[pmwiki-devel] {~varname} vs. {~$:varname} in ZAP

[The Editor]

On 6/14/07, Ben Stallings <ben at interdependentweb.com> wrote:
> At Dan's request, I'm bringing a disagreement he and I have had by
> private email to the list for other folks' feedback.

Actually, it's not really a disagreement, just a slight difference in
preference. I'm happy to use either syntax. Just thought more people
might prefer the shorter one. Happy to go with whatever the majority
think is more reasonable.

> In the most recent version of ZAP, he has provided the new markup
>  {~Author$:varname}
> which retrieves the varname page text variable from Author's Profiles
> page.  This is a shortcut for
>  {Profiles/Author$:varname}
> and for sites that use ZAP for storing registration data, it's a big
> help... especially if you should decide in the future to change the page
> group where the registration data is stored: you can change it in one
> place (Site/ZAPConfig) without having to update all the markup
> site-wide.  So I'm a big fan of this markup.
>
> However, he's also provided a further shortcut for retrieving the
> current user's data (i.e. {~{AuthId}$:varname} ).  His markup is
>  {~varname}
> I feel strongly that this should be
>  {~$:varname}
> instead, so that it's comparable to {*$:varname} and {=$:varname}.  I
> feel that omitting the $: obscures the meaning of the markup -- all
> other page-text-variable markup uses $:, and this is page-text-variable
> markup, therefore in my mind it should use $:.

Two keystrokes on the one, some consistency on the other.

> Dan wrote, "Why not post this issue to the list and see if there is any
> feedback from others. I prefer the simpler notation, but am willing to
> go with any consensus. It's easy enough to customize this of course in
> your own wiki--but that skirts the issue of what is best for the
> community. So let's see what others say."  And so here we are.
>
> I realize this is a pretty trivial thing, but because it's such a new
> feature, it hasn't yet been entrenched in anyone's site (even Dan's,
> since I assume he's now using ZAPwiki), so there's still time to change
> it.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.  --Ben S.

Ditto on the thanks to all...

Cheers,
Dan