Extension:CategoryTree

The CategoryTree extension provides a dynamic view of the wiki's category structure as a tree. It uses AJAX to load parts of the tree on demand. CategoryTree was originally written by Daniel Kinzler as an external tool, but was later integrated into the MediaWiki software with the help of Tim Starling.

Usage
CategoryTree can be used in three ways:
 * directly on the category pages,
 * as a "custom tag" (or "parser function") to show a category structure in-line on a wiki page,
 * and as a special page.

The CategoryTree extension adds  ►  "expand" widgets to the subcategories listed on category pages.

The &lt;categorytree&gt; tag
Example. The result can be seen in the box below and on the right:

The custom tag is called &lt;categorytree&gt;. For example, if you put &lt;categorytree&gt;Foo&lt;/categorytree&gt; on a wiki page, it will show the contents of category Foo as a dynamic tree on that page (see example to the right). The tag accepts the following attributes, using a HTML-like syntax:


 * mode
 * determines which pages are shown in the tree. This may be overridden by the use of the   option. Possible values:
 * categories
 * show subcategories only (configuration constant  )
 * pages
 * show subcategories and pages, except images (configuration constant  ), limited to 200 pages
 * all
 * show all pages, subcategories, images, etc. (configuration constant  )
 * parents
 * list parent categories instead of subcategories (configuration constant <tvar|const> </>). This puts CategoryTree into "inverse" operation (supported since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008).


 * depth
 * determines how many levels of the tree are shown initially. Default is 1. 0 means only the root node. The maximum value depends on the mode specified, and on the <tvar|maxdepth> </> option. (Introduced between <tvar|rev1></> and <tvar|rev2></>, Mar 30 2007; fully functional even with <tvar|dynamic> </> since <tvar|rev3></>, July 2008.)


 * onlyroot
 * set this to "<tvar|val>on</>" to only show the "root" node of the tree initially. Equivalent to <tvar|code> </>. (Introduced in <tvar|rev1></>, March 13 2007.) Deprecated as of <tvar|rev2></>, July 2008: use <tvar|code> </> instead.


 * hideroot
 * set this to "<tvar|val>on</>" to hide the "root" node of the tree, i.e. <tvar|code> </>. For example, it will not display the category name Foo.


 * hideprefix
 * determines when the namespace prefix should be hidden from entries in the tree (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008). Possible values are:
 * always
 * always hide the prefix. Should be used only if all pages come from the same namespace (configuration constant <tvar|const> </>).
 * never
 * never hide the namespace prefix, not even for categories (configuration constant <tvar|const> </>).
 * auto
 * hide the namespace of categories if only categories are shown, as with <tvar|code> </> (configuration constant <tvar|const> </>). This is equivalent to the old default behavior (before Jun 2008).
 * categories
 * always hide the namespace of categories, but show all other prefixes (configuration constant <tvar|const> </>). This is the new default behavior (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008).


 * showcount
 * set this to "<tvar|val>on</>" to show the number of entries in subcategories, i.e. <tvar|code> </> (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008). This is disabled per default for category trees inlined on pages, but enabled per default in category listings and on Special:CategoryTree.


 * notranslations
 * set this to "<tvar|1>on</>" to hide all translations pages corresponding to the pages pertaining to the category, i.e. <tvar|2> </> (since <tvar|3></>, November 2019). This is disabled by default.  When set to "<tvar|1>on</>", instead of showing e.g. (Page, Page/en, Page/fr, Page/de, it will show only the default one "Page" and suppress all it's translations).


 * namespaces
 * a list of namespaces from which pages should be shown in the tree (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008). The entries in the list must be namespace names, separated by spaces. The main namespace can be represented by "<tvar|val1>-</>" or "<tvar|val2>0</>". Subcategories will be shown only if Category namespace is present on the list.


 * class, style, id, etc
 * The &lt;categorytree&gt; tag supports all standard HTML attributes for block elements (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008; before that, only <tvar|attr> </> was supported).

Notes on the 'namespaces' parameter
Category is a namespace. Categories are shown in all modes by default, but specifying the <tvar|param> </> parameter hides them just like any other namespace not present on the list. If you want to list pages in a given namespace, including pages in subcategories, simply add Category to the namespace list.

Example:


 * Listing main namespace pages in Category:Manual:


 * Listing main namespace pages and subcategories in Category:Manual:

The <tvar|mode> </> parameter is overridden by <tvar|ns> </>:
 * if only Category namespace is asked, it's equivalent to <tvar|cat> </>;
 * if file namespace is present on the list, it will imply <tvar|all> </>;
 * otherwise <tvar|pag> </> will be used. It means that if the site configuration hasn't been changed, the following are equivalent (the first two are always equivalent, the third only if <tvar|conf> </> is the default <tvar|const> </>):

The <tvar|1> </> parser function
Since <tvar|rev></> (Sep 13, 2007), you can also use parser function syntax to place a category tree on a page. This works just like the <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> tag, using a different syntax, e.g. <tvar|code1> </>; options can be specified using the syntax for named template parameters, e.g. <tvar|code2> </>.

Using the parser function syntax has the advantage that it allows you to use magic words, templates and template parameters when specifying the category to show. Some examples:


 * Using a magic variable to show "this pages" category tree (may be useful on category description pages): <tvar|code> </>.


 * Using a template to specify the category: <tvar|code> </> - the name of the root category would be defined by the contents of <tvar|temp>Template:Root_category</>.


 * Using a template parameter to specify the category, when using CategoryTree inside a template: <tvar|code> </> in <tvar|temp>Template:Baz</> can be called using <tvar|call> </>.

The Special:CategoryTree page
The special page is called Special:CategoryTree; there you can enter the name of a category and then browse its content.

Configuration
There are some options you can specify in your <tvar|1></> file.


 * $wgCategoryTreeMaxChildren
 * maximum number of children shown in a tree node. Default is 200.


 * $wgCategoryTreeAllowTag
 * enable <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> tag. Default is true.


 * $wgCategoryTreeDynamicTag
 * loads the first level of the tree in a <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> dynamically. This way, the cache does not need to be disabled. Default is false.


 * $wgCategoryTreeDisableCache
 * disables the parser cache for pages with a <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> tag, or provides max cache time in seconds. Default is 21600 which is 6 hours.


 * $wgCategoryTreeUseCache
 * enable HTTP cache for anon users. Default is false.


 * $wgCategoryTreeOmitNamespace
 * do not show the namespace name for pages and categories. Default is false, namespaces are shown unless showing categories only. Deprecated as of <tvar|rev></>, July 2008: use <tvar|code> </> instead.


 * $wgCategoryTreeMaxDepth
 * an array defining the maximum depth for each 1>#Modes</>|mode, to which the tree may be expanded initially using the depth parameter in a <tvar|tag>&lt;category&gt;</> tag. By default, this is set to 2 for the "categories" mode, and 1 for other modes. To set it to 3 for categories and 2 for other modes, for example, you can use <tvar|code> </>.


 * $wgCategoryTreeDefaultMode
 * the default mode to use when no mode attribute is specified in a <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> tag. May be <tvar|cat> </> (the default - categories), <tvar|pag> </> (pages), or <tvar|all> </> (all).


 * $wgCategoryTreeCategoryPageMode
 * the mode to use when rendering trees on category pages. Deprecated as of <tvar|rev></>, July 2008: use <tvar|code> </> instead.


 * $wgCategoryTreeForceHeaders
 * if true, forces the scripts needed by CategoryTree on every page, instead of on-demand. This may be needed if a CategoryTree is embedded in an unusual way, for example in a custom skin or in a system message (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008).


 * $wgCategoryTreeSidebarRoot
 * root category to use for integrating the category tree in the sidebar (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008). If not set, no tree is integrated (this is the default).  Integrating a CategoryTree into the sidebar only works with skins based upon SkinTemplate, that is, Modern, Monobook, Chick, Simple, and MySkin, but not Standard, Nostalgia or CologneBlue.  This is currently broken for MediaWiki 1.35.1 and the vector skin, see <tvar|1>278306</>.


 * $wgCategoryTreeDefaultOptions
 * default options to apply, as an array (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008). The available 1>#options</>|options are described above. Example: <tvar|code> </>.


 * $wgCategoryTreeCategoryPageOptions
 * options to use on category pages, as an array (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008).


 * $wgCategoryTreeSpecialPageOptions
 * options to use on Special:CategoryTree, as an array (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008).


 * $wgCategoryTreeSidebarOptions
 * options to use when showing the tree in the sidebar, as an array (since <tvar|rev></>, July 2008)

categorytree-member-num
By default, when listing subcategories on a category page, each subcategory is followed by an integer, indicating how many subcategories lie beneath it, how many pages it contains, and how many files are in the category (if applicable):


 * My category name (5 C, 2 P, 1 F)

You can change this behavior by overriding the system message <tvar|msg>MediaWiki:Categorytree-member-num</>. It takes five parameters:

The default value is <tvar|def> </>.

Tip: Use the extension to provide if/then/else logic to display different parts conditionally. For example:

A configuration to manage commas and spaces when outputting all info:

Abbreviation version: 

Full name version: 

Wiki is broken after installing CategoryTree

 * Turn on
 * Make sure you have all files installed
 * Make sure all of the CategoryTree extension files have mode 644, and the CategoryTree directory has mode 755.

Options in LocalSettings.php have no effect

 * Make sure you specify the options after including the extension.

Clicking the <tvar|button> ► </> has no effect, gives a JavaScript error or just sits on loading

 * Note that using the <tvar|tag>&lt;categorytree&gt;</> tag in system messages (MediaWiki namespace) may not work as expected - this is a known caveat. For a workaround, see 1>#Using CategoryTree in the Sidebar</>|Using CategoryTree in the Sidebar below.


 * Make sure you have <tvar|ajax> </> in your LocalSettings.php before including the extension.


 * Make sure you are using the latest version of the extension - the bleeding edge is at <tvar|url></>


 * If you are using rewrite rules or aliasing (e.g. to have "very short URLs" - i.e. wiki pages in the document root or perhaps redirecting to a www-version of the requested URL), make sure you have an exception in place for the /extensions directory, just like you would for the /skins directory. Also see below.

Clicking the <tvar|button> ► </> shows no sub-categories error

 * Try to fix this by adding this code to LocalSettings.php: <tvar|code> </>

Browser reports a bad MIME type for CategoryTree.js and/or CategoryTree.css

 * Make sure your web server uses the correct MIME types for .js and .css files
 * Enter the URLs directly into the browser and see if it is serving the pages at all, and not some error page; especially:
 * If you are using rewrite rules or aliasing (e.g. to have "very short URLs" - i.e. wiki pages in the document root), make sure you have an exception in place for the /extensions directory, just like you would for the /skins directory.

Member counts are wrong, grey arrows <tvar|grey> ► </> are shown instead of <tvar|blue> ► </>
Since MediaWiki 1.13, CategoryTree can show the number of members of a category, and can show a grey arrow <tvar|grey> ► </> for tree nodes that do not have any children based on that number. This information is based on the new <tvar|cat></> table. However, populating that table with the current values does not always work when upgrading to 1.13. In that case, run the <tvar|script> </> maintenance script, if necessary with the <tvar|option> </> option.

<tvar|buttons> ► ► ▼ </> toggles shown only on the first level of the category tree view
In case you get only one level depth while visualing the tree, try to set in <tvar|file>modules/ext.categoryTree.styles.css</> file <tvar|from> </> to <tvar|to> </>.

The JavaScript intended to switch the tag style is somehow buggy.

Note to bot users
Bots and scripts that parse the HTML of category pages can use the <tvar|param> notree </> URL parameter to force the traditional output. However, HTML output is generally not stable, so it is recommended to change your script to use the to fetch category listings and similar.

"Category Not Found" message
After you implement the CategoryTree plugin and add the code to show the tree, if you see a message that says Category Not Found, you need to add some content in your category pages. The category pages can't be red pages, basically. Click your category names, add some text in the category page, and then your tree should work fine.

Next 200 links do not work with CategoryTree installed
Make sure the right version of this extension is installed, relative to the version of MediaWiki you have installed. In particular, versions of this extension made for versions of MediaWiki prior to 1.17 are not compatible with MediaWiki 1.17 and greater, and will cause issues where all the paging links on category pages are broken.

No pages are shown when using the "namespaces" parameter
See 1>#Notes on the 'namespaces' parameter</>|above.

Using CategoryTree in system messages and custom skins
To use the CategoryTree in system messages or the sidebar, that is, to use it as part of the user interface instead of page content, you have to set <tvar|conf> </> to <tvar|val> </>, so that the support scripts are linked on every page (normally, they are only linked "on demand", but that detection does not work for system messages). This works since <tvar|rev></> (July 2008). If you try this without forcing the scripts to be included, you will find that 1>#Clicking the ► has no effect, gives a JavaScript error or just sits on loading</>|Clicking the ► has no effect, gives a JavaScript error or just sits on loading.

In older versions of CategoryTree, you have to modify the code to make this work: find the <tvar|fun> </> function in the file <tvar|file>CategoryTree.php</>, and remove the condition; i.e. it should then look like this:

Using JavaScript
Since <tvar|rev1></> (July 2008) with MediaWiki 1.13 (<tvar|rev2></>), you can integrate a CategoryTree in the sidebar simply by setting <tvar|conf> </> to the category you want to use as a root. This only works with skins based upon SkinTemplate however, that is, Modern, Monobook, Chick, Simple, and MySkin, but not Standard, Nostalgia or CologneBlue.

If you use <tvar|conf1> </> in LocalSettings.php to drop your own wikitext article into the Sidebar, and then add CategoryTree items to it, you'll need to set <tvar|conf2> </> to ensure that every page works.

If you want the CategoryTree on a different position in the sidebar, you can reference it on MediaWiki:Sidebar as "categorytree-portlet".

For earlier versions of CategoryTree and/or MediaWiki, you'll need to install a mod to MonoBook.php to enable normal wikitext in the sidebar, see <tvar|sig>--DJ 19:26, 24 January 2008 (UTC)</>

To append a link "CategoryTree" to your toolbox add following code to the JavaScript page (e.g. <tvar|monobook>monobook.js</>) of your  and customize the URL "<tvar|url>w:en:Special:CategoryTree</>".

A more generic version of this code can be found at.

Step by step if works easy:
 * Add these lines to <tvar|1></>:

Using MediaWiki: namespace pages
If you want to create a link that goes to the generic categorytree (displayed as special1>Special:CategoryTree/Categories</>|Category tree) when you're on a non-category page, and to a particular categorytree (displayed as special2>Special:CategoryTree/Foo</>|View as category tree, with foo being the name of the category you're viewing) when you're on a category page:
 * Add to your <tvar|sidebar>MediaWiki:Sidebar</> (right above the <tvar|search>SEARCH</> is a good place) a line, <tvar|code1> </>
 * Create a <tvar|mw1> MediaWiki:Sidebarcategorytree </> with, say: <tvar|code2> </>
 * Create a <tvar|mw2> MediaWiki:Sidebarcategorytree-url </> with, say: <tvar|code3> </>

Parameters to request
It is possible to override the default site configuration of "mode" by providing it to as URL parameter. For example


 * - use default mode
 * - use categories mode
 * - use page mode
 * - use all mode
 * - use parent mode