current value to be selected in list (none)web="Name"Name of web Current web - Example:
%TOPICLIST{" * $web.$name"}%creates a bullet list of all topics - Example:
%TOPICLIST{separator=", "}%creates a comma separated list of all topics - Example:
%TOPICLIST{" <option>$name</option>"}%creates an option list (for drop down menus) - Example:
<select>%TOPICLIST{" <option $marker value='$name'>$name</option>" separator=" " selection="%TOPIC%"}%</select>creates an option list of web topics with the current topic selected - Related: SEARCH, WEBLIST
TOPICURL -- shortcut to viewing the current topic
- This variable always expands to an url pointing to the current base topic.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: TOPICURL = http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/TWikiDocumentation
TWIKIWEB -- name of TWiki documentation web
- The web containing all documentation and site-wide preference settings for TWiki
- Syntax:
%TWIKIWEB% - Expands to:
TWiki - Related: MAINWEB
U -- "updated" icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: U =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, T, X, Y
URLPARAM{"name"} -- get value of a URL parameter
- Returns the value of a URL parameter.
- Syntax:
%URLPARAM{"name"}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "name"The name of a URL parameter required default="..."Default value in case parameter is empty or missing empty string newline="<br />"Convert newlines in textarea to other delimiters no conversion encode="entity"Encode special characters into HTML entities. See ENCODE for more details. no encoding encode="url"Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22no encoding encode="quote"Escape double quotes with backslashes ( \"), does not change other characters; required when feeding URL parameters into other TWiki variablesno encoding multiple="on"
multiple="[[$item]]"If set, gets all selected elements of a <select multiple="multiple">tag. A format can be specified, with$itemindicating the element, e.g.multiple="Option: $item"first element separator=", "Separator between multiple selections. Only relevant if multiple is specified "\n"(new line) - Example:
%URLPARAM{"skin"}%returnsprintfor a.../view/TWiki/TWikiVariables?skin=printURL - Note: URL parameters passed into HTML form fields must be entity ENCODEd.
- Note: Double quotes in URL parameters must be escaped when passed into other TWiki variables.
Example:%SEARCH{ "%URLPARAM{ "search" encode="quotes" }%" noheader="on" }% - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Note: There is a risk that this variable could be misused for cross-site scripting.
- Related: ENCODE, SEARCH, FormattedSearch, QUERYSTRING
USERINFO{"WikiName"} -- retrieve details about a user
- Syntax:
%USERINFO% - Expands to:
guest, TWikiGuest,(comma-separated list of the username, wikiusername, and emails) - With formatted output, using tokens
$emails,$username,$wikiname,$wikiusername, and$groups:- Example:
%USERINFO{ format="$username is really $wikiname" }% - Expands to:
guest is really TWikiGuest
- Example:
- Retrieve information about another user:
- Example:
%USERINFO{ "TWikiGuest" format="$username is really $wikiname" }% - Expands to:
guest is really TWikiGuest - Note: The parameter should be the wikiname of a user. You can only get information about another user if the
{AntiSpam}{HideUserDetails}configuration option is not enabled, or if you are an admin. (User details are hidden in this TWiki)
- Example:
- Related: USERNAME, WIKINAME, WIKIUSERNAME, TWikiUserAuthentication, ChangeEmailAddress
USERNAME -- your login username
- TWiki makes names available in three formats: USERNAME like
jsmith, WIKINAME likeJohnSmithand WIKIUSERNAME likeMain.JohnSmith. Un-authenticated users are all TWikiGuest. - Syntax:
%USERNAME% - Expands to:
guest - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: REMOTE_USER, USERINFO, WIKINAME, WIKIUSERNAME, TWikiUserAuthentication
VAR{"NAME" web="Web"} -- get a preference value from another web
- Syntax:
%VAR{"NAME" web="Web"}% - Example: To get
%WEBBGCOLOR%of the Main web write%VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR" web="Main"}%, which expands to#FFEFA6 - Related: WEBPREFSTOPIC
VBAR -- vertical bar
- The vertical bar variable can be used in TWiki tables.
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: VBAR = |
- Related: BR, BULLET, BB, BB2, BB3, BB4
VOTE{ attributes } -- define a poll in a TWiki topic.
- The following standard attributes are recognized
Name Description Example idThe identifier of the poll. You can have multiple independent votes in the same topic. id="Dining"selectNDefines the name of a select vote, where you select one from a ranges of options. Nis a number that identifies this item within the poll e.g.select1,select2etc. You must number allselectandstarsparameters uniquely and sequentially (e.g.select1 stars2 select3select1="Drink"optionsNEach selectNmust have a correspondingoptionsNthat defines a comma-separated list of the options that can be selected between.options1="Beer,Wine,Milk"starsNDefines the name of a rate vote, where you rate something by giving it a number of stars. Nis a number that identifies this item within the poll e.g.select1,stars2etc. You must number allselectandstarsparameters uniquely and sequentially (e.g.select1 stars2 select3stars2="Usability"widthNEach starsNmust have a correspondingwidthN. This gives the number of stars to show e.g.width1="5"will show 5 stars.width2="10"formatNDefines the format of the results display. See formatting results, below. format="$large"chartNDefines the format of a single bar in the results bar chart generated for the corresponding select(forselecttype only). See formatting results, below.chart="<p>$option $score</p>"separatorDefines the string to be used to separate each row in the result. separator="<br/>"globalIf set to "off", this makes theidlocal to this topic (the default). If set to"on"it will be a global poll that can be accessed from many topics.global="on"openIf set to "off"this is a closed vote. If set to"on"it is open (the default)open="on"secretIf set to "off", then the database will record who voted. If set to"on", votes are secret (the default)secret="on"savetoIf set to the name of a topic, the poll results will be appended to the end of that topic. The results are formatted as a TWiki table for easy post-processing. saveto="Main.VoteResults"bayesianIf set to "on", rating averages will be computed using the Bayesian average of this item against all the other items that have the same item in theirstarsfield. This requires all the participating %VOTEs to beglobal, or to save their results to the same place usingsaveto. See http://www.thebroth.com/blog/118/bayesian-rating for more information about Bayesian rating.bayesian="off"submitIf set to "off", this makes the %VOTE display the results of the vote without prompting for any input. This is useful when - for example - you want to show the results of a global vote, without permitting more voting.
- See VotePlugin for more information
WEB -- name of current web
-
%WEB%expands to the name of the web where the topic is located. If you are looking at the text of an included topic, it is the web where the included topic is located. - Syntax:
%WEB% - Expands to:
TWiki - Related: BASEWEB, INCLUDINGWEB, TOPIC
WEBLIST{"format"} -- index of all webs
- List of all webs. Obfusticated webs are excluded, e.g. webs with a
NOSEARCHALL = onpreference variable. The"format"defines the format of one web item. The$namevariable gets expanded to the name of the web,$qnamegets expanded to double quoted name,$markertomarkerwhere web matchesselection. - Syntax:
%WEBLIST{"format" ...}% - Supported parameters:
Parameter: Description: Default: "format"Format of one line, may include $name(the name of the web), $qname (the name of the web in double quotes),$indentedname(the name of the web with parent web names replaced by indents, for use in indented lists), and$marker(which expands tomarkerfor the item matchingselectiononly)"$name"format="format"(Alternative to above) "$name"separator=", "Line separator "$n"(new line)webs="public"Comma separated list of webs, publicexpands to all non-hidden.
NOTE: Administrators will see all webs, not just the public ones"public"marker="selected"Text for $markerif the item matchesselection"selected"selection="%WEB%"Current value to be selected in list section="%WEB%" - Example:
%WEBLIST{" * [[$name.WebHome]]"}%- creates a bullet list of all webs. - Example:
<form><select name="web"> %WEBLIST{"<option $marker value=$qname>$name</option>" webs="Trash, public" selection="%WEB%" separator=" "}% </select></form>- creates a dropdown of all public webs + Trash web, with the current web highlighted. - Related: TOPICLIST, SEARCH
WEBPREFSTOPIC -- name of web preferences topic
- Syntax:
%WEBPREFSTOPIC% - Expands to:
WebPreferences, renders as WebPreferences - Related: HOMETOPIC, WIKIPREFSTOPIC, VAR
WHITE -- start white colored text
-
WHITEis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%WHITE% white text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: white text (shown with a gray background here)
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
WIKIHOMEURL -- site home URL
- Syntax
%WIKIHOMEURL% - Expands to
/twiki/bin/view - Defined in TWikiPreferences and normally per default set to
%SCRIPTURLPATH{"view"}% - Note: For the top bar logo URL use
%WIKILOGOURL%defined in WebPreferences instead. - Related: WIKITOOLNAME
WIKINAME -- your Wiki username
- The WikiName is the same as
%USERNAME%if not defined in the TWikiUsers topic - Syntax:
%WIKINAME% - Expands to:
TWikiGuest - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
- Related: REMOTE_USER, USERINFO, USERNAME, WIKIUSERNAME, WIKIUSERSTOPIC
WIKIPREFSTOPIC -- name of site-wide preferences topic
- Syntax:
%WIKIPREFSTOPIC% - Expands to:
TWikiPreferences, renders as TWikiPreferences - Related: HOMETOPIC, WEBPREFSTOPIC
WIKITOOLNAME -- name of your TWiki site
- Syntax:
%WIKITOOLNAME% - Expands to:
TWiki - Related: WIKIHOMEURL, WIKIVERSION
WIKIUSERNAME -- your Wiki username with web prefix
- Your %WIKINAME% with Main web prefix, useful to point to your TWiki home page
- Syntax:
%WIKIUSERNAME% - Expands to:
Main.TWikiGuest, renders as TWikiGuest - Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details
- Related: REMOTE_USER, USERINFO, USERNAME, WIKINAME
WIKIUSERSTOPIC -- name of topic listing all registers users
- Syntax:
%WIKIUSERSTOPIC% - Expands to:
TWikiUsers, with Main prefix renders as TWikiUsers - Related: WIKIUSERNAME
WIKIVERSION -- the version of the installed TWiki engine
- Syntax:
%WIKIVERSION% - Expands to:
TWiki-4.1.2, Sat, 03 Mar 2007, build 13046 - Related: PLUGINVERSION, WIKITOOLNAME
X -- warning icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: X =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, T, U, Y
Y -- "yes" icon
- Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
- Current value: Y =
- Related: H, I, ICON, M, N, P, Q, S, T, U, X
YELLOW -- start yellow colored text
-
YELLOWis one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of colors. - Syntax:
%YELLOW% yellow text %ENDCOLOR% - Expands to: yellow text
- Note:
%<color>%text must end with%ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with%ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write%RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%. - Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors
TWiki Formatted Search
Inline search feature allows flexible formatting of search result The default output format of a%SEARCH{...}% is a table consisting of topic names and topic summaries. Use the format="..." parameter to customize the search result. The format parameter typically defines a bullet or a table row containing variables, such as %SEARCH{ "food" format="| $topic | $summary |" }%. See %SEARCH{...}% for other search parameters, such as separator="".
Syntax
Two parameters can be used to specify a customized search result: 1. header="..." parameter
Use the header parameter to specify the header of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional. Example:
header="| *Topic:* | *Summary:* |"
Variables that can be used in the header string:
| Name: | Expands To: |
|---|---|
$web | Name of the web |
$n or $n() | New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar |
$nop or $nop() | Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search |
$quot | Double quote ("). Alternatively write \" to escape it |
$percnt | Percent sign (%) |
$dollar | Dollar sign ($) |
2. format="..." parameter
Use the format parameter to specify the format of one search hit.
Example:
format="| $topic | $summary |"
Variables that can be used in the format string:
| Name: | Expands To: |
|---|---|
$web | Name of the web |
$topic | Topic name |
$topic(20) | Topic name, "- " hyphenated each 20 characters |
$topic(30, -<br />) | Topic name, hyphenated each 30 characters with separator "-<br />" |
$topic(40, ...) | Topic name, shortended to 40 characters with "..." indication |
$parent | Name of parent topic; empty if not set |
$parent(20) | Name of parent topic, same hyphenation/shortening like $topic() |
$text | Formatted topic text. In case of a multiple="on" search, it is the line found for each search hit. |
$locked | LOCKED flag (if any) |
$date | Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 22 Jan 2020 - 13:58 |
$isodate | Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2020-01-22T13:58Z |
$rev | Number of last topic revision, e.g. 4 |
$username | Login name of last topic update, e.g. jsmith |
$wikiname | Wiki user name of last topic update, e.g. JohnSmith |
$wikiusername | Wiki user name of last topic update, like Main.JohnSmith |
$createdate | Time stamp of topic revision 1 |
$createusername | Login name of topic revision 1, e.g. jsmith |
$createwikiname | Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. JohnSmith |
$createwikiusername | Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. Main.JohnSmith |
$summary | Topic summary, just the plain text, all formatting and line breaks removed; up to 162 characters |
$summary(50) | Topic summary, up to 50 characters shown |
$summary(showvarnames) | Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables shown as ALLTWIKI{...} |
$summary(noheader) | Topic summary, with leading ---+ headers removedNote: The tokens can be combined, for example $summary(100, showvarnames, noheader) |
$changes | Summary of changes between latest rev and previous rev |
$changes(n) | Summary of changes between latest rev and rev n |
$formname | The name of the form attached to the topic; empty if none |
$formfield(name) | The field value of a form field; for example, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to PublicFAQ. This applies only to topics that have a TWikiForm |
$formfield(name, 10) | Form field value, "- " hyphenated each 10 characters |
$formfield(name, 20, -<br />) | Form field value, hyphenated each 20 characters with separator "-<br />" |
$formfield(name, 30, ...) | Form field value, shortended to 30 characters with "..." indication |
$pattern(reg-exp) | A regular expression pattern to extract some text from a topic (does not search meta data; use $formfield instead). In case of a multiple="on" search, the pattern is applied to the line found in each search hit.• Specify a RegularExpression that covers the whole text (topic or line), which typically starts with .*, and must end in .* • Put text you want to keep in parenthesis, like $pattern(.*?(from here.*?to here).*) • Example: $pattern(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the e-mail address from a bullet of format * Email: ... • This example has non-greedy .*? patterns to scan for the first occurance of the Email bullet; use greedy .* patterns to scan for the last occurance • Limitation: Do not use .*) inside the pattern, e.g. $pattern(.*foo(.*)bar.*) does not work, but $pattern(.*foo(.*?)bar.*) does • Note: Make sure that the integrity of a web page is not compromised; for example, if you include an HTML table make sure to include everything including the table end tag |
$count(reg-exp) | Count of number of times a regular expression pattern appears in the text of a topic (does not search meta data). Follows guidelines for use and limitations outlined above under $pattern(reg-exp). Example: $count(.*?(---[+][+][+][+]) .*) counts the number of <H4> headers in a page. |
$n or $n() | New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar |
$nop or $nop() | Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search |
$quot | Double quote ("). Alternatively write \" to escape it |
$percnt | Percent sign (%) |
$dollar | Dollar sign ($) |
Examples
Here are some samples of formatted searches. The SearchPatternCookbook has other examples, such as creating a picklist of usernames, searching for topic children and more.Bullet list showing topic name and summary
Write this:%SEARCH{ "FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header=" * *Topic: Summary:*" format=" * [[$topic]]: $summary" }%
To get this:
- Topic: Summary:
- NatSkinFAQ: NatSkinFAQ The documentation of NatSkin is crap. I'm lost! If you need help there are a couple of options: Create a support request on TWiki:Support/WebHome ...
- TWikiFAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About TWiki This is a real FAQ, and also a demo of an easily implemented knowledge base solution. To see how it's done, view the source ...
- TWikiFaqTemplate: FAQ: Answer: Back to: TWikiFAQ
- TextFormattingFAQ: Text Formatting FAQ The most frequently asked questions about text formatting are answered. Also, TextFormattingRules contains the complete TWiki shorthand system ...
Table showing form field values of topics with a form
In a web where there is a form that contains aTopicClassification field, an OperatingSystem field and an OsVersion field we could write:
| *Topic:* | *OperatingSystem:* | *OsVersion:* | %SEARCH{ "[T]opicClassification.*?value=\"[P]ublicFAQ\"" scope="text" type="regex" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="| [[$topic]] | $formfield(OperatingSystem) | $formfield(OsVersion) |" }%
To get this:
| Topic: | OperatingSystem: | OsVersion: |
|---|---|---|
| IncorrectDllVersionW32PTH10DLL | OsWin | 95/98 |
| WinDoze95Crash | OsWin | 95 |
Extract some text from a topic using regular expression
Write this:%SEARCH{ "__Back to\:__ TWikiFAQ" scope="text" type="regex" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="TWiki FAQs:" format=" * $pattern(.*?FAQ\:[\n\r]*([^\n\r]+).*) [[$topic][Answer...]]" }%
To get this:
TWiki FAQs: - How can I create a simple TWiki Form based application? Answer...
- How do I delete or rename a topic? Answer...
- How do I delete or rename a file attachment? Answer...
- Why does the topic revision not increase when I edit a topic? Answer...
- TWiki has a GPL (GNU General Public License). What is GPL? Answer...
- I've problems with the WebSearch. There is no Search Result on any inquiry. By clicking the Index topic it's the same problem. Answer...
- What happens if two of us try to edit the same topic simultaneously? Answer...
- I would like to install TWiki on my server. Can I get the source? Answer...
- What does the "T" in TWiki stand for? Answer...
- So what is this WikiWiki thing exactly? Answer...
- Everybody can edit any page, this is scary. Doesn't that lead to chaos? Answer...
Nested Search
Search can be nested. For example, search for some topics, then form a new search for each topic found in the first search. The idea is to build the nested search string using a formatted search in the first search. Here is an example. Let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (first search), and let's find out where each topic found is linked from (second search).- First search:
-
%SEARCH{ "culture" format=" * $topic is referenced by: (list all references)" nosearch="on" nototal="on" }%
-
- Second search. For each hit we want this search:
-
%SEARCH{ "(topic found in first search)" format="$topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" separator=", " }%
-
- Now let's nest the two. We need to escape the second search, e.g. the first search will build a valid second search string. Note that we escape the second search so that it does not get evaluated prematurely by the first search:
- Use
$percntto escape the leading percent of the second search - Use
\"to escape the double quotes - Use
$dollarto escape the$of$topic - Use
$nopto escape the}%sequence
- Use
%SEARCH{ "culture" format=" * $topic is referenced by:$n * $percntSEARCH{ \"$topic\" format=\"$dollartopic\" nosearch=\"on\" nototal=\"on\" separator=\", \" }$nop%" nosearch="on" nototal="on" }%
To get this:
- ATasteOfTWiki is referenced by:
- FormattedSearch is referenced by:
- ActionTrackerPlugin, BlackListPlugin, BreadCrumbsPlugin, CalendarPlugin, EditTablePlugin, EmptyPlugin, FilterPlugin, FlexWebListPlugin, FootNotePlugin, GluePlugin, IfDefinedPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, ManagingWebs, MySideBarTemplate, NatEditHelpText, NatEditWordHelpText, NatSkinPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedDotPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SearchHelp, SearchPatternCookbook, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, SpreadSheetPlugin, TWikiDocumentation, TWikiForms, TWikiHistory, TWikiMetaData, TWikiReferenceManual, TWikiReleaseNotes04x00, TWikiReleaseNotes04x01, TWikiScripts, TWikiSearchDotPm, TWikiSiteTools, TWikiUISearchDotPm, TWikiVariablesQuickStart, TreeBrowserPlugin, TreePlugin, VarMETA, VarSEARCH, VarURLPARAM, WebLeftBar, WelcomeGuest
- TWikiAccessControl is referenced by:
- EditTablePlugin, FileAttachment, MainFeatures, ManagingTopics, ManagingUsers, SitePermissions, SourceCode, TWikiAccessControl, TWikiDocumentation, TWikiForms, TWikiFuncDotPm, TWikiHistory, TWikiPreferences, TWikiReferenceManual, TWikiReleaseNotes04x01, TWikiScripts, TWikiSiteTools, TWikiTopics, TWikiTutorial, TWikiUserAuthentication, TWikiVariables, VarSEARCH, WebPreferences, WebPreferencesHelp, WikiCulture, WikiWord
- TWikiSite is referenced by:
- AdminToolsCategory, InstantEnhancements, InterwikiPlugin, ManagingWebs, StartingPoints, TWikiDocumentation, TWikiGlossary, TWikiI18NDotPm, TWikiInstallationGuide, TWikiPreferences, TWikiReferenceManual, TWikiScripts, TWikiSite, TWikiTopics, TWikiTutorial, TWikiUserAuthentication, TWikiUsersGuide, WabiSabi, WebLeftBar, WebSiteTools, WelcomeGuest, WhatDoesTWikiStandFor, WhatIsWikiWiki, WikiCulture, WikiReferences
- WabiSabi is referenced by:
- WhatIsWikiWiki is referenced by:
- WikiCulture is referenced by:
$dollarpercntSEARCH{ for level three, $dollardollarpercntSEARCH{ for level four, etc.
Most recently changed pages
Write this:%SEARCH{ "\.*" scope="topic" type="regex" nosearch="on" nototal="on" order="modified" reverse="on" format="| [[$topic]] | $wikiusername | $date |" limit="7" }%
To get this:
| TWikiRegistration | EbenMoglen | 25 Sep 2019 - 18:08 |
| TWikiPreferences | EbenMoglen | 04 Sep 2014 - 00:22 |
| NewUserTemplate | IanSullivan | 08 Nov 2012 - 20:08 |
| BlackListPlugin | IanSullivan | 13 Jan 2012 - 22:38 |
| TWikiWebSideBar | IanSullivan | 09 Apr 2009 - 21:02 |
| WebLeftBar | IanSullivan | 09 Apr 2009 - 20:37 |
| WebTopicCreator | EbenMoglen | 04 Feb 2009 - 01:39 |
Search with conditional output
A regular expression search is flexible, but there are limitations. For example, you cannot show all topics that are up to exactly one week old, or create a report that shows all records with invalid form fields or fields within a certain range, etc. You need some additional logic to format output based on a condition:- Specify a search which returns more hits then you need
- For each search hit apply a spreadsheet formula to determine if the hit is needed
- If needed, format and output the result
- Else supress the search hit
%CALC{$SET(weekold, $TIMEADD($TIME(), -7, day))}% %SEARCH{ "." scope="topic" type="regex" nosearch="on" nototal="on" order="modified" reverse="on" format="$percntCALC{$IF($TIME($date) < $GET(weekold), <nop>, | [[$topic]] | $wikiusername | $date | $rev |)}$percnt" limit="100" }%
- The first line sets the
weekoldvariable to the serialized date of exactly one week ago - The SEARCH has a deferred CALC. The
$percntmakes sure that the CALC gets executed once for each search hit - The CALC compares the date of the topic with the
weekolddate - If topic is older, a
<nop>is returned, which gets removed at the end of the TWiki rendering process - Otherwise, the search hit is formatted and returned
Embedding search forms to return a formatted result
Use an HTML form and an embedded formatted search on the same topic. You can link them together with an%URLPARAM{"..."}% variable. Example:
Write this:
<form action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{"view"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%">
Find Topics:
<input type="text" name="q" size="32" value="%URLPARAM{"q"}%" /> <input type="submit" class="twikiSubmit" value="Search" />
</form>
Result:
%SEARCH{ search="%URLPARAM{"q"}%" format=" * $web.$topic: %BR% $summary" nosearch="on" }%
To get this:
Result:
Number of topics: 0
Related Topics: UserDocumentationCategory, SearchHelp, TWikiVariables#VarSEARCH, SearchPatternCookbook, RegularExpression
-- Contributors: TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie
File Attachments
Each topic can have one or more files of any type attached to it by using the Attach screen to upload (or download) files from your local PC. Attachments are stored under revision control: uploads are automatically backed up; all previous versions of a modified file can be retrieved.What Are Attachments Good For?
File Attachments can be used to archive data, or to create powerful customized groupware solutions, like file sharing and document management systems, and quick Web page authoring.Document Management System
- You can use Attachments to store and retrieve documents (in any format, with associated graphics, and other media files); attach documents to specific TWiki topics; collaborate on documents with full revision control; distribute documents on a need-to-know basis using web and topic-level access control; create a central reference library that's easy to share with an user group spread around the world.
File Sharing
- For file sharing, FileAttachments on a series of topics can be used to quickly create a well-documented, categorized digital download center for all types of files: documents; graphics and other media; drivers and patches; applications; anything you can safely upload!
Web Authoring
- Through your Web browser, you can easily upload graphics (or sound files, or anything else you want to link to on a page) and place them on a single page, or use them across a web, or site-wide.
- NOTE: You can also add graphics - any files - directly, typically by FTP upload. This requires FTP access, and may be more convenient if you have a large number of files to load. FTP-ed files can't be managed using browser-based Attachment controls. You can use your browser to create TWikiVariables shortcuts, like this %H% = .
- NOTE: You can also add graphics - any files - directly, typically by FTP upload. This requires FTP access, and may be more convenient if you have a large number of files to load. FTP-ed files can't be managed using browser-based Attachment controls. You can use your browser to create TWikiVariables shortcuts, like this %H% =
Uploading Files
- Click on the
Attachlink at the bottom of the page. TheAttachscreen lets you browse for a file, add a comment, and upload it. The uploaded file will show up in the File Attachment table.- NOTE: The topic must already exist. It is a two step process if you want to attach a file to a non-existing topic; first create the topic, then add the file attachment.
- Any type of file can be uploaded. Some files that might pose a security risk are renamed, ex:
*.phpfiles are renamed to*.php.txtso that no one can place code that would be read in a .php file. - The previous upload path is retained for convenience. In case you make some changes to the local file and want to upload it, again you can copy the previous upload path into the Local file field.
- TWiki can limit the file size. This is defined by the
%ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT%variable of the TWikiPreferences, currently set at 10000 KB.- It's not recommended to upload files greater than a few hundred K through a browser. Large files can be extremely slow-loading, and often time out. Use an FTP site for large file uploads.
-
- Automatic attachments:
- When enabled, all files in a topic's attachment directory are shown as attachments to the topic - even if they were directly copied to the directory and never attached by using an 'Attach' link. This is a convenient way to quickly "attach" files to a topic without uploading them one by one; although at the cost of losing audit trail and version control.
- To enable this feature, set the {AutoAttachPubDir} configuration option.
- NOTE: The automatic attachment feature can only be used by an administrator who has access to the server's file system.
Downloading Files
- Click on the file in the File Attachment table.
- NOTE: There is no access control on individual attachments. If you need control over single files, create a separate topic per file and set topic-level access restrictions for each.
Moving Attachment Files
An attachment can be moved between topics.- Click
Manageon the Attachment to be moved. - On the control screen, select the new web and/or topic.
- Click
Move. The attachment and its version history are moved. The original location is stored as topic Meta Data.
Deleting Attachments
Move unwanted Attachments to webTrash, topic TrashAttachment.
Linking to Attached Files
- Once a file is attached it can be referenced in the topic. Example:
-
Attachfile:Sample.txt -
Edittopic and enter:%ATTACHURL%/Sample.txt -
Preview:%ATTACHURL%/Sample.txttext appears as: /twiki/pub/TWiki/FileAttachment/Sample.txt, a link to the text file.
-
- To reference an attachment located in another topic, enter:
-
%PUBURLPATH%/%WEB%/OtherTopic/Sample.txt(if it's within the same web) -
%PUBURLPATH%/Otherweb/OtherTopic/Sample.txt(if it's in a different web)
-
- Attached HTML files and text files can be inlined in a topic. Example:
-
Attachfile:Sample.txt -
Edittopic and write text:%INCLUDE{"%ATTACHURL%/Sample.txt"}%- Content of attached file is shown inlined.
- Read more about INCLUDE in TWikiVariables
-
- GIF, JPG and PNG images can be attached and shown embedded in a topic. Example:
-
Attachfile:Smile.gif -
Edittopic and write text:%ATTACHURL%/Smile.gif -
Preview: text appears as /twiki/pub/TWiki/FileAttachment/Smile.gif, an image.
-
File Attachment Contents Table
Files attached to a topic are displayed in a directory table, displayed at the bottom of the page, or optionally, hidden and accessed when you click Attach.| I | Attachment | Action | Size | Date | Who | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 txt | Sample.txt | manage | 0.1 K | 22 Jul 2000 - 19:37 | TWikiContributor | Just a sample |
 gif | Smile.gif | manage | 0.1 K | 22 Jul 2000 - 19:38 | TWikiContributor | Smiley face |
File Attachment Controls
Clicking on aManage link takes you to a new page that looks a bit like this (depending on what skin is selected):
Attach new file
Select a new local file to update attachmentSample.txt (UploadingUser)Upload up to 10000 KB.
or Cancel
- The first table is a list of all attachments, including their attributes. An
hmeans the attachment is hidden, it isn't listed when viewing a topic.
- The second table is all the versions of the attachment. Click on View to see that version. If it's the most recent version, you'll be taken to an URL that always displays the latest version, which is usually what you want.
- To change the comment on an attachment, enter a new comment and then click Change properties. Note that the comment listed against the specific version will not change, however the comment displayed when viewing the topic does change.
- To hide/unhide an attachment, enable the
Hide filecheckbox, then clickChange properties.
Known Issues
- Unlike topics, attachments are not locked during editing. As a workaround, you can change the comment to indicate an attachment file is being worked on - the comment on the specific version isn't lost, it's there when you list all versions of the attachment.
- Attachments are not secured. Anyone can read them if they know the name of the web, topic and attachment.
TWiki Forms
Add structure to content with forms attached to twiki topics. TWiki forms (with form fields) and formatted search are the base for building database applications.Overview
By adding form-based input to freeform content, you can structure topics with unlimited, easily searchable categories. A form is enabled for a web and can be added to a topic. The form data is shown in tabular format when the topic is viewed, and can be changed in edit mode using edit fields, radio buttons, check boxes and list boxes. Many different form types can be defined in a web, though a topic can only have only form attached to it at a time. Typical steps to build an application based on TWiki forms:- Define a form template
- Enable the form for a web
- Add the form to a template topic
- Build an HTML form to create new topics based on that template topic
- Build a FormattedSearch to list topics that share the same form
Defining a Form
A Form Template specifies the fields in a form. A Form Template is simply a page containing a TWiki table, where each row of the table specifies one form field.- Create a new topic with your form name:
YourForm,ExpenseReportForm,InfoCategoryForm,RecordReviewForm, whatever you need. - Create a TWiki table, with each column representing one element of an entry field:
Name,Type,Size,Values,Tooltip message, andAttributes(see sample below). - For each field, fill in a new line; for the type of field, select from the list.
- Save the topic (you can later choose to enable/disable individual forms).
Example:See structure of a form for full details of what types are available and what all the columns mean. You can also retrieve possible values for
| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | *Values* | *Tooltip message* | *Attributes* |
| TopicClassification | select | 1 | NoDisclosure, PublicSupported, PublicFAQ | blah blah... | |
| OperatingSystem | checkbox | 3 | OsHPUX, OsLinux, OsSolaris, OsWin | blah blah... | |
| OsVersion | text | 16 | | blah blah... | |
Name Type Size Values Tooltip message Attributes TopicClassification select 1 NoDisclosure, PublicSupported, PublicFAQ blah blah... OperatingSystem checkbox 3 OsHPUX, OsLinux, OsSolaris, OsWin blah blah... OsVersion text 16 blah blah...
select, checkbox or radio types from other topics:
Example:Field values can also be obtained as the result of a FormattedSearch. For example,
- In the WebForm topic, define the form:
Name Type Size Values Tooltip message Attributes TopicClassification select 1 blah blah... OperatingSystem checkbox 3 blah blah... OsVersion text 16 blah blah...
Valuesfield blank.
- Then in the TopicClassification topic, define the possible values:
| *Name* |
| NoDisclosure |
| Public Supported |
| Public FAQ |
Name NoDisclosure Public Supported Public FAQ
%SEARCH{"Office$" scope="topic" web="%MAINWEB%" nonoise="on" type="regex" format="$web.$topic" separator=", " }%
when used in the value field of the form definition, this will find all topic names in the Main web which end in "Office" and use them as the legal field values.
Enabling Forms by Web
Forms have to be enabled for each individual web. TheWEBFORMS variable in WebPreferences is optional and defines a list of possible form templates.
Example:
- Set WEBFORMS = BugForm, FeatureForm, Books.BookLoanForm
- With
WEBFORMSenabled, an extra button is added to the edit view. If the topic doesn't have a Form, an Add Form button appears at the end of the topic. If a Form is present, a Change button appears in the top row of the Form. The buttons open a screen that enables selection of a form specified inWEBFORMS, or the No form option. - You have to list the available form topics explicitly. You cannot use a
SEARCHto defineWEBFORMS.
Adding a form to a topic
- Edit the topic and follow the "Add form" button to add a Form. This is typically done to a template topic, either to the
WebTopicEditTemplatetopic in a web, or a new topic that serves as an application specific template topic. Initial Form values can be set there.
- Additionally a new topic can be given a Form using the
formtemplateparameter in the (edit or save) URL. Initial values can then be provided in the URLs or as form values:- other than checkboxes:
name, ex:?BugPriority=1 - checkbox:
namevalue=1, ex:?ColorRed=1.
Boxes with a tick must be specified. - Example: This will add a textfield for the new topic name and a "Create"-Button to your topic. When the button is pressed, the topic editor will open with the form "MyForm" already attached to the new topic.
<form name="newtopic" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{"edit"}%/%WEB%/"> <input type="hidden" name="formtemplate" value="MyForm" /> New topic name <input type="text" name="topic" size="40" /> <input type="submit" class="twikiSubmit" value="Create" /> </form>
- other than checkboxes:
- Tip: For TWiki applications you can automatically generate unique topicnames.
- Note: Initial values will not be submitted to the form of a new topic if you only use the formtemplate parameter.
Changing a form
- You can change a form definition, and TWiki will try to make sure you don't lose any data from the topics that use that form.
- If you change the form definition, the changes will not take affect in a topic that uses that form until you edit and save it.
- If you add a new field to the form, then it will appear next time you edit a topic that uses the form.
- If you delete a field from the form, or change a field name, then the data will not be visible when you edit the topic (the changed form definition will be used). If you save the topic, the old data will be lost (though thanks to revision control, you can always see it in older versions of the topic)
- If two people edit the same topic containing a form at exactly the same time, and both change fields in the form, TWiki will try to merge the changes so that no data is lost.
Structure of a Form Template
A Form Template specifies the fields in a form. A Form Template is simply a page containing a TWiki table, where each row of the table specifies one form field. Each column of the table is one element of an entry field:Name, Type, Size, Values, Tooltip message, and Attributes.
The Name, Type and Size columns are required. Other columns are optional. The form must have a header row (e.g. | *Name* | *Type* | *Size* |).
Name is the name of the form field.
The Type, Size and Value fields describe the legal values for this field, and how to display them. -
Typecheckboxspecifies one or more checkboxes. TheSizefield specifies how many checkboxes will be displayed on each line. TheValuefield should be a comma-separated list of item labels.-
Typecheckbox+buttonswill add Set and Clear buttons to the basiccheckboxtype.
-
-
Typeradiois likecheckboxexcept that radio buttons are mutually exclusive; only one can be selected. -
Typelabelspecifies read-only label text, TheValuefield should contian the text of the label. -
Typeselectspecifies a select box. TheValuefield should contain a comma-separated list of options for the box. TheSizefield can specify a fixed size for the box (e.g.1, or a range e.g.3..10. If you specify a range, then the box will never be smaller than 3 items, never larger than 10, and will be 5 high if there are only 5 options.- There are two modifiers that can be applied to the
selecttype:-
select+multiturns multiselect on for the select, to allow Shift+Click and Ctrl+Click to select (or deselect) multiple items. -
select+valuesallows the definition of values that are different to the displayed text. For example:| Field 9 | select+values | 5 | One, Two=2, Three=III, Four | Various values formats |
shows but the values or optionsTwoandThreeare2andIIIrespectively.
You can combine these modifiers e.g.select+multi+values
-
- There are two modifiers that can be applied to the
-
Typetextspecifies a one-line text field.Sizespecifies the text box width in number of characters.Valueis the initial (default) content when a new topic is created with this form template. -
Typetextareaspecifies a multi-line text box. TheSizefield should specify columns x rows, e.g.80x6; default size is 40x5. As fortext, theValuefield specifies the initial text -
Typedatespecifies a single-line text box and a button next to it; clicking on the button will bring up a calendar from which the user can select a date. The date can also be typed into the text box.Sizespecifies the text box width in characters. As fortext, theValuefield specifies the initial text
Tooltip message is a message that will be displayed when the cursor is hovered over the field in edit view.
Attributes specifies special attributes for the field. Multiple attributes can be entered, separated by spaces. - An attribute
Hindicates that this field should not be shown in view mode. However, the field is available for editing and storing information. - An attribute
Mindicates that this field is mandatory. The topic cannot be saved unless a value is provided for this field. If the field is found empty during topic save, an error is raised and the user is redirected to anoopspage. Mandatory fields are indicated by an asterisks next to the field name.
| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | | Name | text | 80 | | Date | date | 30 |Field Name Notes:
- Field names have to be unique.
- A very few field names are reserved. If you try to use one of these names, TWiki will automatically append an underscore to the name when the form is used.
- You can space out the title of the field, and it will still find the topic e.g.
Aeroplane Manufacturersis equivalent toAeroplaneManufacturers. - If a
labelfield has no name, it will not be shown when the form is viewed, only when it is edited. - Field names can in theory include any text, but you should stick to alphanumeric characters. If you want to use a non-wikiname for a
select,checkboxorradiofield, and want to get the values from another topic, you can use[[...]]links. This notation can also be used when referencing another topic to obtain field values, but a name other than the topic name is required as the name of the field. - Leading and trailing spaces are not significant.
- The field value will be used to initialize a field when a form is created, unless specific values are given by the topic template or query parameters. The first item in the list for a select or radio type is the default item. For
label,text, andtextareafields the value may also contain commas.checkboxfields cannot be initialized through the form template. - Leading and trailing spaces are not significant.
- Field values can also be generated through a FormattedSearch, which must yield a suitable table as the result.
- Variables in the initial values of a form definition get expanded when form values are initialized from the form definition. The escape words
$quot("),$percnt(%),$dollar($),$n(newline), and$nopcan be used to prevent expansion.
- The topic definition is not read when a topic is viewed.
- Form definition topics can be protected in the usual manner, using TWikiAccessControl, to limit who can change the form template and/or individual value lists. Note that view access is required to be able to edit topics that use the form definition, though view access to the form definition is not required to view a topic where the form has been used.
Values in Other Topics
As described above, you can also retrieve possible values for select, checkbox or radio types from other topics. For example, if you have a rows defined like this:| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | | AeroplaneManufacturers | select | |the TWiki will look for the topic AeroplaneManufacturers to get the possible values for the
select.
The AeroplaneManufacturers topic must contain a table, where each row of the table describes a possible value. The table only requires one column, Name. Other columns may be present, but are ignored.
For example:
| *Name* | | Routan | | Focke-Wulf | | De Havilland |Notes:
- The
Valuescolumn must be empty in the referring form definition.
Extending the range of form data types
You can extend the range of data types accepted by forms by using TWikiPlugins. All such extended data types are single-valued (can only have one value) with the following exceptions:- any type name starting with
checkbox - any type name with
+multianywhere in the name
Hints and Tips
Build an HTML form to create new Form-based topics
- New topics with a form are created by simple HTML forms asking for a topic name. For example, you can have a
SubmitExpenseReporttopic where you can create new expense reports, aSubmitVacationRequesttopic, and so on. These can specify the required template topic with its associated form. Template topics has more.
Searching for Form Data
TWiki Forms accept user-input data, stored as TWikiMetaData. Meta data also contains program-generated info about changes, attachments, etc. To find, format and display form and other meta data, see TWikiMetaData,FORMFIELD, SEARCH and METASEARCH variables in TWikiVariables, and TWiki Formatted Search.
ExampleSearching forms this way is obviously pretty inefficient, but it's easy to do. If you want better performance, take a look at some of the structured wiki extensions that support higher performance searching e.g. TWiki:Plugins.DBCachePlugin.
TWiki users often want to have an overview of topics they contributed to. With the$formfieldparameter it is easy to display the value of a classification field next to the topic link:| *Topic* | *Classification* | %SEARCH{"%MAINWEB%.UserName" scope="text" nosearch="on" nototal="on" order="modified" reverse="on" format="|<b>[[$web.$topic][$topic]]</b> |<nop>$formfield(TopicClassification) |" web="Sandbox"}%
Gotcha!
- Some browsers may strip linefeeds from
textfields when a topic is saved. If you need linefeeds in a field, make sure it is atextarea.
TWiki Templates
Definition of the templates used to render all HTML pages displayed in TWikiOverview
There are three types of template:- Master Templates: Define blocks of text for use in other templates
- HTML Page Templates: Define the layout of TWiki pages
- Template Topics: Define default text when you create a new topic
Tip: TWiki:TWiki.TWikiTemplatesSupplement on TWiki.org has supplemental documentation on TWiki templates.
The TWiki Template System
Templates are plain text with embedded template directives that tell TWiki how to compose blocks of text together to create something new.How Template Directives Work
- Template directives are embedded in templates.
- Directives are of the form
%TMPL:<key>%and%TMPL:<key>{"attr"}%. - Directives:
-
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The file is found as described below. -
%TMPL:DEF{"block"}%: Define a block. All text between this and the next%TMPL:END%directive is removed and saved for later use with%TMPL:P. -
%TMPL:END%: Ends a block definition. -
%TMPL:P{"var"}%: Includes a previously defined block. -
%{...}%: is a comment.
-
- Two-pass processing lets you use a variable before or after declaring it.
- Templates and TWikiSkins work transparently and interchangeably. For example, you can create a skin that overloads only the
twiki.tmplmaster template, liketwiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer. - Use of template directives is optional: templates work without them.
- NOTE: Template directives work only for templates: they do not get processed in normal topic text.
%TMPL:DEF{"x"}% x%P%z%TMPL:END% then %TMPL:P{"x" P="y"}% will expand to xyz.
Note that parameters can simply be ignored; for example=%TMPL:P{"x"}%= will expand to x%P%z.
Any alphanumeric characters can be used in parameter names. You are highly recommended to use parameter names that cannot be confused with TWikiVariables.
Note that three parameter names, context, then and else are reserved. They are used to support a limited form of "if" condition that you can use to select which of two templates to use, based on a context identifier:
%TMPL:DEF{"link_inactive"}%<input type="button" disabled value="Link>%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"link_active"}%<input type="button" onclick="link()" value="Link" />%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:P{context="inactive" then="inactive_link" else="active_link"}% for %CONTEXT%
When the "inactive" context is set, then this will expand the "link_inactive" template; otherwise it will expand the "link_active" template.
See IfStatements for details of supported context identifiers.
Finding Templates
Templates are stored either in thetwiki/templates directory, or can also be read from user topics. As an example, twiki/templates/view.tmpl is the default template file for the twiki/bin/view script.
Templates that are included using %TMPL:INCLUDE% are also found using the same search algorithm, unless you explicitly put '.tmpl' at the end of the template name. In this case, the string is assumed to be the full name of a template in the templates directory, and the algorithm isn't used.
TWiki uses the following search order to determine which template file or topic to use for a particular script. The skin path is set as described in TWikiSkins.
For example, theLegend:
- templates/web/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
- templates/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
- templates/web/script.tmpl
- templates/script.tmpl
- The TWiki topic aweb.atopic if the template name can be parsed into aweb.atopic
- The TWiki topic web.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
- The TWiki topic web.ScriptTemplate
- The TWiki topic %TWIKIWEB%.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
- The TWiki topic %TWIKIWEB%.ScriptTemplate
- script refers to the script name, e.g
view,edit- Script refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g
View- skin refers to a skin name, e.g
dragon,pattern. All skins are checked at each stage, in the order they appear in the skin path.- Skin refers to the same, but with the first character capitalized, e.g
Dragon- web refers to the current web
example template file will be searched for in the following places, when the current web is Thisweb and the skin path is print,pattern: -
templates/Thisweb/example.print.tmpldeprecated; don't rely on it -
templates/Thisweb/example.pattern.tmpldeprecated; don't rely on it -
templates/example.print.tmpl -
templates/example.pattern.tmpl -
templates/Thisweb/example.tmpldeprecated; don't rely on it -
templates/example.tmpl -
Thisweb.PrintSkinExampleTemplate -
Thisweb.PatternSkinExampleTemplate -
Thisweb.ExampleTemplate -
TWiki.PrintSkinExampleTemplate -
TWiki.PatternSkinExampleTemplate -
TWiki.ExampleTemplate
view and edit scripts, for example when a topic-specific template is required. Two preference variables can be user to override the templates used: -
VIEW_TEMPLATEsets the template to be used for viewing a topic -
EDIT_TEMPLATEsets the template for editing a topic.
view and edit respectively. The template search order is as specified above.
TMPL:INCLUDE recusion for piecewise customisation, or mixing in new features
If there is recusion in the TMPL:INCLUDE chain (eg twiki.classic.tmpl contains%TMPL:INCLUDE{"twiki"}%, the templating system will include the next twiki.SKIN in the skin path.
For example, to create a customisation of pattern skin, where you only want to over-ride the breadcrumbs for the view script, you can create only a view.yourlocal.tmpl:
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"view"}%
%TMPL:DEF{"breadcrumb"}% We don't want any crumbs %TMPL:END%
and then set SKIN=yourlocal,pattern
Master Templates
Master templates use the block definition directives (%TMPL:DEF and %TMPL:END%) to define common sections that appear in two or more other templates. twiki.tmpl is the default master template.
Template variable: Defines: %TMPL:DEF{"sep"}%"|" separator %TMPL:DEF{"htmldoctype"}%Start of all HTML pages %TMPL:DEF{"standardheader"}%Standard header (ex: view, index, search) %TMPL:DEF{"simpleheader"}%Simple header with reduced links (ex: edit, attach, oops) %TMPL:DEF{"standardfooter"}%Footer, excluding revision and copyright parts %TMPL:DEF{"oops"}%Skeleton of oops dialog
HTML Page Templates
HTML page templates are files of HTML mixed with template directives that tell TWiki how to build up an HTML page. As described above, the template system supports the use of 'include' directives that let you re-use the same sections of HTML - such as headers and footers - in several different places. TWiki uses HTML page templates when composing the output from all actions, like topic view, edit, and preview. This allows you to change the look and feel of all pages by editing just a few template files. HTML page templates are also used in the definition of TWikiSkins.Template Topics
Template topics define the default text for new topics. There are three types of template topic:When you create a new topic, TWiki locates a topic to use as a content template according to the following search order:
Topic Name: What it is: WebTopicViewTemplate Error page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic WebTopicNonWikiTemplate Alert page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic with a non-WikiName WebTopicEditTemplate Default text shown when you create a new topic.
- A topic name specified by the
templatetopicCGI parameter- if no web is specified, the current web is searched first and then the TWiki web
- WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web
- WebTopicEditTemplate in the TWiki web
Edit Template Topics and Variable Expansion
The following variables get expanded when a user creates a new topic based on a template topic:
Variable: Description: %DATE%Signature format date. See VarDATE %GMTIME%Date/time. See VarGMTIME %GMTIME{...}%Formatted date/time. See VarGMTIME2 %NOP%A no-operation variable that gets removed. Useful to prevent a SEARCH from hitting an edit template topic; also useful to escape a variable, such as %URLPA%NOP%RAM{...}%escaping URLPARAM%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
...
%ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%Text that gets removed when a new topic based on the template is created. See notes below. %SERVERTIME%Date/time. See VarSERVERTIME %SERVERTIME{...}%Formatted date/time. See VarSERVERTIME2 %USERNAME%Login name of user who is instantiating the new topic, e.g. guest %URLPARAM{"name"}%Value of a named URL parameter %WIKINAME%WikiName of user who is instantiating the new topic, e.g. TWikiGuest %WIKIUSERNAME%User name of user who is instantiating the new tpoic, e.g. Main.TWikiGuest
%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
...
%ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% markers are used to embed text that you do not want expanded when a new topic based on the template topic is created. For example, you might want to write in the template topic:
This template can only be changed by: * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroupThis will restrict who can edit the template topic, but will get removed when a new topic based on that template topic is created.
%NOP% can be used to prevent expansion of TWiki variables that would otherwise be expanded during topic creation e.g.i escape %nop>SERVERTIME% with %SER%NOP%VERTIME%.
All other variables are unchanged, e.g. are carried over "as is" into the new topic.
Template Topics in Action
Here is an example for creating new topics based on a specific template topic: The above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag namedtemplatetopic specifies ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic to use. Here is the HTML source of the form:
<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{edit}%/%WEB%/">
* New example topic:
<input type="text" name="topic" value="ExampleTopic%SERVERTIME{$yearx$mox$day}%" size="26" />
<input type="hidden" name="templatetopic" value="ExampleTopicTemplate" />
<input type="hidden" name="topicparent" value="%TOPIC%" />
<input type="hidden" name="onlywikiname" value="on" />
<input type="hidden" name="onlynewtopic" value="on" />
<input type="submit" class="twikiSubmit" value="Create" />
(date format is <nop>YYYYxMMxDD)
</form>
See TWikiScripts#edit for details of the parameters that the edit script understands.
TIP: You can use the %WIKIUSERNAME% and %DATE% variables in your topic templates to include the signature of the person creating a new topic. The variables are expanded into fixed text when a new topic is created. The standard signature is: -- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE%
Automatically Generated Topicname
For TWiki application it is useful to automatically generate unique topicnames, such as BugID0001, BugID0002, etc. You can addAUTOINC<n> to the topic name in the edit and save scripts, it gets replaced with an auto-incremented number on topic save. <n> is a number starting from 0, and may include leading zeros. Leading zeros are used to zero-pad numbers so that auto-incremented topic names can sort properly. Deleted topics are not re-used to ensure uniqueness of topic names. That is, the auto-incremented number is always higher than the existing ones, even if there are gaps in the number sequence.
Examples: -
BugAUTOINC0- creates topic namesBug0,Bug1,Bug2, ... (does not sort properly) -
ItemAUTOINC0000- creates topic namesItem0000,Item0001,Item0002, ... (sorts properly up to 9999) -
DocIDAUTOINC10001- start withDocID10001,DocID10002, ... (sorts properly up to 99999; auto-links)
[[%SCRIPTURLPATH{"edit"}%/%WEB%/BugIDAUTOINC00000?templatetopic=BugTemplate&topicparent=%TOPIC%&t=%SERVERTIME{"$day$hour$min$sec"}%][Create new item]]=
Master Templates by Example
Attached is an example of an oops based templateoopsbase.tmpl and an example oops dialog oopstest.tmpl based on the base template. NOTE: This isn't the release version, just a quick, simple demo.
Base template oopsbase.tmpl
The first line declares a delimiter variable called "sep", used to separate multiple link items. The variable can be called anywhere by writing%TMPL:P{"sep"}%
%TMPL:DEF{"sep"}% | %TMPL:END%
<html>
<head>
<title> %WIKITOOLNAME% . %WEB% . %TOPIC% %.TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</title>
<base href="%SCRIPTURLPATH{"view"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%">
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%" rowspan="2" valign="top" width="1%">
<a href="%WIKIHOMEURL%">
<img src="%PUBURLPATH%/wikiHome.gif" border="0"></a>
</td>
<td>
<b>%WIKITOOLNAME% . %WEB% . </b><font size="+2">
<B>%TOPIC%</b> %TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%">
<td colspan="2">
%TMPL:P{"webaction"}%
</td>
</tr>
</table>
--- ++ %TMPL:P{"heading"}%
%TMPL:P{"message"}%
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0">
<tr bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%">
<td valign="top">
Topic <b>%TOPIC%</b> . {
%TMPL:P{"topicaction"}%
}
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
Test template oopstest.tmpl
Each oops template basically just defines some variables and includes the base template that does the layout work.
%TMPL:DEF{"titleaction"}% (test =titleaction=) %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"webaction"}% test =webaction= %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"heading"}%
Test heading %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"message"}%
Test =message=. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
* Some more blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
* Param1: %PARAM1%
* Param2: %PARAM2%
* Param3: %PARAM3%
* Param4: %PARAM4%
%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"topicaction"}%
Test =topicaction=:
[[%WEB%.%TOPIC%][OK]] %TMPL:P{"sep"}%
[[%TWIKIWEB%.TWikiRegistration][Register]] %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"oopsbase"}%
Sample screen shot of oopstest.tmpl
With URL:.../bin/oops/Sandbox/TestTopic2?template=oopstest¶m1=WebHome¶m2=WebNotify
Related Topics: TWikiSkins, DeveloperDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory
-- Contributors: TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie, TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.MikeMannix, TWiki:Main.DavidLeBlanc
TWiki Skins
Skins overlay regular templates to give different looks and feels to TWiki screens.Overview
TWiki uses TWikiTemplates files as the basis of all the screens it uses to interact with users. Each screen has an associated template file that contains the basic layout of the screen. This is then filled in by the code to generate what you see in the browser. TWiki ships with a default set of template files that give a basic look-and-feel. TWiki also includes support for skins that can be selected to give different, more sophisticated, look and feels. A default TWiki installation will usually start up with the PatternSkin already selected. Skins may also be defined by third parties and loaded into a TWiki installation to give more options. To see how TWiki looks when no skin is selected, view this topic with a non-existant skin. Topic text is not affected by the choice of skin, though a skin can be defined to use a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), which can sometimes give a radically different appearance to the text. Relevant links on TWiki.org:- TWiki:TWiki.TWikiSkinsSupplement - tip: supplemental documentation on TWiki skins
- TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackage - list of all contributed skin packages
- TWiki:Plugins.SkinDevelopment - discussion and feedback on contributed skins
- TWiki:Plugins.SkinBrainstorming - open forum for new skin ideas
- TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackageHowTo - template to create a new skin package
Changing the default TWiki skin
TWiki default ships with the skin PatternSkin activated. If you want to modify the layout, colors or even the templates to suit your own needs, have a look first at the topics PatternSkinCustomization and PatternSkinCssCookbook.Defining Skins
You may want to define your own skin, for example to comply with corporate web guidelines, or because you have a aesthetic vision that you want to share. The TWikiTemplates files used for skins are located in thetwiki/templates directory and are named according to the skin: <scriptname>.<skin>.tmpl. Skin files may also be defined in TWiki topics - see TWikiTemplates for details.
To start creating a new skin, copy the default TWikiTemplates (like view.tmpl), or copy an existing skin to use as a base for your own skin. You should only need to copy the files you intend to customise, as TWiki can be configured to fall back to another skin if a template is not defined in your skin. Name the files as described above (for example view.myskin.tmpl.
For your own TWiki skin you are encouraged to show a small 80x31 pixel 
logo at the bottom of your skin:
<a href="http://twiki.org/"><img src="%PUBURL%/%TWIKIWEB%/TWikiLogos/T-logo-80x15.gif" alt="This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform" width="80" height="15" title="This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform" border="0" /></a>
The standard TWiki skins show the logo in the %WEBCOPYRIGHT% variable.
Note: Two skin names have reserved meanings; text skin, and skin names starting with rss have hard-coded meanings.
The following template files are used for TWiki screens, and are referenced in the TWiki core code. If a skin doesn't define its own version of a template file, then TWiki will fall back to the next skin in the skin path, or finally, to the default version of the template file.
(Certain template files are expected to provide certain TMPL:DEFs - these are listed in sub-bullets) -
addform- used to select a new form for a topic -
attachagain- used when refreshing an existing attachment -
attachnew- used when attaching a new file to a topic -
attachtables- defines the format of attachments at the bottom of the standard topic view-
ATTACH:files:footer,ATTACH:files:header,ATTACH:files:row,ATTACH:versions:footer,ATTACH:versions:header,ATTACH:versions:row
-
-
changeform- used to change the form in a topic -
changes- used by thechangesscript -
edit- used for the edit screen -
form -
formtables- used to defined the format of forms-
FORM:display:footer,FORM:display:header,FORM:display:row
-
-
login- used for loggin in when using the TemplateLoginManager-
LOG_IN,LOG_IN_BANNER,LOG_OUT,LOGGED_IN_BANNER,NEW_USER_NOTE,UNRECOGNISED_USER
-
-
moveattachment- used when moving an attachment -
oopsaccessdenied- used to format Access Denied messages-
no_such_topic,no_such_web,only_group,topic_access
-
-
oopsattention- used to format Attention messages-
already_exists,bad_email,bad_ver_code,bad_wikiname,base_web_missing,confirm,created_web,delete_err,invalid_web_color,invalid_web_name,in_a_group,mandatory_field,merge_notice,missing_action,missing_fields,move_err,missing_action,no_form_def,no_users_to_reset,notwikiuser,oversized_upload,password_changed,password_mismatch,problem_adding,remove_user_done,rename_err,rename_not_wikiword,rename_topic_exists,rename_web_err,rename_web_exists,rename_web_prerequisites,reset_bad,reset_ok,save_error,send_mail_error,thanks,topic_exists,unrecognized_action,upload_name_changed,web_creation_error,web_exists,web_missing,wrong_password,zero_size_upload
-
-
oopschangelanguage- used to prompt for a new language when internationalisation is enabled -
oopsgeneric- a basic dialog for user information; provides "ok" button only -
oopslanguagechanged- used to confirm a new language when internationalisation is enabled -
oopsleaseconflict- used to format lease Conflict messages-
lease_active,lease_old
-
-
preview- used for previewing edited topics before saving -
rdiff- used for viewing topic differences -
registernotify- used by the user registration system -
registernotifyadmin- used by the user registration system -
rename- used when renaming a topic -
renameconfirm- used when renaming a topic -
renamedelete- used when renaming a topic -
renameweb- used when renaming a web -
renamewebconfirm- used when renaming a web -
renamewebdelete- used when renaming a web -
searchbookview- used to format inline search results in book view -
searchformat- used to format inline search results -
search- used by thesearchCGI script -
settings -
view- used by theviewCGI script -
viewprint- used to create the printable view
twiki.tmpl is a master template conventionally used by other templates, but not used directly by code.
Note: It is best to create these templates for your skin. If you TMPL:INCLUDE the default templates, or templates from other skins, when you are defining your own skin, you run the risk that the included file might change and break your skin.
Partial customisation, or adding in new features to an existing skin
You can use recusion in the TMPL:INCLUDE chain (eg twiki.classic.tmpl contains%TMPL:INCLUDE{"twiki"}%, the templating system will include the next twiki.SKIN in the skin path.
For example, to create a customisation of pattern skin, where you only want to remove the edit & WYSIWYG buttons from view page, you create only a view.yourlocal.tmpl:
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"view"}%
%TMPL:DEF{"edit_topic_link"}%%TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"edit_wysiwyg_link"}%%TMPL:END%
and then set SKIN=yourlocal,pattern.
Because ClassicSkin and the default templates use the same Template definition names, you can over-ride the edit links in them (or any skin derived from them) using the same view.yourlocal.tmpl (just set SKIN=yourlocal,classic either in TWikiPreferences for globally, or a Web's Webname.WebPreferences for a particular web)
Variables in Skins
You can use template variables, TWikiVariables, and other predefined variables to compose your skins. Some commonly used variables in skins:| Variable: | Expanded to: |
|---|---|
%WEBLOGONAME% | Filename of web logo |
%WEBLOGOIMG% | Image URL of web logo |
%WEBLOGOURL% | Link of web logo |
%WEBLOGOALT% | Alt text of web logo |
%WIKILOGOURL% | Link of page logo |
%WIKILOGOIMG% | Image URL of page logo |
%WIKILOGOALT% | Alt text of page logo |
%WEBBGCOLOR% | Web-specific background color, defined in the WebPreferences |
%WIKITOOLNAME% | The name of your TWiki site |
%SCRIPTURL% | The script URL of TWiki |
%SCRIPTURLPATH% | The script URL path |
%SCRIPTSUFFIX% | The script suffix, ex: .pl, .cgi |
%WEB% | The name of the current web. |
%TOPIC% | The name of the current topic. |
%WEBTOPICLIST% | Common links of current web, defined in the WebPreferences. It includes a Go box |
%TEXT% | The topic text, e.g. the content that can be edited |
%META{"form"}% | TWikiForm, if any |
%META{"attachments"}% | FileAttachment table |
%META{"parent"}% | The topic parent |
%EDITTOPIC% | Edit link |
%REVTITLE% | The revision title, if any, ex: (r1.6) |
%REVINFO% | Revision info, ex: r1.6 - 24 Dec 2002 - 08:12 GMT - TWikiGuest |
%WEBCOPYRIGHT% | Copyright notice, defined in the WebPreferences |
%BROADCASTMESSAGE% | Broadcast message at the beginning of your view template, can be used to alert users of scheduled downtimes; can be set in TWikiPreferences |
The "Go" Box and Navigation Box
The default skins include a "Go" box, also called "Jump" box, to jump to a topic. The box also understands URLs, e.g. you can typehttp://www.google.com/ to jump to an external web site. The feature is handy if you build a skin that has a select box of frequently used links, like Intranet home, employee database, sales database and such. A little JavaScript gets into action on the onchange method of the select tag to fill the selected URL into the "Go" box field, then submits the form.
Here is an example form that has a select box and the "Go" box for illustration purposes. You need to have JavaScript enabled for this to work:
Note: Redirect to a URL only works if it is enabled in configure (Miscellaneous, {AllowRedirectUrl}).
Using Cascading Style Sheets
CSS files are gererally attachments to the skin topic that are included in the the skin templates - in the case of PatternSkin in the templatestyles.pattern.tmpl.
- To see how CSS is used in the default TWiki skin, see: PatternSkin
- If you write a complete new skin, this is the syntax to use in a template file:
<style type='text/css' media='all'>@import url('%PUBURLPATH%/%TWIKIWEB%/MySkin/mystyle.css');</style>
Attachment Tables
Controlling the look and feel of attachment tables is a little bit more complex than for the rest of a skin. By default, the attachment table is a standard TWiki table, and the look is controlled in the same way as other tables. In a very few cases you may want to change the content of the table as well. The format of standard attachment tables is defined through the use of special TWiki template macros which by default, are defined in theattachtables.tmpl template using the %TMPL:DEF macro syntax described in TWikiTemplates. These macros are:
| Macro | Description |
|---|---|
ATTACH:files:header | Standard title bar |
ATTACH:files:row | Standard row |
ATTACH:files:footer | Footer for all screens |
ATTACH:files:header:A | Title bar for upload screens, with attributes column |
ATTACH:files:row:A | Row for upload screen |
ATTACH:files:footer:A | Footer for all screens |
| Macro | Description |
|---|---|
ATTACH:versions:header | Header for versions table on upload screen |
ATTACH:versions:row | Row format for versions table on upload screen |
ATTACH:versions:footer | Footer for versions table on upload screen |
ATTACH:row macros are expanded for each file in the attachment table, using the following special tags:
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
%A_URL% | URL that will recover the file |
%A_REV% | Revision of this file |
%A_ICON% | A file icon suitable for representing the attachment content |
%A_FILE% | The name of the file |
%A_SIZE% | The size of the file |
%A_DATE% | The date the file was uploaded |
%A_USER% | The user who uploaded it |
%A_COMMENT% | The comment they put in when uploading it |
%A_ATTRS% | The attributes of the file as seen on the upload screen e.g "h" for a hidden file |
Packaging and Publishing Skins
See TWiki:Plugins/SkinPackagingHowTo and TWiki:Plugins/SkinDeveloperFAQBrowsing Installed Skins
You can try out all installed skins in the TWikiSkinBrowser.Activating Skins
TWiki uses a skin search path, which lets you combine skins additively. The skin path is defined using a combination of TWikiVariables and URL parameters. TWiki works by asking for a template for a particular function - for example, 'view'. The detail of how templates are searched for is described in TWikiTemplates, but in summary, the templates directory is searched for a file calledview.skin.tmpl, where skin is the name of the skin e.g. pattern. If no template is found, then the fallback is to use view.tmpl. Each skin on the path is searched for in turn. For example, if you have set the skin path to local,pattern then view.local.tmpl will be searched for first, then view.pattern.tmpl and finally view.tmpl.
The basic skin is defined by a SKIN setting:
-
Set SKIN = catskin, bearskin
?skin=catskin,bearskin:
Setting SKIN (or the ?skin parameter in the URL) replaces the existing skin path setting, for the current page only. You can also extend the existing skin path as well, using covers.
-
Set COVER = ruskin
ruskin, catskin, bearskin). There is also an equivalent cover URL parameter. The difference between setting SKIN vs. COVER is that if the chosen template is not found (e.g., for included templates), SKIN will fall back onto the next skin in line, or the default skin, if only one skin was present, while COVER will always fall back onto the current skin.
An example would be invoking the printable mode, which is achieved by applying ?cover=print. The view.print.tmpl simply invokes the viewprint template for the current skin which then can appropriately include all other used templates for the current skin. Where the printable mode be applied by using SKIN, all skins would have the same printable appearance.
The full skin path is built up as follows: SKIN setting (or ?skin if it is set), then COVER setting is added, then ?cover.
Hard-Coded Skins
Thetext skin is reserved for TWiki internal use.
Skin names starting with rss also have a special meaning; if one or more of the skins in the skin path starts with 'rss' then 8-bit characters will be encoded as XML entities in the output, and the content-type header will be forced to text/xml.
Related Topics: TWikiSkinBrowser, AdminDocumentationCategory, DeveloperDocumentationCategory, TWiki:TWiki.TWikiSkinsSupplement
-- Contributors: TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.MikeMannix, TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie
TWiki Meta Data
Additional topic data, program-generated or from TWikiForms, is stored inMETA variable name/value pairs
Overview
TWikiMetaData usesMETA variables to store topic data that's separate from the main free-form content. This includes program-generated info like FileAttachment and topic movement data, and user-defined TWikiForms info. Use META variables to format and display Meta Data.
Meta Data Syntax
- Format is the same as in TWikiVariables, except all fields have a key.
-
%META:<type>{key1="value1" key2="value2" ...}%
-
- Order of fields within the meta variables is not defined, except that if there is a field with key
name, this appears first for easier searching (note the order of the variables themselves is defined).
- Each meta variable is on one line.
-
\n(new line) is represented in values by%_N_and"(double-quotes) by%_Q_%.
Example of Format
%META:TOPICINFO{version="1.6" date="976762663" author="LastEditorWikiName" format="1.0"}%
text of the topic
%META:TOPICMOVED{from="Codev.OldName" to="Codev.NewName"
by="TopicMoverWikiName" date="976762680"}%
%META:TOPICPARENT{name="NavigationByTopicContext"}%
%META:FILEATTACHMENT{name="Sample.txt" version="1.3" ... }%
%META:FILEATTACHMENT{name="Smile.gif" version="1.1" ... }%
%META:FORM{name="WebFormTemplate"}%
%META:FIELD{name="OperatingSystem" value="OsWin"}%
%META:FIELD{name="TopicClassification" value="PublicFAQ"}%
Meta Data Specifications
The current version of Meta Data is 1.0, with support for the following variables.META:TOPICINFO
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| version | Same as RCS version |
| date | integer, unix time, seconds since start 1970 |
| author | last to change topic, is the REMOTE_USER |
| format | Format of this topic, will be used for automatic format conversion |
META:TOPICMOVED
This is optional, exists if topic has ever been moved. If a topic is moved more than once, only the most recent META:TOPICMOVED meta variable exists in the topic, older ones are to be found in the rcs history.%META:TOPICMOVED{from="Codev.OldName" to="Codev.NewName" by="talintj" date="976762680"}%
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| from | Full name, i.e., web.topic |
| to | Full name, i.e., web.topic |
| by | Who did it, is the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName |
| date | integer, unix time, seconds since start 1970 |
- at present version number is not supported directly, it can be inferred from the RCS history.
- there is only one META:TOPICMOVED in a topic, older move information can be found in the RCS history.
META:TOPICPARENT
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| name | The topic from which this was created, typically when clicking on a ? questionmark link, or by filling out a form. Normally just TopicName, but it can be a full Web.TopicName format if the parent is in a different Web. |
META:FILEATTACHMENT
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| name | Name of file, no path. Must be unique within topic |
| version | Same as RCS revision |
| path | Full path file was loaded from |
| size | In bytes |
| date | integer, unix time, seconds since start 1970 |
| user | the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName |
| comment | As supplied when file uploaded |
| attr | h if hidden, optional |
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| movedfrom | full topic name - web.topic |
| movedby | the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName |
| movedto | full topic name - web.topic |
| moveddate | integer, unix time, seconds since start 1970 |
META:FORM
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| name | A topic name - the topic represents one of the TWikiForms. Can optionally include the web name (i.e., web.topic), but doesn't normally |
META:FIELD
Should only be present if there is a META:FORM entry. Note that this data is used when viewing a topic, the form template definition is not read.| Key | Name |
|---|---|
| name | Ties to entry in TWikiForms template, is title with all bar alphanumerics and . removed |
| title | Full text from TWikiForms template |
| value | Value user has supplied via form |
Recommended Sequence
There is no absolute need for Meta Data variables to be listed in a specific order within a topic, but it makes sense to do so a couple of good reasons:- form fields remain in the order they are defined
- the
difffunction output appears in a logical order
-
META:TOPICINFO -
META:TOPICPARENT(optional) - text of topic
-
META:TOPICMOVED(optional) -
META:FILEATTACHMENT(0 or more entries) -
META:FORM(optional) -
META:FIELD(0 or more entries; FORM required)
Viewing Meta Data in Page Source
When viewing a topic theRaw Text link can be clicked to show the text of a topic (i.e., as seen when editing). This is done by adding raw=on to URL. raw=debug shows the meta data as well as the topic data, ex: debug view for this topic
Rendering Meta Data
Meta Data is rendered with the %META% variable. This is mostly used in theview, preview and edit scripts.
You can render form fields in topic text by using the FORMFIELD variable. Example:%FORMFIELD{"TopicClassification"}% For details, see VarFORMFIELD. Current support covers:
| Variable usage: | Comment: |
|---|---|
%META{"form"}% | Show form data, see TWikiForms. |
%META{"formfield"}% | Show form field value. Parameter: name="field_name". Example:%META{ "formfield" name="TopicClassification" }% |
%META{"attachments"}% | Show attachments, except for hidden ones. Options: all="on": Show all attachments, including hidden ones. |
%META{"moved"}% | Details of any topic moves. |
%META{"parent"}% | Show topic parent. Options: dontrecurse="on": By default recurses up tree, at some cost. nowebhome="on": Suppress WebHome. prefix="...": Prefix for parents, only if there are parents, default "". suffix="...": Suffix, only appears if there are parents, default "". separator="...": Separator between parents, default is " > ". |
Known Issues
At present, there is no Meta Data support for Plugins. However, the format is readily extendable and theMeta.pm code that supports the format needs only minor alteration.
Related Topics: DeveloperDocumentationCategory, UserDocumentationCategory
-- Contributors: TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre, TWiki:Main.MikeMannix, TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie
TWiki Add-Ons
Add functionality to TWiki with extensions not based on the TWiki scripts.Overview
An add-on runs separately from the TWiki scripts, e.g. for data import, export to static HTML, etc. Add-Ons normally do not call any TWiki code directly, though may invoke TWiki scripts. There are different types on add-ons, they may be stand alone scripts, browser plugins, office tool extensions, or even a set of TWiki topics that form a TWiki application. Relevant links on TWiki.org:- TWiki:Plugins.AddOnPackage - list of all contributed add-on scripts
- TWiki:Plugins.AddOnDevelopment - discussion and feedback on contributed add-on scripts
- TWiki:Plugins.AddOnBrainstorming - open forum for new add-on script ideas
- TWiki:Plugins.AddOnPackageHowTo - instructions and template to create a new add-on topic
Add-Ons Installed on this TWiki
- CompareRevisionsAddOn: - version 03 Mar 2005 (Twiki Sep 2004 release) / 26 Feb 2006 (Twiki 4.0.x release)
Author: TWiki:Main/JChristophFuchs - last modified: r2 - 03 Jan 2008 - 18:36 - TWikiAdminGroup
Number of topics: 1
Installing Add-Ons
- Download an add-on from TWiki:Plugins.AddOnPackage.
- Follow the installation instructions in the add-on topic.
Creating new Add-Ons
- Visit TWiki:Plugins.AddOnPackageHowTo and follow the instructions.
TWiki Contribs
Reusable code that may be used over several plugins and add-ons.Overview
TWiki contribs extend the functionality of TWiki, typically used by plugins and add-ons. They may also provide alternative implementations for sections of the TWiki core e.g. user management, or when an extension just can't be implemented as a plugin because it requires very close access to TWiki internals. Relevant links on TWiki.org:- TWiki:Plugins.ContribPackage - list of all contributed contrib packages
- TWiki:Plugins.ContribDevelopment - discussion and feedback on contributed packages
- TWiki:Plugins.ContribBrainstorming - open forum for new contrib ideas
- TWiki:Plugins.ContribPackageHowTo - instructions and template to create a new contrib package
TWiki Contribs Installed on this TWiki
- BehaviourContrib: - version
Author: TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens - last modified: r1 - 01 Nov 2006 - 15:20 - TWikiContributor - JSCalendarContrib: Mishoo JSCalendar, packaged for use by plugins, skins and add-ons. - version
Author: TWiki:Main/CrawfordCurrie http://www.c-dot.co.uk - last modified: r4 - 16 Jan 2007 - 04:12 - TWikiContributor - KupuContrib: Integration of the OSCOM Kupu WYSIWYG editor with TWiki. - version 12392
Author: TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie http://www.c-dot.co.uk (from original work by TWiki:Main.RomainRaugi, TWiki:Main.DamienMandrioli, TWiki:Main.FredericLuddeni, and TWiki:Main.ColasNahaboo) - last modified: r1 - 16 Jan 2007 - 04:12 - TWikiContributor - MailerContrib: Supports e-mail notification of changes. - version
Author: TWiki:Main/CrawfordCurrie (http://c-dot.co.uk) - last modified: r4 - 10 Jan 2007 - 10:40 - TWikiAdminGroup - NatEditContrib: A Wikiwyg Editor - version v2.12
Author: TWiki:Main/MichaelDaum - last modified: r0 - 29 Apr 2008 - 15:47 - TWikiContributor - RatingContrib: Rating widget for TWiki forms - version 14295 (27 Jun 2007)
Author: - last modified: r2 - 03 Jan 2008 - 18:13 - TWikiAdminGroup - TipsContrib: Displays rotating list of "TWiki Tip-of-the-day" - version 2007-01-04
Author: TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main.PaulineCheung - last modified: r5 - 05 Jan 2007 - 04:02 - TWikiContributor - TwistyContrib: Twisty section javascript library to open/close content dynamically - version
Author: JavaScript created by TWiki:Main.SamHasler, Contrib packaged by TWiki:Main.RafaelAlvarez - last modified: r4 - 22 Feb 2006 - 08:42 - TWikiContributor
Number of topics: 8
Installing Contribs
- Download an add-on from TWiki:Plugins.ContribPackage.
- Follow the installation instructions in the contrib topic.
Creating new Contribs
- Visit TWiki:Plugins.ContribPackageHowTo and follow the instructions.
TWiki Plugins
Add functionality to TWiki with readily available Plugins; create Plugins based on APIsOverview
You can add Plugins to extend TWiki functionality, without altering the core code. A plug-in approach lets you:- add virtually unlimited features while keeping the main TWiki code compact and efficient;
- heavily customize an installation and still do clean updates to new versions of TWiki;
- rapidly develop new TWiki functions in Perl using the Plugin API.
- TWiki:TWiki.TWikiPluginsSupplement - tip: supplemental documentation on TWiki plugins
- TWiki:Plugins.PluginPackage - list of all contributed plugin packages
- TWiki:Plugins.PluginDevelopment - discussion and feedback on contributed plugins
- TWiki:Plugins.PluginBrainstorming - open forum for new plugin ideas
- TWiki:Plugins.PluginPackageHowTo - template to create a new plugin package
Installing Plugins
Each TWiki Plugin comes with its own documentation: step-by-step installation instructions, a detailed description of any special requirements, version details, and a working example for testing. Many Plugins have an install script that automates these steps for you. Special Requirements: Some Plugins need certain Perl modules to be preinstalled on the host system. Plugins may also use other resources, like graphics, other modules, applications, and templates. You should be able to find detailed instructions in the Plugin's documentation. Each Plugin has a standard release topic, located in the TWiki:Plugins web at TWiki.org. There's usually a number of other related topics, such as a developers page, and an appraisal page.On-Site Pretesting
The recommended approach to testing new Plugins before making them public is to create a second local TWiki installation, and test the Plugin there. You can allow selected users access to the test area. Once you are satisifed that it won't compromise your main installation, you can install it there as well. InstalledPlugins shows which Plugins are: 1) installed, 2) loading properly, and 3) what TWiki:Codev.PluginHandlers they invoke. Any failures are shown in the Errors section. The%FAILEDPLUGINS% variable can be used to debug failures. You may also want to check your webserver error log and the various TWiki log files.
Some Notes on Plugin Performance
The performance of the system depends to some extent on the number of Plugins installed and on the Plugin implementation. Some Plugins impose no measurable performance decrease, some do. For example, a Plugin might use many Perl libraries that need to be initialized with each page view (unless you run mod_perl). You can only really tell the performance impact by installing the Plugin and by measuring the performance with and without the new Plugin. Use the TWiki:Plugins.PluginBenchmarkAddOn, or test manually with the Apacheab utility. Example on Unix:time wget -qO /dev/null /twiki/bin/view/TWiki/AbcPlugin
If you need to install an "expensive" Plugin, but you only need its functionality only in a subset of your data, you can disable it elsewhere by defining the %DISABLEDPLUGINS% TWiki variable.
Define DISABLEDPLUGINS to be a comma-separated list of names of plugins to disable. Define it in Main.TWikiPreferences to disable those plugins everywhere, in the WebPreferences topic to disable them in an individual web, or in a topic to disable them in that topic. For example,
* Set DISABLEDPLUGINS = SpreadSheetPlugin, EditTablePlugin
Managing Installed Plugins
Some Plugins require additional settings or offer extra options that you have to select. Also, you may want to make a Plugin available only in certain webs, or temporarily disable it. And may want to list all available Plugins in certain topics. You can handle all of these management tasks with simple procedures:Enabling Plugins
Plugins can be enabled and disabled with the configure script. An installed Plugin needs to be enabled before it can be used.Plugin Evaluation Order
By default, TWiki executes Plugins in alphabetical order on Plugin name. It is possible to change the order, for example to evaluate database variables before the speadsheet CALCs. This can be done with{PluginsOrder} in the Plugins section of configure.
Plugin-Specific Settings
Plugins are usually configured by variables accessible though the configure interface, but in some cases (usually older plugins) TWiki preferences are used. If a TWiki variable is defined in a Plugin topic e.g:- Set SETTING = Create dynamic foo bar reports
%<pluginname>_<var>%. For example, %RUBBERPLUGIN_SETTING% shows the value of SETTING in the RubberPlugin topic.
Listing Active Plugins
Plugin status variables let you list all active Plugins wherever needed. %ACTIVATEDPLUGINS%
On this TWiki site, the enabled Plugins are: SpreadSheetPlugin, ActionTrackerPlugin, AttachmentListPlugin, BreadCrumbsPlugin, CalendarPlugin, CommentPlugin, CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin, EditTablePlugin, FilterPlugin, FlexWebListPlugin, FootNotePlugin, GluePlugin, IfDefinedPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, NatSkinPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedDotPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TablePlugin, TreeBrowserPlugin, TreePlugin, TwistyPlugin, VotePlugin, WysiwygPlugin.
%PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%
- SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like
"$SUM( $ABOVE() )"to TWiki tables and other topic text - ActionTrackerPlugin (21 May 2007, $Rev: 14969 (20 Sep 2007) $): Adds support for action tags in topics, and automatic notification of action statuses
- AttachmentListPlugin (1.0.1, $Rev: 15921 (07 Dec 2007) $): Displays a formattable list of topic attachments, anywhere in a topic.
- BreadCrumbsPlugin (v1.00, $Rev: 13657 (08 May 2007) $): A flexible way to display breadcrumbs navigation
- CalendarPlugin (Dakar, 9113): Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events
- CommentPlugin (Dakar, 11359): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
- CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 9808$):
- EditTablePlugin (any TWiki, 11646): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
- FilterPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 15932 (07 Dec 2007) $): Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
- FlexWebListPlugin (v1.21, $Rev: 16132 (03 Jan 2008) $): Flexible way to display hierarchical weblists
- FootNotePlugin (2.006): Footnotes are notes placed at the end of a topic.
- GluePlugin (2.00, $Rev: 15708 (23 Nov 2007) $): Enable markup to span multiple lines
- IfDefinedPlugin (v1.01, $Rev: 15157 (05 Oct 2007) $): Render content conditionally
- InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 11935$): Link
ExternalSite:Pagetext to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic - JQueryPlugin (v0.4, $Rev: 15608 (15 Nov 2007) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
- NatSkinPlugin (3.00-pre17, $Rev: 15581 (13 Nov 2007) $): Supplements the bare bones NatSkin theme for TWiki
- PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 9839): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
- RedDotPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 16137 (03 Jan 2008) $): Renders edit-links as little red dots
- RenderListPlugin (any TWiki, 1.034): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
- SlideShowPlugin (Any TWiki, $Rev: 12847$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
- SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 8154): Render smilies as icons, like for
:-)or for = :eek:= - TablePlugin (1.020, 12339): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
- TreeBrowserPlugin (v1.8): Renders a list as a collapsable/expandable tree.
- TreePlugin (1.7): Dynamic generation of TWiki topic trees
- TwistyPlugin (1.2.0, $Rev: 12154$): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
- VotePlugin (1.33, $Rev: 14312 (01 Jul 2007) $): Simple way to count votes
- WysiwygPlugin (Dakar, 12422): Translator framework for Wysiwyg editors
%FAILEDPLUGINS%
| Plugin | Errors |
|---|---|
| SpreadSheetPlugin | none |
| ActionTrackerPlugin | none |
| AttachmentListPlugin | none |
| BreadCrumbsPlugin | none |
| CalendarPlugin | none |
| CommentPlugin | none |
| CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin | none |
| EditTablePlugin | none |
| FilterPlugin | none |
| FlexWebListPlugin | none |
| FootNotePlugin | none |
| GluePlugin | none |
| IfDefinedPlugin | none |
| InterwikiPlugin | none |
| JQueryPlugin | none |
| NatSkinPlugin | none |
| PreferencesPlugin | none |
| RedDotPlugin | none |
| RenderListPlugin | none |
| SlideShowPlugin | none |
| SmiliesPlugin | none |
| TablePlugin | none |
| TreeBrowserPlugin | none |
| TreePlugin | none |
| TwistyPlugin | none |
| VotePlugin | none |
| WysiwygPlugin | none |
| Handler | Plugins |
|---|---|
| afterEditHandler | ActionTrackerPlugin |
| afterSaveHandler | TreePlugin |
| beforeCommonTagsHandler | PreferencesPlugin TwistyPlugin WysiwygPlugin |
| beforeEditHandler | ActionTrackerPlugin WysiwygPlugin |
| beforeSaveHandler | ActionTrackerPlugin CommentPlugin WysiwygPlugin |
| commonTagsHandler | SpreadSheetPlugin ActionTrackerPlugin CalendarPlugin CommentPlugin CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin EditTablePlugin FilterPlugin FootNotePlugin GluePlugin IfDefinedPlugin JQueryPlugin NatSkinPlugin RedDotPlugin SlideShowPlugin SmiliesPlugin |
| initPlugin | SpreadSheetPlugin ActionTrackerPlugin AttachmentListPlugin BreadCrumbsPlugin CalendarPlugin CommentPlugin CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin EditTablePlugin FilterPlugin FlexWebListPlugin FootNotePlugin GluePlugin IfDefinedPlugin InterwikiPlugin JQueryPlugin NatSkinPlugin PreferencesPlugin RedDotPlugin RenderListPlugin SlideShowPlugin SmiliesPlugin TablePlugin TreeBrowserPlugin TreePlugin TwistyPlugin VotePlugin WysiwygPlugin |
| modifyHeaderHandler | WysiwygPlugin |
| postRenderingHandler | EditTablePlugin FootNotePlugin NatSkinPlugin PreferencesPlugin RedDotPlugin TwistyPlugin WysiwygPlugin |
| preRenderingHandler | InterwikiPlugin SmiliesPlugin TablePlugin TreeBrowserPlugin |
| redirectCgiQueryHandler | RedDotPlugin |
| startRenderingHandler | RenderListPlugin This handler is deprecated - please check for updated versions of the plugins that use it! |
The TWiki Plugin API
The Application Programming Interface (API) for TWiki Plugins provides the specifications for hooking into the core TWiki code from your external Perl Plugin module.Available Core Functions
The TWikiFuncDotPm module (lib/TWiki/Func.pm) describes all the interfaces available to Plugins. Plugins should only use the interfaces described in this module.
Note: If you use other core functions not described in Func.pm, you run the risk of creating security holes. Also, your Plugin will likely break and require updating when you upgrade to a new version of TWiki.
Predefined Hooks
In addition to TWiki core functions, Plugins can use predefined hooks, or callbacks, as described in thelib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm module.
- All but the initPlugin are disabled. To enable a callback, remove
DISABLE_from the function name.
Hints on Writing Fast Plugins
- Delay initialization as late as possible. For example, if your Plugin is a simple syntax processor, you might delay loading extra Perl modules until you actually see the syntax in the text.
- For example, use an
evalblock like this:
eval { require IPC::Run }
return "<font color=\"red\">SamplePlugin: Can't load required modules ($@)</font>" if $@; - You can use a flag to avoid running the initialization twice
- The TWiki:Plugins.PluginBenchmarkAddOn comes in handy to measure and fine-tune the performance of your Plugin
Plugin Version Detection
To eliminate the incompatibility problems bound to arise from active open Plugin development, a Plugin versioning system is provided for automatic compatibility checking.- All modules require a
$VERSION='0.000'variable, beginning at1.000.
- The
initPluginhandler should check all dependencies and return TRUE if the initialization is OK or FALSE if something went wrong.- The Plugin initialization code does not register a Plugin that returns FALSE (or that has no
initPluginhandler).
- The Plugin initialization code does not register a Plugin that returns FALSE (or that has no
-
$TWiki::Plugins::VERSIONin theTWiki::Pluginsmodule contains the TWiki Plugin API version, currently 1.11.- You can also use the
%PLUGINVERSION{}%variable to query the Plugin API version or the version of installed Plugins.
- You can also use the
Security
- Badly written Plugins can open huge security holes in TWiki. This is especially true if care isn't taken to prevent execution of arbitrary commands on the server.
- Don't allow sensitive configuration data to be edited by users. it is better to add sensitive configuration options to the
%TWiki::cfghash than adding it as preferences in the Plugin topic- See TWiki:Plugins.MailInContrib for an example of this
- TWiki:Plugins.BuildContrib can help you with this
- Always use the TWiki::Sandbox to execute commands.
- Always audit the Plugins you install, and make sure you are happy with the level of security provided. While every effort is made to monitor Plugin authors activities, at the end of the day they are uncontrolled user contributions.
Creating Plugins
With a reasonable knowledge of the Perl scripting language, you can create new Plugins or modify and extend existing ones. Basic plug-in architecture uses an Application Programming Interface (API), a set of software instructions that allow external code to interact with the main program. The TWiki Plugin API Plugins by providing a programming interface for TWiki.Anatomy of a Plugin
A basic TWiki Plugin consists of two elements:- a Perl module, ex:
MyFirstPlugin.pm - a documentation topic, ex:
MyFirstPlugin.txt
MyFirstPlugin topic. Other needed Perl code is best placed in a lib/TWiki/Plugins/MyFirstPlugin/ directory.
The Plugin API handles the details of connecting your Perl module with main TWiki code. When you're familiar with the Plugin API, you're ready to develop Plugins.
Creating the Perl Module
Copy filelib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm to <name>Plugin.pm. The EmptyPlugin.pm module contains mostly empty functions, so it does nothing, but it's ready to be used. Customize it. Refer to the Plugin API specs for more information.
If your Plugin uses its own modules and objects, you must include the name of the Plugin in the package name. For example, write Package MyFirstPlugin::Attrs; instead of just Package Attrs;. Then call it using:
use TWiki::Plugins::MyFirstPlugin::Attrs; $var = MyFirstPlugin::Attrs->new();
Measuring and Improving the Plugin Performance
A high quality Plugin performs well. You can use the TWiki:Plugins.PluginBenchmarkAddOn to measure your TWiki:Plugins.PluginBenchmarks. The data is needed as part of the Documentation Topic. See also Hints on Writing Fast Plugins.Writing the Documentation Topic
The Plugin documentation topic contains usage instructions and version details. It serves the Plugin files as FileAttachments for downloading. (The doc topic is also included in the distribution package.) To create a documentation topic:- Copy the Plugin topic template from TWiki.org. To copy the text, go to TWiki:Plugins/PluginPackage and:
- enter the Plugin name in the "How to Create a Plugin" section
- click Create
- select all in the Edit box & copy
- Cancel the edit
- go back to your site to the TWiki web
- In the GoBox enter your Plugin name, for example
MyFirstPlugin, press enter and create the new topic - paste & save new Plugin topic on your site
- Customize your Plugin topic.
- Important: In case you plan to publish your Plugin on TWiki.org, use Interwiki names for author names and links to TWiki.org topics, such as TWiki:Main/TWikiGuest. This is important because links should work properly in a Plugin topic installed on any TWiki, not just on TWiki.org.
- Document the performance data you gathered while measuring the performance
- Save your topic, for use in packaging and publishing your Plugin.
OUTLINE: Doc Topic Contents
Check the Plugins web on TWiki.org for the latest Plugin doc topic template. Here's a quick overview of what's covered: Syntax Rules: <Describe any special text formatting that will be rendered.>" Example: <Include an example of the Plugin in action. Possibly include a static HTML version of the example to compare if the installation was a success!>" Plugin Settings: <Description and settings for custom Plugin %VARIABLES%, and those required by TWiki.>"Plugin Installation Instructions: <Step-by-step set-up guide, user help, whatever it takes to install and run, goes here.>" Plugin Info: <Version, credits, history, requirements - entered in a form, displayed as a table. Both are automatically generated when you create or edit a page in the TWiki:Plugins web.>"
- Plugins Preferences <If user settings are needed, explain... Entering values works exactly like TWikiPreferences and WebPreferences: six (6) spaces and then:>"
- Set <EXAMPLE = value added>
Packaging for Distribution
The TWiki:Plugins.BuildContrib is a powerful build environment that is used by the TWiki project to build TWiki itself, as well as many of the Plugins. You don't have to use it, but it is highly recommended! If you don't want (or can't) use the BuildContrib, then a minimum Plugin release consists of a Perl module with a WikiName that ends inPlugin, ex: MyFirstPlugin.pm, and a documentation page with the same name(MyFirstPlugin.txt).
- Distribute the Plugin files in a directory structure that mirrors TWiki. If your Plugin uses additional files, include them all:
-
lib/TWiki/Plugins/MyFirstPlugin.pm -
data/TWiki/MyFirstPlugin.txt -
pub/TWiki/MyFirstPlugin/uparrow.gif[a required graphic]
-
- Create a zip archive with the Plugin name (
MyFirstPlugin.zip) and add the entire directory structure from Step 1. The archive should look like this:-
lib/TWiki/Plugins/MyFirstPlugin.pm -
data/TWiki/MyFirstPlugin.txt -
pub/TWiki/MyFirstPlugin/uparrow.gif
-
Publishing for Public Use
You can release your tested, packaged Plugin to the TWiki community through the TWiki:Plugins web. All Plugins submitted to TWiki.org are available for download and further development in TWiki:Plugins/PluginPackage. Publish your Plugin by following these steps:- Post the Plugin documentation topic in the TWiki:Plugins/PluginPackage:
- enter the Plugin name in the "How to Create a Plugin" section, for example
MyFirstPlugin - paste in the topic text from Writing the Documentation Topic and save
- enter the Plugin name in the "How to Create a Plugin" section, for example
- Attach the distribution zip file to the topic, ex:
MyFirstPlugin.zip - Link from the doc page to a new, blank page named after the Plugin, and ending in
Dev, ex:MyFirstPluginDev. This is the discussion page for future development. (User support for Plugins is handled in TWiki:Support.) - Put the Plugin into the SVN repository, see TWiki:Plugins/ReadmeFirst (optional)
Once you have done the above steps once, you can use the BuildContrib to upload updates to your Plugin.
Thank you very much for sharing your Plugin with the TWiki community
Recommended Storage of Plugin Specific Data
Plugins sometimes need to store data. This can be Plugin internal data such as cache data, or data generated for browser consumption such as images. Plugins should store data using TWikiFuncDotPm functions that support saving and loading of topics and attachments.Plugin Internal Data
You can create a Plugin "work area" using theTWiki::Func::getWorkArea() function, which gives you a persistant directory where you can store data files. By default they will not be web accessible. The directory is guaranteed to exist, and to be writable by the webserver user. For convenience, TWiki::Func::storeFile() and TWiki::Func::readFile() are provided to persistently store and retrieve simple data in this area.
Web Accessible Data
Topic-specific data such as generated images can be stored in the topic's attachment area, which is web accessible. Use theTWiki::Func::saveAttachment() function to store the data.
Recommendation for file name: - Prefix the filename with an underscore (the leading underscore avoids a nameclash with files attached to the same topic)
- Identify where the attachment originated from, typically by including the Plugin name in the file name
- Use only alphanumeric characters, underscores, dashes and periods to avoid platform dependency issues and URL issues
- Example:
_FooBarPlugin_img123.gif
TWiki::Func::saveAttachment() function to store the data.
Recommendation for file names in Plugin attachment area: - Prefix the filename with an underscore
- Include the name of the web in the filename
- Use only alphanumeric characters, underscores, dashes and periods to avoid platform dependency issues and URL issues
- Example:
_Main_roundedge-ul.gif
Maintaining Plugins
Discussions and Feedback on Plugins
Each published Plugin has a Plugin development topic on TWiki.org. Plugin development topics are named after your Plugin and end inDev, such as MyFirstPluginDev. The Plugin development topic is a great resource to discuss feature enhancements and to get feedback from the TWiki community.
Maintaining Compatibility with Earlier TWiki Versions
The Plugin interface (TWikiFuncDotPm functions and handlers) evolve over time. TWiki 4.0 introduced new API functions to address the needs of Plugin authors. It also deprecated some functions. Some Plugins written for earlier TWiki releases using unofficial TWiki internal functions no longer work on the TWiki 4.0 codebase. All this means that some Plugins need to be updated to work on the TWiki 4.0 codebase. Organizations typically do not upgrade to the latest TWiki for many months. However, many administrators still would like to install the latest versions of a Plugin on their older TWiki installation. This need is fullfilled if Plugins are maintained in a compatible manner. Tip: Plugins can be written to be compatible with older and newer TWiki releases. This can be done also for Plugins using unofficial TWiki internal functions of an earlier release that no longer work on the latest TWiki codebase. TWiki:TWiki.TWikiPluginsSupplement#MaintainPlugins has more.
Handling deprecated functions
From time-to-time, the TWiki developers will add new functions to the interface (either to TWikiFuncDotPm, or new handlers). Sometimes these improvements mean that old functions have to be deprecated to keep the code manageable. When this happens, the deprecated functions will be supported in the interface for at least one more TWiki release, and probably longer, though this cannot be guaranteed. When a plugin defines deprecated handlers, a warning will be shown in the list generated by %FAILEDPLUGINS%. Admins who see these warnings should check TWiki.org and if necessary, contact the plugin author, for an updated version of the plugin. Updated plugins may still need to define deprecated handlers for compatibility with old TWiki versions. In this case, the plugin package that defines old handlers can suppress the warnings in %FAILEDPLUGINS%. This is done by defining a map from the handler name to theTWiki::Plugins version in which the handler was first deprecated. For example, if we need to define the endRenderingHandler for compatibility with TWiki::Plugins versions before 1.1, we would add this to the plugin:
package TWiki::Plugins::SinkPlugin;
use vars qw( %TWikiCompatibility );
$TWikiCompatibility{endRenderingHandler} = 1.1;
If the currently-running TWiki version is 1.1 or later, then the handler will not be called and the warning will not be issued. TWiki with versions of TWiki::Plugins before 1.1 will still call the handler as required.
Official list of stable TWiki functions for Plugin developers This module defines official functions that Plugins can use to interact with the TWiki engine and content. Refer to EmptyPlugin and lib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm for a template Plugin and documentation on how to write a Plugin. Plugins should only use functions published in this module. If you use functions in other TWiki libraries you might create a security hole and you will probably need to change your Plugin when you upgrade TWiki. Deprecated functions will still work in older code, though they should not be called in new Plugins and should be replaced in older Plugins as soon as possible. The version of the TWiki::Func module is defined by the VERSION number of the TWiki::Plugins module, currently 1.11. This can be shown by the
%PLUGINVERSION% variable. The 'Since' field in the function
documentation refers to the VERSION number and the date that the function
was addded.
Note: Beware! These methods should only ever be called
from the context of a TWiki Plugin. They require a Plugins SESSION context to be
established before they are called, and will not work if simply called from
another TWiki module. For example,
use TWiki; print TWiki::Func::getSkin(),"\n";will fail with
Can't call method "getSkin" on an undefined value at TWiki/Func.pm line 83.
If you want to call the methods outside the context of a plugin, you can create a Plugins SESSION object. For example,
the script:
use TWiki: $TWiki::Plugins::SESSION = new TWiki(); print TWiki::Func::getSkin(),"\n";will work happily.
- TWiki System Requirements
- Server Requirements
- Client Requirements
- Important note about TWiki Plugins
- Preparing to install TWiki
- Basic Installation
- Important Server Security Settings
- Next Steps
- Enable Authentication of Users
- Set TWiki Preferences
- Enable Email Notification
- Enable WebStatistics
- Automate removal of expired sessions and lease files
- Enable Localisation
- Tailor New Users Home Topic
- Install Plugins
- Customize your TWiki!
- Troubleshooting
- Appendixes
- TWiki System Requirements
- Notes on Installing TWiki on Non-Root Account
- Installing Manually Without Configure
- Overview
- Upgrade Requirements
- Major Changes Compared to TWiki Release 01-Sep-2004 and TWiki Release 4.0.0
- Upgrade Procedure
- Upgrading from Cairo to TWiki4 (additional advice)
- Important Changes since 4.0.5
- Important Changes since 4.1.0
- TWiki User Authentication
- TWiki Access Control
- TWiki Text Formatting
- TWiki Variables
- Using Variables
- Variable Names
- Preferences Variables
- Predefined Variables
- ACTIVATEDPLUGINS -- list of currently activated plugins
- ALLVARIABLES -- list of currently defined TWikiVariables
- AQUA -- start aqua colored text
- ATTACHURL -- full URL for attachments in the current topic
- ATTACHURLPATH -- path of the attachment URL of the current topic
- AUTHREALM -- authentication realm
- BASETOPIC -- base topic where an INCLUDE started
- BASEWEB -- base web where an INCLUDE started
- BB -- bullet with line break
- BB2 -- level 2 bullet with line break
- BB3 -- level 3 bullet with line break
- BB4 -- level 4 bullet with line break
- BLACK -- start black colored text
- BLUE -- start blue colored text
- BR -- line break
- BROWN -- start brown colored text
- BULLET -- bullet character
- DATE -- signature format date
- DISPLAYTIME -- display time
- DISPLAYTIME{"format"} -- formatted display time
- ENCODE{"string"} -- encodes a string to HTML entities
- ENDCOLOR -- end colored text
- ENDSECTION{"name"} -- marks the end of a named section within a topic
- FAILEDPLUGINS -- debugging for plugins that failed to load, and handler list
- FORMFIELD{"fieldname"} -- renders a field in the form attached to some topic
- GMTIME -- GM time
- GMTIME{"format"} -- formatted GM time
- GRAY -- start gray colored text
- GREEN -- start green colored text
- GROUPS -- a formatted list of groups
- H -- help icon
- HOMETOPIC -- home topic in each web
- HTTP -- get HTTP headers
- HTTP_HOST -- environment variable
- HTTPS -- get HTTPS headers
- I -- idea icon
- ICON{"name"} -- small documentation graphic or icon of common attachment types
- ICONURL{"name"} -- URL of small documentation graphic or icon
- ICONURLPATH{"name"} -- URL path of small documentation graphic or icon
- IF{"condition" ...} -- simple conditionals
- INCLUDE{"page"} -- include other topic or web page
- INCLUDINGTOPIC -- name of topic that includes current topic
- INCLUDINGWEB -- web that includes current topic
- LANGUAGE -- current user's language
- LANGUAGES -- list available TWiki languages
- LIME -- start lime colored text
- LOCALSITEPREFS -- web.topicname of site preferences topic
- LOGIN -- present a full login link
- LOGOUT -- present a full logout link
- M -- moved to... icon
- MAINWEB -- name of Main web
- MAKETEXT -- creates text using TWiki's I18N infrastructure
- MAROON -- start maroon colored text
- META -- displays meta-data
- METASEARCH -- special search of meta data
- N -- "new" icon
- NAVY -- start navy blue colored text
- NOP -- template text not to be expanded in instantiated topics
- NOTIFYTOPIC -- name of the notify topic
- OLIVE -- start olive green colored text
- ORANGE -- start orange colored text
- P -- pencil icon
- PINK -- start pink colored text
- PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS -- list of plugin descriptions
- PLUGINVERSION -- the version of a TWiki Plugin, or the TWiki Plugins API
- PUBURL -- the base URL of attachments
- PUBURLPATH -- the base URL path of attachments
- PURPLE -- start purple colored text
- Q -- question icon
- QUERYPARAMS -- show paramaters to the query
- QUERYSTRING -- full, unprocessed string of parameters to this URL
- RED -- start red colored text
- REMOTE_ADDR -- environment variable
- REMOTE_PORT -- environment variable
- REMOTE_USER -- environment variable
- REVINFO -- revision information of current topic
- REVINFO{"format"} -- formatted revision information of topic
- S -- red star icon
- SCRIPTNAME -- name of current script
- SCRIPTSUFFIX -- script suffix
- SCRIPTURL -- base URL of TWiki scripts
- SCRIPTURL{"script"} -- URL of TWiki script
- SCRIPTURLPATH -- base URL path of TWiki scripts
- SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"} -- URL path of TWiki script
- SEARCH{"text"} -- search content
- SERVERTIME -- server time
- SERVERTIME{"format"} -- formatted server time
- SESSIONID -- unique ID for this session
- SESSIONVAR -- name of CGI and session variable that stores the session ID
- SESSION_VARIABLE -- get, set or clear a session variable
- SILVER -- start silver colored text
- SPACEDTOPIC -- topic name, spaced and URL-encoded deprecated
- SPACEOUT{"string"} -- renders string with spaces inserted in sensible places
- STARTINCLUDE -- start position of topic text if included
- STARTSECTION -- marks the start of a section within a topic
- STATISTICSTOPIC -- name of statistics topic
- STOPINCLUDE -- end position of topic text if included
- T -- tip icon
- TEAL -- start teal colored text
- TOC -- table of contents of current topic
- TOC{"Topic"} -- table of contents
- TOPIC -- name of current topic
- TOPICLIST{"format"} -- topic index of a web
- TOPICURL -- shortcut to viewing the current topic
- TWIKIWEB -- name of TWiki documentation web
- U -- "updated" icon
- URLPARAM{"name"} -- get value of a URL parameter
- USERINFO{"WikiName"} -- retrieve details about a user
- USERNAME -- your login username
- VAR{"NAME" web="Web"} -- get a preference value from another web
- VBAR -- vertical bar
- VOTE{ attributes } -- define a poll in a TWiki topic.
- WEB -- name of current web
- WEBLIST{"format"} -- index of all webs
- WEBPREFSTOPIC -- name of web preferences topic
- WHITE -- start white colored text
- WIKIHOMEURL -- site home URL
- WIKINAME -- your Wiki username
- WIKIPREFSTOPIC -- name of site-wide preferences topic
- WIKITOOLNAME -- name of your TWiki site
- WIKIUSERNAME -- your Wiki username with web prefix
- WIKIUSERSTOPIC -- name of topic listing all registers users
- WIKIVERSION -- the version of the installed TWiki engine
- X -- warning icon
- Y -- "yes" icon
- YELLOW -- start yellow colored text
- TWiki Formatted Search
- File Attachments
- TWiki Forms
- TWiki Templates
- TWiki Skins
- TWiki Meta Data
- TWiki Add-Ons
- TWiki Contribs
- TWiki Plugins
- Overview
- Installing Plugins
- Managing Installed Plugins
- The TWiki Plugin API
- Creating Plugins
- Recommended Storage of Plugin Specific Data
- Maintaining Plugins
- Environment
- getSkin( ) -> $skin
- getUrlHost( ) -> $host
- getScriptUrl( $web, $topic, $script, ... ) -> $url
- getViewUrl( $web, $topic ) -> $url
- getOopsUrl( $web, $topic, $template, $param1, $param2, $param3, $param4 ) -> $url
- getPubUrlPath( ) -> $path
- getCgiQuery( ) -> $query
- getSessionValue( $key ) -> $value
- setSessionValue( $key, $value ) -> $boolean
- clearSessionValue( $key ) -> $boolean
- getContext() -> \%hash
- Preferences
- User Handling and Access Control
- getDefaultUserName( ) -> $loginName
- getWikiName( ) -> $wikiName
- getWikiUserName( ) -> $wikiName
- wikiToUserName( $wikiName ) -> $loginName
- userToWikiName( $loginName, $dontAddWeb ) -> $wikiName
- isGuest( ) -> $boolean
- permissionsSet( $web ) -> $boolean
- checkAccessPermission( $type, $wikiName, $text, $topic, $web, $meta ) -> $boolean
- Webs, Topics and Attachments
- getListOfWebs( $filter ) -> @webs
- webExists( $web ) -> $boolean
- createWeb( $newWeb, $baseWeb, $opts )
- moveWeb( $oldName, $newName )
- getTopicList( $web ) -> @topics
- topicExists( $web, $topic ) -> $boolean
- checkTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $script ) -> ( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime )
- setTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $lock )
- saveTopic( $web, $topic, $meta, $text, $options ) -> $error
- saveTopicText( $web, $topic, $text, $ignorePermissions, $dontNotify ) -> $oopsUrl
- moveTopic( $web, $topic, $newWeb, $newTopic )
- getRevisionInfo($web, $topic, $rev, $attachment ) -> ( $date, $user, $rev, $comment )
- getRevisionAtTime( $web, $topic, $time ) -> $rev
- readTopic( $web, $topic, $rev ) -> ( $meta, $text )
- readTopicText( $web, $topic, $rev, $ignorePermissions ) -> $text
- attachmentExists( $web, $topic, $attachment ) -> $boolean
- readAttachment( $web, $topic, $name, $rev ) -> $data
- saveAttachment( $web, $topic, $attachment, $opts )
- moveAttachment( $web, $topic, $attachment, $newWeb, $newTopic, $newAttachment )
- Assembling Pages
- readTemplate( $name, $skin ) -> $text
- loadTemplate ( $name, $skin, $web ) -> $text
- expandTemplate( $def ) -> $string
- writeHeader( $query, $contentLength )
- redirectCgiQuery( $query, $url, $passthru )
- addToHEAD( $id, $header )
- expandCommonVariables( $text, $topic, $web ) -> $text
- renderText( $text, $web ) -> $text
- internalLink( $pre, $web, $topic, $label, $anchor, $createLink ) -> $text
- Creating New Topics
- Special handlers
- Searching
- Plugin-specific file handling
- General Utilities
- getRegularExpression( $name ) -> $expr
- normalizeWebTopicName($web, $topic) -> ($web, $topic)
- writeWarning( $text )
- writeDebug( $text )
- formatTime( $time, $format, $timezone ) -> $text
- isValidWikiWord ( $text ) -> $boolean
- extractParameters($attr ) -> %params
- extractNameValuePair( $attr, $name ) -> $value
- Deprecated functions
- TWiki CGI and Command Line Scripts
- TWiki Site Tools
- Managing Topics
- Managing Webs
- Manage Users
- Appendix A: TWiki Development Timeline
- Appendix B: Encode URLs With UTF8
- Appendix C: TWiki CSS
Environment
getSkin( ) -> $skin
Get the skin path, set by theSKIN and COVER preferences variables or the skin and cover CGI parameters
Return: $skin Comma-separated list of skins, e.g. 'gnu,tartan'. Empty string if none.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (29 Jul 2001)
getUrlHost( ) -> $host
Get protocol, domain and optional port of script URL Return:$host URL host, e.g. "http://example.com:80"
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getScriptUrl( $web, $topic, $script, ... ) -> $url
Compose fully qualified URL-
$web- Web name, e.g.'Main' -
$topic- Topic name, e.g.'WebNotify' -
$script- Script name, e.g.'view' -
...- an arbitrary number of name,value parameter pairs that will be url-encoded and added to the url. The special parameter name '#' is reserved for specifying an anchor. e.g. getScriptUrl('x','y','view','#'=>'XXX',a=>1,b=>2) will give .../view/x/y?a=1&b=2#XXX
$url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/view.pl/Main/WebNotify"
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getViewUrl( $web, $topic ) -> $url
Compose fully qualified view URL-
$web- Web name, e.g.'Main'. The current web is taken if empty -
$topic- Topic name, e.g.'WebNotify'
$url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/view.pl/Main/WebNotify"
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getOopsUrl( $web, $topic, $template, $param1, $param2, $param3, $param4 ) -> $url
Compose fully qualified 'oops' dialog URL-
$web- Web name, e.g.'Main'. The current web is taken if empty -
$topic- Topic name, e.g.'WebNotify' -
$template- Oops template name, e.g.'oopsmistake'. The 'oops' is optional; 'mistake' will translate to 'oopsmistake'. -
$param1...$param4- Parameter values for %PARAM1% ... %PARAMn% variables in template, optional
$url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/oops.pl/ Main/WebNotify?template=oopslocked¶m1=joe"
This might be used like this:
my $url = TWiki::Func::getOopsUrl($web, $topic, 'oopsmistake', 'I made a boo-boo'); TWiki::Func::redirectCgiQuery( undef, $url ); return 0;Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002) Since TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1, the recommended approach is to throw an oops exception.
use Error qw( :try ); throw TWiki::OopsException($web, $topic, undef, 0, [ 'I made a boo-boo' ]);and let TWiki handle the cleanup.
getPubUrlPath( ) -> $path
Get pub URL path Return:$path URL path of pub directory, e.g. "/pub"
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (14 Jul 2001)
getCgiQuery( ) -> $query
Get CGI query object. Important: Plugins cannot assume that scripts run under CGI, Plugins must always test if the CGI query object is set Return:$query CGI query object; or 0 if script is called as a shell script
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getSessionValue( $key ) -> $value
Get a session value from the client session module-
$key- Session key
$value Value associated with key; empty string if not set
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 200)
setSessionValue( $key, $value ) -> $boolean
Set a session value.-
$key- Session key -
$value- Value associated with key
clearSessionValue( $key ) -> $boolean
Clear a session value that was set usingsetSessionValue. -
$key- name of value stored in session to be cleared. Note that you cannot clearAUTHUSER.
getContext() -> \%hash
Get a hash of context identifiers representing the currently active context. The context is a set of identifiers that are set during specific phases of TWiki processing. For example, each of the standard scripts in the 'bin' directory each has a context identifier - the view script has 'view', the edit script has 'edit' etc. So you can easily tell what 'type' of script your Plugin is being called within. The core context identifiers are listed in the TWikiTemplates topic. Please be careful not to overwrite any of these identifiers! Context identifiers can be used to communicate between Plugins, and between Plugins and templates. For example, in FirstPlugin? .pm, you might write:
sub initPlugin {
TWiki::Func::getContext()->{'MyID'} = 1;
...
This can be used in SecondPlugin.pm like this:
sub initPlugin {
if( TWiki::Func::getContext()->{'MyID'} ) {
...
}
...
or in a template, like this:
%TMPL:DEF{"ON"}% Not off %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:DEF{"OFF"}% Not on %TMPL:END%
%TMPL:P{context="MyID" then="ON" else="OFF"}%
or in a topic:
%IF{"context MyID" then="MyID is ON" else="MyID is OFF"}%
Note: all plugins have an automatically generated context identifier
if they are installed and initialised. For example, if the FirstPlugin? is
working, the context ID 'FirstPlugin' will be set.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
Preferences
getPreferencesValue( $key, $web ) -> $value
Get a preferences value from TWiki or from a Plugin-
$key- Preferences key -
$web- Name of web, optional. Current web if not specified; does not apply to settings of Plugin topics
$value Preferences value; empty string if not set
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
- Example for Plugin setting:
- MyPlugin? topic has:
* Set COLOR = red - Use
"MYPLUGIN_COLOR"for$key -
my $color = TWiki::Func::getPreferencesValue( "MYPLUGIN_COLOR" );
- MyPlugin? topic has:
- Example for preferences setting:
- WebPreferences topic has:
* Set WEBBGCOLOR = #FFFFC0 -
my $webColor = TWiki::Func::getPreferencesValue( 'WEBBGCOLOR', 'Sandbox' );
- WebPreferences topic has:
$NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC is enabled in the plugin, then
preferences set in the plugin topic will be ignored.
getPluginPreferencesValue( $key ) -> $value
Get a preferences value from your Plugin-
$key- Plugin Preferences key w/o PLUGINNAME_ prefix.
$value Preferences value; empty string if not set
Note: This function will will only work when called from the Plugin.pm file itself. it will not work if called from a sub-package (e.g. TWiki::Plugins::MyPlugin::MyModule)
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.021 (27 Mar 2004)
NOTE: As of TWiki4.1, if $NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC is enabled in the plugin, then
preferences set in the plugin topic will be ignored.
getPreferencesFlag( $key, $web ) -> $value
Get a preferences flag from TWiki or from a Plugin-
$key- Preferences key -
$web- Name of web, optional. Current web if not specified; does not apply to settings of Plugin topics
$value Preferences flag '1' (if set), or "0" (for preferences values "off", "no" and "0")
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
- Example for Plugin setting:
- MyPlugin? topic has:
* Set SHOWHELP = off - Use
"MYPLUGIN_SHOWHELP"for$key -
my $showHelp = TWiki::Func::getPreferencesFlag( "MYPLUGIN_SHOWHELP" );
- MyPlugin? topic has:
$NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC is enabled in the plugin, then
preferences set in the plugin topic will be ignored.
getPluginPreferencesFlag( $key ) -> $boolean
Get a preferences flag from your Plugin-
$key- Plugin Preferences key w/o PLUGINNAME_ prefix.
"off", "no" and "0", or values not set at all. True otherwise.
Note: This function will will only work when called from the Plugin.pm file itself. it will not work if called from a sub-package (e.g. TWiki::Plugins::MyPlugin::MyModule)
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.021 (27 Mar 2004)
NOTE: As of TWiki4.1, if $NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC is enabled in the plugin, then
preferences set in the plugin topic will be ignored.
getWikiToolName( ) -> $name
Get toolname as defined in TWiki.cfg Return:$name Name of tool, e.g. 'TWiki'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 2001)
getMainWebname( ) -> $name
Get name of Main web as defined in TWiki.cfg Return:$name Name, e.g. 'Main'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 2001)
getTwikiWebname( ) -> $name
Get name of TWiki documentation web as defined in TWiki.cfg Return:$name Name, e.g. 'TWiki'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 2001)
User Handling and Access Control
getDefaultUserName( ) -> $loginName
Get default user name as defined in the configuration asDefaultUserLogin
Return: $loginName Default user name, e.g. 'guest'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getWikiName( ) -> $wikiName
Get Wiki name of logged in user Return:$wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. 'JohnDoe'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getWikiUserName( ) -> $wikiName
Get Wiki name of logged in user with web prefix Return:$wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. "Main.JohnDoe"
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
wikiToUserName( $wikiName ) -> $loginName
Translate a Wiki name to a login name based on Main.TWikiUsers topic-
$wikiName- Wiki name, e.g.'Main.JohnDoe'or'JohnDoe'
$loginName Login name of user, e.g. 'jdoe'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
userToWikiName( $loginName, $dontAddWeb ) -> $wikiName
Translate a login name to a Wiki name based on Main.TWikiUsers topic-
$loginName- Login name, e.g.'jdoe' -
$dontAddWeb- Do not add web prefix if"1"
$wikiName Wiki name of user, e.g. 'Main.JohnDoe' or 'JohnDoe'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
isGuest( ) -> $boolean
Test if logged in user is a guest (TWikiGuest? ) Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)permissionsSet( $web ) -> $boolean
Test if any access restrictions are set for this web, ignoring settings on individual pages-
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Sandbox'
checkAccessPermission( $type, $wikiName, $text, $topic, $web, $meta ) -> $boolean
Check access permission for a topic based on the TWiki.TWikiAccessControl rules-
$type- Access type, required, e.g.'VIEW','CHANGE'. -
$wikiName- WikiName of remote user, required, e.g."PeterThoeny". If$wikiNameis '', 0 orundefthen access is always permitted. -
$text- Topic text, optional. If 'perl false' (undef, 0 or ''), topic$web.$topicis consulted.$textmay optionally contain embedded%META:PREFERENCEtags. Provide this parameter if:- You are setting different access controls in the text to those defined in the stored topic,
- You already have the topic text in hand, and want to help TWiki avoid having to read it again,
- You are providing a
$metaparameter.
-
$topic- Topic name, required, e.g.'PrivateStuff' -
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Sandbox' -
$meta- Meta-data object, as returned byreadTopic. Optional. Ifundef, but$textis defined, then access controls will be parsed from$text. If defined, then metadata embedded in$textwill be ignored. This parameter is always ignored if$textis undefined. Settings in$metaoverrideSetsettings in $text.
- Set ALLOWTOPICSPIN = IncyWincy?
ThatWeb.ThisTopic, then a call to checkAccessPermissions('SPIN', 'IncyWincy', undef, 'ThisTopic', 'ThatWeb', undef) will return true.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 2001)
Webs, Topics and Attachments
getListOfWebs( $filter ) -> @webs
-
$filter- spec of web types to recover
- 'user' (for only user webs)
- 'template' (for only template webs i.e. those starting with "_")
$filter may also contain the word 'public' which will further filter
out webs that have NOSEARCHALL set on them.
'allowed' filters out webs the current user can't read.
For example, the deprecated getPublicWebList function can be duplicated
as follows:
my @webs = TWiki::Func::getListOfWebs( "user,public" );Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
webExists( $web ) -> $boolean
Test if web exists-
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Sandbox'
createWeb( $newWeb, $baseWeb, $opts )
-
$newWebis the name of the new web. -
$baseWebis the name of an existing web (a template web). If the base web is a system web, all topics in it will be copied into the new web. If it is a normal web, only topics starting with 'Web' will be copied. If no base web is specified, an empty web (with no topics) will be created. If it is specified but does not exist, an error will be thrown. -
$optsis a ref to a hash that contains settings to be modified in
use Error qw( :try );
use TWiki::AccessControlException;
try {
TWiki::Func::createWeb( "Newweb" );
} catch Error::Simple with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on Error::Simple
} catch TWiki::AccessControlException with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on TWiki::AccessControlException
} otherwise {
...
};
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
moveWeb( $oldName, $newName )
Move (rename) a web.
use Error qw( :try );
use TWiki::AccessControlException;
try {
TWiki::Func::moveWeb( "Oldweb", "Newweb" );
} catch Error::Simple with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on Error::Simple
} catch TWiki::AccessControlException with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on TWiki::AccessControlException
} otherwise {
...
};
To delete a web, move it to a subweb of Trash
TWiki::Func::moveWeb( "Deadweb", "Trash.Deadweb" );Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
getTopicList( $web ) -> @topics
Get list of all topics in a web-
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Sandbox'
@topics Topic list, e.g. ( 'WebChanges', 'WebHome', 'WebIndex', 'WebNotify' )
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
topicExists( $web, $topic ) -> $boolean
Test if topic exists-
$web- Web name, optional, e.g.'Main'. -
$topic- Topic name, required, e.g.'TokyoOffice', or"Main.TokyoOffice"
normalizeWebTopicName.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (14 Jul 2001)
checkTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $script ) -> ( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime )
Check if a lease has been taken by some other user.-
$webWeb name, e.g."Main", or empty -
$topicTopic name, e.g."MyTopic", or"Main.MyTopic"
( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime ) - The $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery(), user's $loginName, and estimated $unlockTime in minutes, or ( '', '', 0 ) if no lease exists. -
$scriptThe script to invoke when continuing with the edit
setTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $lock )
-
$webWeb name, e.g."Main", or empty -
$topicTopic name, e.g."MyTopic", or"Main.MyTopic" -
$lock1 to lease the topic, 0 to clear the lease=
edit script
always takes out a lease.
It is impossible to fully lock a topic. Concurrent changes will be
merged.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.010 (31 Dec 2002)
saveTopic( $web, $topic, $meta, $text, $options ) -> $error
-
$web- web for the topic -
$topic- topic name -
$meta- reference to TWiki::Meta object -
$text- text of the topic (without embedded meta-data!!! -
\%options- ref to hash of save options\%optionsmay include:dontlogdon't log this change in twiki log commentcomment for save minorTrue if this is a minor change, and is not to be notified
my( $meta, $text ) = TWiki::Func::readTopic( $web, $topic )
$text =~ s/APPLE/ORANGE/g;
TWiki::Func::saveTopic( $web, $topic, $meta, $text, { comment => 'refruited' } );
Note: Plugins handlers ( e.g. beforeSaveHandler ) will be called as
appropriate.
saveTopicText( $web, $topic, $text, $ignorePermissions, $dontNotify ) -> $oopsUrl
Save topic text, typically obtained by readTopicText(). Topic data usually includes meta data; the file attachment meta data is replaced by the meta data from the topic file if it exists.-
$web- Web name, e.g.'Main', or empty -
$topic- Topic name, e.g.'MyTopic', or"Main.MyTopic" -
$text- Topic text to save, assumed to include meta data -
$ignorePermissions- Set to"1"if checkAccessPermission() is already performed and OK -
$dontNotify- Set to"1"if not to notify users of the change
$oopsUrl Empty string if OK; the $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery() in case of error
This method is a lot less efficient and much more dangerous than saveTopic.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.010 (31 Dec 2002)
my $text = TWiki::Func::readTopicText( $web, $topic );
# check for oops URL in case of error:
if( $text =~ /^http.*?\/oops/ ) {
TWiki::Func::redirectCgiQuery( $query, $text );
return;
}
# do topic text manipulation like:
$text =~ s/old/new/g;
# do meta data manipulation like:
$text =~ s/(META\:FIELD.*?name\=\"TopicClassification\".*?value\=\")[^\"]*/$1BugResolved/;
$oopsUrl = TWiki::Func::saveTopicText( $web, $topic, $text ); # save topic text
moveTopic( $web, $topic, $newWeb, $newTopic )
-
$websource web - required -
$topicsource topic - required -
$newWebdest web -
$newTopicdest topic
use Error qw( :try );
try {
moveTopic( "Work", "TokyoOffice", "Trash", "ClosedOffice" );
} catch Error::Simple with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on Error::Simple
} catch TWiki::AccessControlException with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on TWiki::AccessControlException
} otherwise {
...
};
getRevisionInfo($web, $topic, $rev, $attachment ) -> ( $date, $user, $rev, $comment )
Get revision info of a topic or attachment-
$web- Web name, optional, e.g.'Main' -
$topic- Topic name, required, e.g.'TokyoOffice' -
$rev- revsion number, or tag name (can be in the format 1.2, or just the minor number) -
$attachment-attachment filename
( $date, $user, $rev, $comment ) List with: ( last update date, login name of last user, minor part of top revision number ), e.g. ( 1234561, 'phoeny', "5" )
| $date | in epochSec |
| $user | Wiki name of the author (not login name) |
| $rev | actual rev number |
| $comment | WHAT COMMENT? |
$meta->getRevisionInfo instead if you can - it is significantly
more efficient, and returns a user object that contains other user
information.
NOTE: prior versions of TWiki may under some circumstances have returned
the login name of the user rather than the wiki name; the code documentation
was totally unclear, and we have been unable to establish the intent.
However the wikiname is obviously more useful, so that is what is returned.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (29 Jul 2001)
getRevisionAtTime( $web, $topic, $time ) -> $rev
Get the revision number of a topic at a specific time.-
$web- web for topic -
$topic- topic -
$time- time (in epoch secs) for the rev
readTopic( $web, $topic, $rev ) -> ( $meta, $text )
Read topic text and meta data, regardless of access permissions.-
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Main' -
$topic- Topic name, required, e.g.'TokyoOffice' -
$rev- revision to read (default latest)
( $meta, $text ) Meta data object and topic text
$meta is a perl 'object' of class TWiki::Meta. This class is
fully documented in the source code documentation shipped with the
release, or can be inspected in the lib/TWiki/Meta.pm file.
This method ignores topic access permissions. You should be careful to use checkAccessPermissions to ensure the current user has read access to the topic.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
readTopicText( $web, $topic, $rev, $ignorePermissions ) -> $text
Read topic text, including meta data-
$web- Web name, e.g.'Main', or empty -
$topic- Topic name, e.g.'MyTopic', or"Main.MyTopic" -
$rev- Topic revision to read, optional. Specify the minor part of the revision, e.g."5", not"1.5"; the top revision is returned if omitted or empty. -
$ignorePermissions- Set to"1"if checkAccessPermission() is already performed and OK; an oops URL is returned if user has no permission
$text Topic text with embedded meta data; an oops URL for calling redirectCgiQuery() is returned in case of an error
This method is more efficient than readTopic, but returns meta-data embedded in the text. Plugins authors must be very careful to avoid damaging meta-data. You are recommended to use readTopic instead, which is a lot safer..
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.010 (31 Dec 2002)
attachmentExists( $web, $topic, $attachment ) -> $boolean
Test if attachment exists-
$web- Web name, optional, e.g.Main. -
$topic- Topic name, required, e.g.TokyoOffice, orMain.TokyoOffice -
$attachment- attachment name, e.g.=logo.gif=
normalizeWebTopicName.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
readAttachment( $web, $topic, $name, $rev ) -> $data
-
$web- web for topic -
$topic- topic -
$name- attachment name -
$rev- revision to read (default latest)
readTopic. If the attachment does not exist, or cannot be read, undef
will be returned. If the revision is not specified, the latest version will
be returned.
View permission on the topic is required for the
read to be successful. Access control violations are flagged by a
TWiki::AccessControlException. Permissions are checked for the current user.
my( $meta, $text ) = TWiki::Func::readTopic( $web, $topic );
my @attachments = $meta->find( 'FILEATTACHMENT' );
foreach my $a ( @attachments ) {
try {
my $data = TWiki::Func::readAttachment( $web, $topic, $a->{name} );
...
} catch TWiki::AccessControlException with {
};
}
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
saveAttachment( $web, $topic, $attachment, $opts )
-
$web- web for topic -
$topic- topic to atach to -
$attachment- name of the attachment -
$opts- Ref to hash of options
$opts may include:
dontlog | don't log this change in twiki log |
comment | comment for save |
hide | if the attachment is to be hidden in normal topic view |
stream | Stream of file to upload |
file | Name of a file to use for the attachment data. ignored if stream is set. Local file on the server. |
filepath | Client path to file |
filesize | Size of uploaded data |
filedate | Date |
try {
TWiki::Func::saveAttachment( $web, $topic, 'image.gif',
{ file => 'image.gif',
comment => 'Picture of Health',
hide => 1 } );
} catch Error::Simple with {
# see documentation on Error
} otherwise {
...
};
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
moveAttachment( $web, $topic, $attachment, $newWeb, $newTopic, $newAttachment )
-
$websource web - required -
$topicsource topic - required -
$attachmentsource attachment - required -
$newWebdest web -
$newTopicdest topic -
$newAttachmentdest attachment
use Error qw( :try );
try {
# move attachment between topics
moveAttachment( "Countries", "Germany", "AlsaceLorraine.dat",
"Countries", "France" );
# Note destination attachment name is defaulted to the same as source
} catch TWiki::AccessControlException with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on TWiki::AccessControlException
} catch Error::Simple with {
my $e = shift;
# see documentation on Error::Simple
};
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
Assembling Pages
readTemplate( $name, $skin ) -> $text
Read a template or skin. Embedded template directives get expanded-
$name- Template name, e.g.'view' -
$skin- Comma-separated list of skin names, optional, e.g.'print'
$text Template text
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
loadTemplate ( $name, $skin, $web ) -> $text
-
$name- template file name -
$skin- comma-separated list of skins to use (default: current skin) -
$web- the web to look in for topics that contain templates (default: current web)
expandTemplate( $def ) -> $string
Do a , only expanding the template (not expanding any variables other than %TMPL)-
$def- template name
writeHeader( $query, $contentLength )
Prints a basic content-type HTML header for text/html to standard out-
$query- CGI query object. If not given, the default CGI query will be used. In most cases you should not pass this parameter. -
$contentLength- Length of content
redirectCgiQuery( $query, $url, $passthru )
Redirect to URL-
$query- CGI query object. Ignored, only there for compatibility. The session CGI query object is used instead. -
$url- URL to redirect to -
$passthru- enable passthrough.
$passthru parameter allows you to pass the parameters that were passed
to the current query on to the target URL, as long as it is another URL on the
same TWiki installation. If $passthru is set to a true value, then TWiki
will save the current URL parameters, and then try to restore them on the
other side of the redirect. Parameters are stored on the server in a cache
file (see {PassthroughDir} in =configure).
Note that if $passthru is set, then any parameters in $url will be lost
when the old parameters are restored. if you want to change any parameter
values, you will need to do that in the current CGI query before redirecting
e.g.
my $query = TWiki::Func::getCgiQuery(); $query->param(-name => 'text', -value => 'Different text'); TWiki::Func::redirectCgiQuery( undef, TWiki::Func::getScriptUrl($web, $topic, 'edit'), 1);
$passthru does nothing if $url does not point to a script in the current
TWiki installation.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
addToHEAD( $id, $header )
Adds$header to the HTML header (the tag).
This is useful for Plugins that want to include some javascript custom css. -
$id- Unique ID to prevent the same HTML from being duplicated. Plugins should use a prefix to prevent name clashes (e.g EDITTABLEPLUGIN_JSCALENDAR) -
$header- the HTML to be added to the section. The HTML must be valid in a HEAD tag - no checks are performed.
$header will be expanded before being inserted into the modifyHeaderHandler.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
example:
TWiki::Func::addToHEAD('PATTERN_STYLE','<link id="twikiLayoutCss" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="%PUBURL%/TWiki/PatternSkin/layout.css" media="all" />')
expandCommonVariables( $text, $topic, $web ) -> $text
Expand all common%VARIABLES% -
$text- Text with variables to expand, e.g.'Current user is %WIKIUSER%' -
$topic- Current topic name, e.g.'WebNotify' -
$web- Web name, optional, e.g.'Main'. The current web is taken if missing
$text Expanded text, e.g. 'Current user is TWikiGuest'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
See also: expandVariablesOnTopicCreation
renderText( $text, $web ) -> $text
Render text from TWiki markup into XHTML as defined in TWiki.TextFormattingRules-
$text- Text to render, e.g.'*bold* text and =fixed font=' -
$web- Web name, optional, e.g.'Main'. The current web is taken if missing
$text XHTML text, e.g. '<b>bold</b> and <code>fixed font</code>'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
internalLink( $pre, $web, $topic, $label, $anchor, $createLink ) -> $text
Render topic name and link label into an XHTML link. Normally you do not need to call this funtion, it is called internally byrenderText() -
$pre- Text occuring before the TWiki link syntax, optional -
$web- Web name, required, e.g.'Main' -
$topic- Topic name to link to, required, e.g.'WebNotify' -
$label- Link label, required. Usually the same as$topic, e.g.'notify' -
$anchor- Anchor, optional, e.g.'#Jump' -
$createLink- Set to'1'to add question linked mark after topic name if topic does not exist;
set to'0'to suppress link for non-existing topics
$text XHTML anchor, e.g. '<a href='/cgi-bin/view/Main/WebNotify#Jump'>notify</a>'
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
sendEmail ( $text, $retries ) -> $error
-
$text- text of the mail, including MIME headers -
$retries- number of times to retry the send (default 1)
To: liz@windsor.gov.uk From: serf@hovel.net CC: george@whitehouse.gov Subject: Revolution Dear Liz, Please abolish the monarchy (with King George's permission, of course) Thanks, A. PeasantLeave a blank line between the last header field and the message body. Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
wikiToEmail( $wikiName ) -> $email
-
$wikiName- wiki name of the user
Creating New Topics
expandVariablesOnTopicCreation ( $text ) -> $text
Expand the limited set of variables that are always expanded during topic creation-
$text- the text to process
-
%DATE%Signature-format date -
%SERVERTIME%See TWikiVariables -
%GMTIME%See TWikiVariables -
%USERNAME%Base login name -
%WIKINAME%Wiki name -
%WIKIUSERNAME%Wiki name with prepended web -
%URLPARAM{...}%- Parameters to the current CGI query -
%NOP%No-op
Special handlers
Special handlers can be defined to make functions in plugins behave as if they were built-in to TWiki.registerTagHandler( $var, \&fn, $syntax )
Should only be called from initPlugin. Register a function to handle a simple variable. Handles both %VAR% and %VAR{...}%. Registered variables are treated the same as TWiki internal variables, and are expanded at the same time. This is a lot more efficient than using thecommonTagsHandler. -
$var- The name of the variable, i.e. the 'MYVAR' part of %MYVAR%. The variable name must match /^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*$/ or it won't work. -
\&fn- Reference to the handler function. -
$syntaxcan be 'classic' (the default) or 'context-free'. 'classic' syntax is appropriate where you want the variable to support classic TWiki syntax i.e. to accept the standard%MYVAR{ "unnamed" param1="value1" param2="value2" }%syntax, as well as an unquoted default parameter, such as%MYVAR{unquoted parameter}%. If your variable will only use named parameters, you can use 'context-free' syntax, which supports a more relaxed syntax. For example, %MYVAR{param1=value1, value 2, param3="value 3", param4='value 5"}%
sub handler(\%session, \%params, $topic, $web)where:
-
\%session- a reference to the TWiki session object (may be ignored) -
\%params- a reference to a TWiki::Attrs object containing parameters. This can be used as a simple hash that maps parameter names to values, with _DEFAULT being the name for the default parameter. -
$topic- name of the topic in the query -
$web- name of the web in the query
sub initPlugin{
TWiki::Func::registerTagHandler('EXEC', \&boo);
}
sub boo {
my( $session, $params, $topic, $web ) = @_;
my $cmd = $params->{_DEFAULT};
return "NO COMMAND SPECIFIED" unless $cmd;
my $result = `$cmd 2>&1`;
return $params->{silent} ? '' : $result;
}
}
would let you do this:
%EXEC{"ps -Af" silent="on"}%
Registered tags differ from tags implemented using the old TWiki approach (text substitution in commonTagsHandler) in the following ways: - registered tags are evaluated at the same time as system tags, such as %SERVERTIME.
commonTagsHandleris only called later, when all system tags have already been expanded (though they are expanded again aftercommonTagsHandlerreturns). - registered tag names can only contain alphanumerics and _ (underscore)
- registering a tag
FREDdefines both%FRED{...}%and also%FRED%. - registered tag handlers cannot return another tag as their only result (e.g.
return '%SERVERTIME%';). It won't work.
registerRESTHandler( $alias, \&fn, )
Should only be called from initPlugin. Adds a function to the dispatch table of the REST interface-
$alias- The name . -
\&fn- Reference to the function.
sub handler(\%session)where:
-
\%session- a reference to the TWiki session object (may be ignored)
The EmptyPlugin has the following call in the initPlugin handler:
TWiki::Func::registerRESTHandler('example', \&restExample);
This adds the restExample function to the REST dispatch table
for the EmptyPlugin under the 'example' alias, and allows it
to be invoked using the URL
http://server:port/bin/rest/EmptyPlugin/example
note that the URL
http://server:port/bin/rest/EmptyPlugin/restExample
(ie, with the name of the function instead of the alias) will not work.
Searching
searchInWebContent($searchString, $web, \@topics, \%options ) -> \%map
Search for a string in the content of a web. The search is over all content, including meta-data. Meta-data matches will be returned as formatted lines within the topic content (meta-data matches are returned as lines of the format %META:\w+{.*}%)-
$searchString- the search string, in egrep format -
$web- The web to search in -
\@topics- reference to a list of topics to search -
\%option- reference to an options hash
\%options hash may contain the following options: -
type- ifregexwill perform a egrep-syntax RE search (default '') -
casesensitive- false to ignore case (defaulkt true) -
files_without_match- true to return files only (default false). Iffiles_without_matchis specified, it will return on the first match in each topic (i.e. it will return only one match per topic, and will not return matching lines).
my $result = TWiki::Func::searchInWebContent( "Slimy Toad", $web, \@topics,
{ casesensitive => 0, files_without_match => 0 } );
foreach my $topic (keys %$result ) {
foreach my $matching_line ( @{$result->{$topic}} ) {
...etc
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1
Plugin-specific file handling
getWorkArea( $pluginName ) -> $directorypath
Gets a private directory for Plugin use. The Plugin is entirely responsible for managing this directory; TWiki will not read from it, or write to it. The directory is guaranteed to exist, and to be writable by the webserver user. By default it will not be web accessible. The directory and it's contents are permanent, so Plugins must be careful to keep their areas tidy. Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1 (Dec 2005)readFile( $filename ) -> $text
Read file, low level. Used for Plugin workarea.-
$filename- Full path name of file
$text Content of file, empty if not found
NOTE: Use this function only for the Plugin workarea, not for topics and attachments. Use the appropriate functions to manipulate topics and attachments.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (07 Dec 2002)
saveFile( $filename, $text )
Save file, low level. Used for Plugin workarea.-
$filename- Full path name of file -
$text- Text to save
General Utilities
getRegularExpression( $name ) -> $expr
Retrieves a TWiki predefined regular expression or character class.-
$name- Name of the expression to retrieve. See notes below
my $upper = TWiki::Func::getRegularExpression('upperAlpha');
my $alpha = TWiki::Func::getRegularExpression('mixedAlpha');
my $capitalized = qr/[$upper][$alpha]+/;
Those expressions marked type 'RE' are precompiled regular expressions that can be used outside square brackets. For example:
my $webRE = TWiki::Func::getRegularExpression('webNameRegex');
my $isWebName = ( $s =~ m/$webRE/ );
| Name | Matches | Type |
|---|---|---|
| upperAlpha | Upper case characters | String |
| upperAlphaNum | Upper case characters and digits | String |
| lowerAlpha | Lower case characters | String |
| lowerAlphaNum | Lower case characters and digits | String |
| numeric | Digits | String |
| mixedAlpha | Alphabetic characters | String |
| mixedAlphaNum | Alphanumeric characters | String |
| wikiWordRegex | WikiWords | RE |
| webNameRegex | User web names | RE |
| anchorRegex | #AnchorNames | RE |
| abbrevRegex | Abbreviations e.g. GOV, IRS | RE |
| emailAddrRegex | email@address.com | RE |
| tagNameRegex | Standard variable names e.g. %THIS_BIT% (THIS_BIT only) | RE |
normalizeWebTopicName($web, $topic) -> ($web, $topic)
Parse a web and topic name, supplying defaults as appropriate.-
$web- Web name, identifying variable, or empty string -
$topic- Topic name, may be a web.topic string, required.
| Input | Return |
|---|---|
| ( 'Web', 'Topic' ) | ( 'Web', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', 'Topic' ) | ( 'Main', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', '' ) | ( 'Main', 'WebHome' ) |
| ( '', 'Web/Topic' ) | ( 'Web', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', 'Web/Subweb/Topic' ) | ( 'Web/Subweb', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', 'Web.Topic' ) | ( 'Web', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', 'Web.Subweb.Topic' ) | ( 'Web/Subweb', 'Topic' ) |
| ( 'Web1', 'Web2.Topic' ) | ( 'Web2', 'Topic' ) |
configure.
The symbols %USERSWEB%, %SYSTEMWEB%, %DOCWEB%, %MAINWEB% and %TWIKIWEB% can be used in the input to represent the web names set in $cfg{UsersWebName} and $cfg{SystemWebName}. For example:
| Input | Return |
|---|---|
| ( '%USERSWEB%', 'Topic' ) | ( 'Main', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '%SYSTEMWEB%', 'Topic' ) | ( 'TWiki', 'Topic' ) |
| ( '', '%DOCWEB%.Topic' ) | ( 'TWiki', 'Topic' ) |
writeWarning( $text )
Log Warning that may require admin intervention to data/warning.txt-
$text- Text to write; timestamp gets added
writeDebug( $text )
Log debug message to data/debug.txt-
$text- Text to write; timestamp gets added
formatTime( $time, $format, $timezone ) -> $text
Format the time in seconds into the desired time string-
$time- Time in epoc seconds -
$format- Format type, optional. Default e.g.'31 Dec 2002 - 19:30'. Can be'$iso'(e.g.'2002-12-31T19:30Z'),'$rcs'(e.g.'2001/12/31 23:59:59','$http'for HTTP header format (e.g.'Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:21:56 GMT'), or any string with tokens'$seconds, $minutes, $hours, $day, $wday, $month, $mo, $year, $ye, $tz'for seconds, minutes, hours, day of month, day of week, 3 letter month, 2 digit month, 4 digit year, 2 digit year, timezone string, respectively -
$timezone- either not defined (uses the displaytime setting), 'gmtime', or 'servertime'
$text Formatted time string
| Note: | if you used the removed formatGmTime, add a third parameter 'gmtime' |
isValidWikiWord ( $text ) -> $boolean
Check for a valid WikiWord or WikiName-
$text- Word to test
extractParameters($attr ) -> %params
Extract all parameters from a variable string and returns a hash of parameters-
$attr- Attribute string
%params Hash containing all parameters. The nameless parameter is stored in key _DEFAULT
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.025 (26 Aug 2004)
- Example:
- Variable:
%TEST{ 'nameless' name1="val1" name2="val2" }% - First extract text between
{...}to get:'nameless' name1="val1" name2="val2" - Then call this on the text:
- Variable:
- params = TWiki::Func::extractParameters( $text );=
- The
%paramshash contains now:
_DEFAULT => 'nameless'
name1 => "val1"
name2 => "val2"
- The
extractNameValuePair( $attr, $name ) -> $value
Extract a named or unnamed value from a variable parameter string - Note: | Function TWiki::Func::extractParameters is more efficient for extracting several parameters-
$attr- Attribute string -
$name- Name, optional
$value Extracted value
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
- Example:
- Variable:
%TEST{ 'nameless' name1="val1" name2="val2" }% - First extract text between
{...}to get:'nameless' name1="val1" name2="val2" - Then call this on the text:
my $noname = TWiki::Func::extractNameValuePair( $text );
my $val1 = TWiki::Func::extractNameValuePair( $text, "name1" );
my $val2 = TWiki::Func::extractNameValuePair( $text, "name2" );
- Variable:
Deprecated functions
From time-to-time, the TWiki developers will add new functions to the interface (either to TWikiFuncDotPm, or new handlers). Sometimes these improvements mean that old functions have to be deprecated to keep the code manageable. When this happens, the deprecated functions will be supported in the interface for at least one more TWiki release, and probably longer, though this cannot be guaranteed. Updated plugins may still need to define deprecated handlers for compatibility with old TWiki versions. In this case, the plugin package that defines old handlers can suppress the warnings in %FAILEDPLUGINS%. This is done by defining a map from the handler name to theTWiki::Plugins version in which the handler was first deprecated. For example, if we need to define the endRenderingHandler for compatibility with TWiki::Plugins versions before 1.1, we would add this to the plugin:
package TWiki::Plugins::SinkPlugin;
use vars qw( %TWikiCompatibility );
$TWikiCompatibility{endRenderingHandler} = 1.1;
If the currently-running TWiki version is 1.1 or later, then the handler will not be called and the warning will not be issued. TWiki with versions of TWiki::Plugins before 1.1 will still call the handler as required.
The following functions are retained for compatibility only. You should
stop using them as soon as possible.
getScriptUrlPath( ) -> $path
Get script URL path DEPRECATED since 1.1 - usegetScriptUrl instead.
Return: $path URL path of TWiki scripts, e.g. "/cgi-bin"
WARNING: you are strongly recommended not to use this function, as the
{ScriptUrlPaths} URL rewriting rules will not apply to urls generated
using it.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getPublicWebList( ) -> @webs
DEPRECATED since 1.1 - usegetListOfWebs instead.
Get list of all public webs, e.g. all webs that do not have the NOSEARCHALL flag set in the WebPreferences
Return: @webs List of all public webs, e.g. ( 'Main', 'Know', 'TWiki' )
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (07 Dec 2002)
formatGmTime( $time, $format ) -> $text
DEPRECATED since 1.1 - useformatTime instead.
Format the time to GM time -
$time- Time in epoc seconds -
$format- Format type, optional. Default e.g.'31 Dec 2002 - 19:30', can be'iso'(e.g.'2002-12-31T19:30Z'),'rcs'(e.g.'2001/12/31 23:59:59','http'for HTTP header format (e.g.'Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:21:56 GMT')
$text Formatted time string
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)
getDataDir( ) -> $dir
DEPRECATED since 1.1 - use the "Webs, Topics and Attachments" functions to manipulate topics instead Get data directory (topic file root) Return:$dir Data directory, e.g. '/twiki/data'
This function violates store encapsulation and is therefore deprecated.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (07 Dec 2002)
getPubDir( ) -> $dir
DEPRECATED since 1.1 - use the "Webs, Topics and Attachments" functions to manipulateattachments instead Get pub directory (file attachment root). Attachments are in$dir/Web/TopicName
Return: $dir Pub directory, e.g. '/htdocs/twiki/pub'
This function violates store encapsulation and is therefore deprecated.
Use readAttachment and saveAttachment instead.
Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (07 Dec 2002)
checkDependencies( $moduleName, $dependenciesRef ) -> $error
DEPRECATED since 1.1 - use TWiki:Plugins.BuildContrib and define DEPENDENCIES that can be statically evaluated at install time instead. It is a lot more efficient. Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.025 (01 Aug 2004)TWiki CGI and Command Line Scripts
Programs on the TWiki server performing actions such as rendering, saving and renaming topics. The TWiki scripts are located in thetwiki/bin and twiki/tools directories. This topic describes the interfaces to some of those scripts. All scripts in the twiki/bin directory can be called from the CGI (Common Gateway Interface) environment or from the command line. The scripts in the twiki/tools directory can only be called from the command line.
CGI Scripts
Details on CGI scripts located in thetwiki/bin directory.
General Information
CGI environment
In the CGI environment parameters are passed to the scripts via the URL and URL parameters. Environment variables are also used to determine the user performing the action. If the environment is not set up, the default TWiki user is used (usuallyguest).
Command-line
You must be have thetwiki/bin directory on the perl path to run the scripts from the command line. To avoid issues with file permissions, run the scripts as the web server user such as nobody or www.
Parameters are passed on the command line using '-name' - for example,
$ cd /usr/local/twiki/bin $ save -topic MyWeb.MyTopic -user admin -action save -text "New text of the topic"All parameters require a value, even if that is the empty string.
Common parameters
All the scripts accept a number of common parameters. The first two components of the URL after the script name are taken as the web and the topic, respectively. Standard URL parameters are:| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
topic | If this is set to a URL, TWiki will immediately redirect to that URL. Otherwise it overrides the URL and is taken as the topic name (you can pass Web.TopicName) | |
user | Command-line only; set the name of the user performing the action. Note: this usage is inherently insecure, as it bypasses webserver login constraints. For this reason only authorised users should be allowed to execute scripts from the command line. | |
skin | Overrides the default skin path (see TWikiSkins) | |
cover | Specifies temporary skin path to prepend to the skin path for this script only (see TWikiSkins) |
attach
Despite the name, this script doesn't actually attach a file to a topic - for that, use upload. This script is part of the transactions sequence executed when a file is uploaded from the browser. it just generates the "new attachment" page for a topic.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
filename | Name of existing attachment (if provided, this is a "manage attachment" action) | none (in which case this is a "new attachment" action) |
changes
Shows all the changes in the given web.
The changes script can receive one parameter:
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
minor | If 0, show only major changes. If 1, show all the changes (both minor and major) | 0 |
%SEARCH%, while this script reads the changes file in each web, making it much faster.
NOTE: The result from changes script and the topic WebChanges can be different, if the changes file is deleted from a web. In particular, in new installations the changes script will return no results while the WebChanges topic will.
configure
configure is the browser script used for inspection and configuration of the TWiki configuration. None of the parameters to this script are useable for any purpose except configure. See configure.
edit
The edit scipt understands the following parameters, typically supplied by HTML input fields:
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
action | Optional. Use the editaction template instead of the standard edit. If action=text, then hide the form. If action=form hide the normal text area and only edit the form. | |
onlynewtopic | If set, error if topic already exists | |
onlywikiname | If set, error if topic name is not a WikiWord | |
templatetopic | The name of the template topic, copied to get the initial content | |
text | Initial text for the topic | |
topicparent | The parent topic | |
formtemplate | Name of the form to instantiate in the topic. Overrides the form set in the templatetopic if defined. | |
contenttype | Optional parameter that defines the application type to write into the CGI header. Defaults to text/html. May be used to invoke alternative client applications | |
anyname | Any parameter can passed to the new topic; if the template topic contains %URLPARAM{"anyname"}%, it will be replaced by its value | |
breaklock | If set, any lease conflicts will be ignored, and the edit will proceed even if someone is already editing the topic. | |
redirectto | If the user continues from edit to save, and if the save process is successful, save will redirect to this topic or URL. The parameter value can be a TopicName, a Web.TopicName, or a URL.Note: Redirect to a URL only works if it is enabled in configure (Miscellaneous {AllowRedirectUrl}). |
Status the parameter name is Status. - The first sequence of ten or more
Xcharacters in the topic name will be converted on save to a number such that the resulting topic name is unique in the target web.
EDIT_SKIN, which is used as the value of the cover parameter in edit URLs. This allows you to override the default edit skin on a web, topic or user basis.
login
Used for logging in when TWiki login is being used (e.g TemplateLoginManager).
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
origurl | URL that was being accessed when an access violation occurred. the login process will redirect to this URL if it is successful | none |
username | username of user logging in | none |
password | password of user logging in | none |
logon
Used for logging in when Web Server authentication is being used (e.g. ApacheLoginManager). The script does nothing; it is purely a placeholder for triggering the login process. The webserver will be set up to require a valid user to access this script, thus triggering the webserver login process.
manage
Performs a range of management functions.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
action | One of createweb, deleteUserAccount, editSettings or saveSettings | none |
action=createweb
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
newweb | Name of the new web | '' |
baseweb | Name of the web to copy to create the new web | '' |
webbgcolor | value for WEBBGCOLOR | '' |
sitemapwhat | Value for SITEMAPWHAT | '' |
sitemapuseto | Value for SITEMAPUSETO | '' |
nosearchall | Value for NOSEARCHALL | '' |
action=deleteUserAccount
Unregisters (removes) the currently logged-in user.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
password | Users' password | none |
action=editSettings
No parameters
action=bulkRegister
See BulkRegistration.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
OverwriteHomeTopics | Whether to overwrite existing home topics or not | false |
EmailUsersWithDetails | Whether to mail registered users or not | false |
LogTopic | Topic to save the log in | Same as topic name, with 'Result' appended. |
action=saveSettings
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
text | Text of the topic | '' |
originalrev | Revision that the edit started on | Most recent revision |
oops
This script is mainly used for rendering pages containing error messages, though it is also used for some functional actions such as manage pages (move topic etc).
oops templates are used with the oops script to generate system messages. This is done to make internationalisation or other local customisations simple.
The oops script supports the following parameters:
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
template | Name of the template file to display | |
def | Optional, can be set to the name of a single definition within template. This definition will be instantiated in the template wherever %INSTANTIATE% is seen. This lets you use a single template file for many messages. For an example, see oopsmanagebad.tmpl. | |
paramN | Where N is an integer from 1 upwards. These values will be substituted into template for %PARAM1% etc. |
passwd
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
action | one of changePassword or resetPassword | none |
manage, action=changePassword.
action=changePassword
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
username | Username | |
oldpassword | Existing password (plain text) | |
password | New password (plain text) | |
passwordA | New password confirmation (plain text) | |
TopicName | ? |
preview
This script is deprecated. Its functions are covered by the save script.
rdiff
Renders the differences between version of a TWiki topic
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| rev1 | the higher revision | |
| rev2 | the lower revision | |
| render | the rendering style {sequential, sidebyside, raw, debug} | DIFFRENDERSTYLE, sequential |
| type | {history, diff, last} history diff, version to version, last version to previous | diff |
| context | number of lines of context |
- add a {word} render style
register
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
action | register or verify or resetPassword or approve |
rename
Used for renaming topics.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
skin | skin(s) to use | |
newweb | new web name | |
newtopic | new topic name | |
breaklock | ||
attachment | ||
confirm | if defined, requires a second level of confirmation | |
currentwebonly | if defined, searches current web only for links to this topic | |
nonwikiword | if defined, a non-wikiword is acceptable for the new topic name |
resetpasswd
Reset the password for a single or multiple users
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
LoginName | list of usernames to reset | none - error if not set |
Introduction | message to be sent alongside the reset, most often used to announce to the user that they have been given an account. | '' |
rest
This REST (Representational State Transfer) script can be invoked via http in the same way as the other TWiki scripts (see Invocation Examples, below) to execute a function that is associated to a "subject" and a "verb" (see below). These functions are usually registered by plugins using the TWiki::Func::registerRESTHandler method. The rest script will print the result directly to the browser unless the endPoint parameter is specified, in which case it will output a redirect to the given topic.
The rest script supports the following parameters:
username | If TemplateLogin, or a similar login manager not embedded in the web server, is used, then you need to pass a username and password to the server. The username and password parameters are used for this purpose. |
password | See username |
topic | If defined as the full name (including web) of a topic, then when the script starts up plugins will be passed this as the "current" topic. If not defined, then %USERWEB%.WebHome will be passed to plugins. |
endPoint | Where to redirect the response once the request is served, in the form "Web.Topic" |
The rest script should always require authentication in any TWiki that has logins. Otherwise there is a risk of opening up major security holes. So make sure you add it to the list of authenticated scripts if you are using ApacheLogin.
Invocation Examples
Therest script assumes that it will be called with URL in the form:
http://my.host/bin/rest/<subject>/<verb>
where <subject> must be the WikiWord name of one of the installed TWikiPlugins, and the <verb> is the alias for the function registered using the TWiki::Func::registerRESTHandler method. The <subject> and <verb> are then used to lookup and call the registered function.
<subject> and <verb> are checked for illegal characters exactly in the same way as the web and topic names.
As an example, the EmptyPlugin has registered a function to be used with the rest script under the subject EmptyPlugin and the verb example. Click below to see the rest script in action (run as TWikiGuest).
Call the Plugin
Note that for Plugins to register REST handlers, they must be enabled in configure.
save
The save script performs a range of save-related functions, as selected by the action parameter.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
action_save=1 | default; save, return to view, dontnotify is off | |
action_quietsave=1 | save, and return to view, dontnotify is on | |
action_checkpoint | save and redirect to the edit script, dontnotify is on | |
action_cancel | exit without save, return to view | |
action_preview | preview edited text | |
action_addform | Redirect to the "change form" page. | |
action_replaceform... | Redirect to the "change form" page. | |
action_delRev | Administrators only delete the most recent revision of the topic - all other parameters are ignored. You have to be a member of TWikiAdminGroup to use this, and not all store implementations will support it. | |
action_repRev | Administrators only replace the text of the most recent revision of the topic with the text in the text parameter. text must included embedded meta-data tags. All other parameters are ignored. You have to be a member of TWikiAdminGroup to use this, and not all store implementations will support it. | |
onlynewtopic | If set, error if topic already exists | |
onlywikiname | If set, error if topic name is not a WikiWord | |
dontnotify | if defined, suppress change notification | |
templatetopic | Name of a topic to use as a template for the text and form | |
text | New text of the topic | |
forcenewrevision | if set, forces a revision even if TWiki thinks one isn't needed | |
topicparent | If 'none' remove any current topic parent. If the name of a topic, set the topic parent to this. | |
formtemplate | if defined, use the named template for the form | |
editaction | When action is checkpoint, add form or replace form..., this is used as the action parameter to the edit script that is redirected to after the save is complete. | |
originalrev | Revision on which the edit started. | |
edit | The script to use to edit the topic when action is checkpoint | edit |
editparams | The parameter string to use to edit the topic | |
redirectto | The save process will redirect to this topic or URL if it is successful. (Typically this would be the URL that was being viewed when edit was invoked). The parameter value can be a TopicName, a Web.TopicName, or a URL.Note: Redirect to a URL only works if it is enabled in configure (Miscellaneous {AllowRedirectUrl}). | view topic being edited |
oops page.
The parameters are interpreted in according to the following rules.
- The first sequence of ten or more
Xcharacters in the topic name will be converted to a number such that the resulting topic name is unique in the target web. - When the action is
save,checkpoint,quietsave, orpreview:- The new text is taken from the
textparameter, if it is defined,- otherwise it is taken from the
templatetopic, if it is defined, - otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
- otherwise it is taken from the
- The name of the new form is taken from the
formtemplate, if defined- otherwise it is taken from the
templatetopic, if defined, - otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
- otherwise no form is attached.
- otherwise it is taken from the
- The value for each field in the form is taken from the query, if it is defined
- otherwise it is taken from the
templatetopic, if defined, - otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
- otherwise it defaults to the empty string.
- otherwise it is taken from the
- The new text is taken from the
text and originalrev is > 0 and is not the same as the revision number of the most recent revision. If merging is enabled both the topic and the meta-data are merged.
Form field values are passed in parameters named 'field' - for example, if I have a field Status the parameter name is Status.
search
CGI gateway to the %SEARCH% functionality driven by the following CGI parameters:
| Parameter: | Description: | Default: |
|---|---|---|
"text" | Search term. Is a keyword search, literal search or regular expression search, depending on the type parameter. SearchHelp has more | required |
search="text" | (Alternative to above) | N/A |
web="Name" web="Main, Know" web="all" | Comma-separated list of webs to search. See TWikiVariables#VarSEARCH for more details. | Current web |
topic="WebPreferences" topic="*Bug" | Limit search to topics: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. | All topics in a web |
excludetopic="Web*" excludetopic="WebHome, WebChanges" | Exclude topics from search: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. | None |
type="keyword" type="literal" type="regex" | Do a keyword search like soap "web service" -shampoo; a literal search like web service; or RegularExpression search like soap;web service;!shampoo | %SEARCHVAR- DEFAULTTYPE% preferences setting (literal) |
scope="topic" scope="text" scope="all" | Search topic name (title); the text (body) of topic; or all (both) | "text" |
order="topic" order="created" order="modified" order="editby" order= | Sort the results of search by the topic names, topic creation time, last modified time, last editor, or named field of TWikiForms. The sorting is done web by web; in case you want to sort across webs, create a formatted table and sort it with TablePlugin's initsort | Sort by topic name |
limit="all" limit="16" | Limit the number of results returned. This is done after sorting if order is specified | All results |
date="..." | limits the results to those pages with latest edit time in the given TimeInterval. | All results |
reverse="on" | Reverse the direction of the search | Ascending search |
casesensitive="on" | Case sensitive search | Ignore case |
bookview="on" | BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text | Show topic summary |
nonoise="on" | Shorthand for nosummary="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" zeroresults="off" noheader="on" noempty="on" | Off |
nosummary="on" | Show topic title only | Show topic summary |
nosearch="on" | Suppress search string | Show search string |
noheader="on" | Suppress search header Topics: Changed: By: | Show search header |
nototal="on" | Do not show number of topics found | Show number |
zeroresults="off" | Suppress all output if there are no hits | zeroresults="on", displays: "Number of topics: 0" |
noempty="on" | Suppress results for webs that have no hits. | Show webs with no hits |
header="..." format="..." | Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage, variables & examples | Results in table |
expandvariables="on" | Expand variables before applying a FormattedSearch on a search hit. Useful to show the expanded text, e.g. to show the result of a SpreadSheetPlugin %CALC{}% instead of the formula | Raw text |
multiple="on" | Multiple hits per topic. Each hit can be formatted. The last token is used in case of a regular expression ";" and search | Only one hit per topic |
nofinalnewline="on" | If on, the search variable does not end in a line by itself. Any text continuing immediately after the search tag on the same line will be rendered as part of the table generated by the search, if appropriate. | off |
separator=", " | Line separator between hits | Newline "$n" |
statistics
Refresh the WebStatistics topics in range of webs.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
webs | comma-separated list of webs to run stats on | all accessible webs |
logdate | YYYYMM to generate statistics for | current month |
- from browser http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/statistics updates all user webs
- from browser http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/statistics?webs=TWiki,Main,Sandbox updates TWiki,Main,Sandbox
- from browser http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/twiki/bin/statistics/TWiki updates TWiki
- from command line twiki/bin/statistics updates all user webs
- from command line twiki/bin/statistics -webs=TWiki,Main,Sandbox updates TWiki,Main,Sandbox
- from command line twiki/bin/statistics TWiki.WebHome updates TWiki
twiki
Single-script interface to the functionality of all the other scripts. Experimental, not for production use. Read the code if you want to know more.
upload
Uploads an attachment to a topic. The HTTP request is expected to be in multipart/form-data format.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
hidefile | if defined, will not show file in attachment table | |
filepath | local (client) path name of the file being uploaded. This is used to look up the data for the file in the HTTP query. | |
filename | deprecated, do not use | |
filecomment | Comment to associate with file in attachment table | |
createlink | if defined, will create a link to file at end of topic | |
changeproperties | if defined, this is a property change operation only - no file will be uploaded. | null |
curl to upload files from the command line using this script.
view
Used for viewing topics.
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
raw=on | Shows the text of the topic in a scrollable textarea | |
raw=debug | As raw=on, but also shows the metadata (forms etc) associated with the topic. | |
raw=text | Shows only the source of the topic, as plain text (Content-type: text/plain). Only shows the body text, not the form or other meta-data. | |
raw=all | Shows only the source of the topic, as plain text (Content-type: text/plain), with embedded meta-data. This may be useful if you want to extract the source of a topic to a local file on disc. | |
section | Allows to view only a part of the topic delimited by a named section (see VarSTARTSECTION). If the given section is not present, no topic content is displayed. |