Extension:InputBox

MediaWiki extensions manual - list

InputBox Release status: stable
Implementation	Tag, Page action, Search
Description	Allows users to add predefined HTML forms to wiki pages.
Author(s)	Erik Möller (EloquenceTalk)
Last version	continuous updates
MediaWiki	1.11+
Database changes	no
License	Public domain
Download	Download snapshot Subversion [Help] Browse source code View code changes log
Tags <inputbox>
Hooks used ParserFirstCallInit MediaWikiPerformAction
Check usage (experimental) Bugs: list open list all report

The InputBox extension is a MediaWiki extension that adds already created HTML forms to wiki pages. Users can "complete" a form (entering text, selecting menu items, etc.) by entering text into the box.

InputBox was originally created by Erik Möller for the purpose of adding a Create an article box to Wikinews.

Installation

1. Download the files from SVN or download a snapshot (select your version of MediaWiki) and place the files under $IP/extensions/InputBox
2. Add to the end of LocalSettings.php:
   require_once("$IP/extensions/InputBox/InputBox.php");
3. Installation can now be verified through Special:Version on your wiki

Example

Wiki code <inputbox> type=search width=31 buttonlabel=Go searchbuttonlabel=Search break=no </inputbox>

Result

This kind was found on the main page of a Wikipedia. It could be used for starting new articles, since it doesn’t go to the edit box of articles that already exist.

General syntax

InputBoxes are constructed like this:

<inputbox> type= bgcolor= width= default= preload= editintro= buttonlabel= hidden= searchbuttonlabel= break= namespaces= prefix= </inputbox>

The type parameter is mandatory. All other parameters are optional.

Box types

Type	Example	Description
type=search		Creates a search box which has a default width of 50 characters. Information added in the text box is searched for.
type=create		Creates a new page. Information added in the text box is the name of the page which is edited.
type=comment		Adds a new section to the bottom of the page specified in the text box.
type=commenttitle		Adds a new section with the section header typed into the text box. The page has to be specified with page= parameter. Added in rev:42703.
type=fulltext		Search only the fulltext search button, without the 'Go' button. Added in rev:45269.
type=search2

Parameters

Parameter Scope	Example
bgcolor= All types   Sets the table background color (HTML color values). Do not use quotes.	<inputbox> type=search bgcolor=#eeeeff </inputbox>
width= All types   Sets the width of the InputBox in characters.	<inputbox> type=create width=24 </inputbox>
default= All types   Default text to put in the InputBox.	<inputbox> type=comment default=User talk:Eloquence </inputbox>
preload= comment, create   The page under this title will be preloaded (see Manual:Creating pages with preloaded text) into the blank editbox when a new page is created.	<inputbox> type=create preload=Log </inputbox>
Enter the title of a non-existent page in the example InputBox above or below, and click "Create article" or "Post a comment" respectively to test this effect.
editintro= comment, create   The page which is given under this parameter will be shown, as instructions, above the editing window.	<inputbox> type=comment editintro=MediaWiki:Missingcommenttext </inputbox>
buttonlabel= All types   This label will be used for the main button of the form.	<inputbox> type=comment buttonlabel=Add new rumor </inputbox>
hidden= create, comment   This specifies that there is no inputbox. It is used with parameter "default", now not being a default, but the fixed value of the name of the page.	<inputbox> type=comment editintro=Extension:InputBox/editintro comment preload=Extension:InputBox/preload hidden=yes default=Extension talk:Inputbox buttonlabel=Post a comment on the talk page </inputbox>
searchbuttonlabel= search, fulltext   This label will be used for the "Search full text" button of the search form.	<inputbox> type=search searchbuttonlabel=Dig deeper </inputbox>
break= All types   Whether or not to insert a line break between the input box and the button(s). Defaults to yes (use a line break).	<inputbox> type=create width=24 break=no </inputbox>
namespaces= search, fulltext   Support for namespace checkboxes in fulltext search. With "Namespace**" it is checked by default.	<inputbox> type=search namespaces=Main**,Help </inputbox>  Main  Help
prefix= search, fulltext, create   Narrow down search to pages beginning with certain prefix. Note this only works with certain search backends, currently only latest Extension:lucene-search. Defaults to empty string (search all pages). Create new page beginning with a certain prefix. Remark: underscores aren't recognised as spaces.	<inputbox> type=search prefix={{FULLPAGENAME}}/Archive </inputbox>   The button below prefixes the name with Special:Mypage/.

Applying create  to an existing page simply gives the edit page. In that case preload is ignored. Applying comment  for a new page works.

The texts taken from the MediaWiki: namespace are of course only examples, any existing page can be used for editintro or preload. Unfortunately preload does not yet work for the Special:Upload summary.

Note: Variables, templates, parser functions and template parameters are not supported in InputBox parameters.

Alignment enhancement

If there is a need to define alignment each time an input box is used, one option is to just remove the div tag from the input box HTML and specify the div when posting the InputBox. A more versatile option would be to add the following code which allows changing the alignment in the options. By installing this modified copy of the code then you can specify align=left, align=center, or align=right. Caution! The linked code is from Feb.2007. There have been bug fixes and feature additions to both MediaWiki and InputBox since that time. You may need to test for compatibility and functionality.

Using InputBox in a template

In order to create many similar input boxes, InputBox can be used in a template. However, passing template parameters to InputBox parameters only works if the <inputbox>...</inputbox> tag is written as {{#tag:inputbox | ...}} inside the template.

The following example is a template to create a new wiki page from a named template:

{{#tag:inputbox |
type=create
buttonlabel=Create new {{{1|article}}}
preload={{{2|Template:Article}}} }}

When instantiating the template, the first parameter gives the item that is created (default: article) as spelled out in the button, the second parameter gives the name of the template used to create the item (default: Template:Article).

E.g., the code for an input box to create a new project from a project template might look like this:

{{Template:CreateNew|project|Template:Project}}

See also

• Extension:CreateArticle
• Extension:CreateBox
• Extension:Preloader
• Extension:DPL Page Name S/N Maker