Understanding prependLine, appendLine, and separate

First, you should know about three very special ListPages attributes which makes table creation possible. Those attributes are the prependLine, appendLine, and separate. Simply, prependLine defines what content comes before the displayed list. The appendLine, in contrast, defines content that comes after the displayed list. These will allow you to open and close tables later in the tutorial.

The other attribute is separate. By default, when the module lists your pages, the terms are broken up into individual div blocks. This puts spaces in between entries. What you want for a table to display correctly, however, is for those spaces to disappear. Fortunately, applying separate="false" as a criterion will eliminate this mysterious space and hence make tables possible.

You can see these three commands in action below:

Here is the code:

[[module ListPages category="howto" limit="5" prependLine="How Tos" appendLine="There are more..." separate="false"]] * %%title_linked%% [[/module]]

The Simple Table

Before going on to complex tables, let's try to understand how this works. Pretend that we have three how-tos to list, and we want them displayed in a table like the below:

This is called a simple table, since it uses the simple table syntax (see simple tables). And interestingly, they are simple to construct with ListPages. The headings can be defined in the prependLine section of the attributes. Since simple tables do not need to be closed, appendLine for now will sit out. The separate="false", however, is a must!

The following code will do the trick:

[[module ListPages category="howto" limit="3" prependLine="||~ Title||~ Author||~ Age||" separate="false"]] ||%%title_linked%%||%%created_by%%||%%created_at|%O old%%|| [[/module]]

This will generate a table, shown below:

Hopefully you can see that table creation in ListPages is not terribly difficult. However, the goal is to make a customized table where you can define things like width and color. Let's see how to do that.

Custom Tables at Last

Let's begin with the end in mind. We want a table using ListPages that looks like this:

So, using the above knowledge on ListPages, its attributes, and simple table creation, let's find a way to make this work.

Step 1: Make an Include

First, you need to make an incomplete table. That's right: incomplete. When we stick it into the ListPages module, the module will complete the table for us, so for now, we want to make just part of the table, namely the headings.

Make a separate page and title it whatever you want. For this tutorial, we'll call this page inc:custom-table. On this page, you are going to make the first row of the table, which constitutes the headings. When you are making this table, do not close the table. Essentially, what you will have is an opened table with a full row, like the below:

[[table style="width: 100%;"]][[row style="font-weight: bold; background-color: #B8D1DD;"]][[cell style="padding: 0 2px; width: 50%;"]]Title[[/cell]][[cell style="padding: 0 2px; width: 25%; text-align: center;"]]Author[[/cell]][[cell style="padding: 0 2px; text-align: right;"]]Age[[/cell]][[/row]]

We closed the row, but not the table. Save that page and remember the page name.

Step 2: Define prependLine

Now, we are going to install this heading into the ListPages using prependLine.

Wait a minute… why did we make a separate page for this? Could we have just opened the table by directly putting the code into prependLine? The answer is no, unless you have no styling or classes. When you define your table and then additionally define a style, you are using quotes (""). ListPages uses these same quotes! Therefore, the module might confuse the beginning of a style statement with the end of an attribute definition. Therefore, making that separate page was entirely necessary.

Here is what you do: put this into the prependLine.

prependLine="[[include inc:custom-table]]"

Note: Replace inc:custom-table with the page name (in the URL) of the page you created in step 1.

This way, ListPages will insert your heading without the interference additional quotes might pose.

Step 3: Define appendLine and separate

This is easier. Place the following into your list of ListPages criteria:

appendLine="[[/table]]" separate="false"

Step 4: Define the Body

Now for the meat of the table. In the simple table example, you saw how we used the simple table syntax between the [[module]][[/module]] tags to help construct a table. If we are using a custom table, we are going to use the custom table syntax.

Each item will be its own row, so the "sandwiched" part will have a single [[row]] and [[/row]], with cells in between corresponding to the headings. You can style this however you wish. Just make sure your headings and body match!

Here is the code we used above for the table:

[[row]][[cell style="vertical-align: top;"]]**%%title_linked%%**[[/cell]][[cell style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"]]%%created_by%%[[/cell]][[cell style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;"]]%%created_at|%O old%%[[/cell]][[/row]]

Step 5: Admire your Handiwork

After that, you are done! You can double check that the table looks the way you want and tweak it if it needs improvement. You can furthermore add embellishments and other styling, such as the Table Alterations snippet which will help you alternate row colors.

Here is the overall code that we used for the table:

[[module ListPages category="howto" limit="5" prependLine="[[include inc:custom-table]]" appendLine="[[/table]]" separate="false"]] [[row]][[cell style="vertical-align: top;"]]**%%title_linked%%**[[/cell]][[cell style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"]]%%created_by%%[[/cell]][[cell style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;"]]%%created_at|%O old%%[[/cell]][[/row]] [[/module]]

Additional Help

If you have any questions, be sure to ask on the forums.

by Timothy Foster

Here we will show you how advanced include techniques can be used to automate tasks and create frameworks for Wikidot programs.

Default Values

With the utilization of two include pages, one can allow certain variables to retain default values if they are not defined. Recall in the very first example what happened whenever varC wasn't defined:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Banana |varB=Split ]]

Notice how we get an ugly variable in the expressed page since we didn't define what it was. So, let's say that rather than having this weird variable show up, we want for **James!** (which renders as James!) to replace the varC if it isn't defined by the user. However, if defined, we want the defined version to appear in precedence.

This is fortunately possible with the aid of two includes. For this, we will use the typical inc:advanced plus a new page called inc:advanced-4 with the following on it:

[[include inc:advanced |varA={$varA} |varB={$varB} |varC={$varC} |varC=**James!** ]]

Now we will use the above original include without varC clearly defined and track what is happening:

And behold, we didn't define varC yet James! appears! But what if we wanted to define varC as "yum!"?

We'll examine this code:

[[include inc:advanced-4 |varA=Banana |varB=Split, |varC=yum! ]]

Since the code is rendered top to bottom. left to right and variables are replaced before the next is processed, varC=**James!** wasn't able to replace a varC since it didn't exist after it was defined. The final note to make is that you can set default values for the other variables as well if wished.

For a simplified guide to default values, see Include with Defaults.

Related Articles

• Wikidot Includes: For Beginners
• Wikidot Includes: For Experts

Authors

James Kanjo. Please visit his/her userPage.

Timothy Foster. Please visit his/her userPage.

by GoVegan

1. Imports the page specified
2. Replaces Variables in the included page only, according to the the definitions in the [[include]] block in the order:
   • From left-to-right
   • From top-to-bottom

This is difficult to grasp at first, so lets put this into practice.

Ordering of Processes

{$varA} {$varB} {$varC}

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Banana |varB=Split ]]

So the first thing that the Wikidot engine will do is import the page inc:advanced then assign values to the Variables, in the order of left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

Now lets see what happens if we place everything on one line:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Banana |varB=Split]]

The same results.

Temporary Variables

Because of the way the Wikidot engine processes includes, we can actually create our own Temporary Variables within the include code:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Banana |varB={$varTemp} |varTemp=Split ]]

This works because the includes are processed from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and each variable is replaced in the page before the next variable is processed.
Therefore, the order in which we place our code is VERY important. For example, if we swapped the last two lines around:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Banana |varTemp=Split |varB={$varTemp} ]]

As you can see, by changing the ordering of our code, we have changed the way our Include Variables are assigned.

Reusing Variables

We can also reuse variables in this manner:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA={$varTemp} |varTemp=Go |varB={$varTemp} |varTemp=Bananas ]]

Including an Include

Through using two includes, we are able to use the value of one variable to set the value of another.

[[include inc:advanced |varA={$varA} |varB={$varB} |{$varTemp}=**James!** ]]

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced-2 |varA=Go |varB=Bananas |varTemp=varC ]]

Creating Variables with Variables

We can even build variable names from separate parts.

inc:advanced-3:

{${$varA}{$varD} {$varB}Apples} {$Eat{$varC}}

Our Page:

 [[include inc:advanced-3 |varA=Go |varB={$Buy |varC=Bananas |varD=Potty} |EatBananas=Eating Bananas ]]

What Won't Work

Setting a variable doesn't change variables within the include code. Therefore, if we attempted the following code:

Our Page:

[[include inc:advanced |varA=Go |varB=Bananas |varTemp=varC |{$varTemp}=James! ]]

What we wanted to happen is for {$varTemp} to become varC, so that |varC=James!.
This doesn't work, because [[include]]:

Replaces Variables in the included page only, according to the the definitions in the [[include]] block

Related Articles

• Wikidot Includes: For Beginners
• Wikidot Include Techniques

Authors

James Kanjo. Please visit his/her userPage.

rurwin does not match any existing user name. Please visit his/her userPage.

Comments

by GoVegan

For instance, if you are wanting to create a small information table on many pages, you might use the following code:

[[div style="float: left;"]] ||~ Name || Gold || ||~ Type || Mineral || ||~ Colour || Yellow || ||~ SLC || Solid || ||~ Shiny || Yes || [[/div]]

Which renders this floating table:

So let's create a page called inc:info-table, and on it, we will have the following code:

[[div style="float: left;"]] ||~ Name || {$name} || ||~ Type || {$type} || ||~ Colour || {$colour} || ||~ SLC || {$slc} || ||~ Shiny || {$shiny} || [[/div]]

Take note of the funny words surrounded with curly brackets and a dollar symbol. These are called Include Variables. The word that follows the dollar symbol is the name you assign to the variable: {$variable-name}
Variables are dynamic, meaning that they can change depending on what you want them to be. If I want the variable {$name} to change to the word “Gold”, then all I need to do is to include the inc:info-table page, and type in |name=Gold.

Let's put this into practice on our wiki pages. If we want to use the information table, all we need to do is paste the following code:

[[include inc:info-table |name=Gold |type=Mineral |colour=Yellow |slc=Solid |shiny=Yes]]

This will render:

Variable Limitations

Now that you know how to create Wikidot Includes, it is important to know that there are limitations to the variable names you can use.

Acceptable variable names may contain some or all of the following:

• Alphabetical characters (using the basic English alphabet only)
• Numerical characters (all digits from 0 to 9)
• Hyphens (the “-” character)
• Underscores (the “_” character)

Wikidot Include Variables are case-sensitive. So the variable {$shiny} is a completely different variable to {$Shiny}.

Related Articles

• Wikidot Includes: For Experts
• Wikidot Include Techniques

Author

James Kanjo. Please visit his/her userPage.

by GoVegan

• Corrected How-To Include Variables with Special Characters (complete rewrite)
• Created How-To Nested Comments
• Created How-To Include Inline
• Created How-To System Variables, also documented many of its technical details

by ErichSteinboeck

System Variables for your Wiki Page

The current implementation of live templates allows the use of page variables like %%title%%, %%fullname%%, %%category%%, %%created_by%%, and %%created_at%%.

Unfortunately you can use these page variables only within a live template, not on your original page. Have you ever wondered, if there was a way to use these variables directly on your page?

And even more — what about a way to define your own variables that you then can use (multiple times) on your page?

Here may be a solution for you (before implementing this, please have a look at the limitations).

Step by Step

Step 1

Create an a live template called category:_template¹ in the category for which you'd like to enable system variables with the following code.

Note: Copy/paste the code exactly as-is, don't remove or change anything

[!-- [[code]] [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]] [[include %%fullname%% title=%%title%% | linked_title=[/%%fullname%% %%title%%] | parent=%%parent_title%% | parent_linked=[http://%%site_name%%.wikidot.com/%%parent_fullname%% %%parent_title%%] | fullname=%%fullname%% | name=%%name%% | category=%%category%% | link=%%link%% | tags=%%tags%% | _tags=%%_tags%% | created_by=%%created_by%% | rating=%%rating%% | comments=%%comments%% | revisions=%%revisions%% | children=%%children%% | size=%%size%% | updated_by=%%updated_by%% | created_at=%%created_at|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z%% | created_at_start=%%created_at|[!--%%--] | created_at_end="]] | updated_at=%%updated_at|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z%% | updated_at_end="]] | updated_at_start=%%updated_at|[!--%%--] | %%content{2}%% ]] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] [[/code]] --] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] %%content{1}%% [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]]

Step 2

Create a page called category:_startcomment in the same category as in Step 1 with the following code.

Step 3

Create a page called category:_endcomment in the same category as in Step 1 with the following code.

How does it work

The general idea here is, not to leave page content rendering to the live template (which is what “standard” live templates do by specifying the %%content%% variable), but instead directly include the page content and at the same time supply all page variables as include variables.

See System Variables: Details for a detailed technical discussion of the ideas and concepts used.

Limitations

When using page variables through live templates, be aware of the following limitations:

• Previewing while editing a page will show artifacts: the text “[[include %%category%%:_startcomment]]” at the very top of the page, and “[[include %%category%%:_endcomment]]” at the very bottom of the page
  
  
• Some rare page contents, e. g. unbalanced [[code]] or [[/code]] tags without their corresponding counterpart, will break the live template
  
  
• If you'd like to enable system variables for the default category, you'd have to
  • change [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] to [[include %%category%%_startcomment]],
  • change [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]] to [[include %%category%%_endcomment]] and
  • name the pages created in Step 2 and Step 3 _default_startcomment resp. _default_endcomment

Examples

System Variables

User Variables

Global Variables

This is pretty simple but may not be obvious. To be able to use variables in any page in the category, add them next to the System Variables. Right before the "%%content{2}%%", you may define other variables besides system ones (e.g. you can put "users=300 000 |"). NOTE: You need to add a pipe "|" at the end of each global variable you define.

Links

• Community wishlist System variables
• Comunity How-To System Variables: Details

Backlinks

Author

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

by ErichSteinboeck

Here you'll find a technical analysis of the Community How-To System Variables. If you just want to use the How-To, it is not necessary to understand the technical concepts presented here. Continue reading only if you'd like to understand more about the inner workings of Wikidot.

How the Idea Developed

To implement system variables for a Wikidot page you need variable, replaceable content. As an obvious candidate for any replaceable content are include variables, this automatically leads to the idea to include the Wikidot page from a live template. Once this concept is born, you'd think, that an implementation should be straightforward.

Far from it.

Here some of the challenges and chosen solutions are presented.

Basic Concept

Here's the basic concept, we're starting with: a live template directly includes its calling page, supplying all page variables as include variables.

[[include %%page_unix_name%% | page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% . . ]]

Trailing Consecutive Brackets

Challenge: Adding author=%%author%% to the above basic include poses the first challenge: as %%author%% resolves to [[*user user-name]], those two trailing consecutive closing brackets (“]]”) would break parsing of the [[include …]] statement.

Solution: two consecutive closing brackets only break parsing if the brackets are the very last characters on its line. To avoid such a situation, we will move the leading pipe (“|”) symbol in each line to the end of each line — so no two consecutive brackets can ever be at the very end of a line. In general, it is best that you always write your include like this (and not like the include example in the docs).

So we rewrite the include with trailing pipe (“|”) symbols:

[[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | . . ]]

Pipe Symbol in Internal Links

Challenge: Adding linked_title=%%linked_title%% to the above include poses another challenge: as %%linked_title%% resolves to [[[%%page_unix_name%%|%%title%%]]], the embedded pipe (“|”) symbol again breaks parsing of the [[include …]] statement.

Solution: The How-To Include variables with special characters suggests this workaround:

As in our case we're able to rewrite the internal link to [/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%]]], we'll use this simpler approach.¹ Here's our code so far:

[[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | linked_title=[/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%] | . . ]]

Date

Challenge: Adding date=%%date%% presents the next challenge: as %%date%% resolves to [[date timestamp format="%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover"]], the embedded pipe (“|”) symbol again breaks parsing of the [[include …]] statement.

Solution: There doesn't seem to be a way to transport [[date timestamp format="%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover"]] to the calling page through an include variable. So we do two things:

1. We remove the pipe (“|”) symbol in format="…|agohover" by specifying date=%%date|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z%% which resolves to [[date timestamp format="%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z"]] which will work fine on the include. Note that this makes %%date%% slightly incompatible with {$date}, as the “… ago” hovering text is removed.
   
   
2. To support the equivalent of the %%date|format-string%% page variable, two include variables are defined: {$date_start} and {$date_end}. When used together as in {$date_start}format-string{$date_end} the result is equivalent to %%date|format-string%%
   • To implement {$date_start} we add date_start=%%date|[!--%%--] to the [[include …]]. As %%…%% page variable parsing is done at an early stage (i. e. before [[include …]] parsing), it resolves to [[date timestamp format="[!--"]]--], which — if we ignore the trailing Wikidot comment — is equivalent to [[date timestamp format=". Exactly the first [[date …]] part that we need.
   • To implement {$date_end} we simply add date_end="]] to the [[include …]]

At this point our code looks like this:

[[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | linked_title=[/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%] | date_start=%%date|[!--%%--] | date_end="]] | . . ]]

Live Template

One might think that we've made it: the [[include …]] with all include variables has been defined properly. But …

Challenge: The code we wrote isn't recognized as a valid live template.

Solution: Live templates not only (as documented) must be named _template , but (not documented) they also must contain either %%content%% or %%content{number}%%, where number is a string comprised of digits 0…9 only.

Now, that's a challenge, because we do not want the page content added in addition to our include which already adds the page content.

One solution might be to add %%content{0}%%, which is sufficient for a template to be recognized as a live template. It will always resolve empty, as actual page section numbers start with one.

A different approach would be to add

[!-- %%content%% --]

For such a case, the Community How-To Nested Comments suggests the following solution:

[!-- [[code]] %%content%% [[/code]] --]

But for now, let's assume we chose to add %%content{0}%% — this would make our code look like this:

[[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | linked_title=[/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%] | date_start=%%date|[!--%%--] | date_end="]] | . . ]] %%content{0}%%

Preview

Did we finally make it? Everything working as intended? Unfortunately, no. What happens if — while editing your page content — you do a “preview” from the editor?

Challenge: During a “preview” just the above [[include …]] code is rendered: as code, and not as the processed include. No page content is shown at all! Our live template designed so far completely breaks “preview”.

Solution: As “preview” does not resolve %%…%% page variables of a live template, it will not resolve [[include %%page_unix_name%% …]] and as such does not show the page content as intended (if you'd save the page, everything worked fine, but we're looking for a solution for “preview” mode).

We could show the content during preview if we simply added %%content%%, but then it would show twice on the saved page: once through the include and a second time because of the added %%content%%. So we need a way to display %%content%% just during preview. Here is the chosen solution. We add the following code:

[[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] %%content%% [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]]

Where (within the same category)

As we saw before, neither [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] nor [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]] is resolved during “preview” and page content will be shown — unfortunately along with the page content those [[include %%category%%:…]] tags will also be shown as plain text.

When the page is saved, both [[include %%category%%:…]] will be resolved and will completely comment (and thus remove) %%comment%%.

Page content is now shown properly both during preview and on the saved page, but as described above we still see [[include …]] code rendered as plain text during preview. Can we remove it? Here's a way: we'll surround the [[include …]] code with

Meanwhile our code looks like this:

[!-- [[code]] [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]] [[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | linked_title=[/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%] | date_start=%%date|[!--%%--] | date_end="]] | . . ]] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] [[/code]] --] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] %%content%% [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]]

User Variables

Challenge: In addition to system variables it may sometimes be desirable to define your own user variable that could be used on the page. If any piece of text or code is to be used multiple times on a page, such user variables may simplify page maintenance as any changes to the common part needs only to be done once.

Solution: By inserting %%content{2}%% to the list of include variables, it is possible to define user variables (in standard include variable syntax, like width=100px | name=standard.jpg in a second page section (separated from the main content by a content splitter ====).

Which gives us the final live template code:

[!-- [[code]] [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]] [[include %%page_unix_name%% page_unix_name=%%page_unix_name%% | page_name=%%page_name%% | author=%%author%% | linked_title=[/%%page_unix_name%% %%title%%] | date_start=%%date|[!--%%--] | date_end="]] | . . %%content{2}%% ]] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] [[/code]] --] [[include %%category%%:_startcomment]] %%content%% [[include %%category%%:_endcomment]]

by ErichSteinboeck

There have been quite some discussions if and how such an “inline include” could be done. Here is a workaround how to do it.

Step by Step

Step 1

Create your included page with

1. a leading comment ([!----]) and
2. a trailing backslash (\)

e. g.

[!----]included //inline// and **may** contain formatting\

Step 2

Create your include statement with

1. a trailing backslash (\) added to the text that goes before the inline include, and
2. a leading comment ([!----]) before the text that goes after the inline include

e. g.

Examples

How it Works

As an [[include …]] introduces two consecutive line breaks both before and after the include, a way to remove those two line breaks is:

1. remove the first line break by appending a trailing backslash (“\”) to the line preceding the two line breaks, and
2. remove the second line break by prepending a leading Wikidot comment ([!----]) to the line following the two line breaks (similar to how a trailing “\” removes the following line break, a leading comment will remove the previous line break).

Backlinks

Author

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

by ErichSteinboeck

Phil Chett

Please - have a look on the codes of our new "front" page and it's used home:_template !

Notice: I have inserted a blank before every include tag to stop the insertion of their content ! :)

[!-- ********* Welcome header**************** --] [!-- ****************left cell******************* --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout1 called_include=include:welcome-left]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ****************Right cell******************* --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout1 called_include=include:welcome-right]] [!-- --] [!-- ********* End of Welcome header**************** --] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ********* Start Page-"complete" table**************** --] [!-- --] [!-- ****************left Column******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- *************Help New to Wikidot? Get Help ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:New-to-Wikidot | header=New to Wikidot? Get Help]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Latest Wikidot.com News ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Latest-Wikidot-com-News | header=Latest **[*http://www.wikidot.com/ Wikidot.com]** News]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Latest Community News ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Latest-Community-News | header=Latest Community News]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ************* Keep Informed ***************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Keep-Informed | header=Keep Informed]] [!-- --] [!-- *************End of LEFT COLUMN******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ****************Right COLUMN******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- --] [!-- ************* How Do I ***************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:How-Do-I | header=How Do I ]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ************ Small faetured**************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Small-faetured-site | header=Featured Site]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************You help****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:You-help | header=Things YOU can help with]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Forum Activity ************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Forum-Activity | header=[*http://community.wikidot.com/forum:recent-posts Latest Forum Activity >>>] ]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- --] [!-- ****************End Right Column ******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- ****************End Page-"complete" table ******************* --]

[!-- ********* Welcome header**************** --] [[table style="width:98%"]] [[row]] [[cell style="padding-right: 20px; border: 0px solid silver; width: 72%; vertical-align: top"]] [!-- ****************left cell******************* --] [!-- --] %%content{1}%% [[/cell]] [!-- ****************Right cell******************* --] [[cell style="padding:1px; border: 0px solid silver;width:28%; vertical-align: top"]] %%content{2}%% [[/cell]] [[/row]] [[/table]] [!-- ********* End of Welcome header**************** --] [!-- --] [!-- ********* Start Page-"complete" table**************** --] [[table style="width:98%"]] [[row]] [[cell style="padding-right: 20px; border: 0px solid silver; width: 62%; vertical-align: top"]] [!-- ****************left Column******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- --] [!-- *************Help New to Wikidot? Get Help ****************** --] %%content{3}%% [!-- *************Latest Wikidot.com News ****************** --] %%content{4}%% [!-- *************Latest Community News ****************** --] %%content{5}%% [!-- ************* Keep Informed ***************** --] %%content{6}%% [!-- *************End of LEFT COLUMN******************* --] [[/cell]] [!-- --] [!-- --] [!-- ****************Right COLUMN******************* --] [[cell style="padding:1px; border: 0px solid silver;width:38%; vertical-align: top"]] [!-- --] [!-- --] [!-- ************* How Do I ***************** --] %%content{7}%% [!-- ************New Small faetured**************** --] %%content{8}%% [!-- *************You help****************** --] %%content{9}%% [!-- *************Forum Activity ************** --] %%content{10}%% [!-- --] [!-- --] [[/cell]] [!-- ****************End Right Column ******************* --] [[/row]] [[/table]] [!-- ****************End Page-"complete" table ******************* --] ===== [!-- ********* Welcome header**************** --] [!-- ****************left cell******************* --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout1 called_include=include:welcome-left]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ****************Right cell******************* --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout1 called_include=include:welcome-right]] [!-- --] [!-- ********* End of Welcome header**************** --] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ********* Start Page-"complete" table**************** --] [!-- --] [!-- ****************left Column******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- *************Help New to Wikidot? Get Help ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:New-to-Wikidot | header=New to Wikidot? Get Help]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Latest Wikidot.com News ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Latest-Wikidot-com-News | header=Latest **[*http://www.wikidot.com/ Wikidot.com]** News]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Latest Community News ****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Latest-Community-News | header=Latest Community News]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ************* Keep Informed ***************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Keep-Informed | header=Keep Informed]] [!-- --] [!-- *************End of LEFT COLUMN******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ****************Right COLUMN******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- --] [!-- ************* How Do I ***************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:How-Do-I | header=How Do I ]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- ************ Small faetured**************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Small-faetured-site | header=Featured Site]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************You help****************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:You-help | header=Things YOU can help with]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- *************Forum Activity ************** --] [!-- --] [[include include:mod_layout2 called_include=include:Forum-Activity | header=[*http://community.wikidot.com/forum:recent-posts Latest Forum Activity >>>] ]] [!-- --] ==== [!-- --] [!-- ****************End Right Column ******************* --] [!-- --] [!-- ****************End Page-"complete" table ******************* --]

in Action the Template:

http://community.wikidot.com/home:_template

Permissions:

I changed the permissions in the Site manager for the "home:" category only allowed to edit for admins.

I let the include: boxes editable for all members of the site…

To-Do: the re-parenting of all sub pages ( childs) from the old start page.

( I had not changed the old start page - we can always go back in the general settings.)

by Helmut_pdorf

• help:autonumbering-of-pages feature for unique "primary keys per row's of the 2 categories ("db1country:", "db1town:"),
• include:db1country for record insertion with "short source code in table "db1country"
• include:db1town for record insertion ijn the 2 table db2town
• db1country:_template for showing and creating records over prepared newpage modules
• db1town:_template for showing and creating records in the town table

- for Links "between the 2 tables" I used the

• "interwiki" technic ( [/page-name showname] in the variables of the "includes" -
• this prevents us of the "breaking" pipe in the link and the "breaking" 3 brackets..

I am awaiting your Comments!
regards
Helmut

by Helmut_pdorf

New instructions

1. Read carefully the Redirect module documentation

2. Write down this URL address for recovery purpose:

http://yoursite.wikidot.com/bad-named-category:_template/noredirect/true

3. Create a bad-named-category:_template with the following content:

[[module Redirect destination="new-category:%%page_name%%"]]

Note that %%content%% is necessary to activate the variable %%page_name%%

Hence a bad-named-category:page1 would be redirected to new-category:page1

Author

gerdami. Please visit his/her userPage.

by gerdami

The ListPages module provides fantastic functionality.

I want to use this functionality for one particular page though. That is, I want to include elements of a particular page.

Currently, I have been using a workaround in which you give the particular page a UNIQUE tag, and hence we can identify only that page. However for obvious reasons this method becomes very tedious.

I wish you could specify a particular page in the ListPages module:

[[module ListPages page="selected-page"]]

Using such an attribute would need to void a few other attributes (or vice versa) such as:

• category=
• tags=

But I still feel that this is a very useful technique that should be implemented.

Links to forum Posts

This wish comes verbatim from James Kanjo's post at Pro ;)

by GoVegan

Although, in general, include variable values may contain any character, some characters may be challenging to enter.

Closing Brackets

If you follow the inc example in the Wikidot syntax documentation

[[include pagename var1=value1 | number_books = 43 | title=Best Wiki Ever | variable_name = just a variable | variableName = another variable ]]

and try to add an include variable whose value ends in two (or more) closing brackets (like [[size smaller]]Text to display[[/size]]) with this code

it will fail. Consecutive closing brackets at the very end of an include statement's line will end the include.

Most of the time you can avoid having consecutive closing brackets at the end of a line, by moving the pipe (“|”) symbols (that are separating adjacent include variables) to the end of the line. In the case of the last (or only ) include variable in an include, you can either

• move the two closing brackets (that end the include) to the end of the line, or
• add a pipe (“|”) symbol after the last (or only) include variable (additional pipe symbols do not hurt)

Thus a working code would look like this:

Cannot Move Pipe Symbol to Line End

In case you cannot move a pipe symbol to the end of the line, because the Wikidot syntax requires you to write a tag on its own line ([[include …]] is an example) here's a workaround.

Let's assume you want the value of an include variable to be the following (the value itself should contain another [[include …]]):

Coding

would fail (as the [[include boilerplate]]'s closing brackets end the outer include). Instead you might use:

Pipe Symbol

An even bigger challenge poses the pipe symbol (“|”).

If you try to add an include variable whose value contains an internal link (like [[[page|link text to show]]]) with the code

There is no general solution how to include a pipe symbol in an include variable value, but for special cases there are workarounds.

Rewrite Internal Link

To avoid having to use a pipe symbol in an internal link, rewrite the link in the alternate format.

[/page link text to show]

Include a Page with Pipe Symbol

Here's another idea:

[[include pagename link=[[[page [[include :csi:pipe]{$br} | link text to show]]] | br=] ]]

Backlinks

Author

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

by gerdami

That's true.

I have dreamed about improving the handbook.wikidot.com by using the live templates, instead of using [[include]]. The dream could come to reality if the wikidot developer team could provide me with the missing puzzle piece.

Back to last year

Last year, helmuti_pdorf does not match any existing user name, hartnell, Phil Chett and I, started the handbook.wikidot.com, the first multilingual wikidot website, at least as regards the content.
The trick, I called the Magic Language Navigation, was based on includes. Each page had to include the following:

[[include inc:languages pagename=NewPageNameHerePlease]]
----

while the content of include:languages was

[[=]] [[[de:{$pagename}|Deutsch]]], [[[en:{$pagename}|English]]], [[[es:{$pagename}|Español]]], [[[fr:{$pagename}|Français]]], [[[pl:{$pagename}|Polish]]] [[/=]]

Unfortunately, the user had to patch the word NewPageNameHerePlease by the current name of the page, with the convention that the page name would be in English for all languages (fr:start, en:start, de:start, it:start, …)

When previewing the page with the Page module, the words "Deutsch - Chinese - English - Español - Français - Italiano - Japanese - Nederlands - Polski - Português - Türkçe" were displayed. I once wrote this post ((hide)) Mister Hyde /((hide)) but without acknowledge.

Now with the live templates

The advantage with the live templates is that elements other that %%content%% are not displayed with the [[ListPages]] module. Hence the request for hiding something is less urgent.

In action !!!

Have a look at page en:test whose live template is en:_template¹with the following content:

[[div style="float:right; width: 80px; border: 1px solid #999; margin: 0px; text-align:center"]]
Page also available in
[[include inc:languages pagename=%%page_unix_name%%]]
[[/div]]
%%content%%

… while the include:languages page contains:

[[[de:{$pagename}|Deutsch]]] [[[en:{$pagename}|English]]] [[[fr:{$pagename}|Français]]]

[[table]] [[row]] [[cell]] [[[de:{$pagename}|de]]] [[/cell]] [[cell]] [[image /include:languages/de.gif link="de:{$pagename}"]] [[/cell]] [[/row]] [[row]] [[cell]] [[[en:{$pagename}|en]]] [[/cell]] [[cell]] [[image /include:languages/en.gif link="en:{$pagename}"]] [[/cell]] [[/row]] [[row]] [[cell]] [[[fr:{$pagename}|fr]]] [[/cell]] [[cell]] [[image /include:languages/fr.gif link="fr:{$pagename}"]] [[/cell]] [[/row]] [[/table]]

If you look at page fr:test and hover the mouse over the language links to the right, you will see:

de:fr:test
en:fr:test
fr:fr:test

Failed ! but close to the goal.

Why ? Because the %%page_unix_name%% also returns the category of the current page, fr:.

Conclusion - the missing puzzle piece is was …

the right part of the pagename.

That's incredible. Never seen in the world of software companies:
A request during the WE, fulfilled on Monday !

Thanks

Author

gerdami. Please visit his/her userPage.

by gerdami

If you'd like to show (include) a thread from your forum on another page of your wiki, use [[module ForumThread t="nnnnn"]] where nnnnn is the thread id of the thread you want to be included on your page.

A drawback of the proposed solution is a changed page title.

Example

[[module ForumThread t="76393"]]

Drawbacks / Problems

Module ForumThread automatically replaces the page's title with the thread title.

In the above example the typed page title “Include a Forum Thread” is replaced by the thread name
“Duplicate page tags”.

Links

Forum thread include thread in page discussing this problem

Backlinks

Author

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

by ErichSteinboeck

Listing pages that you have are among the features that you want to have in your site for facilitating navigation among pages. It is true that you can create indexes to help the user find a particular page, or he can Search for a page or use the Tags cloud. However, having a list that gets automatically populated whenever a page is added or edited, may prove handy and worthy.

Wikidot offers the function List all pages, which lists all pages alphabetically and, thus, may do the trick. However, as its name says, it lists all the pages. This may prove not useful for two reasons:

• On the one hand, some pages are not for users (such as administrative pages pertaining to the categories system: or admin:). Displaying them together with the remaining pages simply clutters the list.
  
  
• On the other hand, the resulting list is simply an alphabetical one, neither organized in categories nor with possibilities to be searched for edit date or creation date.

There is a way of creating sortable lists that solves above limitations. The procedure involves a four-step setup.

How to Set Up Sortable Lists of Pages Step-by-Step

Steps 1 & 2 are a one-time setup procedure to create the support for all individual Sortable lists of pages.

Step One: Set Up a ‘Base Page’

In this step you create a new page in an inc: category to be called list-pages-template. Do the following:

• Create a new page called inc:list-pages-template

• copy and paste (or type) the following module syntax onto the page (copy and paste from the html version)

{$heading}[[# A_{$anchor}]] [[size {$size}]] [[module ListPages category="{$category}" perPage="{$perPage}" limit="{$limit}" _ separate="false" {$attributes} _ prependLine="[[include inc:list-pages-prepend page={$page} | anchor={$anchor} | styleT={$styleT} | styleE={$styleE} | styleC={$styleC}]]" _ appendLine="[[/table]]" _ ]] [[row]][[cell style="{$styleT}"]][{$urlEdit}] {$urlView}[[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleE}"]]%%date_edited|%e %b %Y, %R%%[[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleC}"]]%%date|%e %b %Y, %R%%[[/cell]][[/row]] [[/module]] [[/size]]

Step Two: Set Up a ‘prepend page’

• Create a new page called inc:list-pages-prepend

• Copy and paste (or type) the following code onto the page:

 [[table]][[row]][[cell style="{$styleT}"]]//Page Name//[[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleE}"]]//Last Edited//[[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleC}"]]//Date Created//[[/cell]][[/row]][[row]][[cell style="{$styleT}"]][[size 80%]]Sort [/{$page}/order/titleAsc#A_{$anchor} ascending]/[/{$page}/order/titleDesc#A_{$anchor} descending][[/size]][[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleE}"]][[size 80%]]Sort [/{$page}/order/dateEditedDesc#A_{$anchor} newest first]/[/{$page}/order/dateEditedAsc#A_{$anchor} oldest first][[/size]][[/cell]][[cell style="{$styleC}"]][[size 80%]]Sort [/{$page}/order/dateCreatedDesc#A_{$anchor} newest first]/[/{$page}/order/dateCreatedAsc#A_{$anchor} oldest first][[/size]][[/cell]][[/row]]

Step Three: Set Up a ‘Front-End’ Page

This front-end page specifies default values for all include parameters of your lists. This will make it much easier to create individual and customized //Sortable list of pages", as you only have to specify the relevant parameters on each [[include …]] statement in these individual and customized lists (see step 4). Do as follows:

• Create a new page called inc:list-pages

• Copy and paste (or type) the following code onto the page:

 [[include inc:list-pages-template heading={$heading} | heading=++ Category "{$category}" | anchor={$anchor} | anchor={$category} | category={$category} | category=_default | page={$page} | page=system:list-pages | perPage={$perPage} | perPage={$limit} | limit={$limit} | limit=10000 | attributes={$attributes} | attributes=order="@URL" | styleT={$styleT} | styleT=padding-right:1em | styleE={$styleE} | styleE=text-align:right; padding-right:1em; width:12em | styleC={$styleC} | styleC=text-align:right; width:13em | urlEdit=/%%fullname%%/edit/true edit | urlView=: %%title_linked%% | size={$size} | size=100% | ]]

Once you have done this, the page will display a list of the pages in the "_default" category. However, don't think of this as your final list. This page is only part of the basic setup, and, thus, should remain "hidden." For creating Sortable lists of pages that you can really use, you need to continue into step four.

Step Four: Create Individual Sortable Lists of Pages

You may need just one Sortable list of pages, or you might want to create more than one. You might prefer to create individual lists in different pages, or just several lists in the one page. Finally, you might want to customize your lists (e. g. one that lists all pages for some selected category, or one that lists all pages for all categories). This third step allows you to do all of that by way of creating individual Sortable lists of pages customized to your needs.

Let's talk about customization first. You can customize each Sortable list of pages according to the parameters shown in the following table (see some examples in the next section):

To set up an individual and customized Sortable list of pages you need to do the following:

• Create a new page that will hold your customized list (or lists, if you code several of them in the same page).
• Include the "front-end" page that you created in step 2 using an [[include inc:list-pages ...]] statement (see Examples below).
• Write down the parameters that you require for customizing your list (write them as parameter=value |, as shown in the examples in the next section).

The most important parameter — page — is the name of your actual individual page (i. e. this new page that you have just created), so that the different sorting options work within the same page.

All other parameters are optional, and not writing them simply means that the "default" value of the parameter will be displayed instead. Customizing your list means, basically, writing down those parameters that you require (and their values).

You can create Sortable lists of pages in different pages, but you can also display several of them in a single page (as in the example below) by simply repeating the procedure of step three (i. e. syntax and customization) as required.

Note: the pages that you create in step three do not necessarily need to be within the inc: category. It can be in any category, e. g. the _default: category. As far as in any of those pages you include the inc:list-page page (your "front-end" page, see step 2), you should be alright.

Examples

Here are some examples of customized Sortable list of pages. To the left of the table is the syntax that was written. To the right, the resulting output. You can now click on each sorting option (ascending / descending, etc) and see it working!

 [[include inc:list-pages page=howto:sortable-list-of-pages]]

 [[include inc:list-pages page=howto:sortable-list-of-pages | category=howto | heading=++ Community How-To's]]

 [[include inc:list-pages page=howto:sortable-list-of-pages | category=* | anchor=all | heading=++ All Categories]]

How it Works

This How-To makes use of two ideas presented in

• Module Attributes Via URL, to dynamically specify order (sort) sequence via the URL link, and
• Include Variables With Default Values, to pre-define values for include variables.

Links

A real-life application of this idea can be found in the Community Wikidot List all Pages.

Backlinks

Authors

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

JDPerezgonzalez. Please visit his/her userPage.

by ErichSteinboeck

Using code block with include in a page : eg

[[code]]
[[include template:spoons]]
[[/code]]

should produce

[[include template:spoons]]

In a forum post, this works fine,
However in a Normal page
it produces

[[div class="error-block"]] Included page "template:spoons" does not exist ([/template:spoons/edit/true create it now]) [[/div]]

Links

http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-65103/code-block-not-recognizing-the-include-tag#post-184748

How to Reproduce

see above

Browsers

All

Workarounds

As a workaround to get the desired result, add a leading space in front of [[include ...]], like this:
[[code]]
. [[include template:spoons]]
[[/code]]

Here's the result:

 [[include template:spoons]]

Reported By

Alderman.

by Phil Chett

The [[include]] tag can take parameters to substitute {$…} variables in the included template.

If you want to make an include template more flexible, you can add more substitution variables to it. But there's a disadvantage: more substitution variables mean that you'll have to add more parameters to each and every of your [[include ...]] statements. And worse: if you later decide to change the include template by adding even more substitution variables, you'd have to change each of your existing [[include ...]] statements.

What if you had a way to specify default values for substitution variables? That would solve the above problem.

Here's a way how to give your substitution variables default values.

Step by Step

Step 1

Create your include template as usual, adding substitution {$…} variables wherever you think they're appropriate.

Step 2

Create an include front-end. That's just another include template containing a single [[include …]] statement of the following form:

[[include include-template-name
parameter-n={$parameter-n} | parameter-n=default-value-n |
…
parameter-x={$parameter-x} |
… ]]

Note:
1. parameter-n are the names of substitution variables that need default values. Those default values are specified as default-value-n in the second part
2. parameter-x are the names of substitution variables that do not need a default value
3. All possible substitution {$…} variables that are defined in the include template must be specified (either with or without a default value)

Step 3

In you page source, where you want to include your include template, use

[[include include-front-end-name parameter-x=value-x | …]]

Note:
1. You do not directly include your include template, but you include your include frond-end instead
2. You only have to specify parameters without a default value
3. Specifying parameters that have been given a default value in the include front-end is now optional

Examples

Example Include Template

A sample include template called “template” might look like:

{$heading} A description for ``{$topic}'' follows ...

Example Include Front-End

The associated front-end include called “front-end” could be:

 [[include template heading={$heading} | heading=++++ {$topic} | topic={$topic} | topic=//Your Topic//]]

• topic has a default value of “//Your Topic//”
• heading has a default value of “++++ {$topic}”

Note:
1. Default values can have embedded Wikidot tags, in the case of topic it is italic formatting
2. You can give a substitution variable a default value, that is the value of another substitution variable. In the case of heading it is a level-four heading with the value of topic
3. If you refer to the value of another substitution variable, the variable you refer to must come after where you refer to it. This is why in this case “topic=//Your Topic//” comes after “heading=++++ {$topic}”

In Your Page Source

 [[include front-end]]]

 [[include front-end topic=Internet]]]

 [[include front-end topic=* | heading=+ Asterisk]]

 [[include front-end topic=Note | heading=//Note://]]

Tricky Examples

Without knowing its value, you can refer to, and extend a default value:

 [[include front-end topic=Wikidot | heading={$heading} -- better]]]

If you want a substitution variable to become empty, you might use “parameter=[!----]”

 [[include front-end topic=Air | heading=[!----] ]]]

If you want a substitution variable which, on your include template, is defined on its own line, to be displayed without the line-break, use a trailing backslash (“\”) as in the following example.

 [[include front-end topic=Compact | heading=**Compact:** \ ]]]

Author

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

by ErichSteinboeck

• It would be nice to display a random page when clicking on a menu link
  • with a list of categories of pages not to be displayed (nav: system: …)
  • with an option for a particular category (quizz: )
• It would be nice to have it also in the [[include … ]] command:
  • [[include RandomPage category="cat1, cat2"]]
  • [[include RandomPage category="ALL" except="nav: system:"]
• It would be nice to have a random order element for use in ListPages

Links to forum Posts

http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-10541/random-start-page
http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-17138/random-page-generation
http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-25248/random-pages
http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-62986/

Workaround

Have a look at http://snippets.wikidot.com/code:choose-a-page, a clever snippet by

ErichSteinboeck. Please visit his/her userPage.

Suggested by

gerdami. Please visit his/her userPage.

by gerdami