[pmwiki-users] New definition list functionality

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud at pobox.com
Thu Jun 1 15:41:22 CDT 2006


On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 08:30:47PM +0000, Pico wrote:
> Patrick R. Michaud <pmichaud <at> pobox.com> writes:
> 
> > 
> > On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 06:37:45PM +0000, Pico wrote:
> > > I noticed the definition list on the notify page: *VERY cool*
> > > 
> > > How does it work?
> > 
> > Actually, this isn't at all new -- it's been in PmWiki for many years.  
> > It only works for $Variables.  Any markup of the form $VariableName
> > does a search of the pages in the PmWiki.Variables and returns
> > a link to that page.  Any definition that is of the form :$VariableName:
> > automatically generates an anchor for that definition.
> 
> What, exactly, is being searched: (1) the PmWiki.Variables page itself or (2)
> the trail defined by the list of pages that appear on PmWiki.Variable?  

Just the trail defined by the list of pages that appear on PmWiki.Variables.

> If the trail is being searched, do you care that the trail is being 
> expanded by the second list of pages under the "See Also" heading?  
> Shouldn't make a difference, because those pages don't seem to 
> contain markup that matches the variable pattern, but we could 
> knock those extra pages off the trail by adjusting their item markup.

I'd rather keep the markup straightforward.  As you say, the existence
of those pages on the trail doesn't really make a difference.

> I would be very interested in reading anything more you might have to 
> say about this feature and the issues that would need to be resolved.  
> [...]

Unfortunately I don't have time this week to respond at length, but
it really has to do with markup.  In the case of vardoc, it's easy
because all of the "terms" begin with a dollar sign and are immediately
followed by a WikiWord.  In a general case, we'd need a special markup
to call out specific terms for linking, and I'm not happy with the
ones proposed thus far (nor yet convinced of the need for it in the core).

I may be able to write more on this over the weekend or next week.

Pm




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