[pmwiki-users] Strange pagelist behaviour

Marc Cooper gmane at auxbuss.com
Tue Jun 13 04:43:23 CDT 2006


Pico said...
> Marc Cooper wrote:
> > Pico said...
> >>> From: Marc Cooper <gmane at auxbuss.com>
> >>> Date: Mon, June 12, 2006 9:47 am
> >>> To: pmwiki-users at pmichaud.com
> >>>
> >>> I noticed that the PmWiki FAQ is presenting different results in a new 
> >>> (farm) wiki from the home wiki. Entries are missing from the home wiki. 
> >>> They are using the same PmWiki files from wikilib.d. The differences are 
> >>> in the section created by:
> >>>
> >>> (:pagelist trail=PmWiki.DocumentationIndex "[[#faq]]" fmt=#includefaq:)
> >>>
> >>> To test, I tried this in the sandbox, and get the same results. I'm 
> >>> using the latest 2.1.11 release.
> >> [snip]
> >>
> >> Pm did alot of work on 6/2/06, right after he released 2.1.9 moving
> >> questions 
> >> off of the FAQs page and onto to FAQs sections at the end of the
> >> relevant documentation.
> >>
> >> So, I would expect the results of a faqs pagelist directive to include
> >> many more entries 
> >> when using the documentation pages distributed in versions 2.1.10 and up
> >> than when using 
> >> the documentation pages distributed from prior versions.
> > 
> > I'm not sure what this has to do with this problem? Could you elaborate.
> > 
> Everything.  You are using 2.1.11, which is right after Pm made changes 
> to the documentation that cause the pagelist faq to return links that it 
> would not be returned from a site that was using documentation 
> distributed prior to 2.1.10.  If you compare the various specific items 
> you listed with the history of Pm's changes to the FAQ page on June 2, 
> 2006, you will see that he was moving FAQs to the same pages that you 
> identified in your prior post as "(not on home)"

Okay, but that's a different story to the one you told before. But it's 
good that we seem to be on the right track.

> When I first saw your list, I recognized the documents that were 
> appearing on both of your wiki sites as documents that have had faqs 
> markup for quite some time and, at the same time, I recognized many of 
> the documents that you identified as (not on home) as documents that had 
> only recently had faqs markup added to them.  When I go back now and 
> compare the "(not on home)" documents that you identified with the 
> history of FAQ page, the match is striking.

That's cool. That's what I was after, someone who recognised the 
pattern.

> As they say, when you hear the hoof beats of a thundering herd, think 
> horses, not zebras.  (Start with the most common and likely explanations).
>
> >> Anyway, the general answer here is that the faqs pagelist is gathering
> >> its entries from pages on the trail defined by DocumentationIndex
> > 
> > Yes, I know that fact, but it's not the answer.
> > 
> 
> It was an introduction, and I think it may ultimately provide more of an 
> answer than you realize.

:-o

> >> and I would take a look at the actual content of
> >> specific documentation pages to determine whether they contain a faqs
> >> division and anchor at 
> >> the end.  If they don't, then that will explain why they aren't showing
> >> up on the pagelist.
> > 
> > This is the same source files, the same skin, the same... well the same 
> > everything, apart from the fact that the output from one is from the 
> > home wiki and the other is not - the farm wiki has no files in it at 
> > all, it's only using the shared files. The problem also occurs with 
> > every skin that I've tried, so it's not <div>, <a> or skin related 
> > related.
> > 
> 
> Look, I know you said that your two wikis are using the same pmwiki 
> files from wikilib.d

They are.

> and that "this is the same source files, the same 
> skin, the same... well the same everything".  I know you believe this to 
> be true and I assume that you may have put your beliefs to the test by 
> taking a look around your directories.

Oh yes.

> But the fact remains that what you describe sounds like it has a cause 
> that can be easily tested and verified, even if it is not so easily 
> explained or understood.

I have a small amount of knowledge of the field.

> The point here is not to test or challenge you, so please don't take it 
> personally.

:-O

> The point is to simply test and challenge the most obvious 
> cause for the behavior you are experiencing by taking one step back from 
> the pagelist faq to examine what the documents look like that are 
> feeding the pagelist faq and to compare the results between your two setups.

Yes, an obvious step.

> So, if you would humor me

:-O

> and just take a look at the documentation 
> pages in dispute as they appear when you open them up in your "field" 
> and "home" wiki.  Yes, even if you are convinced that they will look the 
> same

:-O

> because they must, because you see no reason why they wouldn't

:-O

> just give it a try for the sake of diagnosing and ruling out the most 
> likely cause (different versions of docs resulting in different output 
> from the pagelist faq).
> 
> Lets start with the first disputed link in your earlier example: Basic 
> Editing.  Open that documentation page from your "farm" and from your 
> "home" and compare the text that you see at the very end of each page. 
> Does the document you see from your "farm" end with one (or two) 
> question and answer pairs?  Take a look at the underlying markup, is 
> there a faq division and anchor, like this ">>faq<< [[#faq]]" after the 
> trail markup and before the first question?

Yes. The pages display identically and the markup is identical - not 
only did I diff them in vim, but I also tried a c&p from the home wiki 
to the farm in case there was a bit of quantum tunnelling going on.

> Now look at the Basic Editing documentation page as viewed and normally 
> navigated from your "home".  Does it just end with the table and the 
> wikitrail markup?

Nope.

> If so, then that would explain why that page does not 
> show up on the pagelist when it is run from your "home" wiki.

Yes, it would, but it doesn't. Both pages show the two [[#faq]] entries.

> Don't just assume that they are the same because they must be: give it a 
> serious inquiry.

I am indeed capable of "serious enquiry" from time to time.

> You should be able to repeat the same inquiry with any 
> of the other documents that you identified as "(not on home)" and the 
> results should be the same: question and answer pairs should appear at 
> the end of the documents that you access from your "farm" but not from 
> your "home"

Two was enough for me to look elsewhere.

I started by examining the order and format of:

    %trail% <<|[[Documentation Index]]|>>

    >>faq<< [[#faq]]
    [[#beginning]]
    Q: I'm new to PmWiki, where can I find some basic help for getting 
    A: This [[Basic E

Some are [[Documentation Index]]|>> some are [[DocumentationIndex]]|>>
Blank lines appear in different places. Looking for patterns. It lead to 
a few dark alleys.

Then I tried pasting a "working" [[#faq]] entry into a "broken page", 
replacing its [[#faq]]. Ah ha!

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I deleted the .pageindex file 
in the home wiki, and missing items reappeared.

If that's common knowledge, then I apologise for my appalling ignorance 
and will flagellate myself to the bone later today. If it's a bug, I 
hope the information proved useful.

> > Looks like a potential bug to me, but I thought I'd run it past those 
> > who might know first.
> > 
> 
> Thanks for giving others the benefit of the doubt.

:-o I'll be very wary about bringing bugs, fixes and suggestions here 
again. Sorry to have caused so much trouble.

-- 
Best,
Marc





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