Extension:SyntaxHighlight GeSHi

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SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi Release status: stable
Implementation	Tag
Description	Allows source code to be syntax highlighted on the wiki pages.
Author(s)	Brion Vibber, Tim Starling and Rob Church
Last Version	rev:50696 (17 May 2009)
MediaWiki	1.11.0-1.14.0+
License	GPLv2
Download	Download snapshot Subversion [Help] Browse source code README
Hooks used ShowRawCssJs ParserFirstCallInit
check usage (experimental)

This extension adds the <syntaxhighlight> tag to present formatted source code.

Before rev:50696, the <source> tag was used. It is still supported, but <syntaxhighlight> is recommended to avoid possible conflicts. The original syntax is used in some other languages, e.g. XML.

[edit] Introduction

The <syntaxhighlight> tags allow the display of preformatted code modules but in addition they add coloring according to the code language settings. Like the <pre> tags and the <poem> tags, they preserve white space, that is, they depict the code module exactly as it was typed.

[edit] Usage

On the wiki page, you can now use "syntaxhighlight" elements:

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
<?php
    $v = "string";    // sample initialization
?>
html text
<?
    echo $v;         // end of php code
?>
</syntaxhighlight>

show:

<?php
    $v = "string";    // sample initialization
?>
html text
<?
    echo $v;         // end of php code
?>

[edit] Alternative Tag

<source> is also used in some other languages (for example XML). If your source code contains <source>, it will conflict with this tag since there is no way for the interpreter to identify how each is used.

As of rev:50696, an alternative tag <syntaxhighlight> is provided. <syntaxhighlight> is recommended to avoid the conflicts mentioned above.

[edit] Parameters

lang="??"

Defines what programming language the source code is using. This affects how the extension highlights the source code. See the section "Supported languages" in this page for details of supported languages.

line="GESHI_NORMAL_LINE_NUMBERS|GESHI_FANCY_LINE_NUMBERS"

Type of line numbering to use (default is no line numbering). Corresponds to enable_line_numbers the flag in GeSHi.

line start="??"

Use together with the parameter "line". Define the start number of the line. If you type line start="55", it will start counting at 55, then 56,57,58... and so on. Corresponds to start_line_numbers_at method on GeSHi

highlight="??"

Specifies which line is highlighted. Note that the parameter line start="??" doesn't affect how it counts the lines.

enclose="??"

Specifies what container is used to enclose the source code. Takes values "pre" (default value), "div", "none". Corresponds to set_header_type method on GeSHi.

strict

Type the name of the parameter to enable the strict mode. Corresponds to enable_strict_mode method on GeSHi.

The effect and usage of these parameters can be consulted in GeSHi's documentation.

Since r22246, you can override the colors using MediaWiki:Geshi.css.

[edit] More Usage

When line numbering is added with line, long code lines will be wrapped. See the example below. When text is the selected language, and numbering is used, the behaviour resembles the use of pre tags with numbering and long-line wrapping.

The following example shows how to color an HTML code listing:

<syntaxhighlight lang="html4strict" line start="100" highlight="5">
HTML module goes here...
</syntaxhighlight>

A typical result is just:

[edit] Supported languages

These are the languages known by GeSHi that can be used in the lang parameter.

Note that installed GeSHi version (can be revealed by previewing e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="-"></syntaxhighlight>) might not be the most recent version; see bugzilla:10967 for Wikimedia sites.

[edit] Extra features

[edit] Default Source Language

Added in rev:50693.

If the site mainly quote the source code of a specific programming language, it would be helpful to set a default language.

To do so, add a new variable to LocalSettings.php, just before the require_once line. We set C programming language as an example:

require_once("$IP/extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.php");
$wgSyntaxHighlightDefaultLang = "c";

[edit] Bugs and Limitations

None so far. You may report bugs by clicking here.

[edit] Installation

[edit] Step 1, downloading

[edit] Method 1, already bundled

Since r46666, we bundle Geshi into subversion. When downloading via the ExtensionDistributor or directly from SVN, there should already be a "geshi" directory inside your SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi directory. If this is the case then GeSHi is already installed.

[edit] Method 2, manual downloading

Browse to the extension's Subversion repository. Open each of the 4 file's pages, and download the files by opening and saving the pages behind the download link. Save (or upload) these files into the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi directory of your wiki.

Next, go to the GeSHi project site and download the latest stable release. Unpack (and upload) these files into the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/geshi directory of your wiki.

Notes:

• GeSHi 1.1.2alpha3 does not work with the MediaWiki extension.
• You need both the MediaWiki extension files and the GeSHi project files from SourceForge to make it work!
• You can delete the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/geshi/docs directory to save a few megabytes.

[edit] Method 3, using an SVN tool

Use an SVN tool to checkout http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/ .

For example using the SVN command-line tool:

svn co http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi

This will automatically also download the latest stable version of GeSHi.

Save (or upload) everything into the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi directory of your wiki.

Note: You can delete the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/geshi/docs directory and the various .svn directories to save a few megabytes.

You can also use the SVN command-line tool to download the latest stable version without all the .svn directories. This will save you having to find and remove each of them.

svn export http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi

[edit] Step 2, installation

Add this line to the end of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once("$IP/extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.php");

[edit] Step 3, GeSHi installation (optional)

If you didn't put GeSHi in the extensions/SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi/geshi directory, then change the following line in SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.class.php to suit the path of your geshi.php file

require( 'geshi/geshi.php' );

Sometimes you'll need to add the absolute path to geshi (/var/www/html/.../geshi/geshi.php)

Here's a shortcut using the PHP dirname() function with the magic __FILE__ constant:

require(dirname(__FILE__).'/geshi/geshi.php');

[edit] Configuration

If you want the dashed border like for <pre> tags you have to add them again.

[edit] Method 1, CSS file

This method requires r52346 or higher of this extension.

Add to MediaWiki:Geshi.css, MediaWiki:Monobook.css or MediaWiki:Common.css:

div.mw-geshi {
  padding: 1em; 
  margin: 1em 0; 
  border: 1px dashed #2f6fab;
}

This will give all GeSHi output (except for enclose="none") a dashed border almost identical to <pre> in monobook/main.css

[edit] Method 2, inline CSS

You can also edit the SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.class.php around line 215. Look for this:

$css[] = "\tline-height: normal; border: 0px none white;";

and change it to:

$css[] = "\tline-height: normal; border: 1px dashed #2f6fab;";

On a Unix-like system simply type this command in the directory containing "SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.class.php":

sed -i 's/$css\[\] = "\\tline-height: normal; border: 0px none white;";/
<!!!continued... THE LINE ABOVE AND THE LINE BELOW ARE ALL ONE LINE!> 
$css\[\] = "\\tline-height: normal; border: 1px dashed #2f6fab;";/g' \
SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi.class.php

Link to Extension Talk (2008): Extension_talk:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi#Problem_with_CSS:_Default_style_for_pre_is_overwritten

See also rev:52346.

[edit] See also

• GeSHiCodeTag - A working alternative extension that also uses Geshi
• GeSHi - Generic Syntax Highlighter
• ASHighlight (MediaWiki support for Andre Simon's highlight utility)
• Extension:SyntaxHighlight GeSHi extension - An extension to SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi. Enables external file inclusion.
• Extension:Geshi includes every component - no additional downloads
• Extension:Include -- yet another source code syntax highlighter
• Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi_ParserFunction -- Parser function based alternative, can be used with Semantic MediaWiki

This extension is being used on one or more of Wikimedia's wikis. It means that the extension is stable and works well enough to be used by such high traffic websites. A full list of the extensions installed on a particular wiki is produced by Special:Version on that wiki.