TWiki Reference Manual (v2.1.6)

This page contains all documentation topics as one long, complete reference sheet.

On this page:

Related Topics: TWikiSite, TWikiHistory, TWikiEnhancementRequests, UserDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory


TWiki System Requirements

Server 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 Requirements

TWiki 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.

Resource Required Server Environment *
Perl 5.6.1 or higher (5.8.4 or higher is recommended)
RCS 5.7 or higher (including GNU diff)
Optional, TWiki includes a pure perl implementation of RCS that can be used instead (although it's slower)
GNU diff GNU diff 2.7 or higher is required when not using the all-Perl RcsLite.
Install on PATH if not included with RCS (check version with diff -v)
Must be the version used by RCS, to avoid problems with binary attachments - RCS may have hard-coded path to diff
GNU patch For upgrades only: GNU patch is required when using the TWiki:Codev.UpgradeTWiki script
GNU fgrep, egrep Modify command line parameters in configure if you use non-GNU grep programs
Cron/scheduler • Unix: cron
• Windows: cron equivalents
Web server Apache is well supported; see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#OtherWebServers for other servers

Required CPAN Modules

The following Perl modules are used by TWiki:
Module Preferred version
Algorithm::Diff (included in TWiki distribution)  
CGI::Carp >=1.26
Config >=0
Cwd >=3.05
Data::Dumper >=2.121
Encode >=2.1
Error (included in TWiki distribution)  
File::Copy >=2.06
File::Find >=1.05
File::Spec >=3.05
File::Temp (included with perl 5.6 and later)
FileHandle >=2.01
IO::File >=1.10
Text::Diff (included in TWiki distribution)  
Time::Local >=1.11

Optional CPAN Modules

The following Perl modules may be used by TWiki:
Module Preferred version Description
CGI::Cookie >=1.24 Used for session support
CGI::Session >=3.95 Used for session support
Digest::base    
Digest::SHA1    
Jcode   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon >=0 Used for I18N support
Net::SMTP >=2.29 Used for sending mail
Unicode::Map   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::Map8   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::MapUTF8   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::String   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
URI   Used for configure

Most of them will probably already be available in your installation. You can check version numbers with the 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 Requirements

The TWiki standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:

  • HTML 3.2 compliant
  • Cookies, if persistent sessions are required

CSS and Javascript are used in most skins, although there is a low-fat skin (Classic skin) available that minimises these requirements. Some skins will require more recent releases of browsers. The default skin (Pattern) is tested on IE 6, Safari, and Mozilla 5.0 based browsers (such as Firefox).

You can easily select a balance of browser capability versus look and feel. Try the installed skins at TWikiSkinBrowser and more at TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackage.

Important note about TWiki Plugins

  • Plugins can require just about anything - browser-specific functions, stylesheets (CSS), Java applets, cookies, specific Perl modules,... - check the individual Plugin specs.

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory

Back to top


TWiki Installation Guide

The following is installation instructions for the TWiki 5.0 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.

Preparing to install TWiki

Before attempting to install TWiki, you are encouraged to review the AdminSkillsAssumptions. This guide assumes the user installing TWiki has, at a minimum, basic knowledge of server administration 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 and installing missing Perl CPAN libraries).

To help setup a correct Apache configuration, you are very much encouraged to use the automatic tool 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 as Cairo (TWiki-3) or TWiki 4.x you will need the information found at TWikiUpgradeGuide.

One of the more difficult tasks is installation of additional CPAN libraries. See TWiki:TWiki.HowToInstallCpanModules for detailed information on how to install CPAN libraries.

If you need help, ask a question in the TWiki:Support.WebHome web or on TWiki:Codev.TWikiIRC (irc.freenode.net, channel #twiki).

Basic Installation

  1. Download the TWiki distribution from http://TWiki.org/. (Example - download TWiki-5.0.0.tgz for Linux)
  2. Copy the downloaded package into the directory where you want to install TWiki (Example: /home/httpd ). Unpack the distribution in it (Example: tar xvfz TWiki-5.0.0.tgz). The unpack will create a directory called twiki which contains the TWiki package. In the rest of this document we assume this directory is called twiki.
    • Note: TWiki does not allow spaces in the directory names. Especially on Windows make sure to use a directory path without spaces.
  3. Setup access file and directory rights to enable the webserver user (the user Apache runs the CGI scripts as) to read and write inside the twiki directory.
    • Warning: Do not just just run a chmod -R 770 twiki. The access rules have different meaning for files and directories. This is the most common mistake installers make.
    • The distribution tgz has the file and directory access rights setup to work with a reasonable security level that will work for all types of installations including shared hosting.
    • The ownership of the twiki directory tree is normally set to the user that unpacked the tgz and will have to be changed to the webserver user using the command chown -R user:group /path/to/twiki. The webserver username varies from Distributions. Examples for some major distributions:
      • RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, Gentoo, Mandriva : chown -R apache:apache /path/to/twiki
      • debian/Ubuntu/Kubunto : chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/twiki
      • Suse : chown -R wwwrun:www /path/to/twiki
    • If you mistakenly change the access rights in a way that makes TWiki stop working, simply run the script found at TWiki:TWiki.SettingFileAccessRightsLinuxUnix to set the access right of the entire TWiki tree back to the distributed defaults.
    • It is possible to define tighter access rules than the ones given by default after the installation is complete. But how tight they should be depends on your distribution and local needs. Typically you may want to limit all access from world if the webserver machine has login access for other users than root and the web server administrator. For a dedicated web server made just for running TWiki with limited login access the default access rights have a good safety level.
  4. Check the Perl installation. Ensure that Perl 5 and the Perl CGI library are installed on your system.
    • The default location of Perl is /usr/bin/perl. If it's somewhere else, change the path to Perl in the first line of each script in the twiki/bin directory.
    • Some systems require a special extension on perl scripts (e.g. .cgi or .pl). This is normally only needed under Windows and only where perl scripts are only recognized by file extension. Linux and Unix users should normally never need to do this. If necessary, rename all files in twiki/bin (i.e. rename view to view.pl etc). If you do this, make sure you set the ScriptSuffix option in configure (Step 6).
  5. Create the file LocalLib.cfg located as twiki/bin/LocalLib.cfg
    • There is a template for this file in twiki/bin/LocalLib.cfg.txt. Simply copy LocalLib.cfg.txt to LocalLib.cfg. Make sure the ownership and access rights of the copy are the same as LocalLib.cfg.txt
    • The file twiki/bin/LocalLib.cfg must contain a setting for $twikiLibPath, which must point to the absolute file path of your twiki/lib e.g. /var/www/twiki/lib.
    • If you need to install additional CPAN modules, but can't update the main Perl installation files on the server, you can set $CPANBASE to point to your personal CPAN install. Don't forget that the webserver user has to be able to read those files as well.
  6. Choose best configuration method for your webserver. There are two ways to configure Apache: config file included from httpd.conf or .htaccess files
    • Apache config file: The recommended method is using a config file. With a config file you can put the entire TWiki configuration in ONE file (typically named twiki.conf). Performance is much better with a config file, and one file gives the best overview and ensures that you get a safe installation . However using a config file requires that you can restart Apache which again means that you need root or sudo access to stop and start Apache. The TWiki apache config file is included from the main Apache config file http.conf. Most distributions have a directory from which any file that ends with .conf gets included when you restart Apache (Example RedHat/Fedora/Centos: /etc/httpd/conf.d). If you use a virtual host setup in Apache you should include the twiki.conf file from inside the desired virtual host config in your Apache configuration.
    • .htaccess file: This should only be used when you cannot use a config file. Performance is slowed down because Apache has to look through all directories in search for possible .htaccess files each time someone views a page in TWiki. Normally this is the only way to control Apache in a shared host environment where you have no root or sudo privileges.
  7. Configure the webserver
    • Unless you are an Apache expert setting up the webserver can be quite difficult. But TWiki has three resources that make setting up Apache easier.
      • The best and easiest way is to use webpage TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator which contains a tool that can generate a safe and working config file for TWiki on Apache.
      • In the root of the twiki installation you find an example config file twiki_httpd_conf.txt
      • In the root of the twiki installation and in the twiki/bin directory you find example .htaccess files you can copy and modify. The files contains help text explaining how to set them up. In twiki/bin you find .htaccess.txt which can be copied to .htaccess and defined access to the CGI scripts. In the root of TWiki you find pub-htaccess.txt which you can copy to pub/.htaccess, subdir-htaccess.txt which you can copy to all directories as .htaccess except bin and pub, and you find root-htaccess.txt which you can copy to .htaccess in the twiki root directory. But again only use .htaccess files if you do not have root priviledges.
    • If you are unsure about how to do this on your system, see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#OtherPlatforms for links to information about various server setups.
    • Note: When you use config files you need to restart Apache each time you change a setting to make the new setting active.
  8. Protect the configure script
    • You should never leave the configure script open to the public. Limit access to the twiki/bin/configure script to either localhost, an IP address or a specific user using basic Apache authentication. The TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator lets you setup who has access to the configure script. Also the example twiki-httpd-conf.txt and bin/.htaccess.txt files includes the needed setting to protect the configure script.
    • If you limit the access to a particular user then you need to setup a .htpasswd file that contains the user name and password that Apache will authenticate against. Per default both TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator and the example config files and .htaccess files uses twiki/data/.htpasswd but this file does not exist until you have TWiki running and have registered the first user. You therefore have two options. Either limit the access to localhost or an IP address, or make a .htpasswd file. To make a .htpasswd file change directory to twiki/data and issue the command htpasswd -c .htpasswd username and enter your password when asked. The username must match the Require user username directive in the Apache config file or .htaccess file. Do not use a username you will later use to register in TWiki because TWiki will then claim that you are already registered.
  9. Run the configure script from your browser (enter http://yourdomain/twiki/bin/configure into your browser address bar)
    • Specify and reenter a password. This is your configure password, as well as the admin user password once TWiki is running.
      • Note: In case you forgot the password, you can reset it by deleting $TWiki::cfg{Password} from LocalSite.cfg file from {TWIKI_ROOT}/lib directory.
    • When you run configure for the first time, you can only edit the General Path Settings section. Save these settings, and then return to configure to continue configuration.
    • Resolve any errors or warnings it tells you about.
    • If your webserver can be accessed by more than one domain name make sure to add the additional alternative URLs to {PermittedRedirectHostUrls}
    • When you return to configure you now need to setup Mail and Proxies. Especially the {WebMasterEmail}, and {SMTP}{MAILHOST} must be defined to enable TWiki to send administrative emails, such as for registration and notification of topic changes. Many ISPs have introduced authentication when sending emails to fight spam so you may also have to set {SMTP}{Username} and {SMTP}{Password}. If you do not want to enable mailing or want to enable it later you can uncheck {EnableEmail}.
    • If you want administrative e-mails to be signed, see S/MIME setup instructions below.

You now have a basic, unauthenticated installation running. At this point you can just point your web browser at http://yourdomain.com/twiki/bin/view and start TWiki-ing away!

Important Server Security Settings

Before you continue any further there are some basic and very important security settings you have to make sure are set correctly.

  1. As already described above you should protect the configure script from general access. The configure script is designed for use by administrators only and should be restricted to invocation by them only, by using the basic Apache authentication. Because of this there has not been put much effort into hardening the script. The configure script cannot save any settings once the password has been saved the first time, but the script could still be vulnerable to specially crafted field values and the script reveals many details about the webserver that you should not display in public.
  2. You absolutely must turn off any kind of PHP, Perl, Python, Server Side Includes etc in the pub directory. TWiki has some built-in protection which renames files with dangerous filenames by appending .txt to the filename. But this is a secondary security measure. The essential action that you must take is to turn off any possible execution of any of the attached files.
    Most Linux distributions have a default Apache installation which has PHP and server side include (SSI) enabled.
  3. Make sure that you deny access to all other twiki directories than the bin and pub directories. When you have access to the Apache config files the twiki_httpd_conf.txt file mentioned above also contains protection of these directories.
    For those that do not have access to the Apache config files a sample subdir-htaccess.txt file can be copied as .htaccess to the data, lib, locale, templates, tools and working directories.
  4. Attachments are not secured by default to the access control setting of the topic. In other words, anyone can read them if they know the direct URL of the attachment, which includes name of the web, topic and attachment. You can configure TWiki to secure attachments.

The TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator as well as the example twiki_httpd_conf.txt and example htaccess.txt files include the needed settings that protect against all 4 security elements.

Next Steps

Once 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. Easy way to jump directly to view the pages is to open your own TWiki in your browser and write TWiki.TWikiSkins in the Jump test box to the right in the top bar and hit Enter. You can find these topics in the on-line reference copy at the official TWiki website: TWiki Release 5.0

Enable Authentication of Users

This 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, see 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.

  1. Under the Security Settings pane of configure :
    1. Select TWiki::LoginManager::TemplateLogin for {LoginManager}.
    2. Select TWiki::Users::HtPasswdUser for {PasswordManager}.
    3. Save your configure settings.
    4. Register yourself using the TWikiRegistration topic.
      HELP Check that the password manager recognizes the new user. Check that a new line with the username and encrypted password is added to the data/.htpasswd file. If not, you probably got a path wrong, or the permissions may not allow the webserver user to write to that file.
  2. Edit a topic (by clicking on the Edit link at beginning or end of topic) to check if authentication works.

You are strongly encouraged to read TWikiUserAuthentication, TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUserAuthenticationSupplement, and TWiki:TWiki.SecuringTWikiSite for further information about managing users and security of your TWiki site.

Note: The other LoginManager option TWiki::LoginManager::ApacheLogin uses a basic Apache type authentication where the browser itself prompts you for username and password. Most will find the TemplateLogin looking nicer. But ApacheLogin is required when you use Apache authentication methods like mod_ldap where all authentication is handled by an Apache module and not by the TWiki perl code. When you use ApacheLogin the apache configuration must be set up to require authentication of the some but not all the scripts in the bin directory. This section in the Apache config (or .htaccess) controls this

<FilesMatch "(attach|edit|manage|rename|save|upload|mail|logon|rest|.*auth).*">
   require valid-user
</FilesMatch>

The TWiki:TWiki.ApacheConfigGenerator includes this section when you choose ApacheLogin. In the example twiki_httpd_conf.txt and bin/.htaccess.txt files this section is commented out with #. Uncomment the section when you use ApacheLogin. It is important that this section is commented out or removed when you use TemplateLogin.

Define the Administrator User(s)

Administrators have read and write access to any topic in TWiki, irrespectively of TWiki access controls. When you install TWiki one of the first things you will want to do is define yourself as an administrator. You become an administrator simply by adding yourself to the TWikiAdminGroup. It is the WikiName and not the login name you add to the group. Editing the Main.TWikiAdminGroup topic requires that you are an administrator. So to add the first administrator you need to login using the internal TWiki admin user login and the password you defined in configure.

  • Navigate to the Main.TWikiAdminGroup topic
  • Follow carefully the steps TWikiAdminGroup of how to become an admin
  • Note that if you use ApacheLogin you have to be registered and logged in before you use the internal admin login

Set TWiki Preferences

Preferences for customizing many aspects of TWiki are set simply by editing a special topic with TWiki.

  • TWikiPreferences. Read through it and identify any additional settings or changes you think you might need. You can edit the settings in System.TWikiPreferences but these will be overwritten when you later upgrade to a newer TWiki version. Instead copy any settings or variables that you want to customize from System.TWikiPreferences and paste them into Main.TWikiPreferences. When you later upgrade TWiki simply avoid overwriting the data/Main/TWikiPreferences.txt file and all your settings will be kept. Settings in Main.TWikiPreferences overrides settings in both System.TWikiPreferences and any settings defined in plugin topics. See notes at the top of System.TWikiPreferences for more information.

Enable Email Notification

Each 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:
  1. Confirm the Mail and Proxies settings in the Configure interface.
  2. Setup a cron job (or equivalent) to call the tools/mailnotify script as described in the MailerContrib topic.

Enable Signed Email Notification

TWiki administrative e-mails are an attractive target for SPAM generators and phishing attacks. One good way to protect against this possibility to enable S/MIME signatures on all administrative e-mails. To do this, you need an an X.509 certificate and private key for the the {WebMasterEmail} email account. Obtain these as you would for any other S/MIME e-mail user.

To enable TWiki to sign administrative e-mails:
  1. Enable e-mail as described above
  2. If necessary, convert your certificate and key files to PEM format ( openssl has all the necessary utilities)
  3. Place the certificate anyplace convenient that the webserver can read. It should be protected against write. The conventional place under linux is /etc/pki/tls/certs
  4. Place the key file in a secure location that only the webserver can read. It must not be readable by anyone else, and must not be served by the webserver.
  5. Using the configure script, change the following settings under Mail and Proxies:
    1. Follow the directions under {MailProgram} to enable an external mail program such as sendmail. Net::SMTP is not supported.
    2. Enter the full path to the certificate file in the {SmimeCertificateFile} configuration variable
    3. Enter the full path to the private key file in the {SmimeKeyFile} configuration variable
    4. Save the configuration
  6. Re-run the configure script an resolve any errors that it identifies

All out-going administrative e-mails will now be signed.

Enable WebStatistics

You 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 the TWikiSiteTools topic.

Automate removal of expired sessions and lease files

Per 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 in configure 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 Localisation

TWiki now supports displaying of national (non-ascii) characters and presentation of basic interface elements in different languages. To enable these features, see the Localisation section of configure. For more information about these features, see TWiki:TWiki.InternationalizationSupplement.

Tailor New Users Home Topic

When a new users registers on your TWiki, a home topic is created for them based on the NewUserTemplate topic (and its UserForm). It contains additional resources you can use to:
  • Localize the user topic.
  • Add a default ALLOWTOPICCHANGE so only the user can edit their own home topic. We do not encourage this for Intranet sites as it sends a wrong signal to new users, but it can be necessary on a public TWiki to prevent spam.
  • Add and remove fields defined in the UserForm

If you choose to tailor anything you are strongly adviced to copy NewUserTemplate and UserForm to the Main web and tailor the Main web copies. TWiki will look for the NewUserTemplate in the Main web first and if it does not exist it uses the default from the System web. By creating a Main.NewUserTemplate and its Main.UserForm you will not loose your tailorings next time you upgrade TWiki.

If you added or removed fields from the user form you may also need to tailor TWikiRegistration.

Install Plugins

TWiki:Plugins.WebHome 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, see 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. You can with small means change the looks of the default skins (called TopMenuSkin and PatternSkin) by reading the PatternSkinCustomization.

At the official TWiki website you can find more resources. 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.

Customization of Special Pages

Some pages are meant to be customized after choice of authentication. If you do not use the internal TWiki password manager the topics that contains the features for changing and resetting passwords and changing the email address should be changed to a note describing how to perform these tasks in your organization. The topics are:

WYSIWYG vs Raw Edit

From TWiki release 4.2.0 on the WYSIWYG editor has been replaced by a much better and more powerful editor and it was decided that WYSIWYG would be the default edit mode. An Edit Raw link is available for those that have a need or preference for this mode.

However you may prefer to have the same user interface as in TWiki 4.1 where Edit was the raw text editor and you had a WYSIWYG button. You can modify the templates that define the buttons by following the description on TWiki:Codev.TWikiRawEditDefault04x02.

In the bottom of each topic you will find a default copyright messages saying "Copyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors." It is a setting WEBCOPYRIGHT that defines this. This is often not adequate.

  • If your TWiki is used in a commercial application without public access you should replace this by your normal copyright notice. You should also consider adding classifications (e.g. For Internal Use Only) so people do not have to add this manually to every new topic.
  • If your TWiki is public with public access you need to decide which copyright and license the contributions should be covered by. For open source type applications licenses such as the GNU Free Documentation License, FreeBSD Documentation License, and Creative Commons license are possible licenses to consider. Remember that once people have started contributing it is difficult and not correct to change or impose licenses on existing contributions.

You change the copy right statement globally by taking these steps.

  • Copy the setting WEBCOPYRIGHT from System.TWikiPreferences to Main.TWikiPreferences and alter the copied text to your need.
  • You can create a unique message for each web by adding the WEBCOPYRIGHT setting to WebPreferences in each web. E.g. adding a confidencial classification to a very restricted web.
  • The WEBCOPYRIGHT in System.WebPreferences covers the documentation that comes with TWiki and is covered by the original TWiki Copyright and GPL License. You will normally leave this unchanged.

Troubleshooting

The first step is to re-run the configure script and make sure you have resolved all errors, and are satisfied that you understand any warnings.

If by any chance you forgot the "admin" password, the same is used in "configure" script, then please login to the server. Delete $TWiki::cfg{Password}= ' ...'; . Set the new password using "configure" script.

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:

It is also advisable to review TWiki:Codev/KnownIssuesOfTWiki05x00.

If you need help, ask a question in the TWiki:Support web or on TWiki:Codev/TWikiIRC (irc.freenode.net, channel #twiki)

Appendices

TWiki System Requirements

Low client and server base requirements are core features that keep TWiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions.

Server Requirements

TWiki 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.

Resource Required Server Environment
Perl 5.8.4 or higher is recommended. TWiki will run in perl 5.6.1 but only with Wysiwyg editor disabled. Wysiwyg requires unicode support which is provided by perl 5.8.1 and forward.
RCS 5.7 or higher (including GNU diff)
Optional, TWiki includes a pure perl implementation of RCS that can be used instead (although it's slower)
GNU diff GNU diff 2.7 or higher is required when not using the all-Perl RcsLite.
Install on PATH if not included with RCS (check version with diff -v)
Must be the version used by RCS, to avoid problems with binary attachments - RCS may have hard-coded path to diff
Other external programs fgrep, egrep
Cron/scheduler • Unix: cron
• Windows: cron equivalents
Web server Apache is well supported; for information on other servers, see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#OtherWebServers.

Required CPAN Modules

Most of the CPAN libraries listesd below are part of a standard Perl installation so you most likely have them all!

See TWiki:TWiki.HowToInstallCpanModules for detailed information on how to install CPAN libraries

The following Perl CPAN modules are used by TWiki:

Module Preferred version
Algorithm::Diff (included)  
CGI Versions 2.89 and 3.37 must be avoided. Most version from 3.15 and onwards should work.
CGI::Carp >=1.26
Config >=0
Cwd >=3.05
Data::Dumper >=2.121
Error (included)  
File::Copy >=2.06
File::Find >=1.05
File::Spec >=3.05
FileHandle >=2.01
IO::File >=1.10
Text::Diff (included)  
Time::Local >=1.11

Optional CPAN Modules

The following Perl modules may be used by TWiki:

See TWiki:TWiki.HowToInstallCpanModules for detailed information on how to install CPAN libraries

Module Preferred version Description
Archive::Tar   May be required by the Extensions Installer in configure if command line tar or unzip is not available
CGI::Cookie >=1.24 Used for session support
CGI::Session >=3.95 Highly recommended! Used for session support
Crypt::SMIME >=0.09 Required if S/MIME-signed administrative e-mail is enabled.
Digest::base    
Digest::SHA1    
Jcode   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Locale::Maketext::Lexicon >=0 Used for I18N support
Authen::SASL   Used for SMTP Authentication
Net::SMTP >=2.29 Used for sending mail
Unicode::Map   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::Map8   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::MapUTF8   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
Unicode::String   Used for I18N support with perl 5.6
URI   Used for configure

Most of them will probably already be available in your installation. You can check version numbers with the 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 Requirements

The TWiki standard installation has relatively low browser requirements:

  • HTML 3.2 compliant
  • Cookies, if persistent sessions are required

CSS and Javascript are used in most skins, although there is a low-fat skin (Classic skin) available that minimises these requirements. Some skins will require more recent releases of browsers. The default skin (Pattern) is tested on IE 6, Safari, and Mozilla 5.0 based browsers (such as Firefox).

You can easily select a balance of browser capability versus look and feel. Try the installed skins at TWikiSkinBrowser and more at TWiki:Plugins.SkinPackage.

Important note about TWiki Plugins

  • Plugins can require just about anything - browser-specific functions, stylesheets (CSS), Java applets, cookies, specific Perl modules,... - check the individual Plugin specs.
    • TIP Note: Plugins included in the TWiki distribution do not add requirements, except for the CommentPlugin which requires Perl 5.6.1.

Notes on Installing TWiki on Non-Root Account

The 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:

  • Step 2: If you cannot unpack the TWiki distribution directly in your installation directory, you can unpack the distribution on your local PC and then manually create the directory structure on your host server and upload the files as follows:
    • Using the table below, create a directory structure on your host server
    • Upload the TWiki files by FTP (transfer as text except for the image files in pub directory.)
    • Note: Don't worry if you are not able to put the twiki/lib directory at the same level as the twiki/bin directory (e.g. because CGI bin directories can't be under your home directory and you don't have root access). You can create this directory elsewhere and configure the twiki/bin/setlib.cfg file (done in Step 2).
      TWiki dir: What it is: Where to copy: Example:
      twiki start-up pages root TWiki dir /home/smith/twiki/
      twiki/bin CGI bin CGI-enabled dir /home/smith/twiki/bin
      twiki/lib library files same level as twiki/bin /home/smith/twiki/lib
      twiki/locale language files dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/locale
      twiki/pub public files htdoc enabled dir /home/smith/twiki/pub
      twiki/data topic data dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/data
      twiki/templates web templates dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/templates
      twiki/tools TWiki utlilities dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/tools
      twiki/working Temporary and internal files dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/working

  • Step 3: Files in the pub directory must be readable as a url. This means that directory permissions should be set to 755 (or 775 ) and file permissions should be set to 644 (or 664). If you can run a chmod command, you can accomplish this in two quick steps by running these commands from the root direct:
    • chmod -R 755 pub
    • chmod 644 `find pub -type f -print`
    • In addition, you should create a .htaccess file in the pub directory, using the template included in the root level of the distribution entitled pub-htaccess.txt.
    • Note: This setup does not provide for absolute security for TWiki attachments. For more information, see TWiki:Codev.SecuringYourTWiki.

  • Step 6: In order to run the configure script, create a file called .htaccess in the bin directory that includes the following single line: SetHandler cgi-script . This informs the server to treat all the perl scripts in the bin directory as scripts.

For additional information about installing TWiki on a hosted accounts, see TWiki:TWiki.InstallingTWiki#WebHostingSites

Installing Manually Without Configure

It 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:

  • Copy the file lib/TWiki.spec to lib/LocalSite.cfg
  • Remove the comment # in front of $TWiki::cfg{DefaultUrlHost}, $TWiki::cfg{ScriptUrlPath}, $TWiki::cfg{PubUrlPath}, $TWiki::cfg{PubDir}, $TWiki::cfg{TemplateDir}, $TWiki::cfg{DataDir}, $TWiki::cfg{LocalesDir}, and $TWiki::cfg{OS} and make sure these settings have the correct values.
  • Make sure to define at least these settings: $TWiki::cfg{LoginManager}, $TWiki::cfg{WebMasterEmail}, $TWiki::cfg{SMTP}{MAILHOST}, $TWiki::cfg{SMTP}{SENDERHOST}.

Back to top


TWiki Upgrade Guide

This guide covers upgrading from a previous version of TWiki (such as TWiki-4.3) to TWiki-5.0

Overview

TWiki-5.0.0 is a major release introducing usability enhancements, feature enhancements, and adds extensions to strengthen TWiki as an enterprise collaboration platform. Use this guide to upgrade a previous TWiki release to 5.0. Use the TWikiInstallationGuide if you do not have data to carry forward.

Upgrade Requirements

  • Please review the AdminSkillsAssumptions before you upgrade TWiki
  • Review supplemental document TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUpgradeTo05x00 for latest information and experience notes.
  • To upgrade from a release prior to TWiki Release 01-Sep-2004, start with TWiki:TWiki.UpgradingTWiki on TWiki.org
  • To upgrade from a standard TWiki Release 01-Sep-2004 to the latest TWiki-5.0 Production Release, follow the instructions below
  • Once the upgrade has been applied, an existing earlier installation will still be able to read all the topics, but should not be used to write. Make sure you take a backup!

Major Changes Compared to Earlier TWiki Releases

See TWikiReleaseNotes04x00, TWikiReleaseNotes04x01, TWikiReleaseNotes04x02, TWikiReleaseNotes04x03 and TWikiReleaseNotes05x00

Upgrade Procedure

The 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:

  1. Install the new TWiki version, configure it, and get it to work similar to the old version
  2. Install additional extensions (plugins) -- make sure to use the latest versions
  3. Copy all the non-default webs from the old installation to the new
  4. Copy the users from old installation to the new including all their topics from Main
  5. Apply customizations to your skin (logos, menu bars etc)
  6. Apply preferences from old installation

TIP After the extensions are installed (or upgraded) in step 2, take a "golden" backup. That will come in handy for your next patch or upgrade: By checking the differences between the golden copy and your production copy, you will be able to identify all the modifications that you have applied to the core or extensions.

Installation

  • Follow the installation instructions at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiInstallationGuide. Install the new release in a new directory. Do not install on top of the old release.
  • Use the configure script to configure TWiki.
    • If you are upgrading from a 4.x.x release, you can carry over the configure settings from the old release.
    • You need to run configure and save the configuration once when you upgrade as this will update the altered and added settings.
    • You can also choose to start with a fresh configuration and walk through all the settings using your old twiki/lib/LocalSite.cfg as a reference. This way you will not have old obsolete settings in the new LocalSite.cfg.
    • If at any time during the installation you want to start over from fresh, delete the LocalSite.cfg file and re-run configure.
  • Additional resources
  • Make sure you have a working basic TWiki before you continue

Install Extensions

  • From TWiki-4.1.0 on the configure script which you ran during installation supports installation of additional plugins.
  • Manual installation is possible. Follow the instruction on the plugin page at twiki.org.
  • Check the plugin topics from your old TWiki installation. There may be plugin settings that you want to transfer to the new TWiki installation.
    HELP Hint: For an easier upgrade later on, set the plugin preferences settings in the Main.SitePreferences topic, not in the plugin topic. To identify the plugin, prefix the name of the setting with the capitalized name of the plugin. For example, to change the DEFAULT_TYPE setting of the CommentPlugin, create a COMMENTPLUGIN_DEFAULT_TYPE setting in Main.SitePreferences.
  • Typical plugin settings you may have altered.
    • CommentPlugin - Set DEFAULT_TYPE
    • EditTablePlugin - Set CHANGEROWS, Set QUIETSAVE, and Set EDITBUTTON
    • InterwikiPlugin - Set RULESTOPIC
    • InterWikis - If you added your own rules you should save this topic and not overwrite it.
    • SlideShowPlugin - Make sure you did not change the embedded 'Default Slide Template' If you did you should save it. It is a bad idea to do. It is better to define your own slide show templates as separate topics that do not get overwritten when you upgrade.
    • SmiliesPlugin - Did you add your own smileys?
    • TablePlugin - Set TABLEATTRIBUTES.
  • Remember that a plugin must be activated in configure.
  • To avoid having to re-apply plugin settings each time you upgrade a plugin or TWiki itself, define the altered plugin settings in Main.SitePreferences instead.

Copy your old webs to new TWiki

  • Webs come in pairs, such as twiki/data/Engineering (for page content) and twiki/pub/Engineering (for attachments).
  • When upgrading from Cairo or earlier it may be necessary to unlock the rcs files in data and pub directories from the old installation using the following shell commands:
    • find data -name '*,v' -exec rcs -u -M '{}' \;
    • find pub -name '*,v' -exec rcs -u -M '{}' \;
  • Copy your local webs over to the data and pub directories of the new install. Do not copy the default webs: TWiki, Main, Trash, Sandbox, _default, and _empty.
  • Make sure all data and pub files and directories are owned by the webserver user.
  • Note: TWiki's WebChanges topics depend on the file timestamp. If you touch the .txt files make sure to preserve the timestamp, or to change them in the sequence of old file timestamps.

Copy Users And Their Topics From Main Web

  • Copy all the topics from the Main web and corresponding pub/Main directories from the old TWiki to the new TWiki but do not overwrite any of the new topics already inside the new Main directory!
  • Manually merge all the users from the old Main.TWikiUsers topic to the new TWiki. If you upgrade from Cairo you can simply use the old file and add the missing new system users to the list of users. If you upgrade from TWiki-4.0.x simply use the old topic. Starting from 4.2.0 TWiki no longer ships with a Main.TWikiUsers topic. When you register the first user TWiki now checks for an existing Main.TWikiUsers and if it does not exist it gets created.
  • If you use data/.htpasswd for authentication copy this file from the old TWiki to the new.
    • If you upgrade from Cairo and you are using the Htpasswd login manager, then note that email addresses for users have moved out of user topics and into the password file. There is a script that performs this extra upgrade step for you - see tools/upgrade_emails.pl.
  • The old Sandbox web may have a lot of useful topic and users may use it actively for drafts. Manually select the topics (remember the corresponding pub directories) from the old Sandbox web and copy them to the one of the new TWiki. Decide if you want to overwrite the sandbox homepage and left menu bar or keep the new.
  • If you added or removed fields from the user topic form you may also have tailored TWiki.TWikiRegistration. Make sure you either reuse the registration topic from the old installation or apply the same field changes to the new TWiki.TWikiRegistration topic.
  • Starting from 4.2.0 TWiki ships with NewUserTemplate and UserForm in the TWiki web. If you choose to tailor anything you are strongly advised to copy NewUserTemplate and UserForm to the Main web and tailor the Main web copies. TWiki will look for the NewUserTemplate in the Main web first and if it does not exist it uses the default from the TWiki web. By creating a Main.NewUserTemplate and its Main.UserForm you will not loose your tailorings next time you upgrade TWiki.
  • Make sure all data and pub files and directories are owned by the webserver user.

Apply Customizations To The Skin

Apply Preferences From Old Installation

  • Transfer any customized and local settings from System.TWikiPreferences to the topic pointed at by {LocalSitePreferences} (Main.SitePreferences). Per default this is Main.TWikiPreferences. This avoids having to write over files in the distribution on a later upgrade.
  • If you changed any of the topics in the original TWiki distribution, you will have to transfer your changes to the new install manually. There is no simple way to do this, though a suggestion is to use 'diff' to find changed files in the data/TWiki of the old and new TWiki installation, and transfer the changes into the new TWiki install. If you can run a GUI on your server, you may find that using a visual diff tool like WinMerge, meld, kdiff3, xxdiff, etc. is helpful.
  • Compare the WebPreferences topics in the old TWiki Installation with the default from the new TWiki installation and add any new Preferences that may be relevant.
  • Compare the WebLeftBar topics in the old TWiki Installation with the default from the new TWiki installation and add any new feature that you desire.

Customization of Special Pages

Some pages in the TWiki web are meant to be customized after choice of authentication. If you do not use the internal TWiki password manager the topics that contains the features for changing and resetting passwords and changing the email address should be changed to a note describing how to perform these tasks in your organization. If you have made such customizations remember to replace these topics in the TWiki web with the tailored versions from your old installation. The topics are:

  • TWiki.ChangePassword
  • TWiki.ResetPassword
  • TWiki.ChangeEmailAddress

Upgrading from Cairo to TWiki-4 (additional advice)

Favicon

TWiki-4'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 TWiki-4 it is assumed that each web has a favicon.ico file attached to the WebPreferences topic. When you upgrade from Cairo to TWiki-4 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.

  • Attach a favicon.ico file to WebPreferences in each web.
  • Preferred: Change the setting of the location of favicon.ico in TWikiPreferences so all webs use the favicon.ico from the TWiki web. This is the fastest and easiest solution.

To change the location of favicon.ico in TWikiPreferences to the TWiki web add the following setting to Main.SitePreferences:

   * Set FAVICON = %PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/%WEBPREFSTOPIC%/favicon.ico

TWikiUsers topic in Main web

Your old Main.TWikiUsers topic will work in the new TWiki but you will need to ensure that the following four users from the TWikiUsersTemplate topic are copied to the existing TWikiUsers topic in proper alphabetical order:

   * TWikiContributor - 2005-01-01
   * TWikiGuest - guest - 1999-02-10
   * TWikiRegistrationAgent - 2005-01-01
   * UnknownUser - 2005-01-01

What these users are:
  • TWikiContributor - placeholder for a TWiki developer, and is used in TWiki documentation
  • TWikiGuest - guest user, used as a fallback if the user can't be identified
  • TWikiRegistrationAgent - special user used during the new user registration process
  • UnknownUser - used where the author of a previously stored piece of data can't be determined

You additionally need to ensure that TWikiUsers has the Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = TWikiAdminGroup, TWikiRegistrationAgent access control setting. Otherwise people will not be able to register.

Important Changes since TWiki-4.0.5

Supported Perl version

TWiki 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 changed

Until 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 TWiki-4.1.0

New location for session and other temporary files

An 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.

Important Changes since TWiki-4.1.2

New WYSIWYG Editor

TWiki now ships with a new WYSIWYG editor based on TinyMCE replaces the Kupu based editor.
TinyMCE is not a perfect Wysiwyg editor but it is magnitudes better than the Kupu editor

The WysiwygPlugin that drives the engine behind both TinyMCE has additionally been heavily improved so that less TWiki Applications are negatively affected by editing WYSIWYG

When TinyMCEPlugin is enabled the Edit button per default becomes WYSIWYG editing mode. A new Raw Edit link has been added to enable application developers to edit the good old way

The WYSIWYG button has been removed.

NEWTOPICLINKSYMBOL removed

The NEWTOPICLINKSYMBOL preference which was deprecated in 4.1 has now been removed from the code. If you want to control the appearance of new links, you can use NEWLINKFORMAT.

UserForm and NewUserTemplate Customization

When a new user registers on TWiki his user topic is created based on the NewUserTemplate and UserForm.

The NewUserTemplate was located in the TWiki web and the UserForm in the Main web. When upgrading TWiki these were some of the topics you had to take care not to overwrite.

From 4.2.0 the UserForm and NewUserTemplate are distributed in the TWiki web. If you create the two in the Main web the Main web version will be used instead. So if you tailor the user topic format or the form then you should always copy the two files to the Main web and modify the ones in the Main web. When you later upgrade TWiki your tailored template and form will not be overwritten.

TWikiUsers no longer distributed

The Main.TWikiUsers topic contains all the registered users. It is a topic you do not want to overwrite when you upgrade TWiki.

From 4.2.0 this file is no longer included in the TWiki distribution. When you register the first time TWiki creates the Main.TWikiUsers topic in the Main web if it does not exist already. This means that you can now upgrade TWiki without risk of overwriting the important TWikiUsers topic.

  • For new installers this makes no difference at all
  • For upgraders this is one less problem to worry about as your important Main.TWikiUsers topic now no longer gets overwritten when upgrading.

New working directory

A new directory working which per default is located in the twiki root, has been introduced which contains:

  • registration_approvals - with 4.2.0 it is moved to here from the data directory.
  • tmp - so we now avoid having to fight with special access rights and /tmp directory that gets cleaned out when booting.
  • work_areas - with 4.2.0 it is moved to here from the pub directory. Configure automatically moved the directory when you upgrade.

Note: Remember to restrict access to this new directory when you upgrade.

The configuration setting {WorkingDir} defines the container directory for temporary files, extensions' work areas, and intermediate registration data. The default is working under your installation root.

Take care for that change if you run your own routine to delete obsolete session files, which will now be found under working/tmp/cgisess*.

New Internal Admin Login

TWiki 4.2 introduces a new Internal Admin Login feature which uses "admin" (configurable) as username and the password used for configure to become temporary administrator. When you do a new installation you need to use this feature as Main.TWikiAdminGroup is now access restricted by default to avoid security attacks during the hours an installation may take. From configure there is a link to the TWikiAdminGroup topic and on TWikiAdminGroup the step by step instructions are written in a yellow box. Our advice is not to remove this help text in case you need it later.

Important Changes since TWiki-5.0.0

New TopMenuSkin

The TopMenuSkin adds pulldown menus for better usability and corporate/modern look&feel. This skin is based on the PatternSkin, which used the WebLeftBar in each web for navigation. The TopMenuSkin has a new WebTopBar that defines the menu structure in each web. A default menu is shown in case WebTopBar is missing in a web, so you do not need to add a WebTopBar topic to all your existing webs. See TopMenuSkin#WebSpecific instructions in case you need a customized menu structure in a specific web.

Back to top


TWiki User Authentication

TWiki site access control and user activity tracking options

Overview

Authentication, 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:

TWiki user authentication is split into four sections; password management, user mapping, user registration, and login management. Password management deals with how users personal data is stored. Registration deals with how new users are added to the wiki. Login management deals with how users log in.

Once a user is logged on, they can be remembered using a Client Session stored in a cookie in the browser (or by other less elegant means if the user has disabled cookies). This avoids them having to log on again and again.

TWiki user authentication is configured through the Security Settings pane in the configure interface.

Please note FileAttachments are not protected by TWiki User Authentication.

TIP Tip: TWiki:TWiki.TWikiUserAuthenticationSupplement on TWiki.org has supplemental documentation on user authentication.

Password Management

As 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 configure interface for more details.

You can easily plug in alternate password management modules to support interfaces to other third-party authentication databases.

User Mapping

Often 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 Registration

New 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.

ALERT! Note: If you are restricting the entire Main web to TWikiGuest, you are required to add TWikiRegistrationAgent to ALLOWWEBCHANGE in your Main/WebPreferences. By doing so, new users are able to register without any errors.

Login Management

Login 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 none in configure)

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.

ALERT! Note: This setup is not recommended on public websites for security reasons; anyone would be able to change system settings and perform tasks usually restricted to administrators.

Template Login (select TWiki::LoginManager::TemplateLogin in configure)

Template Login asks for a username and password in a web page, and processes them using whatever Password Manager you choose. Users can log in and log out. Client Sessions are used to remember users. Users can choose to have their session remembered so they will automatically be logged in the next time they start their browser.

Enabling Template Login

  1. Use the configure interface to
    1. select the TWiki::LoginManager::TemplateLogin login manager (on the Security Settings pane).
    2. select the appropriate password manager for your system, or provide your own.
    3. HELP there is also an EXPERT configure setting {TemplateLogin}{PreventBrowserRememberingPassword} that you can set to prevent Browsers from remembering username and passwords if you are concerned about public terminal usage.
  2. Register yourself in the TWikiRegistration topic.
    HELP Check that the password manager recognises the new user. If you are using .htpasswd files, check that a new line with the username and encrypted password is added to the .htpasswd file. If not, you probably got a path wrong, or the permissions may not allow the webserver user to write to that file.
  3. Create a new topic to check if authentication works.
  4. Edit the TWikiAdminGroup topic in the Main web to include users with system administrator status.
    ALERT! This is a very important step, as users in this group can access all topics, independent of TWiki access controls.

TWikiAccessControl has more information on setting up access controls.

ALERT! At this time TWikiAccessControls cannot control access to files in the pub area, unless they are only accessed through the viewfile script. If your pub directory is set up in the webserver to allow open access you may want to add .htaccess files in there to restrict access.

TIP You can create a custom version of the TWikiRegistration form by copying the topic, and then deleting or adding input tags in your copy. The name="" parameter of the input tags must start with: "Twk0..." (if this is an optional entry), or "Twk1..." (if this is a required entry). This ensures that the fields are carried over into the user home page correctly. Do not modify the version of TWikiRegistration shipped with TWiki, as your changes will be overwritten next time you upgrade.

TIP The default new user template page is in System.NewUserTemplate. The same variables get expanded as in the template topics. You can create a custom new user home page by creating the Main.NewUserTemplate topic, which will then override the default.

Apache Login (select TWiki::LoginManager::ApacheLogin in configure)

Using this method TWiki does not authenticate users internally. Instead it depends on the REMOTE_USER environment variable, which is set when you enable authentication in the webserver.

The advantage of this scheme is that if you have an existing website authentication scheme using Apache modules such as mod_auth_ldap or mod_auth_mysql you can just plug in directly to them.

The disadvantage is that because the user identity is cached in the browser, you can log in, but you can't log out again unless you restart the browser.

TWiki maps the REMOTE_USER that was used to log in to the webserver to a WikiName using the table in TWikiUsers. This table is updated whenever a user registers, so users can choose not to register (in which case their webserver login name is used for their signature) or register (in which case that login name is mapped to their WikiName).

The same private .htpasswd file used in TWiki Template Login can be used to authenticate Apache users, using the Apache Basic Authentication support.

Warning: Do not use the Apache htpasswd program with .htpasswd files generated by TWiki! htpasswd wipes out email addresses that TWiki plants in the info fields of this file.

Enabling Apache Login using mod_auth

You can use any other Apache authentication module that sets REMOTE_USER.
  1. Use configure to select the TWiki::LoginManager::ApacheLogin login manager.
  2. Use configure to set up TWiki to create the right kind of .htpasswd entries.
  3. Create a .htaccess file in the twiki/bin directory.
    HELP There is an template for this file in twiki/bin/.htaccess.txt that you can copy and change. The comments in the file explain what need to be done.
    HELP If you got it right, the browser should now ask for login name and password when you click on the Edit. If .htaccess does not have the desired effect, you may need to "AllowOverride All" for the directory in httpd.conf (if you have root access; otherwise, e-mail web server support)
    ALERT! At this time TWikiAccessControls do not control access to files in the pub area, unless they are only accessed through the viewfile script. If your pub directory is set up to allow open access you may want to add .htaccess files in there as well to restrict access
  4. You can create a custom version of the TWikiRegistration form by copying the default topic, and then deleting or adding input tags in your copy. The name="" parameter of the input tags must start with: "Twk0..." (if this is an optional entry), or "Twk1..." (if this is a required entry). This ensures that the fields are carried over into the user home page correctly. Do not modify the version of TWikiRegistration shipped with TWiki, as your changes will be overwritten next time you upgrade.
    The default new user template page is in System.NewUserTemplate. The same variables get expanded as in the template topics. You can create a custom new user home page by creating the Main.NewUserTemplate topic, which will then override the default.
  5. Register yourself in the TWikiRegistration topic.
    HELP Check that a new line with the username and encrypted password is added to the .htpasswd file. If not, you may have got a path wrong, or the permissions may not allow the webserver user to write to that file.
  6. Create a new topic to check if authentication works.
  7. Edit the TWikiAdminGroup topic in the Main web to include users with system administrator status.
    ALERT! This is a very important step, as users in this group can access all topics, independent of TWiki access controls.
TWikiAccessControl has more information on setting up access controls.

Logons via bin/logon

Any time a user requests a page that needs authentication, they will be forced to log on. It may be convenient to have a "logon" link as well, to give the system a chance to identify the user and retrieve their personal settings. It may be convenient to force them to log on.

The bin/logon script enables this. If you are using Apache Login, the bin/logon script must be setup in the bin/.htaccess file to be a script which requires a valid user. Once authenticated, it will redirect the user to the view URL for the page from which the logon script was linked.

Sessions

TWiki uses the CPAN:CGI::Session and CPAN:CGI::Cookie modules to track sessions. These modules are de facto standards for session management among Perl programmers. If you can't use Cookies for any reason, CPAN:CGI::Session also supports session tracking using the client IP address.

You don't have to enable sessions to support logins in TWiki. However it is strongly recommended. TWiki needs some way to remember the fact that you logged in from a particular browser, and it uses sessions to do this. If you don;t enable sessions, TWiki will try hard to remember you, but due to limitations in the browsers it may also forget you (and then suddenly remember you again later!). So for the best user experience, you should enable sessions.

There are a number of TWikiVariables available that you can use to interrogate your current session. You can even add your own session variables to the TWiki cookie. Session variables are referred to as "sticky" variables.

Getting, Setting, and Clearing Session Variables

You can get, set, and clear session variables from within TWiki web pages or by using script parameters. This allows you to use the session as a personal "persistent memory space" that is not lost until the web browser is closed. Also note that if a session variable has the same name as a TWiki preference, the session variables value takes precedence over the TWiki preference. This allows for per-session preferences.

To make use of these features, use the tags:

%SESSION_VARIABLE{ "varName" }%
%SESSION_VARIABLE{ "varName" set="varValue" }%
%SESSION_VARIABLE{ "varName" clear="" }%

Note that you cannot override access controls preferences this way.

Cookies and Transparent Session IDs

TWiki normally uses cookies to store session information on a client computer. Cookies are a common way to pass session information from client to server. TWiki cookies simply hold a unique session identifier that is used to look up a database of session information on the TWiki server.

For a number of reasons, it may not be possible to use cookies. In this case, TWiki has a fallback mechanism; it will automatically rewrite every internal URL it sees on pages being generated to one that also passes session information.

TWiki Username vs. Login Username

This section applies only if you are using authentication with existing login names (i.e. mapping from login names to WikiNames).

Foswiki internally manages two usernames: Login Username and TWiki Username.

  • Login Username: When you login to the intranet, you use your existing login username, ex: pthoeny. This name is normally passed to TWiki by the REMOTE_USER environment variable, and used internally. Login Usernames are maintained by your system administrator.

  • TWiki Username: Your name in WikiNotation, ex: PeterThoeny, is recorded when you register using TWikiRegistration; doing so also generates a personal home page in the Main web.

TWiki can automatically map an Intranet (Login) Username to a TWiki Username if the {AllowLoginName} is enabled in configure. The default is to use your WikiName as a login name.

NOTE: To correctly enter a WikiName - your own or someone else's - be sure to include the Main web name in front of the Wiki username, followed by a period, and no spaces, for example Main.WikiUsername or %USERSWEB%.WikiUsername. This points WikiUsername to the Main web, where user home pages are located, no matter which web it's entered in. Without the web prefix, the name appears as a NewTopic everywhere but in the Main web.

Changing Passwords

If your {PasswordManager} supports password changing, you can change and reset passwords using forms on regular pages.

Changing E-mail Addresses

If the active {PasswordManager} supports storage and retrieval of user e-mail addresses, you can change your e-mail using a regular page. As shipped, this is true only for the Apache 'htpasswd' password manager.

Controlling access to individual scripts

You may want to add or remove scripts from the list of scripts that require authentication. The method for doing this is different for each of Template Login and Apache Login.
  • For Template Login, update the {AuthScripts} list using configure
  • For Apache Login, add/remove the script from .htaccess

How to choose an authentication method

One of the key features of TWiki is that it is possible to add HTML to topics. No authentication method is 100% secure on a website where end users can add HTML, as there is always a risk that a malicious user can add code to a topic that gathers user information, such as session IDs. The TWiki developers have been forced to make certain tradeoffs, in the pursuit of efficiency, that may be exploited by a hacker.

This section discusses some of the known risks. You can be sure that any potential hackers have read this section as well!

At one extreme, the most secure method is to use TWiki via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), with a login manager installed and Client Sessions turned off.

Using TWiki with sessions turned off is a pain, though, as with all the login managers there are occasions where TWiki will forget who you are. The best user experience is achieved with sessions turned on.

As soon as you allow the server to maintain information about a logged-in user, you open a door to potential attacks. There are a variety of ways a malicious user can pervert TWiki to obtain another users session ID, the most common of which is known as a cross-site scripting attack. Once a hacker has an SID they can pretend to be that user.

To help prevent these sorts of attacks, TWiki supports IP matching, which ensures that the IP address of the user requesting a specific session is the same as the IP address of the user who created the session. This works well as long as IP addresses are unique to each client, and as long as the IP address of the client can't be faked.

Session IDs are usually stored by TWiki in cookies, which are stored in the client browser. Cookies work well, but not all environments or users permit cookies to be stored in browsers. So TWiki also supports two other methods of determining the session ID. The first method uses the client IP address to determine the session ID. The second uses a rewriting method that rewrites local URLs in TWiki pages to include the session ID in the URL.

The first method works well as long as IP addresses are unique to each individual client, and client IP addresses can't be faked by a hacker. If IP addresses are unique and can't be faked, it is almost as secure as cookies + IP matching, so it ranks as the fourth most secure method.

If you have to turn IP matching off, and cookies can't be relied on, then you may have to rely on the second method, URL rewriting. This method exposes the session IDs very publicly, so should be regarded as "rather dodgy".

Most TWiki sites don't use SSL, so, as is the case with most sites that don't use SSL, there is always a possibility that a password could be picked out of the aether. Browsers do not encrypt passwords sent over non-SSL links, so using Apache Login is no more secure than Template Login.

Of the two shipped login managers, Apache Login is probably the most useful. It lets you do this sort of thing: wget --http-user=RogerRabbit --http-password=i'mnottelling http://www.example.com/bin/save/Sandbox/StuffAUTOINC0?text=hohoho,%20this%20is%20interesting i.e. pass in a user and password to a request from the command-line. However it doesn't let you log out.

Template Login degrades to url re-writing when you use a client like dillo that does not support cookies. However, you can log out and back in as a different user.

Finally, it would be really neat if someone was to work out how to use certificates to identify users.....

See TWiki:TWiki.SecuringTWikiSite for more information.

Back to top


TWiki Access Control

Restricting read and write access to topics and webs, by Users and groups

TWiki Access Control allows you restrict access to single topics and entire webs, by individual user and by user Groups. Access control, combined with TWikiUserAuthentication, lets you easily create and manage an extremely flexible, fine-grained privilege system.

TIP Tip: TWiki:TWiki.TWikiAccessControlSupplement on TWiki.org has additional documentation on access control.

An Important Control Consideration

Open, freeform editing is the essence of WikiCulture - what makes TWiki different and often more effective than other collaboration tools. For that reason, it is strongly recommended that decisions to restrict read or write access to a web or a topic are made with great care - the more restrictions, the less Wiki in the mix. Experience shows that unrestricted write access works very well because:
  • Peer influence is enough to ensure that only relevant content is posted.
  • Peer editing - the ability for anyone to rearrange all content on a page - keeps topics focused.
  • In TWiki, content is transparently preserved under revision control:
    • Edits can be undone by the administrator (per default a member of TWikiAdminGroup; see #ManagingGroups).
    • Users are encouraged to edit and refactor (condense a long topic), since there's a safety net.
As a collaboration guideline:
  • Create broad-based Groups (for more and varied input), and...
  • Avoid creating view-only Users (if you can read it, you should be able to contribute to it).

Permissions settings of the webs on this TWiki site

Web Sitemap VIEW CHANGE RENAME
  Listed DENY ALLOW DENY ALLOW DENY ALLOW
Preferences Home Main on     WikiGuest   WikiGuest  
Preferences Home Sandbox on     WikiGuest   WikiGuest  
Preferences Home System on not set not set not set AdminGroup not set AdminGroup

Please Note:

  • WikiGuest is the guest account - used by unauthenticated users.
  • The web must not deny view to WikiGuest; otherwise, people will not be able to register.

Note: Above table comes from SitePermissions

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 WikiUsers topic.

The default visitor name is TWikiGuest. This is the non-authenticated user.

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 the Main 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 >

The GROUP setting is a comma-separated list of users and/or other groups. Example:
  • Set GROUP = Main.SomeUser, Main.OtherUser, Main.SomeGroup

The ALLOWTOPICCHANGE setting defines who is allowed to change the group topic; it is a comma delimited list of users and groups. You typically want to restrict that to the members of the group itself, so it should contain the name of the topic. This prevents users not in the group from editing the topic to give themselves or others access. For example, for the KasabianGroup topic write:
  • Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.KasabianGroup

ALERT! 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 the TWikiAdminGroup. 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
A member of the Super Admin Group has unrestricted access throughout the TWiki, so only trusted staff should be added to this group.

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. When you restric VIEW to a topic or web, this also restricts INCLUDE and Formatted SEARCH from showing the content of the topics.
  • Restricting CHANGE blocks creating new topics, changing topics or attaching files.
  • Restricting RENAME prevents renaming of topics within a web.

Note that there is an important distinction between CHANGE access and RENAME access. A user can CHANGE a topic, but thanks to version control their changes cannot be lost (the history of the topic before the change is recorded). However if a topic or web is renamed, that history may be lost. Typically a site will only give RENAME access to administrators and content owners.

Controlling access to a Web

You can define restrictions on who is allowed to view a Foswiki 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 >

If your site allows hierarchical webs, then access to sub-webs is determined from the access controls of the parent web, plus the access controls in the sub-web. So, if the parent web has ALLOWWEBVIEW set, this will also apply to the subweb. Also note that you will need to ensure that the parent web's FINALPREFERENCES does not include the access control settings listed above. Otherwise you will not be able override the parent web's access control settings in sub-webs.

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: If you restrict access to the Main, make sure to add the TWikiRegistrationAgent so that users can register. Example:
    • Set ALLOWWEBCHANGE = TWikiAdminGroup, TWikiRegistrationAgent

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 >

Remember when opening up access to specific topics within a restricted web that other topics in the web - for example, the WebLeftBar - may also be accessed when viewing the topics. The message you get when you are denied access should tell you what topic you were not permitted to access.

Be careful with empty values for any of these.

  • 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 same rules apply to ALLOWTOPICCHANGE/DENYTOPICCHANGE and APPLYTOPICRENAME/DENYTOPICRENAME. Setting ALLOWTOPICCHANGE or ALLOWTOPICRENAME to en empty value means the same as not defining it. Setting DENYTOPICCHANGE or DENYTOPICRENAME to an empty value means that anyone can edit or rename the topic.

ALERT! If the same setting is defined multiple times the last one overrides the previous. They are not OR'ed together.

ALERT! 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 a later 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.

Securing File Attachments

By default, TWiki does not secure file attachments. Without making the following changes to the twiki.conf file, it is possible for anyone who has access to the server to gain access to an attachment if they know the attachment's fully qualified path, even though access to the topic associated with the attachment is secured. This is because attachments are referred to directly by Apache, and are not by default delivered via TWiki scripts. This means that the above instructions for controlling to topics do not apply to attachments unless you make the changes as described below.

An effective way to secure attachments is to apply the same access control settings to attachments as those applied to topics. This security enhancement can be accomplished by instructing the webserver via Apache's mod_rewrite module to redirect accesses to attachments via the TWiki viewfile script, which honors the TWiki access controls settings to topics.

The preferred method to secure attachments is by editing the twiki.conf file to include:

    ScriptAlias /twiki/bin/ /filesystem/path/to/twiki/bin/
    Alias /twiki/pub/       /filesystem/path/to/twiki/pub/

    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/+twiki/+pub/+(TWiki|Sandbox)/+.+
    RewriteRule ^/+twiki/+pub/+(.*)$  /twiki/bin/viewfile/$1 [L,PT]

Notes:
  • You can use TWiki:TWiki/ApacheConfigGenerator to generate the Apache config file for TWiki.
  • You will need to restart your Apache server after this change.
  • Images embedded in topics will load slower since attached images will also be delivered by the viewfile script. The TWiki web and Sandbox web are excluded for performance reasons.
  • As an alternative to editing the twiki.conf file used by Apache, you can make the same change directly to the .htaccess file in the /twiki/bin directory.
  • The viewfile script sets the mime type based upon file name suffix. Unknown types are served as text/plain which can result in corrupt files.

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 >
Note that you do not require 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.

  1. If the user is an administrator
    • access is PERMITTED.
  2. If DENYTOPIC is set to a list of wikinames
    • people in the list will be DENIED.
  3. If DENYTOPIC is set to empty ( i.e. Set DENYTOPIC = )
    • access is PERMITTED i.e no-one is denied access to this topic.
      ALERT! Attention: Use this with caution. This is deprecated and will likely change in the next release.
  4. If ALLOWTOPIC is set
    1. people in the list are PERMITTED
    2. everyone else is DENIED
  5. If DENYWEB is set to a list of wikinames
    • people in the list are DENIED access
  6. If ALLOWWEB is set to a list of wikinames
    • people in the list will be PERMITTED
    • everyone else will be DENIED
  7. If you got this far, access is PERMITTED

Access control and INCLUDE

ALLOWTOPICVIEW and ALLOWTOPICCHANGE only applies to the topic in which the settings are defined. If a topic A includes another topic B, topic A does not inherit the access rights of the included topic B.

Examples: Topic A includes topic B

  • If the included topic B has ALLOWTOPICCHANGE set to block editing for a user, it does not prevent editing the including topic A.
  • If the included topic B has ALLOWTOPICVIEW set to block view for a user, the user can still view topic A but he cannot see the included topic B. He will see a message No permission to view B

Access Control quick recipes

Obfuscating Webs

Another way of hiding webs is to keep them hidden by not publishing the URL and by preventing the all webs search option from accessing obfuscated webs. Do so by enabling the NOSEARCHALL variable in WebPreferences:
  • Set NOSEARCHALL = on

This setup can be useful to hide a new web until content its ready for deployment, or to hide view access restricted webs.

ALERT! Note: Obfuscating a web without view access control is very insecure, as anyone who knows the URL can access the web.

Restrict Access to Whole TWiki Site

For a firewalled TWiki, e.g. an intranet wiki or extranet wiki, you want to allow only invited people to access your TWiki. In this case, enable user authentication with ApacheLogin and lock down access to the whole twiki/bin and twiki/pub directories to all but valid users. In the Apache .htaccess file or the appropriate .conf file, replace the <FilesMatch "(attach|edit|... section with this:

<FilesMatch ".*">
       require valid-user
</FilesMatch>

If needed, you can further restrict access to selected webs with ALLOWWEBVIEW and other access control settings.

Note: With this configuration, someone with access to the site needs to register new users.

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.

  1. Set require valid-user on your view script in .htaccess or the appropriate Apache .conf file. As of 4.x, this looks like: FilesMatch "(attach|edit|manage|rename|save|view|upload|mail|logon|.*auth).*" (normally view is not in that list).
  2. 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: DENYWEBVIEW is evaluated before ALLOWWEBVIEW. Access is denied if the authenticated person is in the DENYWEBVIEW list, or not in the ALLOWWEBVIEW list. Access is granted if DENYWEBVIEW and ALLOWWEBVIEW are not defined.
  3. If you still want public users to be able to register automatically follow TWiki:TWiki.RegisterOnViewRestrictedSite.

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.

  1. 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: DENYWEBVIEW is evaluated before ALLOWWEBVIEW. Access is denied if the authenticated person is in the DENYWEBVIEW list, or not in the ALLOWWEBVIEW list. Access is granted if DENYWEBVIEW and ALLOWWEBVIEW are not defined.

Hide Control Settings

TIP Tip: To hide access control settings from normal browser viewing, you can put them into the topic preference settings by clicking the link Edit topic preference settings under More topic actions menu. Preferences set in this manner are not visible in the topic text, but take effect nevertheless. Access control settings added as topic preference settings are stored in the topic meta data and they override settings defined in the topic text.

Alternatively, place them in HTML comment markers, but this exposes the access setting during ordinary editing.

<!--
   * Set DENYTOPICCHANGE = Main.SomeGroup
-->

Back to top


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 ---+.

ALERT! Empty headings are allowed, but won't appear in the table of contents.
---++ Sushi
---+++ Maguro
---+++!! Not in TOC

Sushi

Maguro

Not in TOC

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

Bold Fixed Font:
Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in double equal signs.
==Bold fixed==

Bold fixed
TIP You can follow the closing bold, italic, or other (* _ __ = ==) indicator with normal punctuation, such as commas and full stops.

ALERT! Make sure there is no space between the text and the indicators.
_This works_,
_this does not _

This works,
_this does not _
Verbatim (Literal) Text:
Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags.
TIP verbatim tags disable HTML code. Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want the HTML code within the tags to be interpreted.
ALERT! 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>
  }
}
Separator (Horizontal Rule):
Three or more three dashes at the beginning of a line..
-------


Bulleted List:
Multiple of three spaces, an asterisk, and another space.
HELP 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

  • level 1
    • level 2
  • back on 1
  • A bullet broken over three lines
  • last bullet
Numbered List:
Multiple of three spaces, a type character, a dot, and another space. Several types are available besides a number:
Type Generated Style Sample Sequence
1. Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, 4...
A. Uppercase letters A, B, C, D...
a. Lowercase letters a, b, c, d...
I. Uppercase Roman Numerals I, II, III, IV...
i. Lowercase Roman Numerals i, ii, iii, iv...
   1. Sushi
   1. Dim Sum
   1. Fondue

   A. Sushi
   A. Dim Sum
   A. Fondue

   i. Sushi
   i. Dim Sum
   i. Fondue

  1. Sushi
  2. Dim Sum
  3. Fondue

  1. Sushi
  2. Dim Sum
  3. Fondue

  1. Sushi
  2. Dim Sum
  3. Fondue
Definition List:
Three spaces, a dollar sign, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition.

Deprecated syntax: Three spaces, the term with no spaces, a colon, a space, followed by the definition.
   $ Sushi: Japan
   $ Dim Sum: S.F.

Sushi
Japan
Dim Sum
S.F.
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.
  • | *bold* | header cell with text in asterisks
  • |   center-aligned   | cell with at least two, and equal number of spaces on either side
  • |      right-aligned | cell with more spaces on the left
  • | 2 colspan || and multi-span columns with multiple |'s right next to each other
  • |^| cell with caret indicating follow-up row of multi-span rows
  • You can split rows over multiple lines by putting a backslash '\' at the end of each line
  • Contents of table cells wrap automatically as determined by the browser
  • Use %VBAR% or &#124; to add | characters in tables.
  • Use %CARET% or &#94; to add ^ characters in tables.
TIP 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 |

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
WikiWord Links:
CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically if preceded by whitespace or parenthesis.
TIP If you want to link to a topic in a different web write Otherweb.TopicName.
To link to a topic in a subweb write Otherweb.Subweb.TopicName.
HELP 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.
ALERT! Dots '.' are used to separate webs and subwebs from topic names and therefore cannot be used in topic names.

It's generally a good idea to use the TWikiVariables %SYSTEMWEB% and %USERSWEB% instead of TWiki and Main.
WebStatistics

Sandbox.WebNotify

Sandbox.WebHome

Sandbox.Subweb.TopicName

WebStatistics

WebNotify

Sandbox

TopicName
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 of no more than 32 characters. 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.
TIP 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 groups]]

escaped:
![[wiki syntax]]

wiki syntax

Main.TWiki groups

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.
TIP 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.
HELP 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
Literal content:
TWiki generates HTML code from TWiki shorthand. Experts surround anything that must be output literally in the HTML code, without the application of TWiki shorthand rules, with <literal>..</literal> tags. ALERT! any HTML within literal tags must be well formed i.e. all tags must be properly closed before the end of the literal block. IDEA! TWiki Variables are expanded within literal blocks.
<literal>
| Not | A | Table |
<literal>
| Not | A | Table |
Protected content:
Experts protect text from mangling by WYSIWYG editors using <sticky>..</sticky> tags. Sticky tags don't have any effect on normal topic display; they are only relevant when content has to be protected from a WYSIWYG editor (usually because it isn't well-formed HTML, or because it is HTML that WYSIWYG would normally filter out or modify). Protected content appears as plain text in the WYSIWYG editor.
<sticky>
<div>
This div is required
</div>
</sticky>

This div is required

Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript

You can use most HTML tags in topics without a problem. This is useful where you want to add some content that is formatted in a way that is not supported using wiki syntax, for example, you can write <strike>deleted text</strike> to get deleted text.

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 wiki syntax instead - this keeps the text uncluttered and easy to edit using the plaintext editor.
  • If you must use HTML, use XHTML 1.0 Transitional syntax.
  • Use <literal>..</literal> tags around blocks of HTML to avoid accidental interpretation of Wiki syntax within the HTML.
ALERT! Script tags may be filtered out, at the discretion of your Wiki administrator.

Recommendations when pasting HTML from other sources (using the plain-text editor):
  • Copy only text between <body> and </body> tags.
  • Remove all empty lines. Foswiki 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. Foswiki might interpret some text as lists.
  • Do not span a tag over more than one line. Foswiki requires that the opening and closing angle brackets - <...> - of a 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.

When using a WYSIWYG editor, you can just copy-paste directly into the editor, and the content will be converted to wiki syntax automatically when you save.

Being able to create links without any special formatting is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords and inline URLs.

  • GoodStyle is a WikiWord that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current web.

  • NotExistingYet is a topic waiting to be written because it is a red-link. Create the topic by clicking on the link. (Try clicking, but then, Cancel - creating the topic would wreck this example!)

  • http://..., https://..., ftp://..., gopher://..., news://..., file://..., telnet://... and mailto:...@... are linked automatically.

  • E-mail addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

TWiki Variables

TWiki Variables are names enclosed in percent signs that are that are expanded to some other text when the topic is displayed. For example, %TOPIC% is expanded to TWikiVariablesQuickStart. Some variables can take arguments in curly braces - for example, %INCLUDE{"OtherTopic" ARG="arg"}%.

Many TWiki variables are built-in, and others are predefined for your convenience. TWikiVariables describes how you can also define your own TWiki Variables at the entire site, individual web, or individual topic level. Variables are fully expanded before any of the TWiki text formatting rules are applied.

Commonly used variables:

  • %TOC% : Automatically generates a table of contents based on headings in a topic - see the top of this page for an example.
  • %WEB% : The current web, is System.
  • %TOPIC% : The current topic name, is TWikiVariablesQuickStart.
  • %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.
  • %INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}% : Server side include, includes another topic. The current web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"System.SiteMap"}%
  • %SEARCH{"sushi"}% : Inline search showing the search result embedded in a topic. FormattedSearch gives you control over formatting, used to create web-based applications.
  • Documentation Graphics: There are many graphics available to use in your topics. Use %ICON{"help"}%, %ICON{"tip"}%, and %ICON{"warning"}% to get: HELP, TIP, and ALERT!, respectively.
  • See all TWiki variables.

tip 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 (19 Jul 2018, 1.24): Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM($ABOVE())" to Foswiki tables and other topic text
  • SlideShowPlugin (09 Mar 2021, 2.40): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings
  • AutoViewTemplatePlugin (2016-04-08, 1.24): Automatically sets VIEW_TEMPLATE and EDIT_TEMPLATE
  • CommentPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.95): Quickly post comments to a page without an edit/save cycle
  • CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.114):
  • ConfigurePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.12): configure interface using json-rpc
  • EditRowPlugin (12 Jan 2024, 3.402): Inline edit for tables
  • HistoryPlugin (16 Nov 2020, 1.20): Shows a complete history of a topic
  • HomePagePlugin (1.23, 1.23): Allow User specified home pages - on login
  • InterwikiPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.27): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic
  • JQueryPlugin (25 Apr 2023, 10.51): jQuery JavaScript library for Foswiki
  • MailerContribPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.84): Supports e-mail notification of changes
  • NatEditPlugin (11 Jul 2023, 9.63): A Wikiwyg Editor
  • PreferencesPlugin (1.16, 1.16): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
  • RenderListPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.29): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
  • SmiliesPlugin (17 Sep 2015, 2.03): Render smilies like smile as icons
  • SubscribePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 3.7): This is a companion plugin to the MailerContrib. It allows you to trivially add a "Subscribe me" link to topics to get subscribed to changes.
  • TablePlugin (22 Jan 2018, 1.160): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
  • TinyMCEPlugin (11 Feb 2019, 1.32): Integration of the Tiny MCE WYSIWYG Editor
  • TwistyPlugin (29 Jun 2023, 3.00): Twisty section Javascript library to open/close content dynamically
  • UpdatesPlugin (12 Nov 2019, 2.00): Checks Foswiki.org for updates
  • WysiwygPlugin (13 Jun 2018, 1.38): Translator framework for WYSIWYG editors

Check on current Plugin status and settings for this site in TWikiPreferences.

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 '&lt;' instead of '<', and '&gt;' instead of '>'.
      Example: Type 'prog &lt;filename&gt;' to get 'prog <filename>'.

  • 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. '&copy;' is the © copyright character. You need to escape '&' to see it as it is, so write '&amp;' instead of '&'.
      Example: Type 'This &amp; that' to get 'This & that'.

Related topics: WikiSyntax, WikiWord, WikiNotation, TextFormattingRules, TWikiEditingShorthand, TWikiRenderingShortcut, TWikiShorthand, TWikiVariablesQuickStart

Back to top


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:

  1. Preferences variables: Can be defined and changed by the user
  2. 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 TIP (a preferences variable)
  • type %TOPIC% to get TWikiVariables (a predefined variable)
  • type %CALC{ "$UPPER(Text)" }% to get TEXT (a variable defined by a plugin)

Note:
  • 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:
  1. system level in System.TWikiPreferences
  2. plugin topics (see TWikiPlugins)
  3. local site level in Main.SitePreferences
  4. user level in individual user topics in Main web
  5. web level in WebPreferences of each web
  6. topic level in topics in webs
  7. session variables (if sessions are enabled)

Settings at higher-numbered levels override settings of the same variable at lower numbered levels, unless the variable was included in the setting of FINALPREFERENCES at a lower-numbered level, in which case it is locked at the value it has at that level.

If you are setting a variable and using it in the same topic, note that TWiki reads all the variable settings from the saved version of the topic before it displays anything. This means you can use a variable anywhere in the topic, even if you set it somewhere inconspicuous near the end. But beware: it also means that if you change the setting of a variable you are using in the same topic, preview will show the wrong thing, and you must save the topic to see it correctly.

The syntax for setting variables is the same anywhere in TWiki (on its own TWiki bullet line, including nested bullets):
[multiple of 3 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [space] value

Examples:
   * Set VARIABLENAME1 = value
      * Set VARIABLENAME2 = value

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.

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 variable
  • 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

You can also set preferences variables on a topic by clicking the link Edit topic preference settings under More topic actions. Use the same * Set VARIABLENAME = value syntax. 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 using Local 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 = 20
Then 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:
  • %BB% - line break and bullet combined
  • %BB2% - level 2 bullet with line break
  • %BB3% - level 3 bullet with line break
  • %BB4% - level 4 bullet with line break
  • %BR% - line break
  • %BULLET% - bullet sign
  • %CARET% - caret symbol
  • %VBAR% - vertical bar
  • %H% - HELP Help icon
  • %I% - IDEA! Idea icon
  • %M% - MOVED TO... Moved to icon
  • %N% - NEW New icon
  • %P% - REFACTOR Refactor icon
  • %Q% - QUESTION? Question icon
  • %S% - PICK Pick icon
  • %T% - TIP Tip icon
  • %U% - UPDATED Updated icon
  • %X% - ALERT! Alert icon
  • %Y% - DONE Done icon
  • %RED% text %ENDCOLOR% - colored text (also %YELLOW%, %ORANGE%, %PINK%, %PURPLE%, %TEAL%, %NAVY%, %BLUE%, %AQUA%, %LIME%, %GREEN%, %OLIVE%, %MAROON%, %BROWN%, %BLACK%, %GRAY%, %SILVER%, %WHITE%)
  • %REDBG% text %ENDBG% - colored background (also %YELLOWBG%, %ORANGEBG%, %PINKBG%, %PURPLEBG%, %TEALBG%, %NAVYBG%, %BLUEBG%, %AQUABG%, %LIMEBG%, %GREENBG%, %OLIVEBG%, %MAROONBG%, %BROWNBG%, %BLACKBG%, %GRAYBG%, %SILVERBG%, %WHITEBG%)

There are additional useful preferences variables defined in TWikiPreferences, in Main.SitePreferences, and in WebPreferences of every web.

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.

  • ALERT! Predefined variables can be overridden by preferences variables (except TOPIC and WEB)
  • ALERT! Plugins may extend the set of predefined variables (see individual plugin topics for details)
  • TIP 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%.

Search predefined variables

List of all predefined variables

This TWiki: - v2.1.6

ACTIVATEDPLUGINS -- list of currently activated plugins

Examples

ADDTOHEAD -- deprecated, use ADDTOZONE instead

This macro is deprecated. Please use VarADDTOZONE instead. It effecively is a shortcut for %ADDTOZONE{"head" ...}%

ADDTOZONE -- add content to a named zone on the page

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"zone" comma-separated list of the names of zones that the content should be added to. The only zones guaranteed to exist are head, script and body. head
id identifier for the text being added with the ADDTOZONE call, to be used in the requires parameter of other ADDTOZONE calls. HELP Multiple ADDTOZONE calls with the same id parameter will simply overwrite the earlier ADDTOZONE call.  
requires comma separated string of ids of text within this zone that this content should follow when the zone is rendered. The content will be rendered even if a specified id is missing.  
text text to be added to the named zone, mutually exclusive with topic.  
topic full qualified web.topic name that contains the text to be added, mutually exclusive with text. %BASETOPIC%
section section of the topic to be added the default section between STARTINCLUDE and STOPINCLUDE

What is a "Zone"?

Zones are specific places in the output HTML that are marked by calls to the RENDERZONE macro. Zones are used to collect various content together, such as Javascript and CSS, that must be included in the output HTML in a specific order, and in a specific place.

There are three special zones called head, script and body. The head zone is rendered as part of the HTML head section. It is the catch-all container for any content supposed to be placed into the HTML head section, except Javascript, which is collected in the script zone.

All Javascript must always be added to the script zone exclusively, in order to grant ordering constraints among scripts are resolved properly. Never add Javascript to the head zone -- never add non-Javascript content to the script zone.

Both head and script zones are added to the HTML head section automatically just before the closing </head> tag as if they were specified explicitly in the skin templates using:
<head>
...
%RENDERZONE{"head"}%
%RENDERZONE{"script"}%
</head>

The body zone is added to the end of the rendered page just prior to the closing <body> tag.

The body zone is new with Foswiki 2.1.5. It was added for improved compatibility with the NatSkin.

You may create as many zones in addition to the standard head and script zones as you like. For any non-standard zone specified in ADDTOZONE you will also need to provide an appropriate RENDERZONE.

Interesting use cases in wiki applications:
  • Create a sidebar zone to add widgets,
  • Create a toolbar zone to add buttons icons
  • Create a menu zone to add menu entries

Adding content to a zone

ADDTOZONE adds content to a zone identified with the id parameter. An id identifier is unique within the zone that they are added to. When the same id is used in multiple calls to ADDTOZONE the last call will win, that is previous content of the same id will be overwritten.

Enforcing a linear order of content within a zone

An ADDTOZONE call may ensure that its content appears after the content of some other ADDTOZONE calls by specifying their ids in the requires parameter. The requires parameter constraints the linear order of content added to a zone. When a zone is rendered, all ordering constraints expressed via requires are satisfied. Those ids not found in a zone don't have any influence on the final ordering. Missing ids aren't considered an error rather than an over-specified ordering problem.

Working with {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} disabled (default)

In this mode, the head and script zones are treated separately.

Even when head and script zones are treated separately, the head zone will always be rendered before the script zone, unless otherwise specified using RENDERZONE explicitly. So any content in the script zone that depends on content placed into the head zone is satisfied intrinsicly as they are both rendered as specified above.

Working with {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} enabled

In this mode, the head and script zones are separate when adding to them, but may be treated as merged when you call RENDERZONE if there are any dependencies specified that only exist in the opposite zone. This allows an ADDTOZONE{"head"...} to to successfully require an id that has been added to script.

ALERT! {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} is provided to maintain compatibility with legacy extensions that use ADDTOHEAD to add <script> markup and require content that is now in the script zone. {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} will be removed from a future version of Foswiki.

Examples

Adding to a zone with missing dependencies

You must ensure that no head content (and no inline Javascript) depends on script content. Any such dependency will be ignored.

In real world application this isn't a problem as Javascript is never added to the head zone or Javascript zone part of the script zone never really depends on non-Javascript content part of the head zone.

HTML comment decoration which normally appears after each id's content in the rendered HTML will contain a small informative text to aid debugging.

Example
%ADDTOZONE{
  "script"
  text="
  <script type='text/javascript'>
    alert('test');
  </script>"
  requires="some-id-that-exists-in-script"
  id="MY::TEST"
}%

Result
<script type='text/javascript'>
  alert('test');
</script>
<!-- MY::TEST: requires= missing ids: some-id-that-exists-in-script -->

Adding Javascript to a page

Make sure that all inline Javascript code in the topic (if it is allowed) is added to the page using %ADDTOZONE{"script"...requires="library-id"}% with the appropriate library-id to guarantee a correct load order. For example, jQuery code should be added as follows:

%JQREQUIRE{"shake"}%
%ADDTOZONE{
   "script"
   id="MyApp::ShakePart"
   text="
   <script type='text/javascript'>
      jQuery('#something').shake(3, 10, 180);
   </script>"
   requires="JQUERYPLUGIN::SHAKE"
}%

where "MyApp::ShakePart" is a unique id to identify the text added to script; and JQUERYPLUGIN::SHAKE signifies that the content added with that identifier should appear beforehand.

Adding CSS to a page

%ADDTOZONE{"head"
   id="MyCSS"
   text="
      <style type='text/css' media='all'>
         @import url('%PUBURLPATH%/%SYSTEMWEB%/MyCSS/foo.css');
      </style>"
}%

ALLVARIABLES -- list of currently defined macros

Expands to a table showing all defined macros in the current context

Deprecated 2009-04-29 in favour of SHOWPREFERENCE

AQUA -- start aqua colored text

ATTACHURL -- full URL for attachments in the current topic

Shorthand for PUBURL, with path set to the current topic. Otherwise supports all the same parameters as PUBURL.

ATTACHURLPATH -- path of the attachment URL of the current topic

Shorthand for PUBURLPATH with path set to the current topic. Otherwise supports all the same parameters as PUBURLPATH.

AUTHREALM -- authentication realm

String defined as the {AuthRealm} expert option in configure Security And Authentication tab, =Login sub-tab.. This is used in certain password encodings, and in login templates as part of the login prompt.

Examples

  • %AUTHREALM% expands to Enter your WikiName. (First name and last name, no space, no dots, capitalized, e.g. JohnSmith). Cancel to register if you do not have one.

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. This is the name of the topic requested by the user.

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. This is the name of the web requested by the user.

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

  • BLACK is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

BLUE -- start blue colored text

BR -- line break

BROWN -- start brown colored text

  • BROWN is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

BULLET -- bullet sign

BUTTON -- renders a nice button

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"text" text to be put on this button  
value text to be put on this button  
accesskey access key used for this button  
class e.g. use simple for a non-3D button  
data_... add html5 data attributes  
align left, right, center
href url of the click target #
icon icon to be put on the left; note, this can be any icon attached to the {IconSearchPath}; see also VarJQICON  
id html id for this button  
onclick javascript event triggered when clicking the button  
target topic to open when clicking on the button  
title popup title displayed when hovering over the button  
type type of action to be performed; available actions are
  • button - normal click button, target specified in target or href parameter
  • clear - clears all input fields in the form that contains the button
  • reset - resets all input fields in a form to their initial value
  • submit - submits the form that contains the button
  • save - same as submit but takes care of extra validation steps when saving a wiki topic
button

Examples

%BUTTON{
    "%MAKETEXT{"Submit"}%"
    icon="tick"
    onclick="confirm('Are your sure?')"
  }%
  %BUTTON{
    "%MAKETEXT{"Cancel"}%"
    icon="cross"
    target="%WEB%.%TOPIC%"
  }% %CLEAR%
Note: BUTTONS are floating to the left by default. Take care to add a %CLEAR% after the %BUTTON{...}% so that further content does not overlap with the button.

CALC -- add spreadsheet calculations to tables and outside tables

The %CALC{"formula"}% macro is handled by the SpreadSheetPlugin. There are around 90 formulae, such as $ABS(), $EXACT(), $EXISTS(), $GET()/$SET(), $IF(), $LOG(), $LOWER(), $PERCENTILE(), $TIME(), $VALUE().
  • This macro is specifically for manipulating data in tables, and so is evaluated after the normal Macro expansion order. If you need a standard ordered evaluation see CALCULATE

Examples

  • %CALC{"$SUM($ABOVE())"}% returns the sum of all cells above the current cell
  • %CALC{"$EXISTS(Web.SomeTopic)"}% returns 1 if the topic exists
  • %CALC{"$UPPER(Collaboration)"}% returns COLLABORATION

CALCULATE -- add spreadsheet formulae calls using standard Macro evaluation order.

The %CALCULATE{"formula"}% macro is handled by the SpreadSheetPlugin. There are around 90 formulae, such as $ABS(), $EXACT(), $EXISTS(), $GET()/$SET(), $IF(), $LOG(), $LOWER(), $PERCENTILE(), $TIME(), $VALUE(). This macro is uses the normal (left to right, inside out) Macro expansion order. If you need to evaluate after expanding table data, see CALC

Examples

    • %CALCULATE{"$EXISTS(Web.SomeTopic)"}% returns 1 if the topic exists
    • %CALCULATE{"$UPPER(Collaboration)"}% returns COLLABORATION
CALC, IF, SpreadSheetPlugin

CARET -- caret symbol

COMMENT -- insert an edit box into the topic to easily add comments.

Parameters

  • The following standard attributes are recognized
    Name Description Default
    type This is the name of the template to use for this comment. Comment templates are defined in a Foswiki template - see Customisation, below. If this attribute is not defined, the type is whatever is defined by COMMENTPLUGIN_DEFAULT_TYPE preference setting. below
    default Default text to put into the prompt.  
    target Name of the topic to add the comment to the current topic
    mode For compatibility with older versions only, synonymous with type  
    nonotify Set to "on" to disable change notification for target topics off
    noform Set to "on" to disable the automatic form that is generated around your comment prompt if you don't provide a FORM template. See CommentPluginExamples:noform for an example. off
    nopost Set to "on" to disable insertion of the posted text into the topic. off
    remove Set to "on" to remove the comment prompt after the first time it is clicked. off
    button Button label text Add comment

Examples

  • A %COMMENT% without parameters shows a simple text box.

COVER -- current skin cover

Extends the skin search path. For instance, if SKIN is set to catskin, bearskin, and COVER is set to ruskin, the skin search path becomes ruskin, catskin, bearskin.

The COVER setting can be overridden using the URL parameter cover, such as ?cover=ruskin

Examples

  • %COVER% currently expands to %COVER% (it will only expand when a cover is actually set)

DATE -- signature format date

Examples

  • %DATE% expands to 21 Nov 2024
  • Date format defined as {DefaultDateFormat} in configure
    ALERT! When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details.

DISPLAYTIME -- display formatted time

Formatted time - either GMT or Local server time, depending on {DisplayTimeValues} setting in configure. Same format qualifiers as %GMTIME%

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"format" Optional format (see GMTIME)  

Examples

  • %DISPLAYTIME% expands to 21 Nov 2024 - 16:01
  • %DISPLAYTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 16:01

DISPLAYTIME{"format"} -- formatted display time

  • Formatted time - either GMT or Local server time, depending on {DisplayTimeValues} setting in configure. Same format qualifiers as %GMTIME%
  • Syntax: %DISPLAYTIME{"format"}%
  • Supported variables: $seconds, $minutes, $hours, $day, $wday, $dow, $month, $mo, $year, $ye, $tz, $iso, $rcs, $http, $epoch
  • Example: %DISPLAYTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 16:01
  • Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME

EDITACTION -- Selects an edit template

  • EDITACTION defined in a topic or preference setting will define the use of an editaction template instead of the standard edit. If EDITACTION is defined as text, then hide the form. If EDITACTION is defined as form hide the normal text area and only edit the form.
  • Syntax: Set EDITACTION = text|form
  • Expands to: %EDITACTION%
  • Related: TWikiScripts#edit
  • ALERT! When EDITACTION is defined as text or form the Edit and Edit Raw buttons simply add ;action=text or ;action=form to the URL for the edit script. If you have defined EDITACTION in a topic setting or preference setting you can still edit the topic content or the form by removing the ;action=form or ;action=text from the edit URL in the browser and reload.

EDITTABLE{ attributes } -- edit tables using edit fields and other input fields

  • The %EDITTABLE{}% macro is handled by the EditTablePlugin
  • Syntax: %EDITTABLE{ attributes }%

  • Supported attributes:
Attribute Comment Default
header
Specify the header format of a new table like "|*Food*|*Drink*|". Useful to start a table with only a button
(no header)
format
The format of one column when editing the table. A cell can be a text input field, or any of these edit field types:

• Text input field (1 line):
  | text, <size>, <initial value> |

• Textarea input field:
  | textarea, <rows>x<columns>, <initial value> |

• Drop down box:
  | select, <size>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc* |
  * only one item can be selected

• Radio buttons:
  | radio, <size*>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc |
  * size indicates the number of buttons per line in edit mode

• Checkboxes:
  | checkbox, <size*>, <option 1>, <option 2>, etc |
  * size indicates the number of checkboxes per line in edit mode

• Fixed label:
  | label, 0, <label text> |

• Row number:
  | row, <offset> |

• Date:
  | date, <size>, <initial value>, <DHTML date format> | (see Date Field Type)
"text, 16"
for all cells
changerows
Rows can be added and removed if "on"
Rows can be added but not removed if "add"
Rows cannot be added or removed if "off"
CHANGEROWS
plugin setting
quietsave
Quiet Save button is shown if "on", hidden if "off"
QUIETSAVE
plugin setting
include
Other topic defining the EDITTABLE parameters. The first %EDITTABLE% in the topic is used. This is useful if you have many topics with the same table format and you want to update the format in one place. Use topic or web.topic notation.
(none)
helptopic
Topic name containing help text shown below the table when editing a table. The %STARTINCLUDE% and %STOPINCLUDE% macros can be used in the topic to specify what is shown.
(no help text)
headerislabel
Table header cells are read-only (labels) if "on"; header cells can be edited if "off" or "0"
"on"
editbutton
Set edit button text, e.g. "Edit this table"; set button image with alt text, e.g. "Edit table, %PUBURL%/%SYSTEMWEB%/DocumentGraphics/edittopic.gif"; hide edit button at the end of the table with "hide" (Note: Button is automatically hidden if an edit button is present in a cell)
EDITBUTTON
plugin setting
buttonrow
Set to top to put the edit buttons above the table.
bottom
javascriptinterface
Use javascript to directly move and delete row without page refresh. Enable with "on", disable with "off".
JAVASCRIPTINTERFACE
plugin setting

Example:
%EDITTABLE{ format="| text, 20 | select, 1, one, two, three |" changerows="on" }%
| *Name* | *Type* |
| Foo    | two    |

Produces:
Name Type
Foo
two
Related: See EditTablePlugin for more details

ENCODE -- encode characters in a string

Encode character sequences in "string", by mapping characters (or sequences of characters) to an alternative character (or sequence of characters). This macro can be used to encode strings for use in URLs, to encode to HTML entities, to protect quotes, and for as many other uses as you can imagine.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"string" String to encode "" (empty string)
type Use a predefined encoding (see below). Default is 'url'. Parameter type not be used if old or new are given.
old Comma-separated list of tokens to replace. Tokens are normally single characters, but can also be sequences of characters. The standard format tokens may be used in this list. Each token must be unique - you cannot list the same token twice. May not be used with type; required if new is used
new comma-separated list of replacement tokens. The elements in this list match 1:1 with the elements in the old list. Again, the standard format tokens may be used. An empty element in the new list will result in the corresponding token in the old list being deleted from the string. If the new list is shorter than the old list it will be extended to the same length using the empty element. Tokens do not have to be unique.
ALERT! When using old and new, be aware that the results of applying earlier tokens are not processed again using later tokens. (see examples below)
May not be used with type; required if old is used
If ENCODE is called with no optional parameters (e.g. %ENCODE{"string"}%) then the default type="url" encoding will be used.

Predefined encodings

Unless otherwise specified, the type parameter encodes the following "special characters"
  • type="entity" or type="entities" Encode special characters into HTML entities, like a double quote into &#34;
    • all non-printable ASCII characters below space, except newline ("\n") and carriage return ("\r").
    • HTML special characters "<", ">", "&", single quote (') and double quote (")
    • TML special characters "%", "[", "]", "@", "_", "*", "=", "$" and "|"
  • type="html" As type="entity" except it also encodes \n (newline) and carriage return ("\r").
  • type="safe" Encode just the characters '"<>% into HTML entities.
  • type="quote" or type="quotes" Escapes double quotes with backslashes (\"), does not change any other characters
  • type="url" (default) Encode special characters for use in URL parameters, like a double quote into %22.

Examples

  • %ENCODE{"spaced name"}% expands to spaced%20name
  • %ENCODE{"| Blah | | More blah |" old="|,$n" new="&#124;,<br />"}% expands to =| Blah | | More blah | - this encoding is useful to protect special TML characters in tables.
  • %ENCODE{"10xx1x01x" old="1,x,0" new="A,,B"}% expands to ABABA
  • %ENCODE{"1,2" old="$comma" new=";"}% expands to 1;2
Values for HTML input fields must be entity encoded.
Example:
<input type="text" name="address" value="%ENCODE{ "any text" type="entity" }%" />
ENCODE can be used to filter user input from URL parameters and similar to help protect against cross-site scripting. The safest approach is to use type="entity". This can however prevent an application from fully working. You can alternatively use type="safe" which encodes only the characters '"<>% into HTML entities. When ENCODE is passing a string inside another macro always use double quotes ("") type="quote". For maximum protection against cross-site scripting you are advised to install the Foswiki:Extensions.SafeWikiPlugin.

Double quotes in strings must be escaped when passed into other macros.
Example:
%SEARCH{ "%ENCODE{ "string with "quotes"" type="quotes" }%" noheader="on" }%

ALERT! When using old and new, be aware that the results of applying earlier tokens are not processed again using later tokens. For example:
   %ENCODE{"A" old="A,B" new="B,C"}% will result in 'B' (not 'C'),
   %ENCODE{"asd" old="as,d" new="d,f"}% will yield 'df', and
   %ENCODE{"A" old="A,AA" new="AA,B"}% will give 'AA' and.
   %ENCODE{"asdf" old="a,asdf" new="a,2"}% will give 'asdf'

ENDBG -- end background color section

  • ENDBG is a rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section rendering shortcut settings in that topic for a complete list of background colors.
  • Syntax: %REDBG% red background %ENDBG%
  • Expands to: %REDBG% red background %ENDBG%
  • Note: %<color>BG% section must end with %ENDBG%. If you want to switch from one background color to another one you first need to end the active background color with %ENDBG%, such as %REDBG% some text %ENDBG% %GREENBG% more text %ENDBG%.
  • Related: VarENDCOLOR, VarREDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

ENDCOLOR -- end colored text

ENDCOLOR is one of the shortcut macros predefined in DefaultPreferences. It is used to terminate a colour change (revert back to the default colour).

The following colours are available: %YELLOW%, %ORANGE%, %RED%, %PINK%, %PURPLE%, %TEAL%, %NAVY%, %BLUE%, %AQUA%, %LIME%, %GREEN%, %OLIVE%, %MAROON%, %BROWN%, %BLACK%, %GRAY%, %SILVER%

Examples

  • %GREEN% green text %ENDCOLOR% expands to green text

ENDINCLUDE -- 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% macro itself.

ENDSECTION -- marks the end of a named section within a topic

If the STARTSECTION is named, the corresponding ENDSECTION must also be named with the same name. If the STARTSECTION specifies a type, then the corresponding ENDSECTION must also specify the same type. If the section is unnamed, ENDSECTION will match with the nearest unnamed %STARTSECTION% of the same type above it.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of the section  
type Type of the section being terminated; supported types section, include, expandvariables, templateonly. section

Examples

  • %ENDSECTION{"X" type="expandvariables"}%

ENDTAB -- ending marker for a tab of a tabpane

This closes a previously opened TAB.

ENDTABPANE -- ending tag for tabpane widget

This closes a previously opened TABPANE.

ENDTWISTY -- complements an opening TWISTY tag to close a twisty

Closes an open twisty

ENDTWISTYTOGGLE -- Twisty closure

Will end the most inner unclosed Twisty Toggle section, using the proper tag

Examples

%ENDTWISTYTOGGLE%

ENV -- inspect the value of an environment variable

Returns the current value of the environment variable in the CGI (Common Gateway Interface) environment. This is the environment that the CommandAndCGIScripts are running in.

If an environment variable is undefined (as against being set to the empty string) it will be returned as not set.

Note: For security reasons, only those environment variables whose names match the regular expression in the configuration setting {AccessibleENV} (in the Security Settings/Miscellaneous section of configure) can be displayed. Any other variable will just be shown as an empty string, irrespective of its real value.

Examples

  • %ENV{MOD_PERL}% displays as: not set

EXAMPLETAG -- example macro tag

The %EXAMPLETAG% variable is handled by the ExamplePlugin

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"..." Unnamed parameter  
text - example text "..."
format format of report  

Examples

  • %EXAMPLETAG{"hello" format="| $topic: $summary |"}%

EXPAND -- expand macros in a string as if they were used in another topic

The viewer must have VIEW access to topictoexpandin for this to work. All the standard formatting macros can be used in expression, such as $percent and $quot.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"text" Text to expand. Note that %-signs must be escaped using $percent, or they will be expanded in the context of the calling topic  
scope Scope to expand the topic in. This is the name of a topic. You can use Web.Topic syntax to refer to a topic in another web %TOPIC%

Examples

EXPAND can be useful when you want to pick up the value of macros defined in another topic. For example, you might want to define a set of preferences in one topic, but pick up their value in another topic (this is very useful when building reusable applications). In this case you can write:
   * Set MYPREFERENCE = value
in "SettingsTopic" and then, in "MyTopic", write:
%EXPAND{"$percentMYPREFERENCE$percent" scope="SettingsTopic"}%
Of course we can also write:
%EXPAND{"$percentMYPREFERENCE$percent" scope="%OTHERTOPIC%"}%
which lets us select which other topic to get the preference value from.

Additional parameters can be passed to the macro being expanded using the standard macro syntax in the name of the macro; for example,

%EXPAND{"$percentMYPREFERENCE{$quotdefault$quot param=$quotvalue$quot}" scope="SettingsTopic"}%

ALERT! EXPAND is not very efficient, and should be used sparingly.

HELP To expand a web preference (for example, a web access control) then set scope="Theotherweb.%WEBPREFSTOPIC%"

FAILEDPLUGINS -- debugging for plugins that failed to load

Also generates a list of handlers defined by plugins

Examples

  • %FAILEDPLUGINS%

FORMAT -- format a list of objects

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"one, two, three" The list to be expanded into the format. Required. Currently only two types of list data are supported; topic names (type="topic") and plain strings (type="string").  
format Format string; see Supported formatting tokens for possible values.  
header Text to come before the formatted output  
footer Text to come after the formatted output  
separator Separator between formatted elements $n
type Treat input list as either topic or string topic

Examples

   %FORMAT{"one,two,three" type="string" format="   * $item"}%
   %FORMAT{"%SKIN%"
      header="the Skin setting is evaluated in this order:"
      format="   1 =$topic="
      footer="   1 =default="
   }%

Supported formatting tokens

If type="topic" (the default) the format string can contain any of the topic-specific format tokens specified in FormattedSearch ($web, $topic, $parent, $text, $locked, $date, $isodate, $index, $item, $rev, $username, $wikiname, $wikiusername, $createdate, $createusername, $createwikiname, $createwikiusername, $summary, $changes, $formname, $formfield, $pattern, $count, $ntopics, $nhits, $pager). In addition, the macro supports all the standard format tokens.

If type="string" then the comma separated list is treated as a list of strings. In this case, the format tokens $index and $item will return the position of the item in the list (1-based), and the item itself, respectively. Note that a comma can be embedded in the data using the standard formatting token $comma.

The FORMAT macro is currently only of use in formatting lists of topics, or of simple strings. It will be extended in future releases to add the capability to render other object types.

IDEA! For more sophisticated handling of string lists, consider installing Foswiki:Extensions.FilterPlugin

FORMFIELD -- renders a field in the form attached to some topic

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" The name of a Data form field  
topic="..." Topic where form data is located. May be of the form Web.TopicName Current topic
format Format string. See Tokens expanded in format below. $value
default Text shown if the field is defined in the topic, but the field value is empty. For example, a text field for which all the content has been deleted.  
alttext Text shown if the field is not defined in the topic (even if it is specified in the form definition). For example, this is used when a field exists in the form definition, but the referring topic hasn't been edited since it was added.  
rev="n" Specify a revision of the topic. If not specified, defaults to the most recent rev (or the viewed rev if viewing an old rev of the same topic)  
Tokens expanded in format:
  • $value expands to the raw field value
  • $value(display) is the form field value after mapping the stored value to the display value (use with +values form fields). If the field type does not support value mapping, renders the same as $value
  • $name is the field name
  • $title expands to the field title
  • $formname gives the name of the form the field is in. $form is maintained for compatibility, but is deprecated
  • $attributes - from the field definition
  • $type - from the field definition
  • $size - from the field definition
  • $definingTopic - topic in which the field is defined
  • The standard format tokens are also expanded

Examples

 %FORMFIELD{"ProjectName"
   topic="Projects.SushiProject"
   default="(no project name given)"
   alttext="ProjectName field not found in form"
 }%

GMTIME -- formatted Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"format" format $day $month $year - $hour:$min
%GMTIME% uses the default date format defined by the {DefaultDateFormat} setting in configure

Supported special format tokens:

Token: Unit: Example
$seconds seconds 59
$minutes minutes 59
$hours hours 23
$day day of month 31
$wday day of the Week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Thu
$dow day of the week (Sun = 0) 2
$week number of week in year (ISO 8601) 34
$month short name of month Dec
$mo 2 digit month 12
$year 4 digit year 1999
$ye 2 digit year 99
$tz either "GMT" (if set to gmtime), or "Local" (if set to servertime) GMT
$iso ISO format timestamp 2024-11-21T16:01:32Z
$rcs RCS format timestamp 2024/11/21 16:01:32
$http E-mail & http format timestamp Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:01:32 GMT
$epoch Number of seconds since 00:00 on 1st January, 1970 1732204892
Tokens can be shortened to 3 characters

Examples

  • %GMTIME% expands to 21 Nov 2024 - 16:01
  • %GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}% expands to 21 Nov, 2024 - 16:01:32
    ALERT! When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details.

GMTIME{"format"} -- formatted GM time

  • Syntax: %GMTIME{"format"}%
  • Supported variables:
    Variable: Unit: Example
    $seconds seconds 59
    $minutes minutes 59
    $hours hours 23
    $day day of month 31
    $wday day of the Week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Thu
    $dow day of the week (Sun = 0) 2
    $week number of week in year (ISO 8601) 34
    $month short name of month Dec
    $mo 2 digit month 12
    $year 4 digit year 1999
    $ye 2 digit year 99
    $tz either "GMT" (if set to gmtime),
    or offset such as "-0700" (if set to servertime)
    GMT
    $iso ISO format timestamp 2024-11-21T16:01:32Z
    $rcs RCS format timestamp 2024/11/21 16:01:32
    $http E-mail & http format timestamp Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:01:32 GMT
    $epoch Number of seconds since 00:00 on 1st January, 1970 1732204892
  • Variables can be shortened to 3 characters
  • Example: %GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}% expands to 21 Nov, 2024 - 16:01:32
  • ALERT! 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

GREEN -- start green colored text

  • GREEN is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

GROUPINFO -- retrieve details about a group

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"groupname" Optional name of group  
format Format of a single user or group in the list.
  • $name expands to the group name, and (for users list only)
  • $wikiname, $username and $wikiusername to the relevant strings.
  • $allowschange returns 0 (false) or 1 (true) if the group can be modified by the group member being processed.
  • The standard FormatTokens are also supported.
 
separator separator between items in the list ,
header Header for the list  
footer Footer for the list  
zeroresults If set, and there are no Groups or Members that can be shown, the header and footer are suppressed, and this text is output undefined
show filter the output list of Groups - can be set to all, allowschange, denychange, allowschange(UserWikiName), denychange(UserWikiName) all
expand Set false if users should not be expanded from nested groups. Default behavior is to expand all nested groups into a flat list of users. 1
limit If set, limits the number of results to this
limited If limit is set, and the list is truncated, this text will be added at the end of the list  

ALERT! Note: GROUPINFO will not list members that are hidden from the current authenticated user. If the current user does not have VIEW authority for a user's topic, then the user will not be shown as a group member.

Examples

GROUPS -- a formatted list of groups

Deprecated - do not use. Use VarGROUPINFO instead
  • Expands to a formatted list of user groups.
  • The macro is intended to be used in WikiGroups, to allow a group listing for various user mapping managers.

H -- help icon

HISTORY -- control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns

The %HISTORY{}% macro is handled by the HistoryPlugin

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"format"
format="format"
Format of one line, may include any variable which is supported by macro REVINFO r$rev - $date - $wikiusername
topic Topic name, can be in web.topic format current topic
web Web name current web
versions Number or range (format: from..to). Examples:
To get version 2, write: versions="2"
To get version 2 to 3, write: versions="2..3"
To get version 2 to the latest, write: versions="2.."
To get all versions up to version 5, write: versions="..5"
To get all versions up to but not including the latest, write: versions="..-1"
To get the versions from 1 to 5 in reverse order, write: versions="5..1"
all versions in the order latest to first
header Text to print before the list.
May contain the tokens $next and $previous which will be evaluated if there are newer or older revisions available for the topic that are not listed according to versions (or rev1, rev2, nrev).
These tokens take the syntax $next{'some text' url='url'} (the same for $previous). 'some text' is the text which should be printed, 'url' is the url for the corresponding link.
The tokens $rev1, $rev2, $nrev in 'text' or 'url' will be replaced by appropriate values for the next or previous block of revisions. See the attached oopshistory.tmpl for an example of how to use this.
$next
footer="text" Text to print after the list. May contain the tokens $next and $previous (see header) $previous

Deprecated (but supported) parameters:
Parameter Description Default
nrev Number of revisions to show. Ignored if versions is specified, or if both rev1 and rev2 are specified. 10
rev2 Newest revision to show rev1+nrev if rev1 is specified, latest revision otherwise
rev1 Oldest revision to show rev2-nrev
reverse Show newest revisions first, if on "on"

Additional macros

The following macros are expanded only if there is a corresponding %HISTORY% on the page. If more than one %HISTORY% is used on the same page, the values from the last one will be used.

  • %HISTORY_REV1%: Oldest revision from the printed history
  • %HISTORY_REV2%: Latest revision from the printed history
  • %HISTORY_NREV%: Number of the printed revisions
  • %HISTORY_MAXREV%: Latest available revision of the topic

HOMETOPIC -- home topic in each web

Examples

  • %HOMETOPIC% expands to WebHome, renders as WebHome

HTTP -- get HTTP headers

  • Called with the name of an HTTP request header field, returns its value. Capitalization and the use of hyphens versus underscores are not significant.
  • Request headers are sent by the browser to the server. It is not possible to access the Response headers returned to the browser.
  • Only returns headers permitted by site configuration. Returns '' if the header is not allowed.
  • When called without a parameter, nothing is returned. See VarHTTPS for other options.
ALERT! The HTTP and HTTPS macros are deprecated as of Foswiki release 2.1. and will be removed in a future release.

Parameters

Name Description
"name" Name of the header to get

Examples

Write Returns Notes
%HTTP%   Always returns ''
%HTTP{"Accept-language"}%    
%HTTP{"User-Agent"}% Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)  
%HTTP{"Cookie"}%   Not allowed by default.
ALERT! 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

HTTP_HOST -- environment variable

Examples

  • %HTTP_HOST% expands to iccl.unist.ac.kr

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.
  • Called with the name of an HTTP request header field, returns its value. Capitalization and the use of hyphens versus underscores are not significant.
  • Request headers are sent by the browser to the server. It is not possible to access the Response headers returned to the browser.
  • Only returns headers permitted by site configuration.
  • When called without a parameter, nothing is returned. See VarHTTPS for other options.
ALERT! The HTTP and HTTPS macros are deprecated as of Foswiki release 2.1. and will be removed in a future release.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of the header to get optional

Examples

Write Returns Notes
%HTTPS% 1 Returns '1' if HTTPS is active
%HTTPS{"Accept-language"}%    
%HTTPS{"User-Agent"}% Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)  
%HTTPS{"Cookie"}%   Not allowed by default.
ALERT! 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

I -- idea icon

ICON -- small documentation graphic or icon of common attachment types

Generates a small graphic image from the set attached to DocumentGraphics. 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. If you specify an icon which cannot be found, the one specified in the default parameter will be used (and if that fails, the else icon will be used)

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"filename or icon name" requested icon else
default default icon to use if requested icon is not found  
alt alt text to be added to the HTML img tag  
quote allows you to control the quote used in the generated HTML "

Examples

  • %ICON{"flag-gray"}% displays as flag-gray
  • %ICON{"pdf"}% displays as pdf
  • %ICON{"docx" default="doc"}% displays as docx
  • %ICON{"smile.pdf"}% displays as smile.pdf
  • %ICON{"/dont/you/dare/smile.pdf"}% returns /dont/you/dare/smile.pdf
  • %ICON{"data.unknown" alt="Unknown file type"}% displays as Unknown file type
  • %ICON{"data.unknown"}% displays as data.unknown
  • %ICON{"http://trunk.foswiki.org/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/xsl.gif"}% displays http://trunk.foswiki.org/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/xsl.gif

  • Graphics: arrowbright arrowbright, bubble bubble, choice-yes choice-yes, hand hand
  • File types: bmp bmp, doc doc, gif gif, hlp hlp, html html, mp3 mp3, pdf pdf, ppt ppt, txt txt, xls xls, xml xml, zip zip

If you find that ICON is producing broken HTML when it is used in another macro e.g. for formatting search results, then this may be because it is using the wrong kind of quotes for the context. In this case you can control the quotes it uses using the quote parameter. For example
  • %ICON{"pdf" quote="'"}%
You can also use formatting tokens such as $quot and $dollar in quote.

ICONURL -- URL of small documentation graphic or icon

Generates the full URL of a DocumentGraphics image, which Foswiki 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.)

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of the icon, or pathname to extract an extension from else
default Optional default icon if the primary icon can't be found else

Examples

  • %ICONURL% returns https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/else.png
  • %ICONURL{"arrowbright"}% returns https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/arrowbright.png
  • %ICONURL{"novel.pdf"}% returns https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/pdf.png
  • %ICONURL{"notanicon" default="ram"}% returns https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/ram.png
  • %ICONURL{"/queen/boheme.mp3"}% returns https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/mp3.png

ICONURLPATH -- URL path of small documentation graphic or icon

Generates the relative URL path of a DocumentGraphics image, typically used in an HTML img tag. Specify image name or full filename (see ICON for details on filenames.)

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of the icon, or pathname to extract an extension from else
default Optional default icon if the primary icon can't be found else

Examples

  • %ICONURLPATH{"locktopic"}% returns /foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/locktopic.png
  • %ICONURLPATH{"eggysmell.xml"}% returns /foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/xml.png
  • %ICONURLPATH{"notanicon" default="ram"}% returns /foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/ram.png
  • %ICONURLPATH{"/doc/xhtml.xsl"}% returns /foswiki/pub/System/DocumentGraphics/xsl.png

IF -- simple conditionals

Evaluate a condition and show one text or another based on the result. See details in IfStatements.
Parameter Description Default
"condition" Condition to test  
then String to expand if the condition evaluates to true  
else String to expand if the condition evaluates to false  

Examples

  • %IF{"CONDITION" then="THEN" else="ELSE"}% shows
    "THEN" if "CONDITION" evaluates to TRUE, otherwise "ELSE" will be shown
 %IF{"defined FUNFACTOR"
   then="FUNFACTOR is defined"
   else="FUNFACTOR is not defined"
 }%
renders as
FUNFACTOR is not defined

INCLUDE -- include another topic, or subsection of a topic, or a URL, or Foswiki embedded documentation

(Including a topic) 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{"System.SiteMap"}%  
"Web.Topic, SomeOtherTopic, System.OrOtherTopic" A list of topics - INCLUDE will include the first topic that exists and the user has permission to VIEW. If a section is also specified, it will use the first topic that has that section defined in it.  
pattern Include a subset of a topic or a web page. Specify a RegularExpression that contains the text you want to keep in parenthesis, e.g. pattern="(from here.*?to here)". IncludeTopicsAndWebPages has more. none
rev Include a previous topic revision; N/A for URLs top revision
warn Warn if topic include fails: Fail silently (if off); output default warning (if set to on); else, output specific text (use $topic for topic name) %INCLUDEWARNING% preferences setting
headingoffset Adds the given offset to any HTML headings generated in the included text. Works on headings defined by HTML tags as well as headings defined using foswiki markup. 0
section Includes only the specified named section, as defined in the included topic by the [VarSTARTSECTION][STARTSECTION{"name" type="section"} ]] and [VarENDSECTION][ENDSECTION{"name" type="section"}]] macros. Nothing is shown if the named section does not exists. section="" is equivalent to not specifying a section  
  Any other parameter will be defined as a macro 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.  

(Including a web page) Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"http://..." A full qualified URL, i.e. %INCLUDE{"https://foswiki.org:80/index.html"}%. Supported content types are text/html and text/plain.
IDEA! 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 contains the text you want to keep in parenthesis, e.g. pattern="(from here.*?to here)". IncludeTopicsAndWebPages has more. none
raw When a page is included, normally Foswiki 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 for disableremoveheaders="on", disableremovescript="on", disableremovebody="on", disablecompresstags="on" and disablerewriteurls="on".
disabled
literal While using the raw option 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 the literal option to "on". off
disableremoveheaders Bypass stripping headers from included HTML (everything until first </head> tag) off
disableremovescript Bypass stripping all <script> tags from included HTML off
disableremovebody Bypass stripping the </body> tag and everything around over and below it off
disablecompresstags Bypass replacing newlines in HTML tags with spaces. This compression step rewrites unmatched <'s into &lt; entities unless bypassed off
disablerewriteurls Bypass rewriting relative URLs into absolute ones off
warn Warn if URL include fails: Fail silently (if off); output default warning (if set to on); else, output specific text (use $topic for topic name) appended with the http error information. %INCLUDEWARNING% preferences setting

HELP JavaScript in included webpages is filtered out as a security precaution per default (disable filter with disableremovescript parameter)

ALERT! Foswiki by default is configured to deny URL format includes.

(Including Foswiki embedded module documentation) Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"doc:..." A full qualified Foswiki module, i.e. %INCLUDE{"doc:Foswiki::Func"}%. The module must be found on the Foswiki lib path  
level Override the root heading level to the specified number  
pattern Include a subset of the module. Specify a RegularExpression that contains the text you want to keep in parenthesis, e.g. pattern="(from here.*?to here)". IncludeTopicsAndWebPages has more. none

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. If a topic is used in a chain of INCLUDEs, INCLUDINGTOPIC is set to the topic directly INCLUDing this one, NOT the topic that has been requested by the user (which is given by BASETOPIC)
ALERT! Be careful of the subtle difference between INCLUDINGTOPIC and BASETOPIC. You probably should be using BASETOPIC

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. If a topic is used in a chain of INCLUDEs, INCLUDINGWEB is set to the topic directly INCLUDing this one, NOT the web that has been requested by the user (which is given by BASEWEB)
ALERT! Be careful of the subtle difference between INCLUDINGWEB and BASEWEB. You probably should be using BASEWEB

JQENDTAB -- end a JQuery tab within a tab pane

JQENDTABPANE -- end a JQuery tab pane

JQICON -- render an image

Renders an icon made availabe by the IconService.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" name of the icon to display  
class additional css class for the img tag  
animate can be one of bounce, burst, flash, float, horizontal, passing, pulse, ring, shake, spin, tada, vertical, wrench
alt alt attribute  
title title attribute  
style css style format to be added to the image element  
format format string used to render the icon; known variables to be used in the format string are:
  • $iconName: name as given to the name parameter
  • $iconPath: url path
  • $iconClass: css class as specified by the class parameter
  • $iconStyle: css styles as specified by the style parameter
  • $iconAlt: alt attribute-value; if the alt parameter to JQICON is set, this expands to alt='...'
  • $iconTitle: title attribute-value; if the title parameter to JQICON is set, this expands to title='...'
for image icons: <img src='$iconPath' class='$iconClass $iconName' $iconStyle $iconAlt$iconTitle/>; for font icons: <i class='$iconClass' $iconStyle $iconTitle></i>

Example for famfamfam icons:

%JQICON{"tick" alt="alternative content" title="this is a tick icon"}%
%JQICON{"cross"}%
%JQICON{"disk"}%
%JQICON{"star"}%
%JQICON{"lightbulb"}%
%JQICON{"camera"}%
%JQICON{"date"}%
%JQICON{"heart" animate="bounce"}%

Produces:

alternative content cross disk star lightbulb camera date heart

Example for font-awesome icons:

%JQICON{"fa-pagelines" style="font-size:1em;color:#00BF00"}%
%JQICON{"fa-pagelines" style="font-size:2em;color:#0FAF0F"}%
%JQICON{"fa-pagelines" style="font-size:3em;color:#1F9C1F"}%
%JQICON{"fa-pagelines" style="font-size:4em;color:#2D812D"}%
%JQICON{"fa-pagelines" style="font-size:5em;color:#315C31"}%

Produces:

JQICONPATH -- render the url path to an image icon

This is a shortcut for:

%JQICON{"name" format="$iconPath"}%

Note that this macro only makes sense for image icons, those that refer to a single image file. It does not work for font icons such as those defined in JQueryFontAwesome. This web font holds all icons in one large font file and as such cannot be refered to individually by means of their url path the same way as images can.

Examples

%JQICONPATH{"tick"}% expands to /foswiki/pub/System/FamFamFamSilkIcons/tick.png

JQPLUGINS -- display a summary of available plugins

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"plugins" this is a regular expression that the plugin identifier must match to be displayed  
format format string to render information for each matching plugin; known variables to be used in the format string are:
  • $active state of the plugin: displays (active) when this plugin is loaded on the current page
  • $author author of the plugin
  • $documentation plugin documentation topic defaults to %SYSTEMWEB%.JQuery$name
  • $homepage link to the hompeage of this third party plugin
  • $index the current index in the list of all plugins being displayed
  • $name name of the plugin as can be used in JQREQUIRE
  • $summary short description what this plugin does; most plugins provide this piece of information in the summary section of the documentation topic
  • $tags list of TML macros this plugin implements
  • $version version of the plugin as provided by the author of this plugin
   1 <a href="$homepage">$name</a> $active $version $author
header header string prepended to the output; empty when no plugin matches  
footer footer string appended to the output; empty when no plugin matches  
separator separator put between each plugin rendered in a row $n
tagformat format string to render a link to any tag documentation a plugin implements [[%SYSTEMWEB%.Var$tag][$tag]]

Examples

 %JQPLUGINS{
   "treeview|slimbox"
   header="   * JQuery Plugins:$n"
   format="      * [[$documentation][$name]] v$version was developed by [[$homepage][$author]]"
 }%
Produces:

JQREQUIRE -- enable a plugin on the current page

This macro will load a list of plugins to be added to the current page. Use JQPLUGINS to display the list of available and active plugins. While loading a plugin, additional plugins it may depend on are loaded as well. Information about these dependencies is stored within the plugins themselves and can't be changed. Dependencies also make sure the javascript code is added to the html page in the right order. It uses ADDTOZONE to aggregate javascript and css at the right place on the html page.
HELP in case of an error JQREQUIRE will produce an inline HTML error message.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"plugin,plugin,plugin" comma-separated list of plugins to be loaded  
warn (on/off) allows you to switch off warnings when a plugin was not found on

Examples

  • %JQREQUIRE{"easing,sliding,falling"}%

JQTAB -- start a JQuery tab within a tab pane

JQTABPANE -- start a JQuery tab pane

  • Create nice looking horizontal tab panes in TWiki topics. Write a sequence of %JQTAB{"..."}% and %JQENDTAB% pairs, and enclose them in %JQTABPANE% and %JQENDTABPANE%. Tab panes can be nested, e.g. within one tab you can add another tab pane. These variable are handled by the JQueryPlugin.
  • Syntax: %JQTABPANE% %JQTAB{"Tab 1}% ... %JQENDTAB% %JQTAB{"Tab 2}% ... %JQENDTAB% ... %JQENDTABPANE%
  • Example:
    %JQTABPANE%
    %JQTAB{"Tab 1"}%
    Tab 1 content...
    %JQENDTAB%
    %JQTAB{"Tab 2"}%
    Tab 2 content...
    %JQENDTAB%
    %JQENDTABPANE%
  • Related: JQENDTAB, JQENDTABPANE, JQTAB, JQueryPlugin

JQTHEME -- switch jQuery UI theme

Foswiki's default UI theme is configured in $Foswiki::cfg{JQueryPlugin}{JQueryTheme} and defaults to foswiki. Use configure to change this site wide. Use JQTHEME if you decide to use a different theme on the current page.

Some Foswiki skins may come with their own jQuery UI matching the overall user experience of the web design.
HELP in case of an error JQTHEME will produce an inline HTML error message.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" name of theme: JQueryPlugin knows the following themes base, lightness, redmod, smoothness; additional themes maybe created using the themeroller and installed to /foswiki/pub/System/JQueryPlugin/$name foswiki
warn (on/off) allows you to switch off warnings when a theme was not found on

LANG -- the language specified by the server locale

This macro is used to generate the lang (and xml:lang) attribute in generated HTML pages. If {UseLocale} is enabled, it is calculated from the configure Internationalization tab -> Locale sub-tab setting of {Site}{Locale}. Otherwise it defaults to en (English).
  • In templates the lang attribute is defined like this:
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="%LANG%" lang="%LANG%">
  • Do not confuse LANG with LANGUAGE

Examples

  • %LANG% expands to en

LANGUAGE -- language code for the current user

Returns the language code for the current user. This is the language used by Foswiki to generate the user interface. The language is detected from the user's browser, unless some site/web/user/session-defined preference setting overrides it.

If a LANGUAGE preference is explicitly set, this will be used as the user language instead of any language detected from the browser.
ALERT! Avoid defining LANGUAGE in a non- per-user way, otherwise users will not be able to choose their preferred language.

Examples

  • %LANGUAGE% expands to en

LANGUAGES -- list available languages

List the languages available (as PO files). These are the languages in which the user interface is available.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
format format for each item. See below for format tokens available in the format string. "   * $langname"
separator separator between items. "\n" (newline) Note: The standard format tokens can also be used here.
marker Text for $marker if the item matches selection "selected"
selection Current language to be selected in list (none)
format tokens: (In addition to these tokens, the standard format tokens can also be used)
Token Meaning
$langname language's name, as informed by the translators
$langtag language's tag. Ex: en, pt-br, etc.
$marker Marker will be substituted only when the item matches the selection.

Examples

  • %LANGUAGES% expands to
    * English
  • <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

LOCALSITEPREFS -- web.topicname of site preferences topic

  • The full name of the local site preferences topic. These local site preferences overload the system level preferences defined in System.DefaultPreferences.

Examples

  • %LOCALSITEPREFS% expands to Main.SitePreferences, renders as SitePreferences

LOGIN -- present a full login link

Examples

LOGOUT -- present a full logout link

TIP You are already logged out, so %LOGOUT expands to an empty string

Examples

  • %LOGOUT% expands to

M -- moved to... icon

MAINWEB -- deprecated synonym for USERSWEB

ALERT! Deprecated. Please use %USERSWEB% instead.

MAKETEXT -- creates text using Foswiki's I18N infrastructure

Strings captured in the MAKETEXT macro are automatically mapped to the current user's selected language via locale/*.po translation files.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"text"
string="text"
The text to be displayed (the translatable string).  
args a comma-separated list of arguments to be interpolated in the string, replacing [_N] placeholders in it.  

Examples

  • %MAKETEXT{string="Edit"}% expands to Edit
  • %MAKETEXT{"If you have any questions, please contact [_1]." args="%WIKIWEBMASTER%"}% expands to If you have any questions, please contact jlee@unist.ac.kr.
  • %MAKETEXT{"Did you want to [[[_1]][reset [_2]'s password]]?" args="%SYSTEMWEB%.ResetPassword,%WIKIUSERNAME%"}% expands to Did you want to reset Main.WikiGuest's password?

Notes

  • [_n] brackets are validated to a positive integer from 1 to 100.
  • Missing arguments are replaced with an empty string ''.
  • An ampersand (&) followed by one ascii alphabetic character (a...z, A...Z) in the translatable string will be expanded to an access key string. For example, &X will expand to <span class='foswikiAccessKey'>X</span>. If you want to write an actual ampersand, either follow it with a non-alphabetic character or write two consecutive ampersands (&&).
  • Translatable strings starting with underscores (_) are reserved. You cannot use translatable phrases starting with an underscore.
  • Make sure that the translatable string is constant. Do not include %MACROS% inside the translatable strings as they will be expanded before the %MAKETEXT{...}% itself is handled. You can, however, use macros in the args, as shown in the examples above.
  • The string will be output in English if no mapping can be found in the .po translation file for the current user's selected language.

Plurals

The %MAKETEXT macro also supports a limited subset of the quant style bracket notation:
  • %MAKETEXT{string="Edit [*,_1,file]" args="4"}% expands to Edit 4 files

Notes on plurals

  • Only 3 arguments are supported.
  • The first parameter must be an asterisk. Literals quant, numf or # are not supported.
  • The 2nd parameter must be the argument number
  • The 3rd parameter is the word or phrase to be made plural.

MAROON -- start maroon colored text

  • MAROON is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

META -- displays meta-data

Provided mainly for use in templates, this macro generates the parts of the topic view that relate to meta-data (attachments, forms etc.).

Parameters

The unnamed parameter controls what meta-data is displayed, other parameters control how it is displayed.

"form"

Generates the table showing the form fields.

"attachments"

Generates a table of attachments
Parameter Description Default
all to show hidden attachments off
title to show a title - only if attachments are displayed  
template to use a custom template for the rendering of attachments attachtables

"moved"

If a topic was moved or renamed, generates a message with details and a revert link
Parameter Description Default
prefix Prefix that goes before the moved message, but only if the message is generated  
suffix Prefix that goes after the moved message, but only if the message is generated  

"parent"

Display details of ancestor topics
Parameter Description Default
dontrecurse Recursing up the tree incurs some cost. Equivalent to depth=1 off
depth Return only the specified ancestor  
nowebhome Suppress WebHome  
format Format string used to display each parent topic where $web expands to the web name, and $topic expands to the topic name [[$web.$topic][$topic]]
separator Separator between parents >
prefix Prefix that goes before parents, but only if there are parents  
suffix Suffix, only appears if there are parents  

"formfield"

Display the value of a single form field
Parameter Description Default
name name of the field  
newline how to represent newlines in the value $n
bar How to represent vertical bars in the data. Vertical bars are rewritten to an HTML entity by default so as to not be mistaken for a table separator. This option allows you to change what is produced. &vbar;
display If on retrieves the displayed value of a *+values formfield type, as against the default, stored, value off
topic Select which topic to get the meta-data from  
QUERY

METASEARCH -- special search of meta data

ALERT! METASEARCH is deprecated in favour of the new and much more powerful query type search. See SEARCH and QuerySearch.

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 the name and value parameters to specify which field to search).
Required
web="%WEB%" Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or all webs. Current web
topic="%TOPIC%" The topic the search relates to, for topicmoved and parent searches All topics in a web
!| name | form field to search, for field type searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH). | | !| value | form field value, for field type searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH). | |
title="Title" Text that is prefixed to any search results empty
!| format="..." | Custom format results. Supports same format strings as SEARCH. See FormattedSearch for usage & examples | Results in table |
default="none" Default text shown if no search hit Empty
  • Examples:
      %METASEARCH{
        type="topicmoved"
        web="%WEB%"
        topic="%TOPIC%"
        title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "
      }%
    You may want to use this in WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate:
      %METASEARCH{
        type="parent"
        web="%WEB%"
        topic="%TOPIC%"
        title="Children: "
      }%
    
      %METASEARCH{
        type="field"
        name="Country"
        value="China"
      }%

N -- "new" icon

NONCE -- generate a nonce (developers only)

DEVELOPERS ONLY

This macro is used to generate a 'nonce', a unique key that identifies the source of a request in order to block some kinds of cyber attack. See https://foswiki.org/Support/HowToIntegrateWithRequestValidation for more information.

NOP -- template text not to be expanded in instantiated topics

  • %NOP%
    • In normal topic text, expands to <nop>, which prevents expansion of adjacent macros and wikiwords
    • When the topic containing this is used as a template for another topic, it is removed.
  • %NOP{...}% deprecated
    • In normal topic text, expands to whatever is in the curly braces (if anything).
      ALERT! This is deprecated. Do not use it. Use %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% .. %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% instead (see TemplateTopics for more details).

NOTIFYTOPIC -- name of the notify topic

Examples

  • %NOTIFYTOPIC% expands to WebNotify, renders as WebNotify

OLIVE -- start olive green colored text

  • OLIVE is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

ORANGE -- start orange colored text

  • ORANGE is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

P -- pencil icon

PERLDEPENDENCYREPORT -- report perl module dependencies

Intended for use by installers / administrators, reports on the status of Perl dependencies in the Foswiki core and extensions.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"extensions" requests dependencies of installed extensions. (not set)

PINK -- start pink colored text

PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS -- list of plugin descriptions

Examples

  • %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS% expands to
    • SpreadSheetPlugin (19 Jul 2018, 1.24): Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM($ABOVE())" to Foswiki tables and other topic text
    • SlideShowPlugin (09 Mar 2021, 2.40): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings
    • AutoViewTemplatePlugin (2016-04-08, 1.24): Automatically sets VIEW_TEMPLATE and EDIT_TEMPLATE
    • CommentPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.95): Quickly post comments to a page without an edit/save cycle
    • CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.114):
    • ConfigurePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.12): configure interface using json-rpc
    • EditRowPlugin (12 Jan 2024, 3.402): Inline edit for tables
    • HistoryPlugin (16 Nov 2020, 1.20): Shows a complete history of a topic
    • HomePagePlugin (1.23, 1.23): Allow User specified home pages - on login
    • InterwikiPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.27): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic
    • JQueryPlugin (25 Apr 2023, 10.51): jQuery JavaScript library for Foswiki
    • MailerContribPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.84): Supports e-mail notification of changes
    • NatEditPlugin (11 Jul 2023, 9.63): A Wikiwyg Editor
    • PreferencesPlugin (1.16, 1.16): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
    • RenderListPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.29): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
    • SmiliesPlugin (17 Sep 2015, 2.03): Render smilies like smile as icons
    • SubscribePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 3.7): This is a companion plugin to the MailerContrib. It allows you to trivially add a "Subscribe me" link to topics to get subscribed to changes.
    • TablePlugin (22 Jan 2018, 1.160): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
    • TinyMCEPlugin (11 Feb 2019, 1.32): Integration of the Tiny MCE WYSIWYG Editor
    • TwistyPlugin (29 Jun 2023, 3.00): Twisty section Javascript library to open/close content dynamically
    • UpdatesPlugin (12 Nov 2019, 2.00): Checks Foswiki.org for updates
    • WysiwygPlugin (13 Jun 2018, 1.38): Translator framework for WYSIWYG editors

PLUGINVERSION -- the version of a Foswiki Plugin, or the Foswiki Plugins API

Use %PLUGINVERSION{"name"}% to get the version of a specific plugin

Examples

  • %PLUGINVERSION{"InterwikiPlugin"}% expands to 1.27
  • %PLUGINVERSION% to get the version of the API, expands to 2.4

POPUPWINDOW -- opens a topic or url in a new window

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"topic"
topic="topic"
topic="web.topic"
Topic to open  
url URL to open (if topic is not used)  
label Link label the topic or the url
template View template to call when viewing a topic; not used for URLs "viewplain"
width Width of window "600"
height Height of window "480"
toolbar Show toolbars? "0"
scrollbars Show scrollbars? "1"
status Show status? "1"
location Show location bar? "0"
resizable Is the window resizable? "1"
left Left position "0"
top Top position "0"
center Center the window? "0"
menubar Show menubar? "0"
createnew Create a new window for each popup? "1"

Examples

  • Example with topic link:
    %POPUPWINDOW{"TWikiDocumentation" label="Open this topic in a new window"}%
    Generates: Open this topic in a new window
  • Example with URL:
    %POPUPWINDOW{url="https://foswiki.org"}%
    Generates: https://foswiki.org
  • Enable POPUPWINDOW by writing %JQREQUIRE{"popupwindow"}% on the page

PUBURL -- generate an URL for an attachment

Generate an absolute URL for an attachment, or for a web or topic within the attachment database.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"attachment" Name of attachment to link  
web Web  
topic Topic, or Web.Topic  
topic_version Select topic version, if supported most recent
attachment_version Select attachment version, if supported most recent

Examples

  • %PUBURL% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub
  • %PUBURL{"icon_plus.png"}% expands to =%PUBURL{"icon_plus.png"}%
  • %PUBURL{web="System"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System
  • %PUBURL{topic="System.MainFeatures"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures
  • %PUBURL{web="System" topic="MainFeatures"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures
  • %PUBURL{topic="System.MainFeatures"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures
  • %PUBURL{topic="System.MainFeatures" "icon_plus.png"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures/icon_plus.png
  • Also supports topic_version and attachment_version parameters. These can be used with advanced store implementations to select specific attachment versions. However simple file-based stores do not normally support them.
    HELP The 'old' way of building URLs using PUBURL involved concatenating the web and topic names to the PUBURL e.g. %PUBURL%/Main/SystemFeatures. This practice is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly handle encoding of the parts of the URL. At the first opportunity you should replace all such URLs with the equivalent %PUBURL%{topic="System.MainFeatures"}%, which will handle URL encoding for you.

    IDEA! ATTACHURL provides a shorter way to refer to the attachments on the current topic.

PUBURLPATH -- generate a relative URL for an attachment

Generate a relative URL for an attachment, or for a web or topic within the attachment database.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"attachment" Name of attachment to link  
web Web  
topic Topic, or Web.Topic  
topic_version Select topic version, if supported most recent
attachment_version Select attachment version, if supported most recent

Examples

  • %PUBURLPATH% expands to /foswiki/pub
  • %PUBURLPATH{"icon_plus.png"}% expands to =%PUBURLPATH{"icon_plus.png"}%
  • %PUBURLPATH{web="System"}% expands to /foswiki/pub/System
  • %PUBURLPATH{topic="System.MainFeatures"}% expands to /foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures
  • %PUBURLPATH{web="System" topic="MainFeatures"}% expands to /foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures
  • %PUBURLPATH{topic="System.MainFeatures" "icon_plus.png"}% expands to /foswiki/pub/System/MainFeatures/icon_plus.png
  • Also supports topic_version and attachment_version parameters. These can be used with advanced store implements to select specific attachment versions. However simple file-based stores do not normally support them.
ALERT! This macro will only generate a relative URL if the store supports them, and the context allows it. Otherwise it will generate the same as PUBURL

HELP The 'old' way of building URLs using PUBURLPATHPATH involved concatenating the web and topic names to the PUBURLPATH e.g. %PUBURLPATH%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%. This practice is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly handle encoding of the parts of the URL. At the first opportunity you should replace all such URLs with the equivalent %PUBURLPATH%{topic="System.MainFeatures"}%, which will handle URL encoding for you.

IDEA! ATTACHURLPATH provides a shorter way to refer to the attachments on the current topic.

PURPLE -- start purple colored text

  • PURPLE is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

Q -- question icon

QUERY -- get the value of meta-data

Uses the query syntax described in QuerySearch to get information about meta-data from one specified topic.
  • supports formatted access to formfields and other meta-data in topics using the same syntax as is used in IF and SEARCH statements,
  • gives access to all meta-data, including that added by extensions,
  • supports reporting values using JSON and other standards, simplifying the retrieval of meta-data for REST applications,
  • replaces the FORMFIELD macro for most applications.
See QuerySearch for more details of how to write queries

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"item" The meta-data to query
style set the output format (see below)
rev operate on the given version of the current topic. Note that this will only affect simple queries that refer to the current topic, such as form.name. More complex queries that use searches or indirection to refer to other topics always use the latest version of those topics.

Examples

      Get the name of the form in the current topic:
      %QUERY{"form.name"}%

      Get the value of the 'Firstname' form field in
        the current topic:
      %QUERY{"fields[name='Firstname'].value"}%

      Get the value of the 'Firstname' form field in
        the current topic (shorthand version):
      %QUERY{"Firstname"}%

      Get a list of all the names of attachments on
        the topic 'System.DocumentGraphics':
      %QUERY{"'System.DocumentGraphics'/attachments.name"}%

      Get configuration setting {NameFilter}:
      %QUERY{"{NameFilter}"}%
Plain strings (such as field values) are returned without quotes. Simple arrays of scalars are also returned without quotes, in a comma-separated list (beware of values that contain commas!).

More complex data structures (e.g. arrays of hashes) will only be returned if style="perl" or style="json" are set - else will return a string containing 'undef'.

You can make the macro generate different output formats using the style parameter:
  • style="perl" - generates values as Perl code strings generated by running through CPAN:Data::Dumper
  • style="json" - generates values as JSON strings, suitable for reading by browsers.

Only some configuration settings are available via QUERY: {AccessControlACL}{EnableDeprecatedEmptyDeny}, {AccessibleCFG}, {AdminUserLogin}, {AdminUserWikiName}, {AntiSpam}{EmailPadding}, {AntiSpam}{EntityEncode}, {AntiSpam}{HideUserDetails}, {AntiSpam}{RobotsAreWelcome}, {AuthRealm}, {AuthScripts}, {Cache}{Enabled}, {DefaultDateFormat}, {DefaultUrlHost}, {DenyDotDotInclude}, {DisplayTimeValues}, {EnableEmail}, {EnableHierarchicalWebs}, {FormTypes}, {HomeTopicName}, {LeaseLength}, {LeaseLengthLessForceful}, {LinkProtocolPattern}, {LocalSitePreferences}, {LoginNameFilterIn}, {LowerNational}, {MaxRevisionsInADiff}, {MinPasswordLength}, {NameFilter}, {NotifyTopicName}, {NumberOfRevisions}, {PluginsOrder}, {Plugins}{WebSearchPath}, {PluralToSingular}, {Register}{AllowLoginName}, {Register}{Approvers}, {Register}{DisablePasswordConfirmation}, {Register}{EnableNewUserRegistration}, {Register}{NeedApproval}, {Register}{NeedVerification}, {Register}{RegistrationAgentWikiName}, {ReplaceIfEditedAgainWithin}, {ScriptSuffix}, {ScriptUrlPath}, {Site}{Locale}, {Site}{LocaleRegexes}, {SitePrefsTopicName}, {Stats}{TopContrib}, {Stats}{TopicName}, {Stats}{TopViews}, {SuperAdminGroup}, {SystemWebName}, {TemplateLogin}{AllowLoginUsingEmailAddress}, {TemplatePath}, {TrashWebName}, {UploadFilter}, {UpperNational}, {UseLocale}, {UserInterfaceInternationalisation}, {UsersTopicName}, {UsersWebName}, {Validation}{Method}, {WebMasterEmail}, {WebMasterName}, {WebPrefsTopicName}

QUERYPARAMS -- show parameters to the query

Expands the parameters to the query that was used to display the page.

Parameters

Parameter: Description: Default:
format Format string for each entry $name=$value
separator Separator string $n (newline)
encoding Control how special characters are encoded. If this parameter is not given, safe encoding is performed which HTML entity encodes the characters '"<>%.
entity - Encode special characters into HTML entities, like a double quote into &#034;. Does not encode \n or \r.
safe - Encode characters '"<>% into HTML entities. (this is the default)
html - As type="entity" except it also encodes \n and \r
quotes - Escape double quotes with backslashes (\"), does not change other characters
url - Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22
safe
The following tokens are expanded in the format string:
Token Expands To
$name Name of the parameter
$value String value of the parameter. Multi-valued parameters will have a "row" for each value.
In addition the standard format tokens are also expanded.

Examples

   %QUERYPARAMS{
     format="<input type='hidden' name='$name' value='$value' encoding="entity" />"
   }%
ALERT! Security warning!

Using QUERYPARAMS can easily be misused for cross-site scripting unless specific characters are entity encoded. By default QUERYPARAMS encodes the characters '"<>% into HTML entities (same as encoding="safe") which is relatively safe. The safest is to use encoding="entity". When passing QUERYPARAMS inside another macro always use double quotes ("") combined with using QUERYPARAMS with encoding="quote". For maximum security against cross-site scripting you are advised to install the Foswiki:Extensions.SafeWikiPlugin.

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.
    ALERT! 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%=

Examples

  • %QUERYSTRING% expands to

RED -- start red colored text

REDBG -- start red colored background section

REMOTE_ADDR -- environment variable

Examples

  • %REMOTE_ADDR% expands to 3.143.237.140

REMOTE_PORT -- environment variable

Examples

  • %REMOTE_PORT% expands to

REMOTE_USER -- environment variable

Examples

  • %REMOTE_USER% expands to
    ALERT! Displays the user identity established by the Web Server. Not available when using Template Autentication. The REMOTE_USER variable only expands when the active script is configured to Require valid-user in the Apache configuration. Eg. If your site uses Apache authentication and allows guest access, view this page with bin/view and bin/viewauth to see the effect.

RENDERLIST -- render bullet lists in a variety of formats

The %RENDERLIST% macro is handled by the RenderListPlugin

Examples

%RENDERLIST{"org" focus="Sales.WestCoastTeam"}%
      * [[Eng.WebHome][Engineering]]
         * [[Eng.TechPubs][Tech Pubs]]
      * [[Sales.WestCoastTeam][Sales]]
         * [[Sales.EastCoastTeam][East Coast]]
         * [[Sales.WestCoastTeam][West Coast]]
Expands as:
  Sales
  East Coast
  West Coast

RENDERZONE - render the content of a zone

Rendersa zone. See ADDTOZONE for an explanation of zones.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"zone" name of the zone   (reguired)
format format string for each item added to the zone
$item <!--<literal> $id $missing</literal>-->
missingtoken string assigned to the $missing format token for use in the format parameter.
$id: requires= missing ids: $missingids
chomp remove leading and trailing whitespace from formatted items, can be useful for pretty-printing and compression. off
header prepended to the output  
footer appended to the output  
separator put between each item of a zone  
The following tokens are expanded in the format string:
  • $id - id of the ADDTOZONE call within the zone currently being rendered.
  • $item - text of the ADDTOZONE call within the zone currently being rendered.
  • $zone - the "zone" currently being rendered.
  • $missing - if the ADDTOZONE call being rendered required any id which was not found, then $missing is the missingtoken parameter; empty string otherwise.
  • $missingids - comma separated list of ids that were required by the ADDTOZONE call currently being rendered but weren't found within this zone.
Supports the standard format tokens in all parameters.

HELP header and footer are not output if there is no content in the zone (nothing has been ADDTOZONEd ). However they are output if the output is the empty string (at least one ADDTOZONE has been processed).

HELP Zones are cleared after being rendered; they are only ever rendered once.

HELP head, script and body are default zones. The corresponding RENDERZONE is already included in the base foswiki.tmpl. head and script are automatically inserted before the </head> tag in the output HTML page. body is automatically inserted before the </body> tag in the output HTML page.

HELP Macros will be expanded in all zones. TML markup will not be expanded in the head and scripts zones. Any formatting in head and scripts zones including [[TML links]] must be done directly using HTML. TML pseudo-tags like nop. verbatim, literal. and noautolink are removed from head and script zones and have no influence on the markup. All other zones will be rendered as normal topic text.

HELP Normally, dependencies between individual ADDTOZONE statements are resolved within each zone. However, if {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} is enabled in configure, then head content which requires an id that only exists in script will be re-ordered to satisfy this dependency. ALERT! {MergeHeadAndScriptZones} will be removed from a future version of Foswiki.

REVARG -- &rev=n parameter of current request

%REVARG% If a topic revision is requested in the URL, it returns the revision of the current topic suitable for concatenation to the view query parameters. Otherwise returns an empty string.

Examples

  • %REVARG% expands to (simulated) &rev=3 (actual)

REVINFO -- revision information of current topic

%REVINFO% is equivalent to %REVINFO{format="r1.$rev - $date - $wikiusername"}%

Examples

  • %REVINFO% expands to r1 - 21 Sep 2017 - 01:45:29 - ProjectContributor
  • %REVINFO{"$n      * $topic: $date"}% expands to

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"format" Format of revision information, see supported formatting tokens below "r$rev - $date - $time - $wikiusername"
web Name of web Current web
topic Topic name Current topic
rev Specific revision number Latest revision
Supported formatting tokens:
Token Unit
$web Name of web
$topic Topic name
$rev Revision number
$username Login username of revision
$wikiname WikiName of revision
$wikiusername WikiName with Main web prefix
$date Revision date. Actual date format defined as {DefaultDateFormat} in configure
$time Revision time
$iso Revision date in ISO date format
$min, $sec, etc. Same date format qualifiers as GMTIME{"format"}

Examples

  • %REVINFO{"$date - $wikiusername" rev="43"}%
  • To get the latest revision, even when looking at an older revision:
    %REVINFO{"$rev" rev="-1"}%

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="5" Specific revison number. Old RCS format "1.5" is also supported. Latest revision
  • Supported variables in format:
    Variable: Unit: Example
    $web Name of web Current web
    $topic Topic name Current topic
    $rev Revison number. Add prefix r to get the usual r5 format 5
    $username Login username of revision jsmith
    $wikiname WikiName of revision JohnSmith
    $wikiusername WikiName with Main web prefix Main.JohnSmith
    $date Revision date. Actual date format defined as {DefaultDateFormat} in configure 21 Sep 2006
    $time Revision time 23:24:25
    $iso Revision 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

REVTITLE -- The requested revision as displayed in topic breadcrumbs

If a topic revision is requested in the URL, it returns the printable revision of the current topic revision. Otherwise returns an empty string.

Examples

  • %REVTITLE% expands to (simulated) (r3) (actual)

S -- red star icon

SCRIPTNAME -- name of current script

  • The name of the current script is shown, including script suffix, if any (for example viewauth.cgi)

Examples

  • %SCRIPTNAME% expands to view

SCRIPTSUFFIX -- script suffix

  • Some Foswiki installations require a file extension for CGI scripts, such as .pl or .cgi

Examples

  • %SCRIPTSUFFIX% expands to

SCRIPTURL -- URL of script(s)

Expands to the URL of a script, or the base URL of all scripts

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"$script" Name of script  
web Web name to add to URL  
topic Topic (or Web.Topic) to add to URL  
Any other parameters to the macro will be added as parameters to the URL

Examples

  • %SCRIPTURL{"view" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey"}% will expand to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons/EvilMonkey
  • %SCRIPTURL{"view" web="Cartoons"}% will expand to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons?web=Cartoons
  • %SCRIPTURL{"view" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey" rev="1"}% will expand to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons/EvilMonkey?rev=1
  • %SCRIPTURL{"edit" web="Cartoons" topic="EvilMonkey" t="%GMTIME{"$epoch"}%"}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/edit/Cartoons/EvilMonkey?t=1732204892
  • %SCRIPTURL% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin
  • %SCRIPTURL{script}% expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/script
HELP In most cases you should use SCRIPTURLPATH instead, as it works much better with URL rewriting

HELP The edit script should always be used in conjunction a t="%GMTIME{"$epoch"}%" parameter to ensure pages about to be edited are not cached in the browser

ALERT! The 'old' way of building URLs using SCRIPTURL involved concatenating the web and topic names to the SCRIPTURL e.g. %SCRIPTURL{"script"}%/Cartoons/EvilMonkey. This practice is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly handle encoding of the parts of the URL. At the first opportunity you should replace all such URLs with the equivalent %SCRIPTURL%{"script" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey"}%, which will handle URL encoding for you.

ALERT! The SCRIPTURL macro does NOT support building jsonrpc or rest requests with parameters. They should still use the "contatenation" method. This is expected to be fixed in Foswiki 2.2.

SCRIPTURL{"script"} -- URL of TWiki script

  • Syntax: %SCRIPTURL{"script"}%
  • Expands to: https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/script
  • Example: To get the authenticated version of the current topic you can write %SCRIPTURL{"viewauth"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC% which expands to https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/viewauth/System/TWikiVariables
  • Example: How to link to another topic with a URL parameter: [[%SCRIPTURL{view}%/%WEB%/MyQuery?food=sushi][Sushi]]
  • ALERT! 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"}, TWikiScripts

SCRIPTURLPATH -- URL path of script(s)

Expands to the base URL of scripts, without protocol or host

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"$script" Name of script  
web Web name to add to URL  
topic Topic (or Web.Topic) to add to URL  
Any other parameters to the macro will be added as parameters to the URL

Examples

  • %SCRIPTURLPATH{"view" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey"}% expands to /foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons/EvilMonkey
  • %SCRIPTURLPATH{"view" web="Cartoons"}% expands to /foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons?web=Cartoons
  • %SCRIPTURLPATH{"view" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey" rev="1"}% will expand to /foswiki/bin/view/Cartoons/EvilMonkey?rev=1
  • %SCRIPTURLPATH{"edit" web="Cartoons" topic="EvilMonkey" t="%GMTIME{"$epoch"}%"}% expands to /foswiki/bin/edit/Cartoons/EvilMonkey?t=1732204892
  • %SCRIPTURLPATH% expands to /foswiki/bin
  • %SCRIPTURLPATH{script}% expands to /foswiki/bin/script
HELP The edit script should always be used in conjunction with a t="%GMTIME{"$epoch"}%" parameter to ensure pages about to be edited are not cached in the browser

HELP See SCRIPTURL if you expect to need the protocol and host e.g. if you are saving the HTML of the page and using it on a different host.

ALERT! The 'old' way of building URLs using SCRIPTURLPATH involved concatenating the web and topic names to the SCRIPTURLPATH e.g. %SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}%/Cartoons/EvilMonkey. This practice is strongly discouraged, as it does not correctly handle encoding of the parts of the URL. At the first opportunity you should replace such URLs with the equivalent %SCRIPTURLPATH%{"script" topic="Cartoons.EvilMonkey"}%, which will handle URL encoding for you.

ALERT! The SCRIPTURL macro does NOT support building jsonrpc or rest requests with parameters. They should still use the "contatenation" method. This is expected to be fixed in Foswiki 2.2.

SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"} -- URL path of TWiki script

SEARCH -- search content

Inline search, shows a search result embedded in a topic

Parameters

Parameter Description Default:
"text"
search="text"
Search term. Is a keyword search, literal search, regular expression search, or query, depending on the type parameter. SearchHelp has more required
web Comma-separated list of webs to search. e.g.
web="Main, Know"
web="all"
The special word all means all webs that do not have the NOSEARCHALL preference set to on in their WebPreferences.
You can specifically exclude webs from an all search using a minus sign - for example, web="all,-Secretweb". Caution: The "all,-Secretweb" syntax does not exclude subwebs of the excluded web. It applies to only a single web. See Foswikitask:Item8893 AccessControls are respected when searching webs; it is much better to use them than NOSEARCHALL. Wildcards are not currently supported for web names.
Current web
topic Limit search to topics e.g.
topic="WebPreferences"
topic="*Bug"
topic="MyTopic,YourTopic"
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. Adding a topic restriction to a search can greatly improve the search performance.
All topics in a web
excludetopic Exclude topics from search e.g.
excludetopic="Web*"
excludetopic="WebHome, WebChanges"
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.
 
scope Search topic name ("topic"); the body ("text") of the topic; or name and body ("all") text
type Control how the search is performed when scope="text" or scope="all"
"keyword" - use Google-like controls as in soap "web service" -shampoo; searches word parts: using the example, topics with "soapsuds" will be found as well, but topics with "shampoos" will be excluded
"word" - identical to keyword but searches whole words: topics with "soapsuds" will not be found, and topics with "shampoos" will not be excluded
"literal" - search for the exact string, like web service
"regex" - use a RegularExpression search like soap;web service;!shampoo; to search on whole words use \bsoap\b
"query" - query search of form fields and other meta-data, like (Firstname='Emma' OR Firstname='John') AND Lastname='Peel'
%SEARCHVARDEFAULTTYPE% preferences setting (currently literal)
order Sort the results of search by the topic names ("topic"), topic creation time ("created"), last modified time ("modified"), last editor's WikiName ("editby"), or named field of DataForms ("formfield(name)"). 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).
The web order is always alphabetical. When ordered by topic the result is first ordered by web and then by topic.
topic
limit A number will limit the number of topics from which results will be returned. This is done after sorting if order is specified. Note that this does not limit the number of hits from the same topic when you have multiple="on". all
date limits the results to those pages with latest edit time in the given time interval.  
reverse If "on" will reverse the direction of the search. Does only apply to key specified by order. off
casesensitive If "on" perform a case sensitive search. (For type=query searches, casesensitive is always on. See QuerySearch for more flexible case comparison options) off
decode Reverse any encoding done to protect search terms by %URLPARAM{}% macro. Comma separated list of encodings, entered in reverse order of the URLPARAM macro arguments. Supported decoding types are entity|entities, safe and url.  
bookview If ="on", perform a BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text. Very resource demanding. Use only with small result sets off
nonoise If "on", shorthand for nosummary="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" zeroresults="off" noheader="on" noempty="on" off
nosummary Show topic title only, no content summary off
nosearch Suppress search string off
noheader Suppress default search header
Topics: Changed: By: , unless a header is explicitly specified
Show default search header, unless search is inline and a format is specified
nototal Do not show number of topics found off
zeroresults If off, false or 0, suppress/replace all output if there are no hits. Can also be set to a FormattedSearch string to customise the output on - displays the summary, and number of topics found. "Number of topics: 0"
noempty If "on", suppress results for webs that have no hits. off
header Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage & examples  
format Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage & examples  
footer Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage & examples  
expandvariables If "on", expand embedded macros 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 off
multiple If ="on", find multiple hits per topic. Each hit can be formatted. The last token is used in case of a regular expression ";" and search off (only one hit found per topic
nofinalnewline If "on", the search variable does not end in a line by itself. Any text continuing immediately after the SEARCH macro on the same line will be rendered as part of the table generated by the search, if appropriate. This feature is only active when format is defined. on
recurse If "on", recurse into subwebs, if subwebs are enabled. Note: recurse will currently search subwebs of explicitly excluded webs. (web="all, -Sandbox" recurse="on") will still search subwebs of Sandbox. This behavior is likely to change in a future release. off
separator Separator between search hits (only used when format is set) uses FormatTokens.
If separator is not defined, the default is "$n" (newline). Not defining the separator will additionally cause a newline to be added after a header and before a footer.
$n (Newline)
headingoffset Adds the given offset to any HTML headings generated in the search result. Works on headings defined by HTML tags as well as headings defined using foswiki markup. 0
newline Line separator within a search hit. Useful if you want to put multi-line content into a table cell, for example if the format parameter contains a $pattern() or a $formfield() the result of which may contain newlines, in which case you could use newline="%BR%" $n (Newline)
pagesize number of items to show per page 25
showpage Page of items to show (starts at 1) (overridden by the value specified by the URL parameter hash from $previousurl and $nexturl) "1"
pager If "on" adds paging to your SEARCHes
Note: the default pager (when pagerformat is not defined) requires the parameters to the SEARCH to not change while paging, as it uses $previousurl and $nexturl. If you use time variable parameters, you will have to define your own pagerformat.
off
pagerformat Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage & examples filled from skin template
groupby Warning: this option is liable to change dramatically (and potentially incompatibly) in the next major release of foswiki. Setting to "none" applies only to multi-web SEARCHs, and means the header and footer are only output once - at the beginning and end of the list of results, and the order parameter is applied over the entire set of results (this setting removes the legacy that results are always partitioned by web) see SiteChanges for an example. web

Examples

  • %SEARCH{"wiki" web="%USERSWEB%" scope="topic"}%
  • %SEARCH{
        "FAQ"
        nonoise="on"
        header="| *Topic: * | *Summary: * |"
        format="| $topic    | $summary    |"
    }%
    (displays results in a table with header - details)

Results are sorted alphanumerically on the web name (major key) and topic name (minor key). Only the minor key is affected by the order parameter.

TIP The appearance of the table emitted by the SEARCH may be controlled with TablePlugin's %TABLE{}% macro placed just before the %SEARCH{}%. Example: %TABLE{ tablewidth="90%" }%

SERVERINFORMATION -- report detailed web server information

Intended for use by installers / administrators, reports on the runtime information of the Foswiki installation, including all environment variables and other execution related information.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
environment Displays critical %ENV Environment variables. (Displayed if nothing set)
execution Displays important execution details. (Displayed if nothing set)
modules Displays loaded modules, along with version and location.. (Displayed if nothing set)

SERVERTIME -- formatted server time

Same format parameters as VarGMTIME[GMTIME%]], but displaying the server time instead of UTC.

Examples

  • %SERVERTIME% elsnds to 22 Nov 2024 - 01:01
  • %SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 01:01
ALERT! Note: When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details.

SERVERTIME{"format"} -- formatted server time

  • Same format qualifiers as %GMTIME%
  • Syntax: %SERVERTIME{"format"}%
  • Supported variables: $seconds, $minutes, $hours, $day, $wday, $dow, $month, $mo, $year, $ye, $tz, $iso, $rcs, $http, $epoch
  • Example: %SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 01:01
  • ALERT! 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

Examples

  • %SESSIONID% expands to 30e5b825be31e4d88bb13a985f582fc4

SESSIONVAR -- name of CGI and session variable that stores the session ID

Examples

  • %SESSIONVAR% expands to SFOSWIKISID

SESSION_VARIABLE -- get, set or clear a session variable

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" name of variable
set value to set it to
clear if it is to be cleared
TIP The users ID is in the AUTHUSER session variable, and is read-only

Examples

  • %SESSION_VARIABLE{"MYVAR" set="myval"}%
  • %SESSION_VARIABLE{"MYVAR" clear=""}%

SET -- set a preference setting during runtime

A preference setting created via a %SET macro is usable by the topic containing the %SET statement, and in any other topics %INCLUDing or %INCLUDEd when rendering the topic TML. This is unlike list or META style preference settings which are only set when the base topic is loaded, and never set during macro expension when an %INCLUDEd topic is processed.

A TMPL:DEF template definition containing %SET macros will also add those values to the current scope as if these settings have been parsed as part of the base topic's text.

Setting a preference setting in a list like in

   * Set foo = %SEARCH{...

or in META settings will store the text of the TML expression.

The equivalent %SET statement:

%SET{"foo" value="%SEARCH{..."}%

will store the result of the TML expression as a consequence of the parser processing macros inside-out-left-to-right.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of preference to set  
value Value to set it to  

Examples

To cache the result of another macro use %SET{"search_result" value="%SEARCH{...}%"}%. The result of the value expression will be temporarily bound to the variable %search_result% and might be used within the scope of the current topic being processed, or in %INCLUDing or other %INCLUDEd topics.

Note that this macro does NOT expand format tokens that are used to alter the macro processing sequence. ($percent, $dollar, ...).

SHOWPREFERENCE -- show where preferences are defined.

Preference values are shown in a bulleted list, together with where they were defined.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default:
"name,name,name" Comma-separated list of preferences to show  

Examples

  • %SHOWPREFERENCE% will show all preferences
  • %SHOWPREFERENCE{"ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT"}% expands to
   * Set ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT = "10000"
      * ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT was *finalised* in System.DefaultPreferences

  • %SHOWPREFERENCE{"DENYWEBCHANGE,ALLOWWEBCHANGE"}% expands to
   * Set DENYWEBCHANGE = ""
   * Set ALLOWWEBCHANGE = "%USERSWEB%.AdminGroup"
      * ALLOWWEBCHANGE was defined in System.WebPreferences

SILVER -- start silver colored text

  • SILVER is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

SKIN -- current skin

%SKIN% expands the skin search path. For instance, SKIN can be set to catskin, bearskin. The SKIN setting can be overridden using the URL parameter skin, such as ?skin=catskin,bearskin You can also extend the existing skin path using covers - see COVER

Examples

  • %SKIN% expands to natedit,pattern
  • See Skins for more information

SLIDESHOWEND -- end slideshow

The %SLIDESHOWEND% macro is handled by the SlideShowPlugin

Examples

See SLIDESHOWSTART

SLIDESHOWSTART -- convert a topic with headings into a slideshow

Handled by the SlideShowPlugin

Parameters

Parameter Description
template optional name of slide template to use

Examples

 %SLIDESHOWSTART%
 ---++ Sample Slide 1
    * Bullet 1
    * Bullet 2
 ---++ Sample Slide 2
    * Bullet 1
    * Bullet 2
 %SLIDESHOWEND%
  • Expands as:

Start presentation

Slide 1: Sample Slide 1

  • Bullet 1
  • Bullet 2

Slide 2: Sample Slide 2

  • Bullet 1
  • Bullet 2

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

Examples

  • %SPACEDTOPIC% expands to Var%20*SPACEDTOPIC
    ALERT! This is a deprecated macro. It can be duplicated with %ENCODE{%SPACEOUT{"%TOPIC%" separator=" *"}%}%

SPACEOUT -- 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

Examples

  • %SPACEOUT{"WebHome"}% expands to: Web Home

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
separator The separator to put between words e.g. %SPACEOUT{"DogsCatsBudgies" separator=", "}% -> Dogs, Cats, Budgies ' '
TIP 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

STARTINCLUDE -- start position of topic text if included

If present in included topic, start to include text from this location up to the next %ENDINCLUDE% macro, or to the end. A normal view of the topic shows everything except the %STARTINCLUDE% macro itself.
TIP If you want more than one part of the topic included, use %STARTSECTION{type="include"}% instead

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 which are all merged into one when included (%STARTINCLUDE% is restricted to only one). Sections of type include may not be given a name.
    • type="expandvariables" - all macros inside an "expandvariables" type section gets expanded when a new topic based on the template topic is created. See TemplateTopics for more information.
    • 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 TemplateTopics for more information.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"name" Name of the section. Must be unique inside a topic. Generated name
=type=" Type of the section; type "section", "expandvariables", "include" or "templateonly" "section"
Any other parameter will be defined as a default value for a macro within the scope of the section. The example parameters on the left will result in %PARONE% and %PARTWO% being defined if they are not defined parameters to the INCLUDE, or nested INCLUDEs surrounding it, or previsouly defined Preferences.

HELP If a section is not given a name, it will be assigned one. Unnamed sections are assigned names starting with _SECTION0 for the first unnamed section in the topic, _SECTION1 for the second, etc..

HELP You can define nested sections. It is not recommended to overlap sections, although it is valid in Foswiki. Use named sections to make sure that the correct START and ENDs are matched. Section markers are not displayed when a topic is viewed.

Examples

  • %STARTSECTION{"name"}% ................... %ENDSECTION{"name"}%
  • %STARTSECTION{"name" type="section"}% .... %ENDSECTION{"name" type="section"}% (type="section" is the default)
  • %STARTSECTION{type="include"}% ........... %ENDSECTION{type="include"}%
  • %STARTSECTION{type="expandvariables"}% ... %ENDSECTION{type="expandvariables"}%
  • %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% ...... %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%

STATISTICSTOPIC -- name of statistics topic

Examples

  • %STATISTICSTOPIC% expands to WebStatistics, renders as WebStatistics

STOPINCLUDE -- Alias for ENDINCLUDE

STOPSECTION -- Alias for ENDSECTION

SUBSCRIBE{ attributes } - subscribe the current user for notification of changes to the current topic

Anywhere in a topic or template:
  • %SUBSCRIBE{...}% or simply %SUBSCRIBE%
    Parameter Default Meaning
    who Logged-in user Who to subscribe (wikiname, no web)
    topic Current topic Topic to subscribe to. Wildcards may be used e.g. topic="Item*" will subscribe to all topics starting with Item. Use topic="Main.*" to subscribe to the WebNotify for the Main web.
    unsubscribe Not set If set to "on", will unsubscribe the user

The format of the Subscribe/Unsubscribe button is defined in a template file templates/subscribe.tmpl. The normal skin mechanisms can be used to override this with your own local definitions. The default template works with Javascript to provide a smooth interactive experience.

ALERT! The format and formatunsubscribe parameters have been removed and will be ignored. The version of PatternSkin shipped with Foswiki 1.1.9 used these parameters.

SYSTEMWEB -- name of documentation web

The web containing all documentation and default preference settings

Examples

  • %SYSTEMWEB% expands to System

T -- tip icon

TAB -- tab inside a tabpane widget

Defines a tab inside a TABPANE area; must be closed using ENDTAB.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"text" label of the tab Tab
before when switching tabs, this is the javascript fragment to be executed just before the tab is displayed  
after this javascript handler is to be executed after the tab has been made visible  
afterload this javascript handler will be called when content loaded asynchronously (using the url parameter, below) has finished loading; depending on the network latency, this can be significantly later than execution of the after handler above  
id id of this tab; this id can be used in the TABPANEs select parameter to display this tab; this id is also added to the class attribute of the html element representing the tab button  
url link from where to load the content of the tab asynchronously when selecting this tab; the result of the addressed handler will replace the content area; if no url is set the content of the TAB ... ENDTAB area will be shown when the tab is selected  
width width of the tab area auto
height height of the tab area auto
container element where ajax content will be loaded; this is only used together with url  

TABLE -- control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns

The %TABLE{}% macro is handled by the TablePlugin

Attributes for tables

Parameter Description Default Example
tableborder Table border width (pixels). "1" tableborder="2"
tablebordercolor Table border color. unspecified tablebordercolor="#333"
tableframe Table frame, set to "void" (no sides), "above" (the top side only), "below" (the bottom side only), "hsides" (the top and bottom sides only), "lhs" (the left-hand side only), "rhs" (the right-hand side only), "vsides" (the right and left sides only), "box" (all four sides), "border" (all four sides). unspecified tableframe="hsides"
tablerules Table rules, set to "none" (no rules), "groups" (rules will appear between row groups and column groups only), "rows" (rules will appear between rows only), "cols" (rules will appear between columns only), "all" (rules will appear between all rows and columns). See also: headerrules and datarules. unspecified tablerules="rows"
tablewidth Table width: percentage of window width, or absolute pixel value. unspecified tablewidth="100%"
headerrows Number of header rows to exclude from sort. (will be rendered in a HTML thead section) "1" headerrows="1"
footerrows Number of footer rows to exclude from sort. (will be rendered in a HTML tfoot section) "0" footerrows="1"
id Unique table identifier string, used for targeting a table with CSS. tableN (where N is the table order number on the page) id="userTable"
summary Table summary used by screen readers: A summary of what the table presents. It should provide an orientation for someone who listens to the table. unspecified summary="List of subscribed users"
caption Table caption: A title that will be displayed just above the table. unspecified caption="Users"
inlinemarkup Set to "on" to generate inline markup HTML (in addition to the CSS markup); useful if you need to copy the table, for instance to paste the table into an email). unspecified inlinemarkup="on"
class Add specified class to the default foswikiTable class. unspecified class="mytable"

Attributes for table sorting

Parameter Description Default Example
sort Set the table sorting user interface (clickable column headers) "on" or "off". unspecified sort="on"
initsort Column to sort initially (use "1" for the first column). If specified, sorting is enabled; by setting sort="off" the sorting interface can be hidden. unspecified initsort="2"
initdirection Initial sorting direction for initsort, set to "up" (descending, or decreasing in value) or "down" (ascending, or increasing in value). down initdirection="up"
disableallsort Disable all sorting, both initsort and header sort. This is mainly used by plugins such as the EditTablePlugin to disable sorting in a table while editing the table. unspecified disableallsort="on"

Attributes for table cells

Argument Description Default Example
cellpadding Cell padding (pixels). unspecified cellpadding="0"
cellspacing Cell spacing (pixels). unspecified cellspacing="3"
cellborder Cell border width (pixels). unspecified cellborder="0"
valign Vertical alignment of cells and headers, set to "top", "middle", "bottom" or "baseline". unspecified valign="top"
columnwidths Column widths: Comma delimited list of column widths, percentage or absolute pixel value. unspecified columnwidths="80%,20%"

Attributes for data cells

Parameter Description Default Example
datarules Set to "none" (no rules), "rows" (rules will appear between rows only), "cols" (rules will appear between columns only), "all" (rules will appear between all rows and columns). Overrides tablerules for data cells. unspecified datarules="none"
datavalign Vertical alignment of data cells; overrides valign. unspecified datavalign="top"
dataalign Data cell alignment, one value for all columns, or a comma separated list for different alignment of individual columns. Set to "left", "center", "right" or "justify". Overrides individual cell settings. unspecified dataalign="center"
databg Data cell background colour, a comma separated list. Specify "none" for no colour, that is to use the colour/background of the page the table is on. "#edf4f9,#fff" databg="#f2f2f2,#fff"
databgsorted Data cell background colour of a sorted column; see databg. the values of databg databgsorted="#d4e8e4, #e5f5ea"
datacolor Data cell text colour, a comma separated list. unspecified datacolor="#00c, #000"

Attributes for headers

Parameter Description Default Example
headerrules Set to "none" (no rules), "rows" (rules will appear between rows only), "cols" (rules will appear between columns only), "all" (rules will appear between all rows and columns). Overrides tablerules for header cells. unspecified headerrules="none"
headerbg Header cell background colour. Specify "none" for no colour, that is to use the colour/background of the page the table is on. "#6b7f93" headerbg="#999"
headerbgsorted Header cell background colour of a sorted column. Specify "none" for no colour, that is to use the colour/background of the page the table is on. the value of headerbg headerbgsorted="#32596c"
headercolor Header cell text colour. "#fff" headercolor="#00c"
headervalign Vertical alignment of header cells; overrides valign. unspecified headervalign="top"
headeralign Header cell alignment, one value for all columns, or a comma separated list for different alignment of individual columns. Set to "left", "center", "right" or "justify". Overrides individual cell settings. unspecified headeralign="left,right"
headerrows See: Attributes for tables

Other attributes

Parameter Description Default Example
include Other topic defining the TABLE parameters. The first %TABLE% in the topic is used. This is useful if you have many topics with the same table format and you want to update the format in one place. Use topic or web.topic notation. unspecified include="Main.WebHome"

Examples

 %TABLE{ sort="off" tableborder="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="3" cellborder="0" }%
 | *A1* | *B1* |
 | A2   | B2   |
  • Expands as:
    A1 B1
    A2 B2

TABPANE -- tabpane widget

This macro starts the tabpane, containing a series of TAB...ENDTABs and ends with ENDTABPANE. A complete tabpane normally looks like this:
%TABPANE%
 %TAB{"tab 1"}%
   ...
 %ENDTAB%
 %TAB{"tab 2"}%
   ...
 %ENDTAB%
%ENDTABPANE%
Multiple tabpanes can be nested using the following scheme:
%TABPANE%
 %TAB{"tab 1"}%
   %TABPANE%
     %TAB{"tab 1.1"}%
       ...
     %ENDTAB%
     %TAB{"tab1.2"}%
       ...
     %ENDTAB%
   %ENDTABPANE%
 %ENDTAB%
 %TAB{"tab 2"}%
   ...
 %ENDTAB%
%ENDTABPANE%

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
select number or id of tab to select 1
automaxexpand resizes the tabpane to the maximum height to fit into the window off
minheight when automaxexpand is enabled, this is the minimum size a tab is allowed to be resized 230
class extra class: use simple for a non-3D tabpane; use=plain= for a no-frame look&feel  
animate enables/disables animation of switching tabs off
remember enables/disables recording the current tab into the url anchor, as well as initialize the currently selected tab reading the anchor off

Examples

see JQueryTabpane for more examples

TEAL -- start teal colored text

TOC -- table of contents

Shows a Table of Contents that is generated automatically based on headings of a topic. Headings in TopicMarkupLanguage ("---++ 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

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"TopicName" topic name Current topic
web Name of web Current web
depth Limit depth of headings shown in TOC 6
title Title to appear at top of TOC  
align Align at left or right side of the page  
id Optional ID in case multiple TOCs are on the page and each TOC needs to be addressable with an anchor link. Allowed characters: a-zA-Z0-9-_, no spaces. If you don't specify an id, the anchor foswikiTOC can be used in a link to the first TOC: [[#foswikiTOC][Back to TOC]] creates Back to TOC. Multiple TOC macros will increment the generated ID. #foswikiTOC, #foswikiTOC2 ... "foswikiTOC"

Preference Settings

Default settings are defined in DefaultPreferences, and can be overridden in SitePreferences:
Setting Description Value
TOC_MIN_DEPTH The first header level to appear in the TOC 1
TOC_MAX_DEPTH The last header level to appear in the TOC  
TOC_TITLE The default TOC title On this page:
TOC_HIDE_IF_INCLUDED Do not show a TOC if the topic it contains is included in another topic on

Examples

%TOC{depth="2"}%
%TOC{"CompleteDocumentation" web="%SYSTEMWEB%" title="Contents:"}%
See also: Foswiki:Support/HowToCreateATableOfContents
TIP If multiple headers have the exact same text, the anchors for the 2nd, 3rd etc will be suffixed by _AN1, _AN2 etc so the anchors become unique.

ALERT! If other topics are included using INCLUDE then any headingoffset specified on the INCLUDE macro will not be seen by TOC.

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. An abbreviated heading can be shown in the TOC, such as "---++ text!! this is excluded from 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="System" title="Contents:"}%
  • Related: INCLUDE, 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.

Examples

TOPICLIST -- topic index of a web

List of all topics in a web. The "format" defines the format of one topic item. It may include formatting tokens: The $topic token gets expanded to the topic name, $marker to marker parameter where topic matches selection, and $web to the name of the web, or any of the standard FormatTokens.

Parameters

Parameter: Description: Default:
web Name of web Current web
"format"
format="format"
Format of one line, may include $web (name of web), $topic (name of the topic), $marker (which expands to marker for the item matching selection only) "$topic"
separator topic separator "$n" (new line)
marker Text for $marker if the item matches selection "selected"
selection Current value to be selected in list (none)

Examples

   Create a bullet list of all topics:
   %TOPICLIST{"   * $web.$topic"}%

   Create a comma separated list of all topics:
   %TOPICLIST{separator=", "}%

   Create an option list (for drop down menus):
   %TOPICLIST{" <option>$topic</option>"}%

   Create an option list of web topics with the current topic selected:
   <select>%TOPICLIST{
      " <option $marker value='$topic'>$topic</option>"
      separator=" "
      selection="%TOPIC%"
   }%</select>

TOPICURL -- shortcut to viewing the current topic

TWIKIWEB -- synonym for SYSTEMWEB

ALERT! Deprecated. Use %SYSTEMWEB% instead

TWISTY -- generate content block with interactive visibility controls

This renders the button as well as the toggled content section contained within this and the closing ENDTWISTY tag.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
id Used to link TWISTYBUTTON and TWISTYTOGGLE  
link Link label for both show and hide links  
hidelink Hide link label  
showlink Show link label  
mode "block" or "inline" Specify if the Twisty Toggle section will use a <div> or a <span> tag. Note that if the contents contains block elements such as div, mode should be block as well to create valid HTML markup. <block>
showimgleft Specify the url of an image that will be displayed with the show link at the left side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
hideimgleft Specify the url of an image that will be displayed with the hide link at the left side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
showimgright Specify the url of an image that will be displayed with the show link at the right side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
hideimgright Specify the url of an image that will be displayed with the hide link at the right side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
remember If "on", the Twisty state is remembered the next time the page is shown. If "off", the stored setting will be cleared.

ALERT! Note: when used, think carefully about a unique name (id) for the Twisty, otherwise the cookie that is set might affect other Twisties with the same name. Also note that only interaction is stored, not the state of the Twisty when left unclicked.
 
start "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty; this will override any setting stored in a cookie (see remember).  
firststart "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty the first time the visitor gets to see the Twisty; this will NOT override cookie settings (see remember).  
noscript Make content hidden in case use does not have JavaScript on. Default content is shown in case JavaScript if off  
class CSS class name for Twisty element  
linkclass CSS class name for link  
prefix Text to display before the show/hide links  
suffix Text to display after the show/hide links  
Additional parameters img, imgleft, imgright, hideimg, showimg are deprecated, use showimgleft, hideimgleft, showimgright or hideimgright.

TWISTYBUTTON -- Shorthand version for TWISTYSHOW & TWISTYHIDE

This is useful if both the show and the hide button take the same arguments.

Parameters

All parameters supported by TWISTY, except for
  • noscript and class (only used for 'toggle' content)
  • mode button mode defaults to "block"

Examples

%TWISTYBUTTON{
    id="myid"
    link="more"
  }%%TWISTYTOGGLE{
    id="myid"
  }%content%ENDTWISTYTOGGLE%

Related

TWISTYHIDE - Hide/close link

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
id Used to link TWISTYSHOW, TWISTYHIDE and TWISTYTOGGLE required
link Hide link label  
mode "block" or "inline" Specify if the Twisty Hide link will use a <div> or a <span> tag. Note that if the contents contains block elements such as div, mode should be block as well to create valid HTML markup. <block>
img Specify the url of an image that will be displayed at the right side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
remember If "on", the Twisty state is remembered the next time the page is shown. If "off", the stored setting will be cleared.
Note: when used, think carefully about a unique name (id) for the Twisty, otherwise the cookie that is set might affect other Twisties with the same name. Also note that only interaction is stored, not the state of the Twisty when left unclicked.
 
start "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty; this will override any setting stored in a cookie (see remember).  
firststart "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty the first time the visitor gets to see the Twisty; this will NOT override cookie settings (see remember).  

Examples

%TWISTYHIDE{id="demo" link=" Click to Fold " imgleft="%ICONURLPATH{toggleclose}%"}%

TWISTYSHOW - Show/open link

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
id Used to link TWISTYSHOW, TWISTYHIDE and TWISTYTOGGLE required
link Show link label  
mode "block" or "inline" Specify if the Twisty Show link will use a <div> or a <span> tag. Note that if the contents contains block elements such as div, mode should be block as well to create valid HTML markup. <block>
img Specify the url of an image that will be displayed at the right side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
imgleft Specify the url of an image that will be displayed at the left side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
imgright Specify the url of an image that will be displayed at the right side of the link.
You may use ICONURLPATH to display one of the DocumentGraphics icons. Alternatively use an image attached to the topic.
 
remember If "on", the Twisty state is remembered the next time the page is shown. If "off", the stored setting will be cleared.
Note: when used, think carefully about a unique name (id) for the Twisty, otherwise the cookie that is set might affect other Twisties with the same name. Also note that only interaction is stored, not the state of the Twisty when left unclicked.
 
start "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty; this will override any setting stored in a cookie (see remember).  
firststart "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty the first time the visitor gets to see the Twisty; this will NOT override cookie settings (see remember).  

Examples

%TWISTYSHOW{id="demo" link=" Click to Unfold " imgleft="%ICONURLPATH{toggleopen}%"}%

TWISTYTOGGLE -- Twisty Toggle contents section

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
id Used to link TWISTYSHOW, TWISTYHIDE and TWISTYTOGGLE. required
mode "block" or "inline" Specify if the Twisty Toggle section will use a <div> or a <span> tag. Note that if the contents contains block elements such as div, mode should be block as well to create valid HTML markup. <block>
class CSS class name for content element  
linkclass CSS class name for link  
remember If "on", the Twisty state is remembered the next time the page is shown. If "off", the stored setting will be cleared.
Note: when used, think carefully about a unique name (id) for the Twisty, otherwise the cookie that is set might affect other Twisties with the same name. Also note that only interaction is stored, not the state of the Twisty when left unclicked.
 
start "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty; this will override any setting stored in a cookie (see remember).  
firststart "hide" or "show" Initial state of the Twisty the first time the visitor gets to see the Twisty; this will NOT override cookie settings (see remember).  
noscript hide to make content hidden in case use does not have JavaScript on  

Examples

%TWISTYTOGGLE{id="demo" mode="block" remember="on"}%My content%ENDTWISTYTOGGLE%

U -- "updated" icon

URLPARAM -- get URL or HTTP POST parameter value

Returns the value of the named parameter in the URL or HTTP POST request.

Parameters

Parameter: Description: Default:
"name" The name of a URL parameter required
default Default value, used if the parameter is not present ""
newline Convert newlines in textarea to other delimiters  
encode Control how special characters are encoded
"off" - No encoding. Avoid using this when possible. See the security warning below.
"entity" - Encode special characters into HTML entities. See ENCODE for more details.
"safe" - Encode characters '"<>% into HTML entities.
"url" - Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22
"quote" - Escape double quotes with backslashes (\"), does not change other characters; required when feeding URL parameters into other macros.
You can combine several encodings together, and they will be applied in the order you specify e.g. encode="safe, quote"
safe
multiple If set, gets all selected elements of a <select multiple="multiple"> tag. Can be set to a format string, with $item indicating the element, e.g. multiple="Option: $item" (also supports the standard format tokens) first element
separator Separator between multiple selections. Only relevant if multiple is specified $n (new line)

Examples

%URLPARAM{"skin"}% returns print for a .../view/System/TWikiVariables?skin=print URL

HELP URL parameters passed into HTML form fields must be entity encoded.

HELP Double quotes in URL parameters must be escaped when passed into other macros.
Example: %SEARCH{ "%URLPARAM{ "search" encode="safe, quote" }%" noheader="on" }%

HELP Reverse the encoding when used in SEARCH.
Example: %SEARCH{ "%URLPARAM{ "search" encode="safe, quote"}%" decode="safe" noheader="on" }%. (It is not necessary to reverse quote encoding, otherwise decode= options should be specified in the reverse order from the encode= options.)

HELP When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details.

ALERT! Watch out for internal parameters, such as rev, skin, template, topic, web; they have a special meaning in Foswiki. Common parameters and view script specific parameters are documented at CommandAndCGIScripts.

ALERT! If you have %URLPARAM{ in the value of a URL parameter, it will be modified to %<nop>URLPARAM{. This is to prevent an infinite loop during expansion.

ALERT! Security warning! Using URLPARAM can easily be misused for cross-site scripting unless specific characters are entity encoded. By default URLPARAM encodes the characters '"<>% into HTML entities (same as encode="safe") which is relatively safe. The safest is to use encode="entity". When passing URLPARAM inside another macro always use double quotes ("") combined with using URLPARAM with encode="quote". For maximum security against cross-site scripting you are adviced to install the Foswiki:Extensions.SafeWikiPlugin.

USERINFO -- retrieve details about a user

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" WikiName or login username. May be a group. current user
format Format string; see below for supported formatting tokens. $username, $wikiusername, $emails
Format tokens that can be used in format:
Token Description
$emails (*) Comma separated list of email addresses known to the user mapper (this would normally be TopicUserMappingContrib). If expanding for a group, then this will be the email addresses of all members.
$username (*) Login username. If expanding for a group, this should expand as unknown
$wikiname, $wikiusername The user's WikiName and Main.WikiName, respectively  
$groups (*) Comma separated list of group membership. Currently only expands for users
$isadmin (*) Has admin privileges (expands to true or false)
$isgroup Is a group (expands to true or false)  
TIP Tokens flagged '(*)' are considered private and are hidden from other users by default.
The standard format tokens are also supported.

Examples

  • %USERINFO{"name" format="..."}% expands to guest, Main.WikiGuest, (lists $username, $wikiusername, $emails)
With formatted output, using tokens:
%USERINFO{ format="$username is really $wikiname" }%
Expands to: guest is really WikiGuest

Retrieve information about another user. You can use either a wikiname or a username to identify the user. You can only see the restricted information about another user if you are an admin, or the {AntiSpam}{HideUserDetails} configuration option is not enabled. (User details are hidden on this site) :
%USERINFO{ "WikiGuest" format="$username is really $wikiname" }%
Expands to: guest is really WikiGuest

USERNAME -- your login username

Foswiki makes names available in three formats: USERNAME like jsmith, WIKINAME like JohnSmith and WIKIUSERNAME like Main.JohnSmith. Un-authenticated users are all WikiGuest.

This macro is an alias for the USERINFO macro with a fixed format="$username".
ALERT! The login username is considered "protected" information by default and will not be revealed to non-admin users.

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" WikiName or login username. current user

Examples

  • %USERNAME% expands to guest
  • %USERNAME{AdminUser}% expands to ==
    ALERT! When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details

USERSWEB -- name of users web

  • The web containing individual user topics, WikiGroups, and customised site-wide preferences.

Examples

  • %USERSWEB% expands to Main

VAR -- get a preference value from another web

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" name of preference to retrieve
web name of web to retrieve the preference from

Examples

  • %VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR"}% expands to #B9DAFF
  • %VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR" web="Main"}% expands to #FFEFA6

VBAR -- vertical bar

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.

Examples

  • %WEB% expands to System

WEBLIST -- index of all webs

Generate a list of webs. Obfuscated webs are excluded, e.g. webs with a NOSEARCHALL = on preference setting. The "format" defines the format of one web item. The $name gets expanded to the name of the web, $qname gets expanded to double quoted name, $marker to marker where web matches selection. Subwebs are listed recursively.

Parameters

Parameter Description Default
"format"
format="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 to marker for the item matching selection only). The standard format tokens may also be used. $name
separator Web separator $n (new line). Standard format tokens may also be used.
web if you specify $web in format, it will be replaced with this value.  
webs Comma separated list of webs to consider. This list can include two pseudo-webs, public which expands to all non-hidden and webtemplate which expands to the names of all template webs.
NOTE: Administrators will see all webs, not just the public ones
public
subwebs Specifies a single web. If specified, then public and webtemplate (described above) will expand relative to show subwebs *below this web only.  
selection Entry to be selected in list. If one of the webs matches this selection, then $marker in the format will be expanded %WEB%
marker Text for $marker if the item matches selection selected="selected"

Examples

Create a bullet list of all webs:
%WEBLIST{"   * [[$name.%HOMETOPIC%]]"}%
Create a dropdown of all public webs + Trash web, with the current web highlighted:
<form><select name="web">%WEBLIST{
      "<option $marker value='$qname'>$name</option>"
      webs="Trash, public"
      selection="%WEB%"
      separator=" "
   }% </select></form>
ALERT! WEBLIST will not show a web called 'TWiki' even if it exists in the file system unless the TWikiCompatibilityPlugin is installed and activated in configure. This is done to ensure that the TWiki compatibility components such as the TWiki web are only visible and active when needed

WEBPREFSTOPIC -- name of web preferences topic

Examples

  • %WEBPREFSTOPIC% expands to WebPreferences, renders as WebPreferences

WHITE -- start white colored text

  • WHITE is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

WIKIAGENTEMAIL -- From: email address in emails sent by Foswiki.

Examples

  • %WIKIAGENTEMAIL% expands to jlee@unist.ac.kr

WIKIAGENTNAME -- From: Name used in emails sent by Foswiki

Examples

  • %WIKIAGENTNAME% expands to Wiki Administrator

WIKIHOMEURL -- site home URL

Examples

  • %WIKIHOMEURL%= expands to /foswiki/bin/view/=
  • Normally by default set to %SCRIPTURLPATH{"view"}%
    ALERT! For the top bar logo URL use %WIKILOGOURL% defined in WebPreferences instead.

WIKILOGOALT -- site logo tooltip message

WIKILOGOIMG -- site logo image URL

WIKILOGOURL -- site logo home URL

WIKINAME -- your Wiki username

The WikiName is the same as %USERNAME% if not defined in the WikiUsers topic. This macro is an alias for the USERINFO macro with a fixed format="$wikiname".

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" WikiName or login username. current user

Examples

  • %WIKINAME% expands to WikiGuest
  • %WIKINAME{guest}% expands to WikiGuest
    ALERT! When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details

WIKIPREFSTOPIC -- name of site-wide preferences topic

Examples

WIKITOOLNAME -- name of your site

Examples

  • %WIKITOOLNAME% expands to Foswiki

WIKIUSERNAME -- your Wiki username with web prefix

Your %WIKINAME% with Main web prefix, useful to point to your Foswiki home page This macro is an alias for the USERINFO macro with a fixed format="$wikiusername".

Parameters

Parameter Description
"name" WikiName or login username. current user

Examples

  • %WIKIUSERNAME% expands to Main.WikiGuest, renders as WikiGuest
  • %WIKIUSERNAME{guest}% expands to Main.WikiGuest, renders as WikiGuest
    ALERT! When used in a template topic, this macro will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TemplateTopics#TemplateTopicsVars for details

WIKIUSERSTOPIC -- name of topic listing all registered users

Examples

  • %WIKIUSERSTOPIC% expands to WikiUsers
  • with Main prefix renders as WikiUsers

WIKIVERSION -- the version of the installed Foswiki engine

Examples

  • %WIKIVERSION% expands to v2.1.6

WIKIWEBMASTER -- feedback email address for site

Examples

  • %WIKIWEBMASTER% expands to jlee@unist.ac.kr

WIKIWEBMASTERNAME -- Name of the administrator for the site

Examples

  • %WIKIWEBMASTERNAME% expands to Wiki Administrator

X -- warning icon

Y -- "yes" icon

YELLOW -- start yellow colored text

  • YELLOW is 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, REDBG, TWikiPreferences rendering shortcuts, StandardColors

Back to top


Formatted Search

Customize the display of search results.

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 macros, such as %SEARCH{ "food" format="| $topic | $summary |" }%. See %SEARCH{...}% for other search parameters, such as separator="".

Syntax

Three 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:* |"

Format tokens that can be used in the header string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$ntopics Number of topics found in current web. Will be 0 (zero).
$nhits Number of hits if multiple="on". Will be 0 (zero).
$pager pager control - can be optionally customised using the pagerformat below
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar

TIP Most macros accept parameter strings which are split over multiple lines. This is usually more readable than using $n tokens. If you are familiar with sectional includes, you might also consider nested sectional includes to hold the newline content outside of the parameter string entirely.

TIP Note that newline is not a line break. The browser will wrap the lines together. If you require a line break, displaying the results on two lines, use %BR%. Or use two consecutive newlines to create a TML "Paragraph".

$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This token gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot Double quote (") (\" also works)
$percent Percent sign (%) ($percnt also works)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)
$amp Ampersand (&)
$comma Comma (,)

ALERT! Note that if the separator parameter for SEARCH is not defined a newline is added after the header.

2. footer="..." parameter

Use the footer parameter to specify the footer of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional. Example:
footer="| *Total:* | *$nhits* |"

Format tokens that can be used in the footer string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$ntopics Number of topics found in current web
$nhits Number of hits if multiple="on". Cumulative across all topics in current web. Identical to $ntopics unless multiple="on"
$pager pager control - can be optionally customised using the pagerformat below
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar

TIP Most macros accept parameter strings which are split over multiple lines. This is usually more readable than using $n tokens. If you are familiar with sectional includes, you might also consider nested sectional includes to hold the newline content outside of the parameter string entirely.

TIP Note that newline is not a line break. The browser will wrap the lines together. If you require a line break, displaying the results on two lines, use %BR%. Or use two consecutive newlines to create a TML "Paragraph".

$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This token gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot Double quote (") (\" also works)
$percent Percent sign (%) ($percnt also works)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)
$amp Ampersand (&)
$comma Comma (,)

ALERT! Note that if the separator parameter for SEARCH is not defined a newline is added after the last search result.

3. pagerformat="..." parameter

Use the pagerformat parameter to customise the appearance of the paging control. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional. Example:
pagerformat="Page $currentpage of $numberofpages [[$nexturl][next page]]"

Format tokens that can be used in the pagerformat string:

Name: Expands To:
$previouspage The page number before the currently displayed one
$currentpage The currently displayed page number
$nextpage The page number after the currently displayed one
$numberofpages Total number of pages there are results for
$pagesize The number of results per page
$previousurl full URL to the previous page - IF using the built in pager system
$nexturl full URL to the previous page - IF using the built in pager system
$previousbutton skin template (SEARCH:pager_previous) html for the full URL to the previous page - IF using the built in pager system
$nextbutton skin template (SEARCH:pager_next) html for the full URL to the previous page - IF using the built in pager system
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar

TIP Most macros accept parameter strings which are split over multiple lines. This is usually more readable than using $n tokens. If you are familiar with sectional includes, you might also consider nested sectional includes to hold the newline content outside of the parameter string entirely.

TIP Note that newline is not a line break. The browser will wrap the lines together. If you require a line break, displaying the results on two lines, use %BR%. Or use two consecutive newlines to create a TML "Paragraph".

$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This token gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot Double quote (") (\" also works)
$percent Percent sign (%) ($percnt also works)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)
$amp Ampersand (&)
$comma Comma (,)

4. format="..." parameter

Use the format parameter to specify the format of one search hit. Example:
format="| $topic | $summary |"

Format tokens that can be used in the format string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$topic Topic name
$topic(20) Topic name, "- " hyphenated every 20 characters
$topic(30, -<br />) Topic name, hyphenated every 30 characters with separator "-<br />"
$topic(40, ...) Topic name, shortened to 40 characters with trailing ellipsis.
$parent Name of parent topic; empty if not set
$parent(20) Name of parent topic, same hyphenation/shortening as $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. 21 Nov 2024 - 16:01
$isodate Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2024-11-21T16:01Z
$index number of total results - can be used as a running counter in the format, or in the footer. This $index is not affected by web based partitioning of results.
$item the full name of a result item - in a SEARCH context, equivalent to $web.$topic
$rev Number of last topic revision, e.g. 4
$username Login username of last user to update the topic, e.g. jsmith
$wikiname WikiName of last user to update the topic, e.g. JohnSmith
$wikiusername WikiName of last usr to update the topic, like Main.JohnSmith
$createdate Time stamp of topic revision 1
$createusername Login username of topic revision 1, e.g. jsmith
$createwikiname WikiName of topic revision 1, e.g. JohnSmith
$createwikiusername WikiName topic link 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 %SOMEMACRO{...}% macros shown as SOMEMACRO{...}
$summary(noheader) Topic summary, with leading ---+ headers removed
Note: The tokens can be combined, for example $summary(100, showvarnames, noheader)
$summary(searchcontext) Creates a topic summary with the search terms highlighted
$summary(searchcontext, 50) Creates a topic summary with the search terms highlighted, up to 50 characters
$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, if FAQWhatIsWikiWiki was a search hit, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to =. This applies only to topics that have a DataForm. For multi-line textfields new lines are replaced by the value of the =newline parameter if it is defined, otherwise by an HTML <br />
$formfield(name, 10) Form field value, "- " hyphenated every 10 characters
$formfield(name, 20, -<br />) Form field value, hyphenated every 20 characters with separator "-<br />"
$formfield(name,30,...) Form field value, shortened to 30 characters with trailing ellipsis.
$formfield(name, display) Form field value after mapping the stored value to the display value (use with +values form fields). You can still use the hyphenation controls described above by placing them after display e.g. $formfield(name, display, 10)
$extract(reg-exp) A regular expression pattern to extract some text from a topic (does not search meta data; use $formfield instead). Escapes some characters to their standard FormatTokens in the discovered text to make embedding in other macros easier. See Using $extract and $pattern below for more information.
$pattern(reg-exp) As $extract, with the difference that $pattern does not escape quotes or precent signs in the result.
$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.
$ntopics Number of topics found in current web. This is the current topic count, not the total number of topics
$nhits Number of hits if multiple="on". Cumulative across all topics in current web. Identical to $ntopics unless multiple="on"
$pager pager control - can be optionally customised using the pagerformat below
$n or $n() New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar

TIP Most macros accept parameter strings which are split over multiple lines. This is usually more readable than using $n tokens. If you are familiar with sectional includes, you might also consider nested sectional includes to hold the newline content outside of the parameter string entirely.

TIP Note that newline is not a line break. The browser will wrap the lines together. If you require a line break, displaying the results on two lines, use %BR%. Or use two consecutive newlines to create a TML "Paragraph".

$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This token gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot Double quote (") (\" also works)
$percent Percent sign (%) ($percnt also works)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)
$lt Less than sign (<)
$gt Greater than sign (>)
$amp Ampersand (&)
$comma Comma (,)

Using $extract and $pattern

$extract and $pattern are subtle. These tokens specify a RegularExpression that covers the whole text (of each line found by the search if multiple="on", of the entire topic text otherwise). The regular expression typically starts with .*, and must end in .*

The leading .* matches all the content up to the start of the string you want to find. It will try to match the longest string of characters it can, so if your pattern occurs several times in the content it will always match the last occurence. If you always want to match the first occurrence, use .*? instead.

You _must* end the pattern with .*

Put the section of the pattern that matches the text you want to keep in parenthesis, like this $extract(.*?(from here.*?to here).*)
  • Example: $extract(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the e-mail address from * Email: ...

Do not use .* inside the parentheses, e.g. $extract(.*foo(.*)bar.*) does not work. You can however use .*? thus $extract(.*foo(.*?)bar.*)

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. $extract will automatically escape "<>&%$ characters so that the string matched by the pattern doesn't break any macros that are wrapped around it. $pattern does not do this, and should be used with care. $extract is only available in Foswiki 2.0 and later.

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.

Search showing topic name and summary


%SEARCH{
   "VarREMOTE"
   scope="topic"
   nonoise="on"
   header="| *Topic*        | *Summary*  |"
   format="| [[$topic]]     | $summary   |"
   footer="| *Topics found* | *$ntopics* |"
}%

Click to execute

Table showing form field values of topics with a form

In a web where there is a form that contains a TopicClassification field, an OperatingSystem field and an OsVersion field we could write:


%SEARCH{
   "TopicClassification~'FrequentlyAskedQuestion'"
   type="query"
   nonoise="on"
   header="| *Topic:* | *Summary:* | *Related Topics:* |"
   format="| [[$topic]] | $formfield(TopicSummary) | $formfield(RelatedTopics) |"
}%

Click to execute

Extract some text from a topic using regular expression

The following example makes use of the $pattern() token to extract the first level-1 heading for each topic:


%SEARCH{
    "^---[+][^+][^\r\n]+[\r\n]"
    type="regex"
    nonoise="on"
    header="Headings:"
    limit="5"
    format="   * [[$topic][$pattern([\r\n\-+!]+([^\r\n]*?)[\r\n].*)]]"
    footer="Found $ntopics topics with level-1 headings"
}%

Click to execute

SEARCH is one of many macros that produce output which may be controlled with format, header and footer parameters, among others. To make use of additional macros in the output, familiarity with inside-out, left-to-right order of expansion rules is required. There are two forms:
  1. Standard: Use %INNERMACRO% to build the parameter string before %OUTERMACRO% is expanded
     %OUTERMACRO{
       format="%INNERMACRO%"
     }%
  2. Delayed: Use the parameter string to incorporate %INNERMACRO% into the output of %OUTERMACRO%
     %OUTERMACRO{
       format="$percentINNERMACRO$percent"
     }%
TIP When working with a given macro, consult its documentation to determine which parameters support the $percent/$percnt format tokens. Generally only output parameters like header, format and footer support format tokens.

Standard form

The key to understanding nested expressions in Foswiki is to understand that macros are expanded "inside-out, left-to-right". Example:

%MACRO1{
   something="%MACRO2{
      somethingelse="%MACRO3%, %MACRO4%"
   }%"
}%
The macros are expanded in this order: MACRO3, MACRO4, MACRO2, MACRO1.

Step-by-Step Example

Delayed form

Standard form macros can nearly always be used to build the parameter string of another macro; however, sometimes it is desirable to bypass the inside-out expansion order and delay the inner macro until after the outer macro has finished expansion. This is accomplished by using the $percent format token instead of %, and escaping any " character it uses (becomes \")

TIP When working with a given macro, consult its documentation to determine which parameters support the $percent/$percnt format tokens. Generally only output parameters like header, format and footer support format tokens.
Example:
%MACRO1{
   format="$percentMACRO2{
      format=\"%MACRO3%, %MACRO4%\"
   }$percent"
}%
The macros are expanded in this order: MACRO3, MACRO4, MACRO1, MACRO2.

Step-by-Step Example

From the conditional output example:

Worked example

Problem: search for some topics in an initial (outer) search, and for each of them apply a second (inner) search. The idea is to use the outer search to build a series of inner seraches.

Consider the following example. Let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (outer search), and find out where each topic found is linked from (inner search).

Initial (outer) search:
%SEARCH{
   "culture"
   nonoise="on"
   format="   * $topic is referenced by: (list all references)"
}%

Second (inner) search:

For each hit, we want this search:
%SEARCH{
   "(topic found in outer search)"
   nonoise="on"
   format="$topic"
   separator=", "
}%

Now let's nest the two.
Method 1 (nesting with escapes)
The inner search cannot be placed directly into the format string of the outer, because of the "inside-out, left-to-right" macro expansion behaviour discussed earlier. It must be delayed so that the outer search is evaluated first. To do this, we need to escape the inner search, i.e. let the outer search build a series of inner searches, which are executed only when the outer list is complete..
  • Use $percent to escape (delay) the inner search's SEARCH macro
  • Use \" to escape the double quotes
  • Use $dollar to escape the $ of $topic


%SEARCH{
   "culture"
   nonoise="on"
   limit="5"
   format="\
   * [[$topic]] is referenced by:
      * $percentSEARCH{
         \"$topic\"
         nonoise=\"on\"
         format=\"[[$dollartopic]]\"
         separator=\", \"
      }$percent"
}%

Click to execute

ALERT! When nesting with escapes, each new nesting level must "escape the escapes", e.g. write $dollarpercentSEARCH{ for level three, $dollardollarpercentSEARCH{ for level four, etc.

Method 2 (nesting with sectional includes)
Nested expressions with delayed macros can be difficult to write: care must be taken to escape all the quotes of the inner delayed macro, and it may become confusing whether to use $topic, $dollartopic or $dollardollartopic.

If you find yourself using escaped tokens like $dollartopic, another approach is to use the STARTSECTION/ENDSECTION feature of INCLUDE. Instead of nesting the inner search expression directly inside the format string of the outer, the inner search is written as a separate stand-alone section of a topic which is INCLUDEd into the format string of the outer.


%SEARCH{
   "culture"
   nonoise="on"
   limit="5"
   format="\
   * $topic is referenced by:
      * $percentINCLUDE{\"%TOPIC%\" section=\"mysearch\" thetopic=\"$topic\"}$percent"
}%

<verbatim class="foswikiHidden">
%SEARCH{
   "%thetopic%"
   nonoise="on"
   format="$topic"
   separator=", "
}%
</verbatim>

Click to execute

Most recently changed pages


%SEARCH{
   "1"
   type="query"
   nonoise="on"
   order="modified"
   reverse="on"
   limit="7"
   header="| *Topic* | *Changed* | *By* |"
   format="| [[$topic]] | $date  | $wikiusername |"
}%

Click to execute

Search with conditional output

Sometimes it may be desirable for each hit to be displayed differently depending on some criteria. For example, maybe you want to list 20 topics modified in 2009, but decorate the hits which are children of UserDocumentationCategory with an info icon.
  1. Specify a search which returns the hits you need
  2. For each search hit, test the condition that will influence the output using a nested IF statement


%SEARCH{
   "info.date >= d2n('2009-01-01') AND info.date <= d2n('2009-12-31')"
   type="query"
   limit="20"
   format="   * $percentICON{
      \"$percentIF{
         \"'$topic'/parent.name='UserDocumentationCategory'\"
         then=\"info\"
         else=\"gear\"
      }$percent\"
   }$percent [[$topic]]"
}%

Click to execute

info Details:
  • The SEARCH has a delayed ICON. The $percent ensures that ICON is evaluated once for each search hit
  • The ICON contains an IF, which again is delayed with the $percent token and will also be evaluated for each SEARCH hit. Additionally, the inside-out, left-to-right rule discussed earlier means that this IF expression will be evaluated before ICON.
  • If $topic is a child of UserDocumentationCategory, the info icon is used; otherwise, gear.

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 macro. Example:


<input type="text" id="search_field" size="32" />
%BUTTON{"Search" icon="find" id="search_button"}%

<verbatim class="jqLoader {section:'example7_results', mode:'manual'}" id="result_loader">

<div class="search_results">
%SEARCH{
   "%URLPARAM{"q" encode="entity, quote"}%"
   decode="entity"
   type="keyword"
   nosearch="on"
   format="<div class='search_hit'> [[$web.$topic]]
      <div class='search_summary'>$summary(searchcontext)<!-- --></div> 
      <div class='search_info'>$date, $wikiusername</div>
    </div>"
}%
</div>

</verbatim>

<literal>
<script>
jQuery(function($) {
  function doSearch() {
    $("#result_loader").trigger("refresh", {
      params: {
        q: $("#search_field").val()
      }
    });
    return false;
  };
  $("#search_button").on("click", doSearch);
  $("#search_field").on("keydown", function(ev) {
    if (ev.keyCode == 13) {
      doSearch();
    }
  });
});
</script>
<style>
.search_results em {
  color:red;
}
.search_hit {
  margin-bottom:1em;
}
.search_info a,
.search_info {
  color:#64B000;
}
</style>
</literal>

Search


<div class="search_results">
%SEARCH{
   "%URLPARAM{"q" encode="entity, quote"}%"
   decode="entity"
   type="keyword"
   nosearch="on"
   format="<div class='search_hit'> [[$web.$topic]]
      <div class='search_summary'>$summary(searchcontext)<!-- --></div> 
      <div class='search_info'>$date, $wikiusername</div>
    </div>"
}%
</div>


Related topics: UserDocumentationCategory, SearchHelp, Macros#VarSEARCH, SearchPatternCookbook, RegularExpression

Back to top


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 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.

HELP 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 cannot be managed using browser-based attachment controls. You can use your browser to create shortcuts using Macros, like this %H% = HELP.

Attachment Names

Attachment names are stored directly in the server native file system, so filenames are sanitized to prevent use of names that would be unacceptable to the variety of platforms where Foswiki is supported. Note that the rules are different depending on whether or not your installation is configured to support international characters (UseLocale)

Default rules without international character set support.

  • Filenames must only be compose of:
    • "Mixed Alpha-Numeric" characters. (A-Z, a-z and 0-9)
    • May also contain:
      • . (period / decimal point / "dot")
      • _ (Underscore)
      • - (Hyphen or dash)
      • embedded spaces (Will be converted to underscore (_) during upload
  • Any other characters are removed from the filename.
  • Any leading dots or slashes (., \ or /) will be stripped
  • Embedded spaces will be converted to underscore _
  • Certain filenames that might be interpreted as executable code will have .txt appended. (This is set locally by your system administrator)

Attachment name rules with international character set support enabled.

  • Embedded spaces are converted to _ (Underscore).
  • Filenames are filtered according to rules set by your administrator.
  • The default rules will strip the following characters from the filename:
    • Any "whitespace" characters
    • * (Asterisk)
    • ? (Question mark)
    • ~ (Tilde)
    • ^ (Caret / Circumflex)
    • \ (Backslash)
    • $ (Dollar-sign)
    • @ (At-sign)
    • % (Percent-sign)
    • `'" Quotes (Open-quote, Close-quote/Apostrophe, and Double-quote)
    • & (Ampersand)
    • ; (Semicolon)
    • | (Vertical line)
    • <> (Less and Greater signs)
    • [] (Open and close square brackets)
    • And any ASCII control characters (Hex x00-x1f)
  • Any leading dots or slashes (., \ or /) will be stripped
  • Certain filenames that might be interpreted as executable code will have .txt appended. (This is set locally by your system administrator)

Uploading files

  • Click on the [Attach] link at the bottom of the page. The Attach screen lets you browse for a file, add a comment, and upload it. The uploaded file will show up in the file attachment table.
    HELP The topic must already exist. If it does not, it is a two step process: 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, for example: *.php files are renamed to *.php.txt so that no one can place code that would be read in a .php file.
    • Foswiki can limit the file size. This is defined by the %ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT% preference settings, currently set at 10000 kB.
      ALERT! It is 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 with valid names 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.
      • Before an attachment is shown, the filename is filtered per the above Attachment name rules. If the filtered name is not identical to the actual file name, the file will not be included in the list of attachments
    • To enable this feature, set the {AutoAttachPubFiles} configuration option.
      HELP The automatic attachment feature can only be used by an administrator who has access to the server's file system.
  • Linking to the attached file in the topic:
    • Checking the "Create a link to the attached file" appends a link at the end of the topic. The format can be modified with the %ATTACHEDFILELINKFORMAT% preference setting. Images (files ending in gif, jpg, jpeg or png) are handled by %ATTACHEDIMAGEFORMAT%.
    • The two named preference settings may use the following variables:
      • $filename: the name of the file
      • $fileext: the filename extension (string following the last period, if present) or an empty string.
      • $fileurl: URL encoded version of the filename
      • $comment: the file comment from the upload dialog
      • $size: the filesize (%ATTACHEDIMAGEFORMAT% only)
      • Any standard formatting tokens: $n, $comma, $lt, etc.
      • Any standard time format specifiers: $year, $hours, etc.
      • $name: (deprecated, should no longer be used)

Downloading files

ALERT! 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 [Manage] on 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 web Trash, topic TrashAttachment.

Linking to attached files

  • To reference an attachment located in another topic, enter:
    • %PUBURL%/%WEB%/OtherTopic/Sample.txt (if it's within the same web)
    • %PUBURL%/Otherweb/OtherTopic/Sample.txt (if it's in a different web)

  • Attached HTML files and text files can be inlined in a topic. Example:
    1. [Attach] file: Sample.txt
    2. [Edit] topic and write text: %INCLUDE{"%ATTACHURL%/Sample.txt"}%

  • GIF, JPG and PNG images can be attached and shown embedded in a topic. Example:
    1. [Attach] an image file, for example: Smile.gif
    2. [Edit] topic and write text: %ATTACHURL%/Smile.gif
    3. [Preview]: text appears as /foswiki/pub/System/FileAttachment/Smile.gif, an image.

Securing Attachments

In most installations, attachments are not secured. Anyone can read them if they know the name of the web, topic and attachment.

To secure attachments, you have to control access to the attachments through the viewfile script, which requires a change in your web server configuration. To see how to configure Apache to do this, see https://foswiki.org/Support/ApacheConfigGenerator#Attachments

Examples

Following you will find some examples of screens and tables related to this topic and referenced throughout the previous text. The appearance of these tables might vary, depending on what skin is used on your Foswiki installation.

File attachment table

Files attached to a topic are displayed in a directory table, showing the different file names and attributes. An h means the attachment is hidden and not listed when viewing a topic in normal mode.

The file attachment table is normally displayed at the bottom of the page, or optionally, hidden and accessed when you click [Attach].

Topic attachments
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
txttxt Sample.txt manage 0.1 K 22 Jul 2000 - 19:37 ProjectContributor Just a sample
gifgif Smile.gif manage 0.1 K 22 Jul 2000 - 19:38 ProjectContributor Smiley face

File attachment controls

Clicking on a [Manage] link takes you to a new page that looks a bit like this (depending on what skin is selected).

Here, you have different options:
  • To update an existing file, choose the updated file on your local drive and click [Update file]. The filename of the original attachment will preserved; the filename of the local file you chose will not be used.
  • To change the comment on an attachment, enter a new comment and then click [Change comment and properties only]. 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 Do not show attachment in table checkbox, then click [Change comment and properties only].

Attach new file

Select a new local file to update attachment Sample.txt
Upload up to 10000 KB.

Comment

Describe the file so other people know what it is.

Properties

Images will be displayed, for other attachments a link will be created.

Attachments will not be shown in topic view page.

or Cancel

Back to top


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 one form attached to it at a time.

Typical steps to build an application based on TWiki forms:
  1. Define a form template
  2. Enable the form for a web
  3. Add the form to a template topic
  4. Build an HTML form to create new topics based on that template topic
  5. 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.
  1. Create a new topic with your form name: YourForm, ExpenseReportForm, InfoCategoryForm, RecordReviewForm, whatever you need.
  2. Create a TWiki table, with each column representing one element of an entry field: Name, Type, Size, Values, Tooltip message, and Attributes (see sample below).
  3. For each field, fill in a new line; for the type of field, select from the list.
  4. Save the topic (you can later choose to enable/disable individual forms).

Example:
| *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...  

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 select, checkbox or radio types from other topics:

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...  

    ALERT! Leave the Values field blank.

  • Then in the TopicClassification topic, define the possible values:
    | *Name*            |
    | NoDisclosure      |
    | Public Supported  |
    | Public FAQ        |
    Name
    NoDisclosure
    Public Supported
    Public FAQ

Field values can also be set using the result of expanding other TWiki variables. For example,

%SEARCH{"Office$" scope="topic" web="%USERSWEB%" nonoise="on" type="regex" format="$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. The WEBFORMS variable in WebPreferences is optional and defines a list of possible form templates.
Example:
  • Set WEBFORMS = BugForm, FeatureForm, Books.BookLoanForm
  • With WEBFORMS enabled, 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 in WEBFORMS, or the No form option.
  • You have to list the available form topics explicitly. You cannot use a SEARCH to define WEBFORMS.

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 WebTopicEditTemplate topic 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 formtemplate parameter 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>
             
  • ALERT! Note: You can create a topic in one step, without going through the edit screen. To do that, specify the save script instead of the edit script in the form action. When you specify the save script you have to use the "post" method. Example:
        <form name="newtopic" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{"save"}%/%WEB%/" method="post">
           .....
        </form>
           
  • HELP The edit and save scripts understand many more parameters, see TWikiScripts#edit and TWikiScripts#save for details.

  • ALERT! Note: Initial values will not be set in 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.
  • Type checkbox specifies one or more checkboxes. The Size field specifies how many checkboxes will be displayed on each line. The Value field should be a comma-separated list of item labels.
    • Type checkbox+buttons will add Set and Clear buttons to the basic checkbox type.
  • Type radio is like checkbox except that radio buttons are mutually exclusive; only one can be selected.
  • Type label specifies read-only label text. The Value field should contain the text of the label.
  • Type select specifies a select box. The Value field should contain a comma-separated list of options for the box. The Size field 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 select type:
      • select+multi turns multiselect on for the select, to allow Shift+Click and Ctrl+Click to select (or deselect) multiple items.
      • select+values allows 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 options Two and Three are 2 and III respectively.
        You can combine these modifiers e.g. select+multi+values
  • Type text specifies a one-line text field. Size specifies the text box width in number of characters. Value is the initial (default) content when a new topic is created with this form template.
  • Type textarea specifies a multi-line text box. The Size field should specify columns x rows, e.g. 80x6; default size is 40x5. As for text, the Value field specifies the initial text
  • Type date specifies 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. Size specifies the text box width in characters. As for text, the Value field 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 H indicates that this field should not be shown in view mode. However, the field is available for editing and storing information.
  • An attribute M indicates 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 an oops page. Mandatory fields are indicated by an asterisks next to the field name.

For example, a simple form just supporting entry of a name and a date would look as follows:
| *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 Manufacturers is equivalent to AeroplaneManufacturers.
  • If a label field 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, checkbox or radio field, 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.
Field Value Notes:
  • 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, and textarea fields the value may also contain commas. checkbox fields 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 the form definition is loaded.
    • If you want to use a | character in the initial values field, you have to precede it with a backslash, thus: \|.
    • You can use <nop> to prevent TWiki variables from being expanded.
    • The FormatTokens can be used to prevent expansion of other characters.
General Notes:
  • 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 Values column 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 +multi anywhere in the name
Types with names like this can both take multiple values.

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 SubmitExpenseReport topic where you can create new expense reports, a SubmitVacationRequest topic, and so on. These can specify the required template topic with its associated form. Template topics has more.
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.

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.

Example
TWiki users often want to have an overview of topics they contributed to. With the $formfield parameter it is easy to display the value of a classification field next to the topic link:
| *Topic* | *Classification* |
%SEARCH{"%USERSWEB%.UserName" scope="text" nosearch="on" nototal="on" order="modified" reverse="on"
format="|<b>[[$web.$topic][$topic]]</b> |<nop>$formfield(TopicClassification) |" web="Sandbox"}%

Searching 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.

Gotcha!

  • Some browsers may strip linefeeds from text fields when a topic is saved. If you need linefeeds in a field, make sure it is a textarea.

Back to top


TWiki Templates

Definition of the templates used to render all HTML pages displayed in TWiki

Overview

Templates are plain text with embedded template directives that tell TWiki how to compose blocks of text together, to create something new.

There are two types of template:
  • Master Templates: Define the HTML used to display TWiki pages.
  • Template Topics: Define default text when you create a new topic

TIP Tip: TWiki:TWiki.TWikiTemplatesSupplement on TWiki.org has supplemental documentation on TWiki templates.

Master Templates

TWiki uses master 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.

Master templates are also used in the definition of TWikiSkins.

Master templates are stored as text files with the extension .tmpl. They are usually HTML with embedded template directives. The directives are expanded when TWiki wants to generate a user interface screen.

How Template Directives Work

  • 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.tmpl master template, like twiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer.
  • HELP Use of template directives is optional: templates work without them.
  • ALERT! NOTE: Template directives work only for templates: they do not get processed in normal topic text.

TMPL:P also supports simple parameters. For example, given the definition %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

The master templates shipped with a twiki release are stored in the twiki/templates directory. As an example, twiki/templates/view.tmpl is the default template file for the twiki/bin/view script.

You can save templates in other directories as long as they are listed in the {TemplatePath} configuration setting. The {TemplatePath} is defined in the Miscellaneous section of the configure page.

You can also save templates in user topics (IF there is no possible template match in the templates directory). The {TemplatePath} configuration setting defines which topics will be accepted as templates.

Templates that are included with an explicit '.tmpl' extension are looked for only in the templates/ directory. For instance %TMPL:INCLUDE{"example.tmpl"}% will only return templates/example.tmpl, regardless of {TemplatePath} and SKIN settings.

The out-of-the-box setting of {TemplatePath} supports the following search order to determine which template file or topic to use for a particular script or %TMPL:INCLUDE{"script"}% statement. The skin path is set as described in TWikiSkins.

  1. templates/web/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
    • ALERT! this usage is supported for compatibility only and is deprecated. Store web-specific templates in TWiki topics instead.
  2. templates/script.skin.tmpl for each skin on the skin path
  3. templates/web/script.tmpl
    • ALERT! this usage is supported for compatibility only and is deprecated. Store web-specific templates in TWiki topics instead.
  4. templates/script.tmpl
  5. The TWiki topic aweb.atopic if the template name can be parsed into aweb.atopic
  6. The TWiki topic web.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
  7. The TWiki topic web.ScriptTemplate
  8. The TWiki topic %SYSTEMWEB%.SkinSkinScriptTemplate for each skin on the skin path
  9. The TWiki topic %SYSTEMWEB%.ScriptTemplate
Legend:
  • 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

For example, the example template file will be searched for in the following places, when the current web is Thisweb and the skin path is print,pattern:

  1. templates/Thisweb/example.print.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
  2. templates/Thisweb/example.pattern.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
  3. templates/example.print.tmpl
  4. templates/example.pattern.tmpl
  5. templates/Thisweb/example.tmpl deprecated; don't rely on it
  6. templates/example.tmpl
  7. Thisweb.PrintSkinExampleTemplate
  8. Thisweb.PatternSkinExampleTemplate
  9. Thisweb.ExampleTemplate
  10. System.PrintSkinExampleTemplate
  11. System.PatternSkinExampleTemplate
  12. System.ExampleTemplate

Template names are usually derived from the name of the currently executing script; however it is also possible to override these settings in the view and edit scripts, for example when a topic-specific template is required. Two preference variables can be used to override the templates used:
  • VIEW_TEMPLATE sets the template to be used for viewing a topic
  • EDIT_TEMPLATE sets the template for editing a topic.
If these preferences are set locally (using Local instead of Set) for a topic, in WebPreferences, in Main.SitePreferences, or System.TWikiPreferences (using Set), the indicated templates will be chosen for view and edit respectively. The template search order is as specified above.

TIP Tip: If you want to override existing templates, without having to worry that your changes will get overwritten by the next TWiki update, change the {TemplatePath} so that another directory, such as the %USERSWEB% appears at the front. You can then put your own templates into that directory or web and these will override the standard templates. (Note that such will increase the lookup time for templates by searching your directory first.)

TMPL:INCLUDE recursion for piecewise customisation, or mixing in new features

If there is recursion 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

The default {TemplatePath} will not give you the desired result if you put these statements in the topic Thisweb.YourlocalSkinViewTemplate. The default {TemplatePath} will resolve the request to the template/view.pattern.tmpl, before it gets to the Thisweb.YourlocalSkinViewTemplate resolution. You can make it work by prefixing the {TemplatePath} with: $web.YourlocalSkin$nameTemplate.

Default master template

twiki.tmpl is the default master template. It defines the following sections.

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

Template Topics

The second type of template in TWiki are template topics. Template topics define the default text for new topics. There are four types of template topic:

Topic Name: What it is:
WebTopicViewTemplate Alert page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic. This page is usually used as a prompt to help you create a new topic.
WebTopicNonWikiTemplate Alert page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic with a non-WikiName. Again, this page is used as a prompt to help you create the new topic.
WebTopicEditTemplate Default text used in a new topic.
<MyCustomNamed>Template Whenever you create a topic ending in the word "Template", it is automatically added to the list of available templates in the "Use Template" drop down field on the WebCreateNewTopic page.

When you create a new topic using the edit script, TWiki locates a topic to use as a content template according to the following search order:
  1. A topic name specified by the templatetopic CGI parameter
    • if no web is specified, the current web is searched first and then the System web
  2. WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web
  3. WebTopicEditTemplate in the System web

Variable Expansion

TWikiVariables located in template topics get expanded as follows when a new topic is created.

1. Default variable expansion

The following variables used in a template topic automatically get expanded when new topic is created based on it:

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. See VarURLPARAM.
%WIKINAME% WikiName of user who is instantiating the new topic, e.g. WikiGuest
%WIKIUSERNAME% User name of user who is instantiating the new tpoic, e.g. Main.WikiGuest

2. Preventing variable expansion

In a template topic, embed text that you do not want expanded inside a %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% ... %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% section. For example, you might want to write this in the template topic:
%STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
This template can only be changed by:
   * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.TWikiAdminGroup
%ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
This will restrict who can edit the template topic, but will be 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. For example, escape %SERVERTIME% with %SER%NOP%VERTIME%.

3. Control over variable expansion

You can forcefully expand TWikiVariables by placing them inside a type="expandvariables" section in the template topic, such as:
 ...  

Example:

If you have the following content in a template topic:

   * %SYSTEMWEB%.ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
   * %SYSTEMWEB%.WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
   * %SYSTEMWEB%.TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation
   * Sandbox.%HOMETOPIC% - try out TWiki on your own
   * Sandbox.%TOPIC%Sandbox - just for me

you will get this raw text in new topics based on that template topic:

   * System.ATasteOfTWiki - view a short introductory presentation on TWiki for beginners
   * System.WelcomeGuest - starting points on TWiki
   * System.TWikiUsersGuide - complete TWiki documentation
   * Sandbox.WebHome - try out TWiki on your own
   * Sandbox.JimmyNeutronSandbox - just for me

Specifying a Form

When you create a new topic based on a template, you often want the new topic to have a form attached to it. You can attach a form to the template topic, in which case it will be copied into the new topic.

Sometimes this isn't quite what you want, as it copies all the existing data from the template topic into the new topic. To avoid this and use the default values specified in the form definition instead, you can use the formtemplate CGI parameter to the edit script to specify the name of a form to attach.

See TWikiScripts for information about all the other parameters to edit.

Automatically Generated Topic Names

For TWiki applications it is useful to be able to automatically generate unique topicnames, such as BugID0001, BugID0002, etc. You can add AUTOINC<n> to the topic name in the edit and save scripts, and it will be 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 names Bug0, Bug1, Bug2, ... (does not sort properly)
  • ItemAUTOINC0000 - creates topic names Item0000, Item0001, Item0002, ... (sorts properly up to 9999)
  • DocIDAUTOINC10001 - start with DocID10001, DocID10002, ... (sorts properly up to 99999; auto-links)

Example link to create a new topic:
[[%SCRIPTURLPATH{edit}%/%WEB%/BugIDAUTOINC00001?templatetopic=BugTemplate;topicparent=%TOPIC%;t=%SERVERTIME{"$day$hour$min$sec"}%][Create new item]]

Template Topics in Action

Here is an example for creating new topics (in the Sandbox web) based on a specific template topic and form:

  • New example topic:  

The above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag named templatetopic specifies ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic to use. Here is the HTML source of the form:

<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{edit}%/Sandbox/">
   * New example topic: 
     <input type="text" name="topic" value="ExampleTopicAUTOINC0001" size="30" />
     <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" />
</form>

ALERT! Note: You can create a topic in one step, without going through the edit screen. To do that, specify the save script instead of the edit script in the form action. When you specify the save script you have to use the "post" method. Example:
<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{save}%/Sandbox/" method="post">
    ...
</form>

HELP The edit and save scripts understand many more parameters, see TWikiScripts#edit and TWikiScripts#save for details.

TIP 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%

Using Absolute vs Relative URLs in Templates

When you use TWikiVariables such as %PUBURL% and %PUBURLPATH% in templates you should be aware that using %PUBURL% instead of %PUBURLPATH% puts absolute URLs in the produced HTML. This means that when a user saves a TWiki page in HTML and emails the file to someone outside a company firewall, the receiver has a severe problem viewing it. It is therefore recommended always to use the %PUBURLPATH% to refer to images, CSS, Javascript files etc so links become relative. This way browsers just give up right away and show a usable html file.

Related Topics: TWikiSkins, TWikiForms, TWikiScripts, DeveloperDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory

Back to top


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 very basic, CSS-themable, 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:

See other types of extensions: TWikiAddOns, TWikiContribs, TWikiPlugins

Changing the default TWiki skin

TWiki default ships with the skin PatternSkin activated. You can set the skin for the whole site, a single web or topic, or for each user individually, by setting the SKIN variable to the name of a skin. If the skin you select doesn't exist, then TWiki will pick up the default templates.

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. There are a couple of places you an start doing this.

The TWikiTemplates files used for skins are located in the twiki/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.

If you use PatternSkin as your starting point, and 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.

For your own TWiki skin you are encouraged to show a small 80x31 pixel This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform logo at the bottom of your skin:

<a href="http://twiki.org/"><img src="%PUBURL%/%SYSTEMWEB%/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.

ALERT! 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 the changes script
  • 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 the search CGI script
  • settings
  • view - used by the view CGI 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.

ALERT! Note: Make sure templates do not end with a newline. Any newline will expand to an empty <p /> in the generated html. It will produce invalid html, and may break the page layout.

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 Jump 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 - WikiGuest
%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 SitePreferences

The Jump Box and Navigation Box

The default skins include a Jump Box, to jump to a topic.

The box also understands URLs, e.g. you can type http://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 Jump Box for illustration purposes. You need to have JavaScript enabled for this to work:

Bare bones header, for demo only
Navigate:
Jump:

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 template styles.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%/%SYSTEMWEB%/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 the attachtables.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

The format of tables of file versions in the Upload screen can also be changed, using the macros:
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

The ATTACH:row macros are expanded for each file in the attachment table, using the following special tags:
Tag Description
%A_URL% viewfile 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. To get the 'pub' url of the file, use %PUBURL%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%/%A_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/SkinDeveloperFAQ

Browsing 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 called view.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

You can also add a parameter to the URL, such as ?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

This pushes a different skin to the front of the skin search path (so for our example above, that final skin path will be 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

The text 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

Back to top


TWiki Meta Data

Additional topic data, program-generated or from TWikiForms, is stored embedded in the topic text using META: tags

Overview

By default, TWiki stores topics in files on disk, in a really simple and obvious directory structure. The big advantage of this approach is that it makes it really easy to manipulate topics from outside TWiki, and is also very safe; there are no complex binary indexes to maintain, and moving a topic from one TWiki to another is as simple as copying a couple of text files.

To keep eveything together in one place, TWiki uses a simple method for embedding additional data (program-generated or from TWikiForms) in topics. It does this using META: tags.

META: data includes program-generated info like FileAttachment and topic movement data, and user-defined TWikiForms info.

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.

  • Values in meta-data are URL encoded so that characters such as \n can be stored.

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

Notes:
  • 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 red-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

Extra fields that are added if an attachment is moved:

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

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 diff function output appears in a logical order

The recommended sequence is:

  • 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 the Raw 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 the view, 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 " > ".

Note: SEARCH can also be used to render meta data, see examples in FormattedSearch and SearchPatternCookbook.

Related Topics: DeveloperDocumentationCategory, UserDocumentationCategory

Back to top


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 of 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:

See other types of extensions: TWikiContribs, TWikiPlugins, TWikiSkins

Add-Ons Installed on this TWiki

Number of topics: 1

Installing Add-Ons

Creating new Add-Ons

Back to top


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:

See other types of extensions: TWikiAddOns, TWikiPlugins, TWikiSkins

TWiki Contribs Installed on this TWiki

Number of topics: 14

Installing Contribs

Creating new Contribs

Back to top


TWiki Plugins

Add functionality to TWiki with readily available plugins; create plugins based on APIs

Overview

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.

Everything to do with TWiki plugins - demos, new releases, downloads, development, general discussion - is available at TWiki.org, in the TWiki:Plugins web.

TWiki plugins are developed and contributed by interested members of the community. Plugins are provided on an 'as is' basis; they are not a part of TWiki, but are independently developed and maintained.

Relevant links on TWiki.org:

See other types of extensions: TWikiAddOns, TWikiContribs, TWikiSkins

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 satisfied 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 Apache ab utility. Example on Unix:
time wget -qO /dev/null /foswiki/bin/view/System/AbcPlugin

TIP 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 spreadsheet CALCs. This can be done with {PluginsOrder} in the plugins section of configure.

Plugin-Specific Settings

Some plugins are configured with plugin preferences variables, newer plugins with configure variables.

Configure variables are accessible though the configure interface.

Plugin preferences variables are defined in the plugin topic and can be overloaded. The SHORTDESCRIPTION preferences variable is always present, it is needed for the TWiki:Plugins repository on twiki.org. Example preferences variable defined in the TablePlugin topic:

  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns

Preferences variables of active plugins can be retrieved anywhere in TWiki with %<pluginname>_<var>%, such as %TABLEPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%. They can also be redefined with the %<pluginname>_<var>% setting at a lower level in the Main.SitePreferences or at the web level. For an easier upgrade it is recommended to customize plugin preferences variables in Main.SitePreferences only.

Listing Active Plugins

Plugin status variables let you list all active plugins wherever needed.

This site is running TWiki version v2.1.6, plugin API version 2.4

%ACTIVATEDPLUGINS%

On this TWiki site, the enabled plugins are: SpreadSheetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, AutoViewTemplatePlugin, CommentPlugin, CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin, ConfigurePlugin, EditRowPlugin, HistoryPlugin, HomePagePlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, MailerContribPlugin, NatEditPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, SubscribePlugin, TablePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, UpdatesPlugin, WysiwygPlugin.

%PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%

  • SpreadSheetPlugin (19 Jul 2018, 1.24): Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM($ABOVE())" to Foswiki tables and other topic text
  • SlideShowPlugin (09 Mar 2021, 2.40): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings
  • AutoViewTemplatePlugin (2016-04-08, 1.24): Automatically sets VIEW_TEMPLATE and EDIT_TEMPLATE
  • CommentPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.95): Quickly post comments to a page without an edit/save cycle
  • CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.114):
  • ConfigurePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.12): configure interface using json-rpc
  • EditRowPlugin (12 Jan 2024, 3.402): Inline edit for tables
  • HistoryPlugin (16 Nov 2020, 1.20): Shows a complete history of a topic
  • HomePagePlugin (1.23, 1.23): Allow User specified home pages - on login
  • InterwikiPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 1.27): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic
  • JQueryPlugin (25 Apr 2023, 10.51): jQuery JavaScript library for Foswiki
  • MailerContribPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.84): Supports e-mail notification of changes
  • NatEditPlugin (11 Jul 2023, 9.63): A Wikiwyg Editor
  • PreferencesPlugin (1.16, 1.16): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
  • RenderListPlugin (06 Aug 2023, 2.29): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
  • SmiliesPlugin (17 Sep 2015, 2.03): Render smilies like smile as icons
  • SubscribePlugin (06 Aug 2023, 3.7): This is a companion plugin to the MailerContrib. It allows you to trivially add a "Subscribe me" link to topics to get subscribed to changes.
  • TablePlugin (22 Jan 2018, 1.160): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
  • TinyMCEPlugin (11 Feb 2019, 1.32): Integration of the Tiny MCE WYSIWYG Editor
  • TwistyPlugin (29 Jun 2023, 3.00): Twisty section Javascript library to open/close content dynamically
  • UpdatesPlugin (12 Nov 2019, 2.00): Checks Foswiki.org for updates
  • WysiwygPlugin (13 Jun 2018, 1.38): Translator framework for WYSIWYG editors

%FAILEDPLUGINS%

PluginErrors
SpreadSheetPlugin
none
SlideShowPlugin
none
AutoViewTemplatePlugin
none
CommentPlugin
none
CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin
none
ConfigurePlugin
none
EditRowPlugin
none
HistoryPlugin
none
HomePagePlugin
none
InterwikiPlugin
none
JQueryPlugin
none
MailerContribPlugin
none
NatEditPlugin
none
PreferencesPlugin
none
RenderListPlugin
none
SmiliesPlugin
none
SubscribePlugin
none
TablePlugin
none
TinyMCEPlugin
none
TwistyPlugin
none
UpdatesPlugin
none
WysiwygPlugin
none
HandlerPlugins
afterCommonTagsHandlerTablePlugin
afterEditHandlerWysiwygPlugin
beforeCommonTagsHandlerPreferencesPlugin
WysiwygPlugin
beforeEditHandlerNatEditPlugin
TinyMCEPlugin
WysiwygPlugin
beforeMergeHandlerWysiwygPlugin
beforeSaveHandlerWysiwygPlugin
commonTagsHandlerSpreadSheetPlugin
SlideShowPlugin
CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin
EditRowPlugin
finishPluginJQueryPlugin
UpdatesPlugin
initPluginSpreadSheetPlugin
SlideShowPlugin
AutoViewTemplatePlugin
CommentPlugin
CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin
ConfigurePlugin
EditRowPlugin
HistoryPlugin
HomePagePlugin
InterwikiPlugin
JQueryPlugin
MailerContribPlugin
NatEditPlugin
PreferencesPlugin
RenderListPlugin
SmiliesPlugin
SubscribePlugin
TablePlugin
TinyMCEPlugin
TwistyPlugin
UpdatesPlugin
WysiwygPlugin
initializeUserHandlerHomePagePlugin
modifyHeaderHandlerWysiwygPlugin
postRenderingHandlerEditRowPlugin
PreferencesPlugin
WysiwygPlugin
preRenderingHandlerInterwikiPlugin
RenderListPlugin
SmiliesPlugin
TablePlugin
22 plugins

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.

ALERT! 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 the lib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm module.

  • All but the initPlugin are disabled. To enable a callback, remove DISABLE_ from the function name.

TWiki:Codev/StepByStepRenderingOrder helps you decide which rendering handler to use.

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 eval block like this:
      eval { require IPC::Run }
      return "<font color=\"red\">SamplePlugin: Can't load required modules ($@)</font>" if $@;
  • Keep the main plugin package as small as possible; create other packages that are loaded if and only if they are used. For example, create sub-packages of BathPlugin in lib/TWiki/Plugins/BathPlugin/.
  • Avoid using preferences in the plugin topic; set $NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC if you possibly can, as that will stop TWiki from reading the plugin topic for every page. Use Config.spec instead.
  • Use registered tag handlers
  • Measure the performance to see the difference

Version Detection

To eliminate the incompatibility problems that are bound to arise from active open plugin development, a plugin versioning system is provided for automatic compatibility checking.

  • All plugin packages require a $VERSION variable. This should be an integer, or a subversion version id.

  • The initPlugin handler should check all dependencies and return 1 if the initialization is OK or 0 if something went wrong.
    • The plugin initialization code does not register a plugin that returns 0 (or that has no initPlugin handler).

  • $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION in the TWiki::Plugins module contains the TWiki plugin API version, currently 2.4.
    • You can also use the %PLUGINVERSION{}% variable to query the plugin API version or the version of installed plugins.

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::cfg hash than adding it as preferences in the plugin topic.
  • 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 provides the programming interface for TWiki.

Anatomy of a Plugin

A (very) basic TWiki plugin consists of two files:

  • a Perl module, e.g. MyFirstPlugin.pm
  • a documentation topic, e.g. MyFirstPlugin.txt

The Perl module can be a block of code that talks to with TWiki alone, or it can include other elements, like other Perl modules (including other plugins), graphics, TWiki templates, external applications (ex: a Java applet), or just about anything else it can call. In particular, files that should be web-accessible (graphics, Java applets ...) are best placed as attachments of the 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.

The TWiki:Plugins.BuildContrib module provides a lot of support for plugins development, including a plugin creator, automatic publishing support, and automatic installation script writer. If you plan on writing more than one plugin, you probably need it.

Creating the Perl Module

Copy file lib/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();

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:

  1. 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 System web
    • In the JumpBox enter your plugin name, for example MyFirstPlugin, press enter and create the new topic
    • paste & save new plugin topic on your site
  2. 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/WikiGuest. This is important because links should work properly in a plugin topic installed on any TWiki, not just on TWiki.org.
  3. Document the performance data you gathered while measuring the performance
  4. 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.>"

  • 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>

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.>"

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 in Plugin, ex: MyFirstPlugin.pm, and a documentation page with the same name(MyFirstPlugin.txt).

  1. 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]
  2. 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

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.

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:
  1. 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
  2. Attach the distribution zip file to the topic, ex: MyFirstPlugin.zip
  3. 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.)
  4. Put the plugin into the SVN repository, see TWiki:Plugins/ReadmeFirst (optional)

NEW 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 smile

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 the TWiki::Func::getWorkArea() function, which gives you a persistent 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 the TWiki::Func::saveAttachment() function to store the data.

Recommendation for file name:
  • Prefix the filename with an underscore (the leading underscore avoids a name clash 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: _GaugePlugin_img123.gif

Web specific data can be stored in the plugin's attachment area, which is web accessible. Use the 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

Integrating with configure

Some TWiki extensions have setup requirements that are best integrated into configure rather than trying to use TWiki preferences variables. These extensions use Config.spec files to publish their configuration requirements.

Config.spec files are read during TWiki configuration. Once a Config.spec has defined a configuration item, it is available for edit through the standard configure interface. Config.spec files are stored in the 'plugin directory' e.g. lib/TWiki/Plugins/BathPlugin/Config.spec.

Structure of a Config.spec file

The Config.spec file for an extension starts with the extension announcing what it is:
# ---+ BathPlugin
# This plugin senses the level of water in your bath, and ensures the plug
# is not removed while the water is still warm.
This is followed by one or more configuration items. Each configuration item has a type, a description and a default. For example:
# **SELECT Plastic,Rubber,Metal**
# Select the plug type
$TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{PlugType} = 'Plastic';

# **NUMBER**
# Enter the chain length in cm
$TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{ChainLength} = 30;

# **BOOLEAN EXPERT**
# Set this option to 0 to disable the water temperature alarm
$TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{TempSensorEnabled} = 1;
The type (e.g. **SELECT** ) tells configure to how to prompt for the value. It also tells configure how to do some basic checking on the value you actually enter. All the comments between the type and the configuration item are taken as part of the description. The configuration item itself defines the default value for the configuration item. The above spec defines the configuration items $TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{PlugType}, $TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{ChainLength}, and $TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{TempSensorEnabled} for use in your plugin. For example,
if( $TWiki::cfg{BathPlugin}{TempSensorEnabled} && $curTemperature > 50 ) {
    die "The bathwater is too hot for comfort";
}

The config.spec file is read by configure, which then writes LocalSite.cfg with the values chosen by the local site admin.

A range of types are available for use in Config.spec files:

BOOLEAN A true/false value, represented as a checkbox
COMMAND length A shell command
LANGUAGE A language (selected from {LocalesDir}
NUMBER A number
OCTAL An octal number
PASSWORD length A password (input is hidden)
PATH length A file path
PERL A perl structure, consisting of arrays and hashes
REGEX length A perl regular expression
SELECT choices Pick one of a range of choices
SELECTCLASS root Select a perl package (class)
STRING length A string
URL length A url
URLPATH length A relative URL path

All types can be followed by a comma-separated list of attributes.
EXPERT means this an expert option
M means the setting is mandatory (may not be empty)
H means the option is not visible in configure

See lib/TWiki.spec for many more examples.

Config.spec files for non-plugin extensions are stored under the Contrib directory instead of the Plugins directory.

Note that from TWiki 5.0 onwards, CGI scripts (in the TWiki bin directory) provided by extensions must also have an entry in the Config.spec file. This entry looks like this (example taken from PublishContrib)

# **PERL H**
# Bin script registration - do not modify
$TWiki::cfg{SwitchBoard}{publish} = [ "TWiki::Contrib::Publish", "publish", { publishing => 1 } ];
PERL specifies a perl data structure, and H a hidden setting (it won't appear in configure). The first field of the data value specifies the class where the function that implements the script can be found. The second field specifies the name of the function, which must be the same as the name of the script. The third parameter is a hash of initial context settings for the script.

TWiki:TWiki/SpecifyingConfigurationItemsForExtensions has supplemental documentation on configure settings.

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 in Dev, 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 plugin handlers) evolve over time. TWiki introduces new API functions to address the needs of plugin authors. Plugins using unofficial TWiki internal functions may no longer work on a TWiki upgrade.

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 fulfilled if plugins are maintained in a compatible manner.

TIP 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. Here is an example; the TWiki:TWiki.TWikiPluginsSupplement#MaintainPlugins has more details.

    if( $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION >= 1.1 ) {
        @webs = TWiki::Func::getListOfWebs( 'user,public' );
    } else {
        @webs = TWiki::Func::getPublicWebList( );
    }

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 the TWiki::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.

Back to top


Official list of stable TWiki functions for Plugin developers

This module defines official functions that TWiki 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 2.4. This can be shown by the %PLUGINVERSION% TWiki variable, and accessed in code using $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION. The 'Since' field in the function documentation refers to $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION.

Notes on use of $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION (from 1.2 forwards):
  • If the major version (e.g. 1.) is the same then any plugin coded to use any earlier revision of the 1. API will still work. No function has been removed from the interface, nor has any API published in that version changed in such a way as to require plugins to be recoded.
  • If the minor version (e.g. 1.1) is incremented there may be changes in the API that may help improve the coding of some plugins - for example, new interfaces giving access to previously hidden core functions. In addition, deprecation of functions in the interface trigger a minor version increment. Note that deprecated functions are not removed, they are merely frozen, and plugin authors are recommended to stop using them.
  • Any additional digits in the version number relate to minor changes, such as the addition of parameters to the existing functions, or addition of utility functions that are unlikely to require significant changes to existing plugins.
  • TWiki::Plugins::VERSION also applies to the plugin handlers. The handlers are documented in the EmptyPlugin, and that module indicates what version of TWiki::Plugins::VERSION it relates to.
A full history of the changes to this API can be found at the end of this topic.

Environment

getSkin( ) -> $skin

Get the skin path, set by the SKIN 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

Return: $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'
Return: $url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/view.pl/Main/WebNotify"

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

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)

getExternalResource( $url ) -> $response

Get whatever is at the other end of a URL (using an HTTP GET request). Will only work for encrypted protocols such as https if the LWP CPAN module is installed.

Note that the $url may have an optional user and password, as specified by the relevant RFC. Any proxy set in configure is honoured.

The $response is an object that is known to implement the following subset of the methods of LWP::Response. It may in fact be an LWP::Response object, but it may also not be if LWP is not available, so callers may only assume the following subset of methods is available:
code()
message()
header($field)
content()
is_error()
is_redirect()

Note that if LWP is not available, this function:
  1. can only really be trusted for HTTP/1.0 urls. If HTTP/1.1 or another protocol is required, you are strongly recommended to require LWP.
  2. Will not parse multipart content

In the event of the server returning an error, then is_error() will return true, code() will return a valid HTTP status code as specified in RFC 2616 and RFC 2518, and message() will return the message that was received from the server. In the event of a client-side error (e.g. an unparseable URL) then is_error() will return true and message() will return an explanatory message. code() will return 400 (BAD REQUEST).

Note: Callers can easily check the availability of other HTTP::Response methods as follows:

my $response = TWiki::Func::getExternalResource($url);
if (!$response->is_error() && $response->isa('HTTP::Response')) {
    ... other methods of HTTP::Response may be called
} else {
    ... only the methods listed above may be called
}

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

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)

getSessionKeys() -> @keys

Get a list of all the names of session variables. The list is unsorted.

Session keys are stored and retrieved using setSessionValue and getSessionValue.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

getSessionValue( $key ) -> $value

Get a session value from the client session module
  • $key - Session key
Return: $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
Return: true if function succeeded

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (17 Aug 2001)

clearSessionValue( $key ) -> $boolean

Clear a session value that was set using setSessionValue.
  • $key - name of value stored in session to be cleared. Note that you cannot clear AUTHUSER.
Return: true if the session value was cleared

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

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 IfStatements 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

pushTopicContext($web, $topic)

  • $web - new web
  • $topic - new topic
Change the TWiki context so it behaves as if it was processing $web.$topic from now on. All the preferences will be reset to those of the new topic. Note that if the new topic is not readable by the logged in user due to access control considerations, there will not be an exception. It is the duty of the caller to check access permissions before changing the topic.

It is the duty of the caller to restore the original context by calling popTopicContext.

Note that this call does not re-initialise plugins, so if you have used global variables to remember the web and topic in initPlugin, then those values will be unchanged.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

popTopicContext()

Returns the TWiki context to the state it was in before the pushTopicContext was called.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

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
Return: $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" );

  • Example for preferences setting:
    • WebPreferences topic has: * Set WEBBGCOLOR = #FFFFC0
    • my $webColor = TWiki::Func::getPreferencesValue( 'WEBBGCOLOR', 'Sandbox' );

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.

getPluginPreferencesValue( $key ) -> $value

Get a preferences value from your Plugin
  • $key - Plugin Preferences key w/o PLUGINNAME_ prefix.
Return: $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
Return: $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" );

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.

getPluginPreferencesFlag( $key ) -> $boolean

Get a preferences flag from your Plugin
  • $key - Plugin Preferences key w/o PLUGINNAME_ prefix.
Return: false for preferences values "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.

setPreferencesValue($name, $val)

Set the preferences value so that future calls to getPreferencesValue will return this value, and %$name% will expand to the preference when used in future variable expansions.

The preference only persists for the rest of this request. Finalised preferences cannot be redefined using this function.

Returns 1 if the preference was defined, and 0 otherwise.

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 as DefaultUserLogin

Return: $loginName Default user name, e.g. 'guest'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

getCanonicalUserID( $user ) -> $cUID

  • $user can be a login, wikiname or web.wikiname
Return the cUID of the specified user. A cUID is a unique identifier which is assigned by TWiki for each user. BEWARE: While the default TWikiUserMapping uses a cUID that looks like a user's LoginName, some characters are modified to make them compatible with rcs. Other usermappings may use other conventions - the JoomlaUserMapping for example, has cUIDs like 'JoomlaeUserMapping_1234'.

If $user is undefined, it assumes the currently logged-in user.

Return: $cUID, an internal unique and portable escaped identifier for registered users. This may be autogenerated for an authenticated but unregistered user.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

getWikiName( $user ) -> $wikiName

return the WikiName of the specified user if $user is undefined Get Wiki name of logged in user

  • $user can be a cUID, login, wikiname or web.wikiname

Return: $wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. 'JohnDoe'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

getWikiUserName( $user ) -> $wikiName

return the userWeb.WikiName of the specified user if $user is undefined Get Wiki name of logged in user

  • $user can be a cUID, login, wikiname or web.wikiname

Return: $wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. "Main.JohnDoe"

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

wikiToUserName( $id ) -> $loginName

Translate a Wiki name to a login name.
  • $id - Wiki name, e.g. 'Main.JohnDoe' or 'JohnDoe'. Since TWiki 4.2.1, $id may also be a login name. This will normally be transparent, but should be borne in mind if you have login names that are also legal wiki names.

Return: $loginName Login name of user, e.g. 'jdoe', or undef if not matched.

Note that it is possible for several login names to map to the same wikiname. This function will only return the first login name that maps to the wikiname.

returns undef if the WikiName is not found.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

userToWikiName( $loginName, $dontAddWeb ) -> $wikiName

Translate a login name to a Wiki name
  • $loginName - Login name, e.g. 'jdoe'. Since TWiki 4.2.1 this may also be a wiki name. This will normally be transparent, but may be relevant if you have login names that are also valid wiki names.
  • $dontAddWeb - Do not add web prefix if "1"
Return: $wikiName Wiki name of user, e.g. 'Main.JohnDoe' or 'JohnDoe'

userToWikiName will always return a name. If the user does not exist in the mapping, the $loginName parameter is returned. (backward compatibility)

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

emailToWikiNames( $email, $dontAddWeb ) -> @wikiNames

  • $email - email address to look up
  • $dontAddWeb - Do not add web prefix if "1"
Find the wikinames of all users who have the given email address as their registered address. Since several users could register with the same email address, this returns a list of wikinames rather than a single wikiname.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

wikinameToEmails( $user ) -> @emails

  • $user - wikiname of user to look up
Returns the registered email addresses of the named user. If $user is undef, returns the registered email addresses for the logged-in user.

Since TWiki 4.2.1, $user may also be a login name, or the name of a group.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

isGuest( ) -> $boolean

Test if logged in user is a guest (TWikiGuest)

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

isAnAdmin( $id ) -> $boolean

Find out if the user is an admin or not. If the user is not given, the currently logged-in user is assumed.
  • $id can be either a login name or a WikiName

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

isGroupMember( $group, $id ) -> $boolean

Find out if $id is in the named group. e.g.
if( TWiki::Func::isGroupMember( "HesperionXXGroup", "jordi" )) {
    ...
}
If $user is undef, it defaults to the currently logged-in user.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

eachUser() -> $iterator

Get an iterator over the list of all the registered users not including groups. The iterator will return each wiki name in turn (e.g. 'FredBloggs').

Use it as follows:
    my $iterator = TWiki::Func::eachUser();
    while ($it->hasNext()) {
        my $user = $it->next();
        # $user is a wikiname
    }

WARNING on large sites, this could be a long list!

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

eachMembership($id) -> $iterator

  • $id - WikiName or login name of the user. If $id is undef, defaults to the currently logged-in user.
Get an iterator over the names of all groups that the user is a member of.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

eachGroup() -> $iterator

Get an iterator over all groups.

Use it as follows:
    my $iterator = TWiki::Func::eachGroup();
    while ($it->hasNext()) {
        my $group = $it->next();
        # $group is a group name e.g. TWikiAdminGroup
    }

WARNING on large sites, this could be a long list!

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

isGroup( $group ) -> $boolean

Checks if $group is the name of a group known to TWiki.

eachGroupMember($group) -> $iterator

Get an iterator over all the members of the named group. Returns undef if $group is not a valid group.

Use it as follows:
    my $iterator = TWiki::Func::eachGroupMember('RadioheadGroup');
    while ($it->hasNext()) {
        my $user = $it->next();
        # $user is a wiki name e.g. 'TomYorke', 'PhilSelway'
    }

WARNING on large sites, this could be a long list!

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

checkAccessPermission( $type, $id, $text, $topic, $web, $meta ) -> $boolean

Check access permission for a topic based on the System.TWikiAccessControl rules
  • $type - Access type, required, e.g. 'VIEW', 'CHANGE'.
  • $id - WikiName of remote user, required, e.g. "PeterThoeny". From TWiki 4.2.1, $id may also be a login name. If $id is '', 0 or undef then access is always permitted.
  • $text - Topic text, optional. If 'perl false' (undef, 0 or ''), topic $web.$topic is consulted. $text may optionally contain embedded %META:PREFERENCE tags. Provide this parameter if:
    1. You are setting different access controls in the text to those defined in the stored topic,
    2. You already have the topic text in hand, and want to help TWiki avoid having to read it again,
    3. You are providing a $meta parameter.
  • $topic - Topic name, required, e.g. 'PrivateStuff'
  • $web - Web name, required, e.g. 'Sandbox'
  • $meta - Meta-data object, as returned by readTopic. Optional. If undef, but $text is defined, then access controls will be parsed from $text. If defined, then metadata embedded in $text will be ignored. This parameter is always ignored if $text is undefined. Settings in $meta override Set settings in $text.
A perl true result indicates that access is permitted.

Note the weird parameter order is due to compatibility constraints with earlier TWiki releases.

Tip if you want, you can use this method to check your own access control types. For example, if you: in ThatWeb.ThisTopic, then a call to checkAccessPermission('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
Gets a list of webs, filtered according to the spec in the $filter, which may include one of:
  1. 'user' (for only user webs)
  2. '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'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (14 Jul 2001)

createWeb( $newWeb, $baseWeb, $opts )

  • $newWeb is the name of the new web.
  • $baseWeb is 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.
  • $opts is a ref to a hash that contains settings to be modified in
the web preferences topic in the new web.

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

eachChangeSince($web, $time) -> $iterator

Get an iterator over the list of all the changes in the given web between $time and now. $time is a time in seconds since 1st Jan 1970, and is not guaranteed to return any changes that occurred before (now - {Store}{RememberChangesFor}). {Store}{RememberChangesFor}) is a setting in configure. Changes are returned in most-recent-first order.

Use it as follows:
    my $iterator = TWiki::Func::eachChangeSince(
        $web, time() - 7 * 24 * 60 * 60); # the last 7 days
    while ($iterator->hasNext()) {
        my $change = $iterator->next();
        # $change is a perl hash that contains the following fields:
        # topic => topic name
        # user => wikiname - wikiname of user who made the change
        # time => time of the change
        # revision => revision number *after* the change
        # more => more info about the change (e.g. 'minor')
    }

getTopicList( $web ) -> @topics

Get list of all topics in a web
  • $web - Web name, required, e.g. 'Sandbox'
Return: @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"

$web and $topic are parsed as described in the documentation for normalizeWebTopicName. Specifically, the Main is used if $web is not specified and $topic has no web specifier. To get an expected behaviour it is recommened to specify the current web for $web; don't leave it empty.

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.
  • $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
  • $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
Return: ( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime ) - The $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery(), user's $loginName, and estimated $unlockTime in minutes, or ( '', '', 0 ) if no lease exists.
  • $script The script to invoke when continuing with the edit

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.010 (31 Dec 2002)

setTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $lock )

  • $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
  • $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
  • $lock 1 to lease the topic, 0 to clear an existing lease

Takes out a "lease" on the topic. The lease doesn't prevent anyone from editing and changing the topic, but it does redirect them to a warning screen, so this provides some protection. The 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 \%options may include:
    dontlog don't log this change in twiki log
    forcenewrevision force the save to increment the revision counter
    minor True if this is a minor change, and is not to be notified
Return: error message or undef.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (29 Jul 2001)

For example,
my( $meta, $text ) = TWiki::Func::readTopic( $web, $topic )
$text =~ s/APPLE/ORANGE/g;
TWiki::Func::saveTopic( $web, $topic, $meta, $text, { forcenewrevision => 1 } );

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
Return: $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 )

  • $web source web - required
  • $topic source topic - required
  • $newWeb dest web
  • $newTopic dest topic
Renames the topic. Throws an exception if something went wrong. If $newWeb is undef, it defaults to $web. If $newTopic is undef, it defaults to $topic.

The destination topic must not already exist.

Rename a topic to the $TWiki::cfg{TrashWebName} to delete it.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

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
Return: ( $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?

NOTE: if you are trying to get revision info for a topic, use $meta->getRevisionInfo instead if you can - it is significantly more efficient.

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
Return: Single-digit revision number, or undef if it couldn't be determined (either because the topic isn't that old, or there was a problem)

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

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)
Return: ( $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 checkAccessPermission 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
Return: $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, or Main.TokyoOffice
  • $attachment - attachment name, e.g.=logo.gif=
$web and $topic are parsed as described in the documentation for 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)
Read an attachment from the store for a topic, and return it as a string. The names of attachments on a topic can be recovered from the meta-data returned by 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

Save an attachment to the store for a topic. On success, returns undef. If there is an error, an exception will be thrown.

    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 )

  • $web source web - required
  • $topic source topic - required
  • $attachment source attachment - required
  • $newWeb dest web
  • $newTopic dest topic
  • $newAttachment dest attachment
Renames the topic. Throws an exception on error or access violation. If $newWeb is undef, it defaults to $web. If $newTopic is undef, it defaults to $topic. If $newAttachment is undef, it defaults to $attachment. If all of $newWeb, $newTopic and $newAttachment are undef, it is an error.

The destination topic must already exist, but the destination attachment must not exist.

Rename an attachment to $TWiki::cfg{TrashWebName}.TrashAttament to delete it.

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'
Return: $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)
Return: expanded template text (what's left after removal of all %TMPL:DEF% statements)

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

Reads a template and extracts template definitions, adding them to the list of loaded templates, overwriting any previous definition.

How TWiki searches for templates is described in TWikiTemplates.

If template text is found, extracts include statements and fully expands them.

expandTemplate( $def ) -> $string

Do a , only expanding the template (not expanding any variables other than %TMPL)
  • $def - template name
Return: the text of the expanded template

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

A template is defined using a %TMPL:DEF% statement in a template file. See the documentation on TWiki templates for more information.

writeHeader( )

Print a basic content-type HTML header for text/html to standard out. No return value.

Note: In TWiki versions earlier than TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.3, this function used to have $query and $contentLength parameters. Both were marked "you should not pass this parameter".

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

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.

Return: none

Print output to STDOUT that will cause a 302 redirect to a new URL. Nothing more should be printed to STDOUT after this method has been called.

The $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.

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, $requires )

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.
  • requires optional, comma-separated list of id's of other head blocks this one depends on.

All TWiki variables present in $header will be expanded before being inserted into the section.

Note that this is not the same as the HTTP header, which is modified through the Plugins 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, $meta ) -> $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
  • $meta - topic meta-data to use while expanding (Since TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2)
Return: $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 System.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
Return: $text XHTML text, e.g. '<b>bold</b> and <code>fixed font</code>'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

Render topic name and link label into an XHTML link. Normally you do not need to call this funtion, it is called internally by renderText()
  • $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
Return: $text XHTML anchor, e.g. '<a href='/cgi-bin/view/Main/WebNotify#Jump'>notify</a>'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (7 Dec 2002)

E-mail

sendEmail ( $text, $retries ) -> $error

  • $text - text of the mail, including MIME headers
  • $retries - number of times to retry the send (default 1)
Send an e-mail specified as MIME format content. To specify MIME format mails, you create a string that contains a set of header lines that contain field definitions and a message body such as:
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. Peasant
Leave 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
Get the e-mail address(es) of the named user. If the user has multiple e-mail addresses (for example, the user is a group), then the list will be comma-separated.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

Deprecated in favour of wikinameToEmails, because this function only returns a single email address, where a user may in fact have several.

Since TWiki 4.2.1, $wikiName may also be a login name.

Creating New Topics

expandVariablesOnTopicCreation ( $text ) -> $text

Expand the limited set of variables that are always expanded during topic creation
  • $text - the text to process
Return: text with variables expanded

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

Expands only the variables expected in templates that must be statically expanded in new content.

The expanded variables are:
  • %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

See also: expandVariables

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 the commonTagsHandler.
  • $var - The name of the variable, i.e. the 'MYVAR' part of %MYVAR%. The variable name must match /^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*$/ or it won't work.
  • \&fn - Reference to the handler function.
  • $syntax can 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"}%

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

The variable handler function must be of the form:
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
for example, to execute an arbitrary command on the server, you might do this:
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. commonTagsHandler is only called later, when all system tags have already been expanded (though they are expanded again after commonTagsHandler returns).
  • registered tag names can only contain alphanumerics and _ (underscore)
  • registering a tag FRED defines 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.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

The handler function must be of the form:
sub handler(\%session)
where:
  • \%session - a reference to the TWiki session object (may be ignored)

From the REST interface, the name of the plugin must be used as the subject of the invokation.

Example

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.

decodeFormatTokens($str) -> $unencodedString

TWiki has an informal standard set of tokens used in format parameters that are used to block evaluation of paramater strings. For example, if you were to write

%MYTAG{format="%WURBLE%"}%

then %WURBLE would be expanded before %MYTAG is evaluated. To avoid this TWiki uses escapes in the format string. For example:

%MYTAG{format="$percntWURBLE$percnt"}%

This lets you enter arbitrary strings into parameters without worrying that TWiki will expand them before your plugin gets a chance to deal with them properly. Once you have processed your tag, you will want to expand these tokens to their proper value. That's what this function does.

Escape: Expands To:
$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".
$quot Double quote (")
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)

Note thath $quot, $percnt and $dollar all work *even if they are followed by alphanumeric characters*. You have been warned!

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

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
The \%options hash may contain the following options:
  • type - if regex will perform a egrep-syntax RE search (default '')
  • casesensitive - false to ignore case (defaulkt true)
  • files_without_match - true to return files only (default false). If files_without_match is 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).

The return value is a reference to a hash which maps each matching topic name to a list of the lines in that topic that matched the search, as would be returned by 'grep'.

To iterate over the returned topics use:
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
Return: $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
Return: none

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)

General Utilities

getRegularExpression( $name ) -> $expr

Retrieves a TWiki predefined regular expression or character class.
  • $name - Name of the expression to retrieve. See notes below
Return: String or precompiled regular expression matching as described below.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.020 (9 Feb 2004)

Note: TWiki internally precompiles several regular expressions to represent various string entities in an I18N-compatible manner. Plugins authors are encouraged to use these in matching where appropriate. The following are guaranteed to be present. Others may exist, but their use is unsupported and they may be removed in future TWiki versions.

In the table below, the expression marked type 'String' are intended for use within character classes (i.e. for use within square brackets inside a regular expression), for example:
   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.
Return: the parsed Web/Topic pair

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

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' )

Note that hierarchical web names (SubWeb) are only available if hierarchical webs are enabled in configure.

The symbols %USERSWEB%, %SYSTEMWEB% and %DOCWEB% 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' )

StaticMethod sanitizeAttachmentName ($fname) -> ($fileName,$origName)

Given a file namer, sanitise it according to the rules for transforming attachment names. Returns the sanitised name together with the basename before sanitisation.

Sanitation includes filtering illegal characters and mapping client file names to legal server names.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

buildWikiWord( $text ) -> $text

Converts arbitrary text to a WikiWord.
  • $pre - Arbitrary Text
Return: $text

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.3 (18 Jan 2010)

spaceOutWikiWord( $word, $sep ) -> $text

Spaces out a wiki word by inserting a string (default: one space) between each word component. With parameter $sep any string may be used as separator between the word components; if $sep is undefined it defaults to a space.

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

writeWarning( $text )

Log Warning that may require admin intervention to data/warning.txt
  • $text - Text to write; timestamp gets added
Return: none

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.020 (16 Feb 2004)

writeDebug( $text )

Log debug message to data/debug.txt
  • $text - Text to write; timestamp gets added
Return: none

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.020 (16 Feb 2004)

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'
Return: $text Formatted time string
Note: if you used the removed formatGmTime, add a third parameter 'gmtime'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.020 (26 Feb 2004)

isTrue( $value, $default ) -> $boolean

Returns 1 if $value is true, and 0 otherwise. "true" means set to something with a Perl true value, with the special cases that "off", "false" and "no" (case insensitive) are forced to false. Leading and trailing spaces in $value are ignored.

If the value is undef, then $default is returned. If $default is not specified it is taken as 0.

Since: $TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

isValidWikiWord ( $text ) -> $boolean

Check for a valid WikiWord or WikiName
  • $text - Word to test

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.100 (Dec 2005)

extractParameters($attr ) -> %params

Extract all parameters from a variable string and returns a hash of parameters
  • $attr - Attribute string
Return: %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:
  • params = TWiki::Func::extractParameters( $text );=
    • The %params hash contains now:
      _DEFAULT => 'nameless'
      name1 => "val1"
      name2 => "val2"

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
Return: $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" );

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 the TWiki::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 - use getScriptUrl 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)

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
Return: $url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/oops.pl/ Main/WebNotify?template=oopslocked&param1=joe"

DEPRECATED since 1.1, the recommended approach is to throw an oops exception.
   use Error qw( :try );

   throw TWiki::OopsException(
      'toestuckerror',
      web => $web,
      topic => $topic,
      params => [ 'I got my toe stuck' ]);
(this example will use the oopstoestuckerror template.)

If this is not possible (e.g. in a REST handler that does not trap the exception) then you can use getScriptUrl instead:
   my $url = TWiki::Func::getScriptUrl($web, $topic, 'oops',
            template => 'oopstoestuckerror',
            param1 => 'I got my toe stuck');
   TWiki::Func::redirectCgiQuery( undef, $url );
   return 0;

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'

Since: TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000 (27 Feb 2001)

DEPRECATED since 1.2 - use getPreferencesValue instead to determine what permissions are set on the web, for example:
foreach my $type qw( ALLOW DENY ) {
    foreach my $action qw( CHANGE VIEW ) {
        my $pref = $type . 'WEB' . $action;
        my $val = getPreferencesValue( $pref, $web ) || '';
        if( $val =~ /\S/ ) {
            print "$pref is set to $val on $web\n";
        }
    }
}

getPublicWebList( ) -> @webs

DEPRECATED since 1.1 - use getListOfWebs 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 - use formatTime 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')
Return: $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 API History

TWiki-2001-09-01 (Athens Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.000

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • commonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • endRenderingHandler($text)
  • outsidePREHandler($text)
  • insidePREHandler($text)
  • startRenderingHandler($text, $web)

Func.pm

  • checkAccessPermission($type, $login, $topicText, $topicName, $webName) -> $boolean
  • expandCommonVariables($text, $topic, $web) -> $text
  • extractNameValuePair($attrs, $name) -> $value
  • formatGmTime($time) -> $text
  • getCgiQuery() -> $query
  • getDataDir() -> $dir
  • getDefaultUserName() -> $loginName
  • getMainWebname() -> $name
  • getOopsUrl($web, $topic, $template, @theParams) -> $url
  • getPreferencesFlag($key) -> $boolean
  • getPreferencesValue($key, $web) -> $value
  • getPublicWebList() -> @webs
  • getPubDir() -> $dir
  • getPubUrlPath() -> $path
  • getRevisionInfo($webName, $topic, $rev, $attachment) -> ($date, $user, $rev, $comment)
  • getScriptUrl($web, $topic, $script) -> $url
  • getScriptUrlPath() -> $path
  • getSessionValue($key) -> $value
  • getSkin() -> $skin
  • getTopicList($web) -> @topics
  • getTwikiWebname() -> $name
  • getUrlHost() -> $host
  • getViewUrl($web, $topic) -> $url
  • getWikiName() -> $wikiName
  • getWikiUserName($text) -> $wikiName
  • getWikiToolName() -> $name
  • internalLink($preamble, $web, $topic, $linkText, $anchor, $createLink) -> $text
  • isGuest() -> $boolean
  • permissionsSet($web) -> $boolean
  • readFile($filename) -> $text
  • readTemplate($name, $skin) -> $text
  • readTopic($webName, $topic) -> ($meta, $text)
  • redirectCgiQuery($query, $url)
  • renderText($text, $web) -> $text
  • saveFile($filename, $text)
  • setSessionValue($key, $value)
  • topicExists($web, $topic) -> $boolean
  • userToWikiName($user, $dontAddWeb) -> $wikiName
  • webExists($web) -> $boolean
  • wikiToUserName($wiki) -> $loginName
  • writeDebug($text)
  • writeHeader()
  • writeWarning($text)

TWiki-2003-02-01 (Beijing Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.010

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • afterEditHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • beforeEditHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • beforeSaveHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • initializeUserHandler($loginName, $url, $pathInfo)
  • redirectCgiQueryHandler($query, $url)
  • registrationHandler($web, $wikiName, $loginName)
  • writeHeaderHandler($query)

Func.pm

  • checkTopicEditLock($web, $topic) ->($oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime)
  • readTopicText($web, $topic, $rev, $ignorePermissions) -> $text
  • saveTopicText($web, $topic, $text, $ignorePermissions, $dontNotify) -> $oopsUrl
  • setTopicEditLock($web, $topic, $lock) -> $oopsUrl

TWiki-2004-09-02 (Cairo Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.025

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • afterCommonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • afterSaveHandler($text, $topic, $web, $error)
  • beforeCommonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web)
  • earlyInitPlugin()

Func.pm

  • afterAttachmentSaveHandler(\%attrHash, $topic, $web, $error)
  • beforeAttachmentSaveHandler(\%attrHash, $topic, $web)
  • checkDependencies($moduleName, $dependenciesRef) -> $error
  • extractParameters($attr) -> %params
  • formatTime($time, $format, $timezone) -> $text
  • getPluginPreferencesFlag($key) -> $boolean
  • getPluginPreferencesValue($key) -> $value
  • getRegularExpression($regexName) -> $pattern

TWiki-4.0.0 (Dakar Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • mergeHandler($diff, $old, $new, \%info) -> $text
  • modifyHeaderHandler(\%headers, $query)
  • postRenderingHandler($text)
  • preRenderingHandler($text, \%map)
  • renderFormFieldForEditHandler($name, $type, $size, $value, $attributes, $possibleValues) -> $html
  • renderWikiWordHandler($linkText, $hasExplicitLinkLabel, $web, $topic) -> $linkText

  • endRenderingHandler($text)
  • startRenderingHandler($text, $web)

Func.pm

  • addToHEAD($id, $header)
  • attachmentExists($web, $topic, $attachment) -> $boolean
  • clearSessionValue($key) -> $boolean
  • checkDependencies($moduleName, $dependenciesRef) -> $error
  • createWeb($newWeb, $baseWeb, $opts)
  • expandTemplate($def ) -> $string
  • expandVariablesOnTopicCreation($text) -> $text
  • getContext() -> \%hash
  • getListOfWebs($filter) -> @webs
  • getScriptUrl($web, $topic, $script, @params) -> $url
  • getRevisionAtTime($web, $topic, $time) -> $rev
  • getWorkArea($pluginName) -> $directorypath
  • isValidWikiWord($text) -> $boolean
  • loadTemplate($name, $skin, $web) -> $text
  • moveAttachment($web, $topic, $attachment, $newWeb, $newTopic, $newAttachment)
  • moveTopic($web, $topic, $newWeb, $newTopic)
  • moveWeb($oldName, $newName)
  • normalizeWebTopicName($web, $topic) ->($web, $topic)
  • readAttachment($web, $topic, $name, $rev) -> $data
  • registerRESTHandler($alias, \&fn,)
  • registerTagHandler($var, \&fn, $syntax)
  • saveAttachment($web, $topic, $attachment, $opts)
  • saveTopic($web, $topic, $meta, $text, $options) -> $error
  • searchInWebContent($searchString, $web, \@topics, \%options) -> \%map
  • sendEmail($text, $retries) -> $error
  • wikiToEmail($wikiName) -> $email
  • writeHeader($query, $contentLength)

  • checkDependencies($moduleName, $dependenciesRef) -> $error
  • formatGmTime($time, $format) -> $text
  • getDataDir() -> $dir
  • getOopsUrl( $web, $topic, $template, @params ) -> $url
  • getPubDir() -> $dir
  • getPublicWebList() -> @webs
  • getScriptUrlPath() -> $path

TWiki-4.0.1 (Dakar Patch Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.1

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • afterSaveHandler($text, $topic, $web, $error, $meta)
  • beforeSaveHandler($text, $topic, $web, $meta)

Func.pm

TWiki-4.1 (Edinburgh Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.11

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • afterRenameHandler($oldWeb, $oldTopic, $oldAttachment, $newWeb, $newTopic, $newAttachment)

Func.pm

No changes

TWiki-4.2 (Freetown Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

EmptyPlugin.pm

  • afterCommonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web, $meta)
  • beforeCommonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web, $meta)
  • commonTagsHandler($text, $topic, $web, $included, $meta)

Func.pm

  • decodeFormatTokens($str) -> $unencodedString
  • eachChangeSince($web, $time) -> $iterator
  • eachGroup() -> $iterator
  • eachGroupMember($group) -> $iterator
  • eachMembership($wikiname) -> $iterator
  • eachUser() -> $iterator
  • emailToWikiNames($email, $dontAddWeb) -> @wikiNames
  • expandCommonVariables($text, $topic, $web, $meta) -> $text
  • getCanonicalUserID( $user ) -> $cUID
  • getExternalResource($url) -> $response
  • getSessionKeys() -> @keys
  • isAnAdmin($login) -> $boolean
  • isGroup($group) -> $boolean
  • isGroupMember($group, $login) -> $boolean
  • isTrue($value, $default) -> $boolean
  • popTopicContext()
  • pushTopicContext($web, $topic)
  • sanitizeAttachmentName($fname) -> ($fileName, $origName)
  • setPreferencesValue($name, $val)
  • spaceOutWikiWord($word, $sep) -> $text
  • wikiNameToEmails($wikiname) -> @emails
  • permissionsSet($web) -> $boolean
  • getOopsUrl( $web, $topic, $template, $param1, $param2, $param3, $param4 ) -> $url

TWiki-4.3 (Georgetown Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.2

EmptyPlugin.pm

No changes

Func.pm

No changes

TWiki-5.0 (Helsinki Release)

$TWiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.3

EmptyPlugin.pm

No changes

Func.pm

  • buildWikiWord( $text ) -> $text

Back to top


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 the twiki/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 the twiki/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 (usually guest).

Command-line

You must be have the twiki/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

The main difference between invoking this script and using WebChanges is that WebChanges is based on a %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 script 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. You can change the Edit/Edit Raw buttons to always append the action parameter in skins like Pattern and Classic by setting the topic or preference variable EDITACTION to the value text or form. To edit the topic once the EDITACTION is defined as form simply remove the action=form from the browser URL of the edit script and reload the edit window  
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 (new topic only)  
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. (will remove the form is set to 'none')  
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 (or cancels the edit) 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}).
 
t Provide a unique URL each time a topic is edited, typically specifying parameter t=%SERVERTIME{$epoch}% in an edit link. This is done to prevent browsers from caching an edit session, which could result in editing outdated content. The parameter name and value is arbitrary, but must be unique each time.  

Form field values are passed in parameters named 'field' - for example, if I have a field Status the parameter name is Status.
  1. The first sequence of ten or more X characters in the topic name will be converted on save to a number such that the resulting topic name is unique in the target web.

Note: Most skins support the definition of 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, renameweb, deleteUserAccount, editSettings or saveSettings none

Note: The manage script can only be called via http POST method for createweb renameweb, and deleteUserAccount.

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 ''
nosearchall Value for NOSEARCHALL ''

action=renameweb

Parameter Description Default
newsubweb Name of the web after move ''
newparentweb New parent web name ''
confirm If defined, requires a second level of confirmation. Supported values are "getlock", "continue", and "cancel" ''

action=editSettings

No parameters

action=saveSettings

Parameter Description Default
text Text of the topic ''
originalrev Revision that the edit started on Most recent revision
redirectto If the savesettings 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}).
All other parameters may be interpreted as form fields, depending on the current form definition in the topic.

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=changePassword

Change password, email address, or both, of a user.
Parameter Description Default
username god alone knows none
oldpassword current password none
password new password none
passwordA new password confirmation none
email new email address none
password, =passwordA and email are optional. If neither or password and passwordA is set, then the user password is left unchanged. If email is unset, their email is left unchanged.

action=resetPassword

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. ''

This is used by BulkResetPassword and ResetPassword. Only administrators can provide a list of LoginNames, non-admins can only provide a single LoginName.

BulkRegistration provides the means to create multiple accounts but it does not announce those accounts to the users who own them. BulkResetPassword is used to assign the passwords, the Introduction is used to explain why they are receiving the mail.

action=deleteUserAccount

Unregisters (removes) the currently logged-in user.
Parameter Description Default
password Users' password none

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.  

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  
TODO:
  • add a {word} render style

register

Parameter Description Default
action register or verify or resetPassword or approve  

Note: The register script can only be called via http POST method, not GET. Make sure to specify the "post" method if you call the register script via a form action.

rename

Used for renaming topics and attachments.

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  
redirectto If the rename process is successful, rename 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}).
 

Note: The rename script can only be called via http POST method, not GET. Make sure you specify method="post" if you call the rename script via a form action.

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 Main.WebHome will be passed to plugins.
endPoint Where to redirect the response once the request is served, in the form "Web.Topic"

The function is free to use any other query parameters for its own purposes.

ALERT! Note: 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

The rest 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 an administrator 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 an administrator 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 (new topic only)  
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 (will remove the form is set to 'none')  
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

Any errors will cause a redirect to an oops page.

The parameters are interpreted in according to the following rules.

  1. The first sequence of ten or more X characters in the topic name will be converted to a number such that the resulting topic name is unique in the target web.
  2. When the action is save, checkpoint, quietsave, or preview:
    1. The new text is taken from the text parameter, if it is defined,
      • otherwise it is taken from the templatetopic, if it is defined, (new topic only)
      • otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
    2. The name of the new form is taken from the formtemplate, if defined
      • otherwise it is taken from the templatetopic, if defined, (new topic only)
      • otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
      • otherwise no form is attached.
    3. 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, (new topic only)
      • otherwise it is taken from the previous version of the topic, if any,
      • otherwise it defaults to the empty string.

Merging is only enabled if the topic text comes from 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.

ALERT! Note: The save script can only be called via http POST method, not GET. Make sure to specify the "post" method if you call the save script via a form action. Example:
<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH{save}%/Sandbox/" method="post">
    ...
</form>
It is not possible to call save from an <a href=""> link.

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=
 "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; 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 time interval. 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

For example:
  1. from browser https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/statistics updates all user webs
  2. from browser https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/statistics?webs=TWiki,Main,Sandbox updates TWiki,Main,Sandbox
  3. from browser https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/statistics/System updates System
  4. from command line twiki/bin/statistics updates all user webs
  5. from command line twiki/bin/statistics -webs=TWiki,Main,Sandbox updates TWiki,Main,Sandbox
  6. from command line twiki/bin/statistics System.WebHome updates System

See TWikiSiteTools#WebStatistics_site_statistics for updating statistics using cron.

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

You can use a tool like curl to upload files from the command line using this script.

ALERT! Note: The upload script can only be called via http POST method, not GET.

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.  
contenttype Allows you to specify a different Content-Type: (e.g. contenttype=text/plain)  
rev Revision to view (e.g. rev=45)  
template Allows you to specify a different skin template, overriding the 'view' template the view script would normally use. The default template is view. For example, you could specify /foswiki/bin/view/System/TWikiScripts?template=edit. This is mainly useful when you have specialised templates for a TWiki Application.  
topic redirects (at the beging of the cgi script running) to show the spcified Web.Topic, or, redirects to a URL, if allowed by {AllowRedirectUrl} and {PermittedRedirectHostUrls}  

ALERT! For historical reasons, the view script has a special interpretation of the text skin. In earlier TWiki versions the skin=text parameter was used like this: http://.../view/MyWeb/MyTopic?skin=text&contenttype=text/plain&raw=on which shows the topic as plain text; useful for those who want to download plain text for the topic. Using skin=text this way is DEPRECATED, use raw=text instead.

viewfile

Used for viewing attachments. Normally, a site will publish the attachments (pub) directory using a URL. However if it contains sensitive information, you will want to protect attachments using TWikiAccessControls. In this case, you can use the viewfile script to give access to attachments while still checking access controls.

Parameter Description Default
filename name of attachment  
rev Revision to view  

Instead of using the filename parameter, you can append the attachment name to the end of the URL path (after the topic) e.g. https://iccl.unist.ac.kr/foswiki/bin/viewfile/Webname/TopicName/Attachment.gif

Command Line Scripts

Details on command line scripts located in the twiki/tools directory.

geturl.pl

This is a very simple script to get the content of a web site. It is marked as deprecated and might be removed (or enhanced) in a future TWiki release. Its functions are covered by the standard wget and curl commands.
  • Usage: geturl.pl <host> <path> [<port> [<header>]]
  • Example: geturl.pl some.domain /some/dir/file.html 80
  • Will get: http://some.domain:80/some/dir/file.html

rewriteshebang.pl

Simple script to rewrite the #!/usr/bin/perl shebang lines specific to your local Perl installation. It will rewrite the first line of all your TWiki cgi scripts so they use a different shebang line. Use it if your perl is in a non-standard location, or you want to use a different interpreter (such as 'speedy').

tick_twiki.pl

This script executes a number of non-essential regular administration tasks that will help keep your TWiki healthy and happy, such as removing expired sessions and lease files.

It is intended to be run as a cron job or a scheduled task once a week. Example crontab entry:
0 0 * * 0 cd /usr/twiki/bin && perl ../tools/tick_twiki.pl

Note: The script has to be run by a user who can write files created by the webserver user.

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory, DeveloperDocumentationCategory

-- Contributors: TWiki:Main/ArthurClemens, TWiki:Main/CrawfordCurrie, TWiki:Main/MichaelDaum, TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny, TWiki:Main/RafaelAlvarez, TWiki:Main/SvenDowideit, TWiki:Main/ThomasWeigert, TWiki:Main/WillNorris

Back to top


TWiki Site Tools

Utilities for searching, navigation, and monitoring site activity

TWiki Site Tools include utilities for navigating, searching and keeping up with site activity. Preferences can be configured by web or site-wide. You are currently in the System web. In particular, TWiki provides two highly configurable, automated site monitoring tools, WebNotify, to e-mail alerts when topics are edited, and WebStatistics, to generate detailed activity reports.

WebNotify - recent changes alert

Each TWiki web has an automatic e-mail alert service that sends a list of recent changes on a preset schedule, like once a day. Users can subscribe and unsubscribe using WebNotify in each web. The Perl script mailnotify is called by a background process at regular intervals. The script sends an automated e-mail to subscribed users if topics were changed in a web since the script was last run.

Web Changes Notification Service

Each TWiki web has an automatic e-mail notification service that sends you an e-mail with links to all of the topics modified since the last alert.

Users subscribe to email notifications using their WikiName or an alternative email address, and can specify the webs/topics they wish to track. Whole groups of users can also be subscribed for notification.

The general format of a subscription is:

three spaces * subscriber [ : topics ]

Where subscriber can be a WikiName, an email address, or a group name. If subscriber contains any characters that are not legal in an email address, then it must be enclosed in 'single' or "double" quotes. ALERT! Note: The guest user WikiGuest does not have an email address mapped to it, and will never receive email regardless of the configuration of that user.

topics is an optional space-separated list of topics:
  • ... without a Web. prefix
  • ...that exist in this web.
Users may further customize the specific content they will receive using the following controls:
  • Using wild-card character in topic names - You can use * in a topic name, where it is treated as a wildcard character. A * will match zero or more other characters - so, for example, Fred* will match all topic names starting with Fred, *Fred will match all topic names ending with Fred, and * will match all topic names.
  • Unsubscribing to specific topics - Each topic may optionally be preceded by a '+' or '-' sign. The '+' sign means "subscribe to this topic". The '-' sign means "unsubscribe" or "don't send notifications regarding this particular topic". This allows users to elect to filter out certain topics. Topic filters ('-') take precedence over topic includes ('+') i.e. if you unsubscribe from a topic it will cancel out any subscriptions to that topic.
  • Including child-topics in subscription - Each topic may optionally be followed by an integer in parentheses, indicating the depth of the tree of children below that topic. Changes in all these children will be detected and reported along with changes to the topic itself. Note This uses the Foswiki "Topic parent" feature.
  • Subscribing to entire topic ("news mode") - Each topic may optionally be immediately followed by an exclamation mark ! and/or a question mark ? with no intervening spaces, indicating that the topic (and children if there is a tree depth specifier as well) should be mailed out as complete topics instead of change summaries. ! causes the full topic to be mailed every time even if there have been no changes, and ? will mail the full topic only if there have been changes. One can limit the content of the subscribed topic to send out by inserting %STARTPUBLISH% and %STOPPUBLISH% markers within the topic.

Examples: Subscribe Daisy to all changes to topics in this web.
   * daisy.cutter@flowers.com
Subscribe Daisy to all changes to topics that start with Web.
   * daisy.cutter@flowers.com : Web*
Subscribe Daisy to changes to topics starting with Petal, and their immediate children, WeedKillers and children to a depth of 3, and all topics that match start with Pretty and end with Flowers e.g. PrettyPinkFlowers.
   * DaisyCutter: Petal* (1) WeedKillers (3) Pretty*Flowers
Subscribe StarTrekFan to changes to all topics that start with Star except those that end in Wars, sInTheirEyes or shipTroopers.
   * StarTrekFan: Star* - *Wars - *sInTheirEyes - *shipTroopers
Subscribe Daisy to the full content of NewsLetter whenever it has changed.
   * daisy@flowers.com: NewsLetter?
Subscribe buttercup to NewsLetter and its immediate children, even if it hasn't changed.
   * buttercup@flowers.com: NewsLetter! (1)
Subscribe GardenGroup (which includes Petunia) to all changed topics under AllNewsLetters to a depth of 3. Then unsubscribe Petunia from the ManureNewsLetter, which she would normally get as a member of GardenGroup:
   * GardenGroup: AllNewsLetters? (3)
   * petunia@flowers.com: - ManureNewsLetter
Subscribe IT:admins (a non-Foswiki group defined by an alternate user mapping) to all changes to Web* topics.
   * 'IT:admins' : Web*

A user may be listed many times in the WebNotify topic. Where a user has several lines in WebNotify that all match the same topic, they will only be notified about changes in that topic once (though they will still receive individual mails for news topics).

If a group is listed for notification, the group will be recursively expanded to the email addresses of all members.

ALERT! Warning: Because an email address is not linked to a user name, there is no way for Foswiki to check access controls for subscribers identified by email addresses. A subscriber identified by an email address alone will only be sent change notifications if the topic they are subscribed to is readable by guest users. You can limit which email addresses can be used in WebNotify, or even block use of emails altogther, using the {MailerContrib}{EmailFilterIn} setting in configure.

TIP Tip: List names in alphabetical order to make it easier to find the names.

Note for System Administrators: Notification is supported by an add-on to the TWiki kernel called the MailerContrib. See the MailerContrib topic for details of how to set up this service.

Note: If you prefer a news feed, point your reader to WebRss (for RSS 1.0 feeds) or WebAtom (for ATOM 1.0 feeds). Learn more at WebRssBase and WebAtomBase, respectively.

You can also use %USERSWEB% instead of Main, but this is not necessary even if you have renamed the main web by configuring {MainWebName} in configure.

WebSearch - search TWiki site

WebSearch is an extremely fast and flexible search facility, part of the core TWiki feature set. WebSearchAdvanced offers more options, including:
  • topic title or full-text search
  • regular expressions
  • search within web or site-wide
  • index-style A-Z alphabetical listing sorted topic title
  • many more

See also: SearchHelp for help; TWikiVariables and FormattedSearch for including hard-coded searches in text.

WebChanges - what's new

To check for the most recently edited topics while on-site, use the WebChanges link, usually located in the toolbar. It lists the most recently modified topics, newest first, along with the first couple of lines of the page content.

This is simply a preset SEARCH. The number of topics listed by the limit parameter.:
%SEARCH{ ".*" web="System" type="regex" nosearch="on" order="modified"
reverse="on" limit="50" }%

WebRss and WebAtom - news feeds on recent changes

You can point your news reader at WebRss and WebAtom to find out what is new in a TWiki web. WebRssBase and WebAtomBase have the details. Like WebChanges, this is based on a %SEARCH{}%.

WebIndex - list of topics

WebIndex lists all web topics in alphabetical order, with the first couple of lines of text. This is simply a preset SEARCH:
%SEARCH{ "\.*" scope="topic" type="regex" nosearch="on" }%

WebStatistics - site statistics

You can generate a listing manually, or on an automated schedule, of visits to individual pages, on a per web basis. Compiled as a running total on a monthly basis. Includes totals for Topic Views, Topic Saves, Attachment Uploads, Most Popular Topics with number of views, and Top Contributors showing total of saves and attachment uploads. Previous months are saved.

Configuring for automatic operation

  • You can automatically generate usage statistics for all webs. To enable this:
    • Make sure variable {Log}{view}, {Log}{save} and *{Log}{upload} in are set in configure. This will generate log file entries (see below).
    • The WebStatistics topic must be present in all webs where you want to have statistics. You can use the topic in the Main web as a template.
    • Call the twiki/bin/statistics script from a cron job, once a day is recommended. This will update the WebStatistics topics in all webs.
    • Attention: The script must run as the same user as the CGI scripts are running, which is user nobody on many systems. Example crontab entry:
      0 0 * * * (cd /path/to/twiki/bin; ./statistics >/dev/null 2>&1)
    • There is a workaround in case you can't run the script as user nobody : Run the utility twiki/tools/geturl.pl in your cron job and specify the URL of the twiki/bin/statistics script as a parameter. Example:
      0 0 * * * (cd /path/to/twiki/tools; ./geturl.pl mydomain.com /urlpath/to/twiki/bin/statistics >/dev/null 2>&1)
    • NOTE: geturl.pl will do a TWiki CGI request as the TWikiGuest user, so if you use this workaround, the WebStatistics topics you are updating will have to be writable by TWikiGuest.

When running from the command line or a cron job, you can pass parameters to the script like this:
./statistics -logdate 200605 -webs TWiki,Sandbox

Generating statistics manually by URL

  • The twiki/bin/statistics script can also be executed as a CGI script, just enter the URL in your browser. Examples:
    • Update current month for all webs you have access to:
      /foswiki/bin/statistics
    • Update current month for Main web only:
      /foswiki/bin/statistics/Main
    • Update Nov 2024 for Main web:
      /foswiki/bin/statistics/Main?logdate=202411
    • Update Nov 2024 for the ProjectX, ProjectY and ProjectZ webs:
      /foswiki/bin/statistics?logdate=202411;webs=ProjectX,ProjectY,ProjectZ

Log Files

TWiki generates monthly log files which are used by the statistics script
  • The log file is defined by the {LogFileName} setting in configure
  • The file name is log<year><month>.txt
  • Example path name: twiki/logs/log202411.txt
  • Each access gets logged as:
    | <time> | <wikiusername> | <action> | <web>.<topic> | <extra info> | <IP address> |
  • Example log entry:
    | 22 Nov 2024 - 01:01 | TWikiGuest | view | WebRss |  | 66.124.232.02 |
  • Actions are logged if enabled in configure by the {Log}{action} flags
  • Logged actions:
    Script Action name Extra info
    attach attach when viewing attach screen of previous uploaded attachment: filename
    changes changes  
    edit edit when editing non-existing topic: (not exist)
    login, logon,
    attach, edit,
    register, rest,
    view, vewfile
    sudologin,
    sudologout
    Login name of administrator user who is logging in or out
    manage changepasswd Login name of user who's password is changed
    rdiff rdiff higher and lower revision numbers: 4 3
    register regstart WikiUserName, e-Mail address, LoginName: user attempts to register
    register register E-mail address: user successfully registers
    register bulkregister WikiUserName of new, e-mail address, admin ID
    rename rename when moving topic: moved to Newweb.NewTopic
    rename renameweb when renaming a web: moved to Newweb
    rename move when moving attachment: Attachment filename moved to Newweb.NewTopic
    resetpasswd resetpasswd Login name of user who's password is reset
    save save when replacing existing revision: repRev 3
    when user checks the minor changes box: dontNotify
    when user changes attributes to an exising attachment: filename.ext
    save cmd special admin parameter used when saving
    search search search string
    upload upload filename
    view view when viewing non-existing topic: (not exist)
    when viewing previous topic revision: r3
    viewfile viewfile Attachment name and revision: File.txt, r3

E-mail

Configuring outgoing mail

Outgoing mail is required for TWikiRegistration and for recent changes alert.

TWiki will use the Net::SMTP module if it is installed on your system. Set this with the SMTPMAILHOST variable in TWikiPreferences.

The notify e-mail uses the default changes.tmpl template, or a skin if activated in the TWikiPreferences.

mailnotify also relies on two hidden files in each twiki/data/Web directory: .changes and .mailnotify. Make sure both are writable by your web server process. .changes contains a list of changes; go ahead and make this empty. .mailnotify contains a timestamp of the last time notification was done.

You can use an external mail program, such as sendmail, if the Net::SMTP module is not installed. Set the program path in {MailProgram} in configure.

  • HELP Net::SMTP can be easily disabled (if there is an installation error) by setting SMTPMAILHOST in TWikiPreferences to an empty value.

  • TIP You can set a separate SMTPSENDERHOST variable to define the mail sender host (some SMTP installations require this).

Setting the automatic e-mail schedule

For Unix platforms: Edit the cron table so that mailnotify is called in an interval of your choice. Please consult man crontab of how to modify the table that schedules program execution at certain intervals. Example:
% crontab -e
0 1 * * * (cd /path/to/twiki; perl -I bin tools/mailnotify -q)
The above line will run mailnotify nightly at 01:00. The -q switch suppresses all normal output. Details at MailerContrib.

For ISP installations: Many ISPs don't allow hosted accounts direct cron access, as it's often used for things that can heavily load the server. Workaround scripts are available.

On Windows: You can use a scheduled task if you have administrative privileges. TWiki:Codev/CronTabWin is a free scheduler for Windows.

Site Permissions

  • TWikiAccessControl describes how to restrict read and write access to topics and webs, by users and groups
  • SitePermissions lists the permissions settings of the webs on this TWiki site

Help with crontab

The crontab command is used to schedule commands to be executed periodically.

  • Wikipedia.org:Crontab - crontab documentation
  • pycron - crontab for Windows

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory, AdminToolsCategory

Back to top


Managing Topics

Browser-based rename, move, copy, and delete for individual topics

Overview

You can use browser-based controls to change a name of a topic, move it to another web or delete it to a hidden Trash web.

How to rename or move a topic

  1. Select the [More topic actions] link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed. Then, in the new screen, click [Rename or move topic...] or [Delete topic...]. You can now rename and/or move in one operation:
    • Move: Select the target web if other than the current web
    • Rename: Enter the new topic name - default is current name
      ALERT! You'll be warned if any of the topics to be affected are locked (being edited), or if there is a name conflict.
  2. Prevent updates by unchecking individual items on the list of referring links - these topics will NOT to be updated with the new name (by default, only links in the same web will be updated).
  3. Click on [Rename]: the topic will be renamed and links to the topic updated as requested.
    • If any of the referring pages are locked then they will be listed: you can correct these later by again pressing [Rename].
TIP There is a Put back feature that allows you to undo a rename/move/delete action - an instruction line and an undo link will appear under the [Rename or move topic] section of the [More topic actions] page. This allows you to revert from the last modification only.

How to delete a topic

Foswiki deletes topics by moving them to the hidden Trash web.
  1. Select the [More actions] link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed. Then, in the new screen, click [Delete topic...]. That will bring up the "rename" form prepopulated with the Trash web and a suitable topic name.
  2. Click on [Delete]: the topic will be renamed and moved to the Trash web as requested.

How to copy a topic

  1. Select the [More actions] link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed.
  2. On the "More actions" page, scroll down to the "Copy topic" section. In the "Name of copy" text box, enter in the new topic name. To copy the topic to another web, fully qualify the topic name with the web name, separating the two with a period (for example, Web.TopicName).
  3. Select the [Copy topic] button. You will be directed to an edit page for the newly-created topic. You can save the new copy immediately, or make some changes and then save it.

Deleted topics: How to clear the trash

Deleted topics are moved to a special Trash web - they are NOT physically erased from the server. All webs share the same Trash - in case of a name conflict with a topic already existing in the Trash web, the user is alerted and asked to choose a new name.

See your chosen store implementations' topic for additional details related to keeping your trash clean.

Redirecting from an old topic

The default "new topic" screen tells the user when a topic being created used to exist, but was moved. So if anyone follows a link to a moved topic, they will be able to click through to the new name.

How rename/move works

  1. %SEARCH%, with a special template, finds and displays all occurrences of the topic name in other topics, either web- or site-wide. These referring links are by default automatically changed to the new topic and/or web name. This includes relevant MetaData definitions.
    • User can omit one or more topics from the update list by unchecking them.
    • <pre> and <verbatim> are honoured - no changes are made to text within these areas.
      ALERT! Foswiki will therefore not change any references within macros defined in <pre> and <verbatim> blocks
  2. The topic is moved (if locks allow).
  3. References are changed (locks and permissions permitting).
  4. Any referring topics that cannot be changed due to locks are listed - user can take note and change them at another time.

How referring topics are found

First, matching topics in the current web are listed - matches are to topic. Next, all webs (including the current one) are listed that match web.topic. All webs will be searched during rename, even if NOSEARCHALL is defined on a web, though access permissions will of course be honoured.

Changed references are kept as short as possible, for example: topic is used in preference to web.topic.

Effect of user access settings

User permissions affect the 'rename' functions in various ways. To rename a topic, you need all of VIEW, CHANGE and RENAME access to that topic. To alter referring topics, you need CHANGE access. See AccessControl for information on setting up access permissions.

Special considerations

Consider carefully whether to make browser-based rename/move/delete widely available, or to restrict it to an administrator/moderator group. Allowing all users to easily manipulate topics can be extremely useful in refactoring a busy web or site. However, there are at least two significant potential drawbacks to take into account:
  1. When referring links are updated, the modified topics appear in WebChanges, creating the impression that editorial changes were made. This can undermine the usefulness of WebChanges.
  2. Due to current limitations, fairly heavy use of rename/move/delete functions can lead to an accumulation of minor technical problems (such as broken links) and usability issues (e.g. user confusion). If rename... is used heavily, these negatives will obviously increase, in number and effect.

Ultimately, the size, objectives, and policies of your site, the real-world behavior of your user group, and most importantly, the initial Foswiki site management leadership, will determine the most effective implementation of this feature, and the success of the site overall.

Known issues

Rename/move is fairly complicated due to the dynamic generation of links. Ideally, it would be possible to run the required part of rendering in a way that would allow identification of the text to be changed. Unfortunately, these hooks don't exist at present. Instead, %SEARCH% is used with a special template to show the text to be changed, and the selected topics are then altered. One drawback is that search can show matches that will not be updated due to case differences. Other mismatches with actual rendered output are also possible as the approaches are so different.

The following shows some limitations of square bracket processing.

[[Old Topic]]  => [[NewTopic][Old Topic]]
[[old topic]]  => [[NewTopic][old topic]]
[[old t opic]] => not changed
[[OldTopic]]   => [[NewTopic]]

Reviewing and Reverting

TIP The previous version of this documented recommended copy/paste from the raw view of a prior version to revert. This is not recommended as it fails to revert changes to the topic metadata. Note howver that no method actually reverts attachments as they are stored separately from the topics.
Foswiki's revision control saves all topic changes. To view earlier versions of a topic, click on the History link in topic actions. If you would like to revert to an earlier version or reclaim part of an earlier version, just copy from the old topic revision to the current topic revision as follows:
  1. If necessary, using the History view, find the revision number you want to restore.
  2. Visit the [More topic actions] page, [Restore topic] section.
  3. Enter the desired revision number and click [Restore]. This action creates a new revision from the specified version.
Caution: This action does not "rewrite history". A new revision is created, and the rollback can still be reverted. If the is some highly sensitive data that must be removed from the history, this operation will not remove the information. In order to completely expunge data from history, there are several possible options:
  • Move the topic to trash, and create a new version of the topic by cut/paste from the raw view of the trashed topic.
  • or the site administrator can use the cmd=delRev option of the edit script to permanently remove the last revision of a topic.
  • or a server admin can remove the topic.txt,v rcs file from the file system after removing the offending information from the topic.


Related Topics: UserDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory

Back to top


Managing Webs

Browser-based rename, move, copy, and delete for individual webs

What are Webs?

A Foswiki site is divided into "Webs", or groups or topics - each one represents one subject, one area of collaboration. Administrators can add, rename or delete webs.
At file level, a Web is a directory located inside the data directory, with text files as topics.
A number of Webs are fixed: System for documentation, Main to store user pages and site-wide preferences, Trash for the topic recycle bin.
Other webs can be created as needed.

Public webs: Main, Sandbox, System

Template webs: _default, _empty

Create a new web

To use this form you must be administrator.

Before you begin: consider that less webs are better than more webs. Cross-linking topics is easier, and searches are faster, if there are only a few larger webs.

Name of the new web Required

Naming rule: the name must start with an upper case letter, followed by upper or lower case letters or numbers. Examples: Learn, SupDocs, KNow3. It is recommended to use Web names that are not autolinking as WikiWords. See TopicsAndWebs for more information about naming webs, and disambiguation when a Web contains a topic of the same name.

If you are creating a sub-web (a web inside a web), use the notation Existingweb.Newweb.

About sub-webs

You can only create (Hierarchical) sub-webs if the {EnableHierarchicalWebs} expert setting under the configure -> Store Tab is enabled. sub-webs are currently enabled (default) .

You might not need sub-webs. Foswiki topics already have a parent/child relationship within a web, which is shown in the breadcrumb. Try to keep the number of webs to a minimum in order to keep search and cross-referencing simple.

Summary

Enter a short description of the web. This description will be used in the SiteMap. If you are using links: write Web.TopicName instead of just TopicName for correct linking.

Additional Settings

Leave these settings as default if you do not understand what they mean.

Template web

Base the new web on an existing web.

About template webs

There are two methods used to create a new web.
First you can use a specially designed TemplateWeb. This is an invisible web that begins with an underscore "_" character (for example _default). All topics in the template web will be copied into your new web.
The second method is to use an existing web as a template web. This may be useful if you already have a web that you would like to use as a starting point. Only topics that have names beginning with "Web..." (like "WebHome" or "WebNotify") are copied. In either case you will want to be sure to verify that your new web has all the custom modifications that you desire.

Notes:
  • You must have ROOTCHANGE access to create a top-level web (one with no parent)
  • A new web created using the _default or _empty template webs must have their access controls set before public use
  • _empty is really empty (only has a WebPreferences topic); normally you want to choose _default.
  • Only the person who created it has permission to change the WebPreferences in the new web

List on SiteMap page

Should the new web be listed on SiteMap? Even if hidden, the web will be linkable and accessible to users.

Include in global search and %WEBLIST%

Specify if you want to exclude the web from global search, and from the %WEBLIST% macro used in the WebLeftBarWebsList.

Web color

Displayed on SiteMap and in the left bar (Pattern Skin).
Choose by clicking on the input field, or enter a System.StandardColors.

In-depth info on Webs

Subweb preferences are inherited

The preference settings of a subweb are inherited from the parent web and overridden locally. Preferences are ultimately inherited from the System.DefaultPreferences topic.

Example Preference Inheritance for Sandbox/TestWeb/SubWeb.SubWebTopic topic:
  1. System.DefaultPreferences default settings
  2. Main.SitePreferences site-wide settings inherits from and overrides settings in System.DefaultPreferences
  3. Sandbox.WebPreferences inherits from and overrides settings in Main.SitePreferences
  4. Sandbox/TestWeb.WebPreferences inherits from and overrides settings in Sandbox.WebPreferences
  5. Sandbox/TestWeb/SubWeb.WebPreferences inherits from and overrides settings in Sandbox/TestWeb.WebPreferences
  6. Sandbox/TestWeb/SubWeb.SubWebTopic inherits from and overrides settings in Sandbox/TestWeb/SubWeb.WebPreferences

Subweb navigation

The default Pattern skin indicates Subwebs by indenting them in the sidebar relative to their level in the hierarchy.

Renaming or Deleting a Web

Rename a web via the Tools section in each WebPreferences topic. You may delete a web by moving it into a Trash web.

Permissions

You may only rename a web if you have the following permissions
  • You must be allowed to rename and changes topics in the web you want to rename
  • You must be allowed to rename topics in the parent web of the web you want to rename
  • If the web is a root web (i.e. it has no parent web) then you must have permission to both create and rename root webs. These permissions are controlled by the ALLOWROOTCHANGE preference, which can be set in Main.SitePreferences.
  • If you move the web to another parent web you must be allowed to create and change topics in the new parent web. When you rename a web Foswiki will try and update all links that refer to the old web. You should note that links only get updated in topics that you are allowed to edit. If you use access rights in the Foswiki installation it is generally best to let an administrator rename webs to avoid too many broken links.

Renaming the webs in the distribution

It is possible, though not recommended, to change the names of the webs in the distribution. If you plan to rename the Main web, remember that Foswiki stores user topics in this web. That means that every WikiName signature - Main.SomeUserName - points to it and would need updating (unless the macro style %USERSWEB%.SomeUserName, is used throughout). This potentially large change can be performed automatically if you rename the web from the Tools section of WebPreferences, as described above.

ALERT! If you want to rename the System or Main webs, remember they are referred to in the Foswiki configuration. You will need to change the {SystemWebName}, {UsersWebName} and/or {LocalSitePreferences} settings in the configuration using the configure interface.

ALERT! Renaming the webs in the distribution is not recommended because it makes upgrades much more complicated.

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory, AdminToolsCategory

Back to top


Manage Users

Register users on your Foswiki site; change/reset/install passwords; remove user accounts

ALERT! Some of the features below may be disabled, depending on your Foswiki configuration.

Authentication and Access Control

Register User

You don't have to have user home pages in Foswiki for Authentication to work - see UserAuthentication for details.

  • UserRegistration is used when you want new users to individually register with Foswiki by filling out a form
  • BulkRegistration is used by administrators to register multiple users at the same time

Change, Reset and Install Passwords

Note that the below features are only relevant when you use an internal password manager where Foswiki can set and reset passwords.

  • ChangePassword is for users who can remember their password and want to change it
  • ResetPassword is for users who cannot remember their password; a system generated password is e-mailed to them
  • BulkResetPassword is for administrators who want to reset many passwords at once
  • ChangeEmailAddress changes the hidden email address stored in the password file

Changing User Account Names

To change the user's WikiName:
  • Rename the user's Foswiki homepage in the Main web, such as from JaneSmith to JaneMiller.
    • Fix backlinks in the Main web only
    • Make sure the group topics are updated (if any.)
  • Edit the Main.WikiUsers topic and move the user's entry so that the list is in proper alphabetical order.
  • Recreate the old topic with a pointer to the new topic, so that links in other webs work properly. Example content:
    %M% Jane Smith is now known as JaneMiller

If external authentication is used and you want to change the login username:
  • The login username needs to be changed in the authentication server (e.g. Active Directory)
  • In Foswiki's Main.WikiUsers topic, fix the mapping from username to WikiName:
       * JaneSmith - jsmith - 13 Sep 2006
    to:
       * JaneMiller - jmiller - 13 Sep 2006

Removing User Accounts

No permission to view RemoveUser

Configuring User Registration

The registration process is configured at configure Security and Authentication tab, Registration sub-tab.
  • Registration is enabled with {Register}{EnableNewUserRegistration} (This is the default)

Verification of the new registration email address

Registration can be configured to require a verification via the registered email address: {Register}{NeedVerification}
  • An email is sent to the email address entered by the new user with a confirmation code.
  • The user must enter the confirmation code into a dialog on the wiki to confirm the registration.
  • The pending registration lifetime defaults to 6 hours. If the user does not confirm within that time, the pending registration will be removed.
  • Registration requests pending verification can be viewed by visiting the PendingRegistrationsReport

Administrative approval of new registrations

Registration can be configured to require approval. {Register}{NeedApproval}
  • If confirmation is enabled, the email address is verified per the steps in the prior paragraph
  • An email is then set to the list of Approvers - {Register}{Approvers}
  • The approver can then Approve or Deny the registration by following a link in the email.
  • Registrations awaiting approval can be viewed and approved from the PendingRegistrationsReport

Registration Email Requirements

By default, Foswiki does not require unique email addresses. Multiple users can register using the same email address. Enable the setting {Register}{UniqueEmail} to prevent use of the same email by multiple users.

By default, any email domain can be used for registration. Set the expert setting {Register}{EmailFilter} to restrict the domains usable for registration. See the configure help for more details.

See the configure help at configure Security and Authentication tab, Registration sub-tab, for more details.

Expiration of pending registrations and approvals

By default, expiration of pending registrations and approvals is done "on the fly" during the registration process. For best performance, you can set {Register}{ExpireAfter} to a negative number, which will mean that Foswiki won't try to clean up expired registrations durning registration. Instead you should use a cron job to clean up expired sessions. The standard maintenance cron script tools/tick_foswiki.pl includes this function.

Note that if you are using registration approval by 3rd party reviewers, this timer should most likely be significantly increased. 24 hours = 86400, 3 days = 259200.

Pending registration requests are stored in the {WorkingDir}/registration_approvals directory, but are no longer in plain text format. To view the pending registrations see the new PendingRegistrations report.

Customizing the User Registration pages

If you modify any of the topic related to User Registration, you should put the modified versions into the Main web. This will make it easier to upgrade to new versions of Foswiki.

Creating a custom User Registration page

Three topics make up the user registration page:

The actual customization steps are documented in comments internal to System.DefaultUserRegistration. The general steps are:
  1. Copy System.DefaultUserRegistration to Main.UserRegistration. (Use the "More topic actions" option on System.DefaultUserRegistration)
  2. Edit Main.UserRegistration that you just created and follow the instructions on that page.

Using these two steps, you can:
  • Enable/disable entry of existing UserForm fields in registration.
  • Enable automatic group membership during registration.

Note that while it may be interesing to enable fields like OrganizationURL, Comments, etc. they are often used by registration SPAM-Bots to generate topics with links.

Creating a custom NewUserTemplate and UserForm

If you want to modify the contents of the user page that is created during user registration.

  1. Copy System.NewUserTemplate to Main.NewUserTemplate
  2. Modify the page as desired.

The Registration process will automatically find and use the Main version of the template if it exists.

If you want to customize the contents of the UserForm, for example, to remove or add field:
  1. Copy System.NewUserTemplate to Main.UserTemplate
  2. Copy System.UserForm to Main.UserForm
  3. Make your desired changes.
  4. Edit System.NewUserTemplate, delete the UserForm, and add your new Main form.
See System.UserForm#CustomForm for more details.

Creating multiple categories of users

By combining all the above concepts, it's possible to have multiple categories of users, for example "Customers", "Vendors", "Employees", each with a custom Template topic, a custom User form and a custom Registration form.

Multiple categories of users can be supported by:

Customizing registration Emails.

Foswiki's Registration can send 7 emails whose output is governed by templates:
User registration confirmation. (Awaiting email verification). templates/registerconfirm.tmpl
User registration failed notification, cleanup was successful. templates/registerfailedremoved.tmpl
User registration failed notification, cleanup of partial registration also failed. templates/registerfailednotremoved.tmpl
User registration denied notification. templates/registerdenied.tmpl
Approver registration pending notification. templates/registerapprove.tmpl
User notification of sucessful registraiton. templates/registernotify.tmpl
Administrator notification of successful registration. templates/registernotifyadmin.tmpl

As these are SkinTemplates, they can be customized and selected using the SKIN path setting. Because there are default .tmpl files in the templates dir, this cannot use Template topics.

Note: As of Foswiki 2.1.3, the email From: address can be different from the WIKIWEBMASTER address, and is configurable using the bin/configure tool. See the "Expert" {WikiAgentName} and {WikiAgentEmail} settings on the "Mail" section, "Basic Settings and Autoconfiguration" tab. If these fields are not set, then the WIKIWEBMASTER setting will be used as the From: address.

These template files have a specific format that matches the raw format of emails sent via SMTP, so be careful and test your changes. It is easiest to start by copying the default templates that you wish to change.: (You don't need to copy every template).

cd templates
cp registernotify.tmpl registernotify.myskin.tmpl
cp registerconfirm.tmpl registerconfirm.myskin.tmpl
cp registernotifyadmin.tmpl registernotifyadmin.myskin.tmpl
then add myskin to the beginning of the SKIN setting in SitePreferences.

From this point on, your myskin templates will be used for the registration emails.

To make it possible for users to modify the email contents, you could use a parameterized %INCLUDE% statement in your customized version, eg:

From: %WIKIAGENTNAME% <%WIKIAGENTEMAIL%>
To: %FIRSTLASTNAME% <%EMAILADDRESS%>
Subject: %MAKETEXT{
   "[_1] - Registration for [_2] ([_3])"
   args="%WIKITOOLNAME%, %WIKINAME%, %EMAILADDRESS%"
}%
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=%CHARSET%
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

%INCLUDE{
    "%USERSWEB%.RegisterNotifyEmail"
    WIKINAME="%WIKINAME%"
    FIRSTLASTNAME="%FIRSTLASTNAME%"
    EMAILADDRESS="%EMAILADDRESS%"
    TEMPLATETOPIC="%TEMPLATETOPIC%"
}%
HELP Note the use of %WIKINAME%, %FIRSTLASTNAME%, %EMAILADDRESS%, passed in from the INCLUDE so that the topic below is similar to the original template. The %TEMPLATETOPIC% variable is also available. It could be used as a "section" name in the include, or directly in the email for tailoring messages for specific types of users.

and then create a topic Main.RegisterNotifyEmail:
Welcome to %WIKITOOLNAME%.

%MAKETEXT{"Your personal [_1] topic is located at [_2]. You can customize it as you like:" args="%WIKITOOLNAME%, %SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%USERSWEB%/%WIKINAME%"}%

   * %MAKETEXT{"Some people turn it into a personal portal with favorite links, what they work on, what help they'd like, etc."}%
   * %MAKETEXT{"Some add schedule information and vacation notice."}%

Regards
%WIKIWEBMASTERNAME%
Your Wiki Admin


%MAKETEXT{"Note:"}%
   2 %MAKETEXT{"You can change your password at via [_1]" args="%SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%SYSTEMWEB%/ChangePassword"}%
   3 %MAKETEXT{"If you haven't set a password yet or you want to reset it, go to: [_1]" args="%SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%SYSTEMWEB%/ResetPassword"}%

%MAKETEXT{"Submitted content:"}%
%FORMDATA%


Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory

Back to top


Appendix A: TWiki Development Time-line

TWiki Release 5.0 (Helsinki) released on 2010-05-29 & 2010-10-10

New Features and Enhancements of TWiki Release 5.0

  • Security Enhancements
    • Configure script requires authentication to reduce exposure of internal system settings.
    • The twiki root directory is no longer HTML doc enabled, reducing the odds of exposing data due to webserver misconfiguration.
  • Usability Enhancements
    • New TopMenuSkin with pulldown menus for better usability and corporate/modern look&feel.
    • Attach multiple files at once, useful when attaching many files.
    • Pre-installed TagMePlugin, useful to tag topics to quickly access content in a large TWiki.
    • Upgraded TinyMCEPlugin to latest TinyMCE 3.2.4.1 for better WYSIWYG editing experience.
  • TWiki Application Platform Enhancements
    • Pre-installed JQueryPlugin, adding a lightweight cross-browser JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML.
    • Improvements to ENCODE, IF, URLPARAM, WEB and WEBLIST variables.
  • Search Enhancements
    • Query syntax with array size, useful to query TWiki forms and attachments.
    • Query syntax can be used in format parameter of search, giving more control over formatting.
  • Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
    • Adding 51 new TWikiDocGraphics icons, and 11 updated icons.
    • The TWiki doc graphics library is now aware of image size and is cached for speed.
  • Plugin Enhancements
    • SpreadSheetPlugin: Improvements to $TIME() and $NOP() functions.
    • HeadlinesPlugin: New touch parameter in HEADLINES variable to alert users via e-mail notification of news updates
    • API: New TWiki::Func::buildWikiWord function
  • Bug Fixes
    • 38 bug fixes since TWiki-4.3.2

Hall of Fame of TWiki Release 5.0

Many people have been involved in creating TWiki 5.0. Special thanks go to the most active contributors in the following areas:

If you find an omission please fix it at TWiki:TWiki/TWikiHistory. For the full list of contributors see TWikiContributor.

See more details on the TWiki 5.0 release at TWikiReleaseNotes05x00.

TWiki Release 4.3 (Georgetown) released on 2009-04-29

New Features and Enhancements of TWiki Release 4.3

  • Usability Enhancements
    • Replace question mark links with red-links to point to non-existing topics
    • Use ISO date format by default

  • Search Enhancements
    • Add footer parameter to Formatted Search
    • Add number of topics to Formatted Search

  • Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
    • Control over variable expansion at topic creation time
    • 17 new TWikiDocGraphics images
    • Include URL supports list of domains to exclude from proxy
    • Adding Korean language

  • Bug Fixes
    • More than 30 bug fixes since 4.2.4

Hall of Fame of TWiki Release 4.3

Many people have been involved in creating TWiki 4.3. Special thanks go to the most active contributors in the following areas:

If you find an omission please fix it at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiHistory. For the full list of contributors see TWikiContributor.

See more details on the TWiki 4.3 release at TWikiReleaseNotes04x03.

TWiki Release 4.2 (Freetown), 2008-01-22

New Features and Enhancements of TWiki Release 4.2

  • Easier Installation and Upgrade
    • New Internal Admin Login feature
    • The Main.TWikiUsers topic is no longer distributed as a default topic in Main web
    • A new directory working which per default is located in the TWiki root which contains registration_approvals, tmp, and work_areas
    • Configure can now authenticate when connecting to local plugins repository.

  • Usability Enhancements
    • New WYSIWYG editor based on TinyMCE replaces the Kupu based editor
    • New "Restore topic" feature has been added to the More Topic Actions menu to easily restore an older version of a topic

  • Application Platform Enhancements
    • Enhancements to IF: allows, ingroup, istopic, and isweb

  • Search Enhancements
    • New query search mode supports SQL-style queries over form fields and other meta-data

  • Skins and Templates Enhancements
    • The PatternSkin which is the default skin for TWiki has got a face lift
    • The default templates have been heavily refactored to make it easier to create skins reusing the default skin.

  • Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
    • Many new functions in the API for plugin developers
    • Table of Content (TOC) feature enhanced
    • re-architected Pluggable user mapping (between login name and WikiName) to integrate with alternative authentication and Management schemes
    • Topic based User management has been extracted into a separately update-able package (TWikiUsersContrib)

  • Bug Fixes
    • More than 300 bugs fixes since 4.1.2

Hall of Fame of TWiki Release 4.2

Many people have been involved in creating TWiki 4.2. Special thanks go to the most active contributors in the following areas:

Many thanks also to the contributors in the following areas:

If you find an omission please fix it at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiHistory. For the full list of contributors see TWikiContributor.

Note: Order of contributors under "Spec and code", "Templates and skins" and "Documentation" is based on number of SVN file changes for core and default extensions from March 2007 (svn rev:13046) to Jan 2008 (svn rev:16210). (Details at TWikibug:TWiki420SvnLog). Order of contributors under "Testing and bug fixing" is based on Bugs web statistics from 2007-03 to 2007-12. Order of contributors under "TWiki.org wiki champions" and "Customer support" is based on TWiki.org web statistics from 2007-02 to 2007-12.

See more details on the TWiki 4.2 release at TWikiReleaseNotes04x02.

TWiki Release 4.1 (Edinburgh), 2007-01-16

New Features and Enhancements of TWiki Release 4.1

  • Easier Installation and Upgrade
    • Plugins can now be installed from the configure script.
    • The loading of plugin preferences settings has been moved earlier in the preferences evaluation order so that plugin settings can be redefined in Main.SitePreferences, WebPreferences and in topics. To make TWiki upgrades easier, it is recommended to set the plugin settings in Main.SitePreferences, and not to customize the settings in the plugin topic. For example, to change the TEMPLATES setting of the CommentPlugin, create a new COMMENTPLUGIN_TEMPLATES setting in Main.SitePreferences.
    • Plugin settings can now be defined in configure instead of in the plugin topic (requires that the individual plugin has implemented this). TWiki performs slightly better by not looking for preferences settings in plugin topics.
    • Configure no longer shows many unnecessary errors when run first time.
    • The webmaster email address is now defined in configure instead of TWikiPreferences.
    • Default file access rights in the distribution package have been changed to be more universally defined and in line with the default access rights for new topics.

  • Usability Enhancements
    • Redesigned result page when typing incomplete topic name into the Jump box, so that it is possible to quickly navigate to a topic, also in a very large TWiki installation. For example, "I know there is a topic about Ajax somewhere in the Eng web. OK, let my type Eng.ajax into the Jump box... Here we go, the third link is the AjaxCookbook I was looking for."
    • Many user documentation improvements.
    • URL parameters maintained in Table of Contents links so you can stay in a temporary skin (e.g. print) and keep URLPARAM values when you click the TOC links
    • Attachment tables now sorted alphabetically.
    • Better printing of tables and verbatim text in PatternSkin.

  • Application Platform Enhancements
    • Auto-incremented topic name on save with AUTOINC<n> in topic name; used by TWiki applications to create topic based database records.
    • The edit and save scripts support a redirectto parameter to redirect to a topic or a URL; for security, redirect to URL needs to be enabled with a {AllowRedirectUrl} configure flag.
    • CommentPlugin supports the redirectto parameter to redirect to a URL or link to TWiki topic after submitting comment.
    • The topic URL parameter also respects the {AllowRedirectUrl} configure flag so redirects to URLs can be disabled which could be abused for phishing attacks.
    • The view script supports a section URL parameter to view just a named section within a topic. Useful for simple AJAX type applications.
    • New plugin handler for content move.
    • Enhancements for Ajax based applications with TWiki:Plugins/YahooUserInterfaceContrib and TWiki:Plugins.TWikiAjaxContrib (available at twiki.org).

  • Search Enhancements
    • METASEARCH handles a format parameter like SEARCH.
    • Topic not found / WebTopicViewTemplate search now case insensitive.
    • FormattedSearch header supporting $nop, $quot, $percnt, $dollar.
    • Add search by createdate option to SEARCH.
    • New newline option for SEARCH to protect e.g. formfields from being altered during rendering in SEARCH.

  • Skins and Templates Enhancements
    • Support for templates to have text rendering affecting aspect outside of textarea.
    • Pattern skin dependence on TwistyPlugin instead of TwistyContrib (performance improvement.)
    • Don't strip newlines from the front of TMPL:DEFs.

  • Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
    • Change in WikiWord definition: Numbers are treated as lower case letters, e.g. Y2K is now a WikiWord.
    • Configurable template load path. Advanced feature for those that work with customized templates.
    • Added %VBAR% to TWikiPreferences for vertical bar symbol.
    • On topic creation, force initial letter of topic name to be upper case.
    • Allow date format in form fields.
    • Enhance REVINFO{} variable with same date qualifiers as GMTIME{}.
    • WebTopicCreator - adding ability to select a template from any topic name ending in ...Template
    • Functionality of TWiki:Plugins.DateFieldPlugin merged into core

  • Enhancements of Pre-installed Plugins
    • CommentPlugin: Supports removal of comment prompt after a comment is made.
    • EditTablePlugin: Default date format based on JSCalendarContrib instead of plugin topic.
    • InterwikiPlugin: Supports custom link formats.
    • SlideShowPlugin: Preserves URL parameters in slideshow
    • SpreadSheetPlugin: New functions $LISTRAND(), $LISTSHUFFLE(), $LISTTRUNCATE().
    • TablePlugin: New attribute cellborder.
    • TablePlugin: Highlight the sorted column with custom colors; includes also a general cosmetic update of default colors.
    • TablePlugin: Support for initsort on more than one table. A table with the initsort option is initsorted UNLESS it is sorted by clicking on a column header. If you click on a header of another table all other tables goes back to the default sort defined by initsort or not sorted if no initsort, and the new table is sorted based on the user clicking on a table header.

  • Bugfixes
    • More than 200 bugs fixed since 4.0.5

Hall of Fame of TWiki Release 4.1

Although many more people have been involved in creating TWiki-4.1, special thanks go to the most active contributors in the following areas:

If you find an omission please fix it at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiHistory. For the full list of contributors see TWikiContributor.

Note: Sequence of contributors under "Spec, code, testing", "Templates and skins" and "Documentation" is based on number of SVN check-ins for core and default extensions from 2006-02 to 2006-12. Sequence of contributors under "TWiki.org wiki champions" and "Customer support" is based on TWiki.org web statistics from 2006-02 to 2006-12.

See more details on the TWiki 4.1 release at TWikiReleaseNotes04x01.

TWiki Release 4.0 (Dakar), 2006-02-01

Major New Features
  • Much simpler install and configuration
  • Integrated session support
  • Webserver-independent login/logout
  • Security sandbox blocking exploits for remote command execution on the server
  • Edit conflict resolution with automatic merge
  • Multilingual UI
  • E-mail confirmations for registration
  • WYSIWYG editor (beta)
  • Hierarchical sub-webs (beta)

Many, many people worked on TWiki-4.0.0. The credits in the table below only list the people who worked on individual enhancements. If you find an omission please fix it at TWiki:TWiki.TWikiHistory. There were many other contributors; for a full list, visit TWikiContributor.

Most of the redesign, refactoring and new documentation work in Dakar release was done by Crawford Currie. Michael Sparks provided ideas and proof of concept for several improvements. Other people who gave large amounts of their time and patience to less sexy aspects of the work, such as testing, infrastructure and documentation, are AntonAylward, KennethLavrsen, LynnwoodBrown, MichaelDaum, Peter Thoeny, SteffenPoulsen, Sven Dowideit, WillNorris.

Installation & configuration Contributor
Much simpler install and configuration Crawford Currie, LynnwoodBrown, ArthurClemens
mod_perl safe code for better performance Crawford Currie
Security
Security sandbox blocking exploits for remote command execution on the server Florian Weimer, Crawford Currie, Sven Dowideit
Reworked access permission model Crawford Currie
Internationalization & localization
User Interface Internationalisation AntonioTerceiro
Chinese translation CheDong
Danish translation SteffenPoulsen
Dutch translation ArthurClemens
French translation BenVoui
German translation AndreUlrich
Italian translation MassimoMancini
Polish translation ZbigniewKulesza
Portuguese translation AntonioTerceiro, CarlinhosCecconi
Spanish translation WillNorris, MiguelABayona
Swedish translation Erik Åman
New features for users
Edit conflict resolution with automatic merge Crawford Currie
Fine grained change notification on page level and parent/child relationship Crawford Currie
WYSIWYG editor Crawford Currie, ColasNahaboo, DamienMandrioli, RomainRaugi
Integrated session support GregAbbas, Crawford Currie
Webserver-independent login/logout Crawford Currie
Registration process with e-mail confirmation MartinCleaver
Tip of the Day box in TWiki Home PaulineCheung, Peter Thoeny, AntonAylward
ATOM feeds Peter Thoeny
"Force New Revision" check box for topic save WillNorris
New features for TWiki administrators and wiki application developers
Improved preferences handling ThomasWeigert, Crawford Currie
Named include sections RafaelAlvarez
Create topic names with consecutive numbers Sven Dowideit
Parameterized includes Crawford Currie
Dynamic form option definitions of TWikiForms with FormattedSearch MartinCleaver
SEARCH enhancements with new parameters excludeweb, newline, noempty, nofinalnewline, nonoise, recurse, zeroresults Crawford Currie, ArthurClemens, Peter Thoeny, ThomasWeigert
FormattedSearch enhancements with $changes, $count, $formfield(name, 30, ...), $summary(expandvar), $summary(noheaders), $summary(showvarnames) ColasNahaboo, Crawford Currie, Peter Thoeny, Sven Dowideit
New TWikiVariables ACTIVATEDPLUGINS, ALLVARIABLES, AUTHREALM, EMAILS, FAILEDPLUGINS, HTTP, HTTPS, ICONURL, ICONURLPATH, IF, LANGUAGES, LOCALSITEPREFS, LOGIN, LOGOUT, MAKETEXT, META, PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS, QUERYSTRING, STARTSECTION/ENDSECTION, SESSION_VARIABLE, SESSIONID, SESSIONVAR, SPACEOUT, USERLANGUAGE, WIKIHOMEURL ArthurClemens, AntonioTerceiro, Crawford Currie, GregAbbas, Peter Thoeny, Sven Dowideit, WillNorris and many more
TWiki form with hidden type and other form enhancements LynnwoodBrown, ThomasWeigert
Support topic-specific templates for TWiki applications ThomasWeigert
Direct save feature for one-click template-based topic creation LynnwoodBrown, Crawford Currie, ThomasWeigert
Automatic Attachments showing all files in the attachment directory MartinCleaver
Rename, move or delete webs PeterNixon
Hierarchical subwebs (beta) PeterNixon
New features for Plugin developers
REST (representational state transfer) interface for Plugins RafaelAlvarez, TWiki:Main.MartinCleaver, Sven Dowideit
New and improved Plugins APIs Crawford Currie, ThomasWeigert
Improvements in the TWiki engine room
Major OO redesign and refactoring of codebase Crawford Currie
Automatic build system Crawford Currie
Extensive test suite, unit tests and testcases Crawford Currie
TWiki:Codev.DevelopBranch , DEVELOP branch Bugs system Sven Dowideit
Documentation, logo artwork, skins:
Documentation Crawford Currie, LynnwoodBrown, Peter Thoeny, Sven Dowideit and others
Design of TWikiLogos with big "T" in a speech bubble ArthurClemens, Peter Thoeny
Improved templates and PatternSkin ArthurClemens

See more details at TWikiReleaseNotes04x00

01-Sep-2004 Release (Cairo)

Major New Features

  • Automatic upgrade script, and easier first-time installation
  • Attractive new skins, using a standard set of CSS classes, and a skin browser to help you choose
  • New easier-to-use save options
  • Many improvements to SEARCH
  • Improved support for internationalisation
  • Better topic management screens
  • More pre-installed Plugins: CommentPlugin, EditTablePlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, SpreadSheetPlugin, TablePlugin
  • Improved Plugins API and more Plugin callbacks
  • Better support for different authentication methods
  • Many user interface and usability improvements
  • And many, many more enhancements

Details of New Features and Enhancements of 01-Sep-2004 Release Developer, Sponsor
Install: Ship with an automatic upgrade script to facilitate TWiki upgrades. Details TWiki:Main.MartinGregory TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Install: New testenv function to change the locks in the TWiki database to the web server user id (automates installation step). Details TWiki:Main.MattWilkie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Install: The shipped .htaccess.txt now needs to be edited before it is valid, to help reduce chances of error. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Install: Configurable password file handling for different types of encryption. Details TWiki:Main.PavelGoran TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Install: Remove office locations from registration. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Install: Changes to support shorter URLs with Apache Rewrite rules. Details TWiki:Main.AntonioBellezza TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Install: Remove the Know web from the distribution. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Internationalization: Support use of UTF-8 URLs for I18N characters in TWiki page and attachment names. Details TWiki:Main.RichardDonkin
Authentication: Authenticate users when creating new topic in view restricted web. Details TWiki:Main.JonathanGraehl TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Preferences: TWiki Preferences need to be secured properly. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Preferences: Use TWiki Forms to set user preferences. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Skins: New pre-installed skins PatternSkin and DragonSkin. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Skins: New skin browser to choose from installed skins. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Skins: Documented set of CSS classes that are used in standard skins. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Skins: Added CSS class names to Diff output. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Skins: Templates can now be read from user topics, as well as from files in the templates diretcory. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Skins: Ensure that the default template gets overridden by a template passed in. Details TWiki:Main.MartinCleaver TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Skin: Convey an important broadcast message to all users, e.g. scheduled server downtime. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Skin: Balanced pastel colors for TWiki webs. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Rendering: Use exclamation point prefix to escape TWiki markup rendering. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Rendering: Ordered lists with uppercase & lowercase letters, uppercase & lowercase Roman numerals. Details TWiki:Main.DanBoitnott TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Rendering: Allow custom styles for the "?" of uncreated topics. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Rendering: Render IRC and NNTP as a URL. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Rendering: Make acronym linking more strict by requiring a trailing boundary, e.g. excluding TLAfoobar. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Rendering: TWiki Form with Label type. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Rendering: Web names can now be WikiWords. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Rendering: New syntax for definition list with dollar sign and colon. Details TWiki:Main.AdamTheo TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Rendering: Table with multi-span rows, functionality provided by Table Plugin. Details TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Variables: New title parameter for TOC variable. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Variables: New REVINFO variable in templates supports flexible display of revision information. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Variables: Set times to be displayed as gmtime or servertime. Details TWiki:Main.SueBlake TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Variables: Properly encode parameters for form fields with ENCODE variable. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: Expand USERNAME and WIKINAME in Template Topics. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: Expand same variables in new user template as in template topics. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: Optionally warn when included topic does not exist; with the option to create the included topic. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: In topic text show file-types of attached files as icons. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: New variable FORMFIELD returns the value of a field in the form attached to a topic.. Details TWiki:Main.DavidSachitano TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Variables: Meta data rendering for form fields with META{"formfield"}. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: New PLUGINVERSION variable. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: URLPARAM now has a default="..." argument, for when no value has been given. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: URLPARAM variable with newline parameter. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Variables: URLPARAM variable with new multiple=on parameter. Details TWiki:Main.PaulineCheung TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: New switch for search to perform an AND NOT search. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Keyword search to search with implicit AND. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Multiple searches in same topic with new multiple="on" paramter. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Remove limitation on number of topics to search in a web. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Exclude topics from search with an excludetopic parameter. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Expand Variables on Formatted Search with expandvariables Flag. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Formatted Search with Web Form variable to retrieve the name of the form attached to a topic. Details TWiki:Main.FrankSmith TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Formatted Search with Conditional Output. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Formatted Search with $parent token to get the parent topic. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: New separator parameter to SEARCH supports better SEARCH embedding. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Improved search performance when sorting result by topic name. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: New scope=all search parameter to search in topic name and topic text at the same time. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: New topic parameter for AND search on topic text and topic name. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search modules uses Perl-style keyword parameters (code cleanup). Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: New $wikiname variable in format parameter of formatted search. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Search: Sort search by topic creation date. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Search: Topic creation date and user in Formatted Search. Details TWiki:Main.CoreyFruitman TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Search: Increase levels of nested search from 2 to 16. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Plugins: New pre-installed Plugins CommentPlugin, EditTablePlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, SpreadSheetPlugin, TablePlugin. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Plugins: New callback afterSaveHandler, called after a topic is saved. Details TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Plugins: New callbacks beforeAttachmentSaveHandler and afterAttachmentSaveHandler, used to intervene on attachment save event. Details TWiki:Main.MartinCleaver TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Plugins: New callbacks beforeCommonTagsHandler and afterCommonTagsHandler. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Plugins: New callback renderFormFieldForEditHandler to render form field for edit. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Plugins: New callback renderWikiWordHandler to custom render links. Details TWiki:Main.MartinCleaver TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Plugins: New function TWiki::Func::formatTime to format time into a string. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Plugins: New function TWiki::Func::getRegularExpression to get predefined regular expressions. Details TWiki:Main.RichardDonkin
Plugins: New functions TWiki::Func::getPluginPreferences* to get Plugin preferences. Details TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Plugins: New function TWiki::Func::extractParameters to extract all parameters from a variable string. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Plugins: New function TWiki::Func::checkDependencies to check for module dependency. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Plugins: A recommendation for where a Plugin can store its data. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
UI: Show tool-tip topic info on WikiWord links. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
UI: Save topic and continue edit feature. Details TWiki:Main.ColasNahaboo
UI: Change topic with direct save (without edit/preview/save cycle) and checkpoint save. Details TWiki:Main.MattWilkie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
UI: In attachment table, change 'action' to 'manage'. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Smaller usability enhancements on the file attachment table. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Removes anchor links from header content and places them before the text to fix 'header becomes link'. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Improved functionality of the More screen. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Quick reference chart of most used markup is now listed on the edit screen. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Flag for edit script to avoid overwrite of existing topic text and form data. Details TWiki:Main.NielsKoldso TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
UI: Disable Escape key in IE textarea to prevent it cancelling work. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
UI: Improved warning message on unsaved topic. Details TWiki:Main.MartinGregory TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
UI: Reverse order of words in page title for better multi-window/tab navigation. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
UI: Provides a framework to create and modify a topic without going through edit->preview->save sequence. Details TWiki:Main.AndreUlrich TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
UI: Set the topic parent to none in More screen, e.g. remove the current topic parent. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
UI: Use templates to define how file attachments are displayed. Was previously hard-coded. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
UI: Topic diff shows unified diff with unchanged context. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
UI: Diff feature shows TWiki form changes in nice tables. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Code refactoring: The log entry for a save now has a dontNotify flag in the extra field if the user checked the minor changes flag. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Code refactoring: Server-side include of attachments accelerates INCLUDE. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Code refactoring: Move functionality out of bin scripts and into included modules. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Code refactoring: Move bin script functionality into TWiki::UI modules. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Code refactoring: Optimize preferences handling for better performance. Details TWiki:Main.PavelGoran TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Code refactoring: Refactor variable expansion for edit and register. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Code refactoring: Move savemulti script into TWiki::UI::Save. Details TWiki:Main.MattWilkie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Code refactoring: Topic search is done natively in Perl, it does not depend anymore on system calls with pipes. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Code refactoring: Fix logical error in upload script which prevented MIME filename from being used. Details TWiki:Main.WalterMundt

Bug Fixes of 01-Sep-2004 Release Developer, Sponsor
Fix: Consistently create headings with empty anchor tags. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: TOC does not work for headings containing & without spaces surrounding it. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Backslash line break breaks TWiki form definitions. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Rename fixes unrelated topic references. Details TWiki:Main.RichardDonkin
Fix: Bug with infinite recursion in search. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Can't send mail with full 'From' address. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: All scripts change to $bin before execute (for mod_perl2). Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Several RSS readers do not show all entries seen in the WebChanges list; repeated updates to the same topics get lost. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Fix: TWiki::Access::checkAccessPermission function improperly handles Main and TWiki webs. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Topic save returns error CI Date precedes date in revision. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Double quotes got replaced by " in TWiki forms. Details TWiki:Main.MichaelSparks TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Duplicated Wiki name in .htpasswd entry for sha1 encoding. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: When viewing a previous version of a topic, the view script substitutes only one occurrence of the variable EDITTOPIC. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Form default values are not working for text fields. Details TWiki:Main.ThomasWeigert TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Formatted searches using a $pattern which unbalanced parenthesis crash TWiki. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Formatted Search uses title but should use name for formfield parameter. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: GMTIME variable returns unwanted GMT text. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Include from other Web links ACRONYMS. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Including an HTML file is very slow. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Fix: includeUrl() mess up absolute URLs. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Filter out fixed font rendering in TOC to avoid unrendered = equal signs in TOC. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: The initializeUserHandler is broken for session Plugins. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Fix: SEARCH fails with very large webs. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Security alert: User could gain view access rights of another user. Details TWiki:Main.KimCovil TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: 'print to closed file handle' error of log files are not writable. Details TWiki:Main.MartinGregory TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Meta data handler can't process CR-LF line endings. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: METAFIELD meta data is not shown in view raw=on mode. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Minor XHTML non-compliance in templates and code. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Getting pages from virtual hosts fails. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Fix: Create new web fails if RCS files do not exist. Details TWiki:Main.ClausBrunzema TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Metacharacters can be passed through to the shell in File Attach. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Ability to delete non-WikiWord topics without confirmation. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: + symbol in password reset fails. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Pathinfo cleanup for hosted sites. Details TWiki:Main.MikeSalisbury TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Software error in SEARCH if regular expression pattern has unmached parenthesis. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Pipe chars in the comment field of the attachment table are not escaped. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Link escaping in preview fails for not quoted hrefs. Details TWiki:Main.TedPavlic TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Preview expands variables twice. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Using a proxy with TWiki fails; no proxy-HTTP request, minimal request not HTTP 1.0, requests marked 1.1 are at best 1.0. Details TWiki:Main.MichaelSparks TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Fix: Runaway view processes with TWiki::Sore::RcsLite. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Regex Error in WebTopicList with topics that have meta characters in the name. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Rename script misses some ref-by topics. Details TWiki:Main.JohnTalintyre
Fix: Links to self within the page being renamed are not changed. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Rename topic does 'Main.Main.UserName' for attachments. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Revision date is set to Jan 1970 when using RCS Lite. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: The new dynamically-created SiteMap is very nice, but somewhat slow. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: The makeAnchorName function did not produce the same results if called iteratively, resulting in problems trying to link to headers.. Details TWiki:Main.WalterMundt
Fix: Statistics page does not provide links to non-wikiword topics. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Make TOC link URI references relative. Details TWiki:Main.MartinGregory TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: TWiki hangs when used on Apache 2.0. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: TOC incorrectly strips out links in headers. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: The HTML tags that are generated by TOC do not close properly. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: TOC on INCLUDEd topic ignores STOPINCLUDE. Details TWiki:Main.WillNorris TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Quotes in tooltip message can break a TWiki form. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Better error message if the file attachment directory is not writable. Details TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Image size of PNG files. Details TWiki:Main.ArthurClemens
Fix: The testenv script distinguishes between real user ID and effective user ID. Details TWiki:Main.RichardDonkin
Fix: Variables in square bracket links dont work in form fields. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Variable with Parameters in Form Fields Disappear. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Verbatim tag should escape HTML entities. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Field names of TWiki Forms can be WikiWords, this is used to link to a help topic. Details TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
Fix: Clean up the WebRssBase INCLUDES to use VARIABLES set in TWikiPreferences. Details TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit
Fix: Resolving variables in included topics. Details TWiki:Main.OliverKrueger TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit

01-Feb-2003 Release (Beijing)

01-Dec-2001 Release (Athens)

01-Sep-2001 Release

01-Dec-2000 Release

01-May-2000 Release

  • 21 Apr 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New TWikiVariables %HTTP_HOST% , %REMOTE_ADDR% , %REMOTE_PORT% and %REMOTE_USER% .
  • 21 Apr 2000 - TWiki:Main.JohnAltstadt, TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • TWikiRegistration is done separately for Intranet use (depends on remote_user) or Internet use (depends on .htpasswd file).
  • 20 Mar 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Uploading a file (topic file attachment) will optionally create a link to the uploaded file at the end of the topic. The preference variable %ATTACHLINKBOX% controls the default state of the link check box in the attach file page.
  • 11 Mar 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Better security with taint checking ( Perl -T option )
  • 25 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New preference variables %EDITBOXWIDTH% and %EDITBOXHEIGHT% to specify the edit box size.
  • 25 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Edit preferences topics to set TWiki variables. There are three level of preferences Site-level (TWikiPreferences), web-level (WebPreferences in each web) and user-level preferences (for each of the TWikiUsers). With this, discontinue use of server side include of wikiwebs.inc , wikiwebtable.inc , weblist.inc , webcopyright.inc and webcolors.inc files.
  • 11 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New variable %SCRIPTSUFFIX% / $scriptSuffix containing an optional file extension of the TWiki Perl script. Templates have been changed to use this variable. This allows you to rename the Perl script files to have a file extension like for example ".cgi".
  • 11 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New variable %SCRIPTURLPATH% / $scriptUrlPath containing the script URL without the domain name. Templates have been changed to use this variable instead of %SCRIPTURL% . This is for performance reasons.
  • 07 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Changed the syntax for server side include variable from %INCLUDE:"filename.ext"% to %INCLUDE{"filename.ext"}% . (Previous syntax still supported. Change was done because of inline search syntax)
  • 07 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Inline search. New variable %SEARCH{"str" ...}% to show a search result embedded in a topic text. TWikiVariables has more on the syntax. Inline search combined with the category table feature can be used for example to create a simple bug tracking system.
  • 04 Feb 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Access statistics. Each web has a WebStatistics topic that shows monthy statistics with number of topic views and changes, most popular topics, and top contributors. (It needs to be enabled, TWikiDocumentation has more.)
  • 29 Jan 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Fixed bug where TWiki would not initialize correctly under certain circumstances, i.e. when running it under mod_perl. Sub initialize in wiki.pm did not handle $thePathInfo correctly.
  • 24 Jan 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Fixed bug where an e-mail address starting with a WikiName was rendered as an internal Wiki link instead of an e-mail address, i.e. SomeWikiName@somewhere.test .
  • 10 Jan 2000 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • No more escaping for '%' percent characters. (Number of consecutive '%' entered and displayed is identical.)
  • 03 Oct 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Limit the number of revisions shown at the bottom of the topic. Example
      Topic TWikiHistory . { ..... Diffs r1.10 > r1.9 > r1.8 > r1.7 >... }
      Additional revisions can be selected by pressing the >... link.

01-Sep-1999 Release

  • 31 Aug 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Fixed Y2K bug. (Date in year 2000 had wrong format.)
  • 08 Aug 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New text formatting rule for creating tables. Text gets rendered as a table if enclosed in " " vertical bars. Example line as it is written and how it shows up
  • 03 Aug 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Online registration of new user using web form in TWikiRegistration. Authentication of users.
  • 22 Jul 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Flags $doLogTopic* in wikicfg.pm to selectively log topic view, edit, save, rdiff, attach, search and changes to monthly log file.
  • 21 Jul 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Flag $doRemovePortNumber in wikicfg.pm to optionally remove the port number from the TWiki URL. Example www.some.domain:1234/twiki gets www.some.domain/twiki .
  • 15 Jul 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Search path for include files in %INCLUDE:"file.inc"% variable. Search first in the current web, then in parent data directory. Useful to overload default include text in the data directory by web-specific text, like for example webcopyright.inc text.
  • 07 Jul 1999 - TWiki:Main.ChristopheVermeulen
    • Link a plural topic to a singular topic in case the plural topic does not exist. Example TestVersion / TestVersions , TestPolicy / TestPolicies , TestAddress / TestAddresses , TestBox / TestBoxes .

01-Jul-1999 Release

  • 23 Jun 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New TextFormattingRules to write bold italic text by enclosing words with double underline characters.
  • 23 Jun 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Separate wiki.pm into configuration (wikicfg.pm) and TWiki core (wiki.pm) . This is to ease the upgrade of TWiki installations, it also allows customized extensions to TWiki without affecting the TWiki core.
  • 21 May 1999 - TWiki:Main.DavidWarman
    • Externalize copyright text at the bottom of every page into a web-specific webcopyright.inc file. This is to easily customize the copyright text.
  • 20 May 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added meta tag so that robots index only /view/ of topics, not /edit/, /attach/ e.t.c. Tag <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX">
  • 20 May 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New variables %WIKIHOMEURL% (link when pressing the icon on the upper left corner) and %WIKITOOLNAME% (the name of the wiki tool Foswiki ).
  • 15 Apr 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Topic locking Warn user if a topic has been edited by an other person within one hour. This is to prevent contention, e.g. simultaneous topic updates.
  • 26 Mar 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • File attachments Upload and download any file as a topic attachment by using the browser. FileAttachment has more.
  • 26 Mar 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New variables %PUBURL% (Public directory URL) and %ATTACHURL% (URL of topic file attachment).
  • 09 Feb 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • New text formatting rule for creating fixed font text . Words get showns in fixed font by enclosing them in "=" equal signs. Example Writing =fixed font= will show up as fixed font .
  • 09 Feb 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • No new topic revision is created if the same person saves a topic again within one hour.
  • 03 Feb 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Possible to view complete revision history of a topic on one page. Access at the linked date in the Changes page, or the Diffs link at the bottom of each topic, e.g.
      Topic TWikiHistory . { Edit Ref-By Diffs r1.3 > r1.2 > r1.1 }
      Revision r1.3 1998/11/10 01:34 by PeterThoeny
  • 04 Jan 1999 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Fixed bug when viewing differences between topic revisions that include HTML table tags like <table>, <tr>, <td>.

1998 Releases

  • 08 Dec 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Signature is shown below the text area when editing a topic. Use this to easily copy & paste your signature into the text.
  • 07 Dec 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Possible to add a category table to a TWiki topic. This permits storing and searching for more structured information. Editing a topic shows a HTML form with the usual text area and a table with selectors, checkboxes, radio buttons and text fields. TWikiDocumentation has more on setup. The TWiki.Know web uses this category table to set classification, platform and OS version.
  • 18 Nov 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Internal log of topic save actions to the file data/logYYYYMM.txt, where YYYYMM the year and month in numeric format is. Intended for auditing only, not accessible from the web.
  • 10 Nov 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • The e-mail notification and the Changes topic have now a topic date that is linked. Clicking on the link will show the difference between the two most recent topic revisions.
  • 10 Nov 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • View differences between topic revisions. Each topic has a list of revisions (e.g. r1.3) and differences thereof (e.g. >) at the bottom
      Topic TWikiHistory . { Edit Ref-By r1.3 > r1.2 > r1.1 }
      Revision r1.3 1998/11/10 01:34 by TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
  • 26 Oct 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added preview of topic changes before saving the topic. This was necessary to prevent unneeded revisions.
  • 26 Oct 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added revision control using RCS. Each topic has now a list of revisions at the bottom and a revision info, e.g.
      Topic TWikiHistory . { Edit Ref-By r1.3 r1.2 r1.1 }
      Revision r1.3 1998/10/26 01:34:00 by TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
  • 14 Oct 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Refered-By Find out which topics have a link to the current topic. Each topic has a Ref-By link for that. Note Only references from the current web are shown, not references from other webs.
  • 13 Oct 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
  • 24 Sep 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Corrected templates for automatic e-mail notification so that MS Outlook can display attachment as an HTML file.
  • 13 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
  • 07 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Automatic e-mail notification when something has changed in a TWiki web. Each web has a topic WebNotify where one can subscribe and unsubscribe.
  • 06 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added server side include of files. Syntax is %INCLUDE:"filename.ext"%
  • 05 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Signature and date is inserted automatically when creating a new topic.
  • 04 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Separate templates for text of non existing topic and default text of new topic. (template file templates/Web/notedited.tmpl)
  • 04 Aug 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Warn user if new topic name is not a valid Wiki name. (template file templates/Web/notwiki.tmpl)
  • 31 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Support for quoted text with a '>' at the beginning of the line.
  • 28 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added TWiki variables, enclosed in % signs %TOPIC% (Topic name), %WEB% (web name), %SCRIPTURL% (script URL), %DATE% (current date), %WIKIWEBMASTER% (Wiki webmaster address), %WIKIVERSION% (Wiki version), %USERNAME% (user name), %WIKIUSERNAME% (Wiki user name).
  • 28 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Topic WebChanges shows Wiki username instead of Intranet username, e.g. PeterThoeny instead of thoeny in case the Wiki username exists. Implementation Automatic lookup of Wiki username in topic TWikiUsers.
  • 28 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Topic index. (Technically speaking a simple '.*' search on topic names.)
  • 28 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Topic WebSearch allows full text search and and topic search with/without regular expressions.
  • 27 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Added automatic links to topics in other TWiki webs by specifying <web name>.<topic name>, e.g. Know.WebSeach .
  • 23 Jul 1998 - TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
    • Installed initial version, based on the JOS Wiki.

Dev Flow

The typical TWiki development flow...

Related Topics: DeveloperDocumentationCategory

Back to top


Appendix B: Encode URLs With UTF8

Use internationalised characters within WikiWords and attachment names

This topic addresses implemented UTF-8 support for URLs only. The overall plan for UTF-8 support for TWiki is described in TWiki:Codev.ProposedUTF8SupportForI18N.

Current Status

To simplify use of internationalised characters within WikiWords and attachment names, TWiki now supports UTF-8 URLs, converting on-the-fly to virtually any character set, including ISO-8859-*, KOI8-R, EUC-JP, and so on.

Support for UTF-8 URL encoding avoids having to configure the browser to turn off this encoding in URLs (the default in Internet Explorer, Opera Browser and some Mozilla Browser URLs) and enables support of browsers where only this mode is supported (e.g. Opera Browser for Symbian smartphones). A non-UTF-8 site character set (e.g. ISO-8859-*) is still used within TWiki, and in fact pages are stored and viewed entirely in the site character set - the browser dynamically converts URLs from the site character set into UTF-8, and TWiki converts them back again.

System requirements are updated as follows:
  • ASCII or ISO-8859-1-only sites do not require any additional CPAN modules to be installed.
  • Perl 5.8 sites using any character set do not require additional modules, since CPAN:Encode is installed as part of Perl.
  • This feature still works on Perl 5.005_03 as per TWikiSystemRequirements, or Perl 5.6, as long as CPAN:Unicode::MapUTF8 is installed.

The following 'non-ASCII-safe' character encodings are now excluded from use as the site character set, since they interfere with TWiki markup: ISO-2022-*, HZ-*, Shift-JIS, MS-Kanji, GB2312, GBK, GB18030, Johab and UHC. However, many multi-byte character sets work fine, e.g. EUC-JP, EUC-KR, EUC-TW, and EUC-CN. In addition, UTF-8 can already be used, with some limitations, for East Asian languages where EUC character encodings are not acceptable - see TWiki:Codev.ProposedUTF8SupportForI18N.

It's now possible to override the site character set defined in the {SiteLocale} setting in configure - this enables you to have a slightly different spelling of the character set in the server locale (e.g. 'eucjp') and the HTTP header sent to the browser (e.g. 'euc-jp').

This feature should also support use of Mozilla Browser with TWiki:Codev.TWikiOnMainframe (as long as mainframe web server can convert or pass through UTF-8 URLs) - however, this specific combination is not tested. Other browser-server combinations should not have any problems.

Please note that use of UTF-8 as the site character set is not yet supported - see Phase 2 of TWiki:Codev.ProposedUTF8SupportForI18N for plans and work to date in this area.

This feature is complete in TWiki releases newer than February 2004.

Note for skin developers: is no longer required (TWiki:Plugins.InternationalisingYourSkin).

Details of Implementation

URLs are not allowed to contain non-ASCII (8th bit set) characters: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/appendix/notes.html#non-ascii-chars

The overall plan for UTF-8 support for TWiki is described in two phases in TWiki:/Codev.ProposedUTF8SupportForI18N - this page addresses the first phase, in which UTF-8 is supported for URLs only.

UTF-8 URL translation to virtually any character set is supported as of TWiki Release 01 Sep 2004, but full UTF-8 support (e.g. pages in UTF-8) is not supported yet - this will be phase 2.

The code automatically detects whether a URL is UTF-8 or not, taking care to avoid over-long and illegal UTF-8 encodings that could introduce TWiki:Codev.MajorSecurityProblemWithIncludeFileProcessing (tested against a comprehensive http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/examples/UTF-8-test.txt UTF-8 test file, which IE 5.5 fails quite dangerously, and Opera Browser passes). Any non-ASCII URLs that are not valid UTF-8 are then assumed to be directly URL-encoded as a single-byte or multi-byte character set (as now), e.g. EUC-JP.

The main point is that you can use TWiki with international characters in WikiWords without changing your browser setup from the default, and you can also still use TWiki using non-UTF-8 URLs. This works on any Perl version from 5.005_03 onwards and corresponds to Phase 1 of TWiki:Codev.ProposedUTF8SupportForI18N. You can have different users using different URL formats transparently on the same server.

UTF-8 URLs are automatically converted to the current {Site}{Charset}, using modules such as CPAN:Encode if needed.

TWiki generates the whole page in the site charset, e.g. ISO-8859-1 or EUC-JP, but the browser dynamically UTF-8 encodes the attachment's URL when it's used. Since Apache serves attachment downloads without TWiki being involved, TWiki's code can't do its UTF-8 decoding trick, so TWiki URL-encodes such URLs in ISO-8859-1 or whatever when generating the page, to bypass this URL encoding, ensuring that the URLs and filenames seen by Apache remain in the site charset.

TWiki:Codev.TWikiOnMainframe uses EBCDIC web servers that typically translate their output to ASCII, UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1 (and URLs in the other direction) since there are so few EBCDIC web browsers. Such web servers don't work with even ISO-8859-1 URLs if they are URL encoded, since the automated translation is bypassed for URL-encoded characters. For TWiki on Mainframe, TWiki assumes that the web server will automatically translate UTF-8 URLs into EBCDIC URLs, as long as URL encoding is turned off in TWiki pages.

Testing and Limitation

It should work with TWiki:Codev.TWikiOnMainframe. Tested with IE 5.5, Opera 7.11 and Mozilla (Firebird 0.7).

Opera Browser on the P800 smartphone is working for page viewing but leads to corrupt page names when editing pages.

For up to date information see TWiki:Codev.EncodeURLsWithUTF8

Back to top


Appendix C: TWiki CSS

Listing of CSS class names emitted from TWiki core code and standard plugins.

Who should read this document?

Most HTML elements generated by TWiki core code now have Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) tags. Skin builders and others who want to change the appearance of the default TWiki installation or any of the skins can use this document to see what styles can be created for these HTML elements.

Naming conventions

  1. All TWiki class names have the prefix twiki. So: twikiAlert, twikiToc, etc. Remember that CSS class names are case sensitive - TWiki CSS uses lowercase tw.
  2. If you define your own CSS classes, it is preferable that you do not use the twiki prefix to prevent undesired overriding effects.

A wide range of standard styles are used in the TWiki core code and topics, and more are used in plugins. The following is an exhaustive list of all styles defined by the PatternSkin. For the most part, the names are the only documentation of the purpose of the style. For more information on how these styles are used, read the code (sorry!)

TWiki styles in core code

.twikiAlert Client.pm, Form.pm, Statistics.pm
.twikiAnchorLink Render.pm
.twikiCheckBox Manage.pm
.twikiCurrentTopicLink Render.pm
.twikiCurrentWebHomeLink Render.pm
.twikiDiffAddedHeader RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffAddedMarker RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffAddedText RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffChangedHeader RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffChangedText RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDebug RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDebugLeft RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDebugRight RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDeletedHeader RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDeletedMarker RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffDeletedText RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffLineNumberHeader RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffTable RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffUnchangedText RDiff.pm
.twikiDiffUnchangedTextContents RDiff.pm
.twikiEditFormCheckboxButton Form.pm
.twikiEditFormCheckboxField Form.pm
.twikiEditFormDateField Form.pm
.twikiEditFormError Form.pm
.twikiEditFormLabelField Form.pm
.twikiEditFormRadioField Form.pm
.twikiEditFormTextAreaField Form.pm
.twikiEditFormTextField Form.pm
.twikiEmulatedLink Preview.pm
.twikiFirstCol Render.pm
.twikiForm Render.pm
.twikiGrayText Manage.pm
.twikiHelp Changes.pm
.twikiLink Render.pm
.twikiNew Changes.pm, Search.pm
.twikiNewLink Render.pm
.twikiRadioButton Form.pm
.twikiSummary Manage.pm
.twikiToc TWiki.pm
.twikiTocTitle TWiki.pm
.twikiTopRow Manage.pm
.twikiWebIndent TWiki.pm

TWiki Styles in Plugins

TablePlugin

.twikiTable The table
.twikiSortedCol A sorted column
.twikiSortedAscendingCol Sorted column, ascending
.twikiSortedDescendingCol Sorted column, descending
.tableSortIcon The sort icon holder (span)
.twikiFirstCol The first column
.twikiTableEven Even numbered rows
.twikiTableOdd Odd numbered rows
.twikiTableCol + column number Unique column identifier, for instance: .twikiTableCol0
.twikiTableRow + type + row number Unique row identifier, for instance: .twikiTableRowdataBg0

TWiki Styles in Templates

.twikiPage twiki.tmpl
.twikiMiddleContainer twiki.tmpl
.twikiMain twiki.tmpl
.twikiFormTable formtables.tmpl, form.tmpl
.twikiFormTableHRow formtables.tmpl, form.tmpl
.twikiFormTableRow formtables.tmpl
.twikiFormTableFooter formtables.tmpl
.twikiAttachments attachtables.tmpl
.twikiEditForm form.tmpl
.twikiSubmit Submit button
.twikiSubmitDisabled Disabled submit button
.twikiInputField  
.twikiInputFieldDisabled  
.twikiInputFieldReadOnly  
.twikiInputFieldFocus For Internet Explorer that does not recognize the :focus pseudo class selector
.twikiInputFieldBeforeFocus for use with Javascript: the color of the input text when not clicked in the field
.twikiSelect Select dropdown menu
.twikiTextarea  
.twikiTextareaRawView  
.twikiButton  
.twikiFocus Behavior marker so a field can be given input focus
.twikiLeft  
.twikiRight  
.twikiClear  
.twikiHidden  
.twikiSmall  
.twikiBottomRow  
.twikiSRAuthor  
.twikiSRRev  
.twikiPageForm  
.twikiSeparator  
.twikiAccessKey  
.twikiLinkLabel  
.twikiFormSteps container around a form, such as the attach form: attach.tmpl
.twikiFormStep form row
.twikiNoBreak no break on whitespace
.twikiMakeVisible For elements that should only be visible with javascript on: default set to hidden, is made visible by javascript. Defaults to inline.
.twikiMakeVisibleInline For span elements that should only be visible with javascript on: default set to hidden, is made visible by javascript.
.twikiMakeVisibleBlock For div elements that should only be visible with javascript on: default set to hidden, is made visible by javascript.
.twikiMakeHidden For elements that should be hidden with javascript on: no default style, is made hidden by javascript.
.twikiFooterNote  
.twikiPopUp Behavior marker so a popup-window can be invoked
.twikiContentHeader container around optional html placed before topic text
.twikiContentFooter container around optional html placed after topic text

TWiki Styles used in configure

#twikiLogin CSS.pm
.twikiFormSteps CSS.pm
.twikiFormStep CSS.pm

TWiki Styles in topics

.twikiBroadcastMessage TWikiPreferences
#twikiSearchTable WebSearch, WebSearchAdvanced

TWiki Styles in Skins

#twikiLogin login.pattern.tmpl  

Reserved Styles

.twikiImage defined in PatternSkin div creates border around enclosed image
.twikiNotification defined in PatternSkin temporary alert, lighter than broadcast message
.twikiUnvisited defined in PatternSkin link style that ignores the visited link state; useful for form links

Tips

PatternSkin makes extensive use of CSS in its templates. Read the PatternSkin topic and PatternSkinCss to learn more about creating your own CSS-based skin.

Practical introduction to CSS: http://www.w3.org/Style/LieBos2e/enter/

Related Topics: TWikiSkins, PatternSkin, DeveloperDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory

Back to top
Topic revision: r1 - 27 Mar 2005, TWikiContributor
This site is powered by FoswikiCopyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this site is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding Foswiki? Send feedback