Extension talk:Page Forms

New Pages created with forms not adding to article total?
When I create a new page it adds it to the right category but it does not add

to the end of the page so it will not add it to the article total, how do I get it to add this to each page?

Redeye 23:51, 3 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Just add that in to the template (if I understood the question correctly). Yaron Koren 02:53, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

It seems like the template already does that when you set it up but although it adds the page to the Category it does not add it to the content count? ---Redeye 05:17, 4 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't know - that's weird. Yaron Koren 15:00, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Ive got the same problem on 2 installs of SF now, Dont surppose anyone knows how to fix this? the only way I can get the amout to update is to go to each page created and edit not with a form and save the page, but while at the moment the site is not live to Jo Public I can do that, once it goes live its going to be hard to do that to 100 pages a day Redeye 23:26, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * That seems very odd - the saving mechanism is basically the same whether the form is used or not. SF just adds an intermediate step. Yaron Koren 00:42, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Tell me about it! It makes no sense. Is anyone else having this issue? is there a script I could run to fix the problem or something? Redeye 09:03, 10 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Do you use the Templates which contains your Category Tag in the Pages where the Category is missing? Sounds a bit like a Template that only gets added by the Form and not without it. You could although try to rebuild you semantic index, which will clean the cache for all pages.SBachenberg 14:32, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

I only use forms in these categorys, the categorys are there, I make them before testing the form. How do you rebuild the index? Redeye 01:23, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I've just updated to the latest version of From and tried to use the "default" setting on the form to add the category. That makes it add to the article list. Redeye 18:23, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Tooltips

 * How about using it? Is there a possibility to use it "On Mouse over" instead of "On Mouse Click"? --Martin 16:02, 4 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Not at the moment, I don't think. If someone were to create such a thing, that would be cool - the current #info function is actually part of SMW, not SF. Yaron Koren 15:00, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Is "show on select" working in v2.0.3?
I just upgraded to Semantic Forms 2.0.3, and now I'm getting javascript errors (Object doesn't support this property of method) whenever I use "show on select". Looking for a solution, I visited the Referata Scratchpad here (created by Daniel5000 and discussed earlier in this forum), and the same issue is happening. (I'm using IE7 and Firefox 3.6.8.) --Hermhut 14:33, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The issue isn't browser dependent. It is broken in all browers (chrome included). Something is wrong with the JScripts, I think. Needless to say, it's not functioning for me either.
 * --mlGamble 21:53, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - thanks to both of you for pointing this out. I don't know how I let such a major error slip past me. I just fixed the problem in SVN, and it'll be in the next version, 2.0.4, which I hope to release soon. Yaron Koren 14:55, 7 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I just installed the latest SVN files and now the "show on select" feature works, but it breaks FancyBox (if "uploadable" and "show on select" are used on the same form). Also, the "Add another" functionality is now flaky and sometimes doesn't work on pages with "show on select". I guess I'll just stick with v2.0.2 until v2.0.4 is released. Thanks. --Hermhut 16:05, 8 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi Hermhut - I couldn't duplicate this, with either MW 1.16 or MW 1.17. What version of MediaWiki are you using? And could you try to duplicate the issue on a public wiki? http://scratchpad.referata.com is one possibility - it uses MW 1.16. Yaron Koren 21:01, 8 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I created the Form:Fancy on the public wiki. You'll notice that "Add another" does not work. Edit the page, removing "show on select", and it works fine. If you can get that working, then you'll want to make sure "uploadable" works.  (It doesn't work if you edit a page already created with multiple uploads, and that page contains show on select.) Thanks. --Hermhut 23:56, 8 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for reproducing that. The problem happened because you had a semicolon at the end of your "show on select" - basically the same exact problem as this; I thought I had fixed it, but apparently not completely. The problem should be fixed now, in the code in SVN. Yaron Koren 18:02, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Yaron, it appears to be working now. --Hermhut 20:08, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

2.0.3 not working!
MediaWiki internal error.

Exception caught inside exception handler

Thats the error I get when I enable the latest version of forms. I was running 2.0.1 fine but when I installed the bundle to a new website it put 2.0.3 on and my wiki is dead lol. Please help Redeye 11:40, 7 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - this could be anything. Please add the following to LocalSettings.php, so you can see the actual error: "$wgShowExceptionDetails = true;". Yaron Koren 14:59, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Combox
Hi everyone! I'm wodering if there is a way to 'feed' a combobox by means of a semantic query (e.g #ask). Or maybe to add a semantic form imput format similar to a table resulting from a #ask query but with a checkbox associated. I hope someone can give some enlightenment about this matter. Carlos Sa 14:49, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Can you guys help me and tell me why the combos from "Funcionamento" that means "Working hours" is not working properly?

http://www.w.com.br/index.php?title=Sandbox:Galeto&action=formedit

I mean, it should be reading values I added in the property...

Regards


 * HI, Your propertys like:
 * Funcionamento: as Funcionamento: h
 * should be changed to something that work (I did that for you):
 * Funcionamento:: as Funcionamento:: h
 * but you should add a "|" to the end of your parameters like:
 * Funcionamento:: as Funcionamento:: h
 * because if the parameters are Empty, you will get some errors. SBachenberg 14:49, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Styling the "Free Text" Textarea
Currently the default textarea has its width set to "auto" as applied by SemanticForms.css. textarea.createboxInput { width: auto; } textarea.mandatoryField { width: auto; } In IE8 this results in a free text area with (estimated) 50% width. When applying my own class .formtextarea as described in your extension page using "class=formtextarea" the width setting cannot be overwritten. Is there a way to change this behaviour without altering your original CSS file to something like width:90%? I guess the "auto"-setting is there for good reason. My only solution thus far was "min-width 90%" which is not optimal and may cause problems otherwise. (Mike)


 * I'm not sure if I understand the full question, but you can override any extension's CSS by putting new CSS in the page "MediaWiki:Common.css". Yaron Koren 00:02, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Calling the WikiEditorModule within a Form (Free Text Area)
Is there a possibility to call the "WikiEditorModules" (UsabilityInitiative) within a form (i.e the Free Text Area)? It works in normal edits but doesn't show up within the form.


 * Not at the moment. Yaron Koren 00:01, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

More than one default form is defined for this page
Can you guys help me resolving this issue? "More than one default form is defined for this page."
 * Sounds like you have assigned multiple forms to this page in either the page itself, the namespace or the category the page belongs to. You should use one "Has default form" declaration per page maximum. If you need more than one form for a page, use the "Has alternate form" property. (MIKE)


 * I think something else is happening... http://www.w.com.br/index.php?title=P%C3%A3o_e_Companhia_(Copacabana)&action=formedit


 * Hi - your wiki looks great! This might be a bug in Semantic Forms, possibly related to the fact that the wiki is in a non-English language. I would upgrade your wiki to the latest version of SF, and see if the problem is still there - if it is, please let me know, and I'll try to reproduce it locally. Yaron Koren 02:31, 17 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks Yaron! About the problem, just upgraded and still have the same issue. Hope you can help me. Thanks!


 * This was indeed a bug - I think I just fixed it in SVN. You can either re-get the code from SVN, or just apply this simple fix directly to your code. Yaron Koren 23:47, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Issue solved! Thanks Yaron! Regards, Edgard!


 * Cool - thanks for letting me know about it. Yaron Koren 06:23, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Feature Request: Special:RunQuery as part of a Wikipage + a Bug
Hi Yaron, is it possible to have a "Special:RunQuery"-Form in an existing Wikipage ? Like a part of the Page where you can query things. That means that this Page can have a nice url / title, better than "Run query: Project search".

There although seams to be an error if you place a Fromlink in the Form used by Special:RunQuery. The RunQuery Page isn't able to search anything, because the "Run query" Button does nothing. SBachenberg 14:27, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - actually, this exists already: you can put " " in any page, and it should display the query form there. Also, as of v2.0.4 you can manually set the title, using the "query title=" parameter for . I don't know about that bug, though - could you reproduce it on a public wiki?` Yaron Koren 00:06, 13 November 2010 (UTC)


 * HI Yaron, " " doesnt work :-( Maybe you could add somelines to the Manual about that? SBachenberg 12:37, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I got the Answer its " " SBachenberg 15:43, 15 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Following up on what we talked about in IRC, SBachenberg, the correct format for embedding a RunQuery form is "". Misty De Meo 15:43, 15 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Oh yeah, that makes more sense... oops. :) Yaron Koren 06:58, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Show on select and mandatory fields
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that (in older versions of Semantic Forms) you could have mandatory fields within a hidden "show on select" div, and if they were empty on page save, it would be okay. If so, this is no longer working. If not, then my bad (but I would really like this feature!). --Hermhut 22:01, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - actually, it's the other way around: in older versions, this didn't work, but in the latest version, 2.0.4, it does, at least in theory. Is this not working for you with 2.0.4? If so, could you try to replicate the problem on a public wiki, like scratchpad.referata.com? Yaron Koren 00:00, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion: Add further examples
I've recently asked about building "dynamic" Templates according to a certain property selection (i.e. "PageStatus) done in forms. I found absolutely no good example, so i made something of my own. I lack programming skills but i think it does the job. Wanted to share my results, maybe it's useful for the Manual of "Semantic Forms".

Example 1: If Case - Showing a "Draftbox-Template" if a certain Property value (DraftStatus) is true:

Example 2: Switch Case - Based on example 1 this can also be used for several options instead of checking a string. Here's a Switch Case for a given selection of properties, chosen by Pulldown. In Result it shows an image at the desired position within your template depending on the "Type of Information" Property Value.

Both examples are used within a template that belongs to an "Article" form. Hope this is a somewhat useful example. (Mike)

Request: some examples for #forminput
Same issue as above: i'm lacking a usage example on how to properly create forms for adding new pages to the wiki. All parameters work but the query part used for subpages is hardly understandable on its own. Problem:


 * 1) the super page=Tools/ part is wrong here. What should be entered to add pages to a subpage as in: Tools/YourToolName or Tools/ ?
 * 2) is there a way to automatically (silently) add new pages to a category without the Category-Tag showing up in the default Wikitext? I want users to add pages as simple as possible, preferrably without any categories showing up at all. I just use Categories for automatic "Has default Form" assignment and for sorting / menu purposes.


 * -> 1. Try ... super page=Tools}} without the "/" at the end.
 * -> 2. An Easy Way to add a Page to Category is just make a Form, which normally uses a Template. In this Template add something like that:
 * SBachenberg 16:29, 12 November 2010 (UTC)


 * 1. This was the first thing i've tried it doesn't work. |super page=tools| just results in the page being posted to the Wiki Main Index.php/Thenewpage. Here's the full Code in its recent most state:
 * 2. This is exactly the current "easy" way as i'm doing things atm. However - as stated above - i want to prevent users from getting easy access to the categories. A neat way would be either to hide the Category completely or provide a Form that allows a selection of certain Categories and assigns the page accordingly. This would also prevent multi-category (or no) assignment of pages. (MIKE)
 * Update - The text in the manual was misleading me. I already assumed something was wrong in the query string. For me to make this work i had to type "|query string=super_page=Tools}} instead of just "super_page=Tools". Now i have the problem that the "autocomplete on category" suggestions already show the subpage as well. If people would use the suggestion this could result in double-subpages generated. Is there a way to "strip" the subpages from the search field and just show the final article name?

Using multiple multiple instance templates with HeaderTabs
I have a form with a number of tabs. I can get multiple instance templates working in the last tab (by placing the headertabs tag in the article itself, not the template). I'm wondering if it is possible to put multiple instance templates in other tabs, and hence have multiple multiple instance templates, each on a different tab? - Borofkin 03:33, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Definitely. You shouldn't put any of the Header Tabs stuff directly in the article - instead, you should create small "header" and "footer" templates, with no arguments, that are responsible for just those little snippets of wiki-text, and add those to the form. Yaron Koren 12:31, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * At the moment the contents of most tabs are in one template. Should I split each tab into a template of its own? Is there a publically available example of a setup like this? - Borofkin 22:16, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Should I be using partial forms? - Borofkin 22:45, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * You don't need to split each tab into its own template - only where it's necessary, due to multiple-instance templates. I can't think of a public example. Yaron Koren
 * Okay, I've had a crack at this. I have a master template "Project", that uses two multiple instance templates: "Milestone" and "Participant", which are both on separate tabs. The problem I have is that after editing a page, the multiple instance ("Milestone" and "participant") templates are always placed immediately after the master template, pushing the Headertabs templates to the bottom. The result is that the multiple instance templates all appear on the first tab. I can edit the source of the page and manually insert the tab header templates, and it then appears correctly, but if I edit again using the form the same thing happens, i.e. the tab headers are pushed to the bottom. - Borofkin 00:22, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi - what you should have is another template, maybe called "Participants header", between "Milestone" and "Participants", that just contains the tab header. You can just add it in to the form, with nothing between "for template" and "end template". Yaron Koren 03:18, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi Yaron... this works! I was using a template for the headertabs headers already, but I wasn't using the stuff... I don't really understand SF to be honest, I just cut-and-paste. :-) However, now when I edit, the multiple instance templates are not in their tabs. Should the headertabs template be referred to twice in the form? i.e.  and also  ?

No, just once, with "for template". If you want the form to also have a tab header in that same location, just put the actual header in there, above the "participant header" call. Yaron Koren 21:33, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Fields on first tab disappearing
I have a very bizarre problem. I have a form with data from a single template spread across multiple headertabs. If I edit a field on the first tab, it works fine. If I edit a field on any of the other tabs, all of the template parameters for the fields on the first tab disappear -- not blanked out, but actually removed from the resulting template. I can't see any obvious problem with the template, field or the article. MW 1.15.1 SMW 1.5.3 SF 2.0.4. - Borofkin 05:48, 17 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I have no idea - could you try to replicate the problem on a public wiki like scratchpad.referata.com, and link to it here? Yaron Koren 06:56, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi Yaron... it's such a bizarre problem that I doubt very much that I'll be able to replicate it. I'll give it a go, but. - Borofkin 21:55, 17 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - you actually uncovered a major bug in SF 2.0.4, that's actually pretty easy to replicate... now I've seen it too. I'll try to fix it soon. Yaron Koren 15:00, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Restricted Fields not Editable by WikiSysOp
Hi Yaron, I have restricted fields in my Form and cant edit them with my Wikisysop account. What I'm doing wrong ? Wikisysop is in the group Sysops and Bureaucrats. I although tried it with a new User with Sysop rights but nothing worked. SBachenberg 08:47, 18 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - by "nothing worked", do you mean that the new sysop couldn't edit that field either? That's weird; I just tested it, and it works for me. What versions of MW, SMW and SF are you using? Yaron Koren 19:14, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Right thats realy weird and I have no idea whats the Problem :-(
 * My System:

MediaWiki 	1.16.0 PHP 	5.3.2 (apache2handler) MySQL 	5.1.48-community

Admin Links (Version 0.1.2) Nuke Oversight Renameuser Replace Text (Version 0.8) 	(r76516) Semantic Forms (Version 2.0.4) 	(r76878) SphinxSearch (Version 0.7.2) Parser-Hooks Header Tabs (Version 0.6.6) ParserFunctions (Version 1.1.1) Semantic MediaWiki (Version 1.5.1.1) 	(r76945) Variables (Version 1.3) Abuse Filter AntiBot AntiSpoof ConfirmEdit Semantic Result Formats (Version 1.5.0) SimpleAntiSpam (Version 1.0) Title Blacklist (Version 1.4.2) UsabilityInitiative (Version 0.1.1) 	(r72107) Validator (Version 0.3.3) Vector (Version 0.2.0) 	(r72107) WikiEditor (Version 0.2.0) 	(r72107) SBachenberg 14:17, 24 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I found my own error, the Problem was that my Userrights got set after the SMF Extension. Now everything works fine. SBachenberg 10:34, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Free text field?
Hello. I have a field called "Info" where a user can enter a bunch of info about something. I would like this field to have the same look as the free text field (that being the user could use the WYSIWYG editor). OR is there anyway to change the name of the free text field and have that text placed somewhere in the template? thanks


 * Hi - unfortunately, there's no way to have a WYSIWYG editor on template fields. You could have the "free text" field be just another template field, but then it won't have a WYSIWYG editor on it either. Yaron Koren 22:50, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmm. So I can map the free text field to a position in a template? How? In the form I would have this for the free text:

so then in the template would I put this or how would I tell it where to go?

So there is no hope of this becoming possible in future versions of the extensions? Smile Lee 12:35, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Odd IE8 related Form Bugs
I've experienced some very odd bugs that only happen in IE8 but not Firefox. Unfortunately IE8 is a must-have at my company :(

Here's a list of issues:
 * The combobox dropdown buttons are not vertically aligned with the input field but shifted upwards a bit (a good 10px). This results in the whole form line being too high. Restricting the line height of the table row which contains the form part has no visible effect. The Dropdown-Button looks normal in Firefox though.
 * With "Input Type=Textarea" i experience a weird cursor behaviour. It is not possible to step trough the test using CTRL+Movement keys and my whole text gets highlighted instead. All i can do is append text. Once again, everything seems to act normal in Firefox.


 * Hi - I just tried IE8 (on Windows) on this page, which has both a combobox and a textarea, and I couldn't observe either of the problems you're talking about. Do you get them on that page? If so, what OS are you using? If not, what versions of MW, SMW and SF, and what skin, does your wiki have? Yaron Koren 23:04, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Really odd: Updating to SF 2.0.4 fixed the Combobox-problem in IE8. On your link it still remains, mailed you a screenshot. I could swear that last friday updating brought no change but made my "edit with form" buttons disappear - now everything in that regard is fine. However the second problem with the textarea behaviour remains. My textarea code is as follows:
 * Cursor always jumps to the text end in IE8, rendering edits and text highlighting impossible. Firefox seems fine. Using MW 1.16 (Vector Skin), SMW 1.5.3 and SF 2.0.4


 * Do you see both problems on the Discourse DB link, or just the first one? And what OS are you using? Yaron Koren 14:11, 22 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The form acts normal on the Discourse DB link. The button visuals are shifted like in the screenshot i've sent you. On my local development server (XAMPP) the button looks normal now but the form behaviour is weird also on my colleagues computers. (IE 8.0.6001, WinXP SP3) Mike


 * Indeed - you found a bug in the handling of "maxlength" within textareas in IE. I just fixed the problem in SVN, and it'll go into the next release. I still don't know about the combobox thing - it would be easier if I could reproduce it myself, obviously. Yaron Koren 06:04, 24 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Ah, awesome that i could be of any help. I'll keep you informed about any further potential bugs i stumble upon since this extension is really great so far. :) The combobox issue is gone since the update to SF 2.0.4. I don't know what changed but it could relate to the typical CSS issues that IE has. --(Mike) 07:36, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Linking of Properties / Forms
Can someone tell me how it is possible to get the properties that have been provided by use of multiple-instance "sub"forms? I have created user pages where user can specify their Semantic data. Then i added one or multiple project involvments as sub-forms with their corresponding project-properties. The templates show correctly for each added project on an individual userpage.

However, when i "Browse Properties" for that user i don't see any of the project-related properties assigned to that user. Now i'm trying to associate users with their corresponding projects and their knowledge level in a single query but it doesn't work. Something in the terms of: = User / Project Relations =

The query is understoof but only lists the user and leaves the other cells empty.


 * You should use the Semantic Internal Objects extension to store the data. Yaron Koren 18:55, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Ah so i edit the form to add a semantic link between the additional "mulitple" form properties and the actual userpage. Thank you - and on this behalf i might also thank you for the ongoing support on this page. :) --Fennyface 11:30, 23 November 2010 (UTC) (Mike)

Redlinks
When you use the 'has alternate form' is it possible to change the text in the Edit with Form page? If so, does anyone know where? Thanks!


 * Yes, definitely - same as with "Has default form", it's defined in the form definition itself, via "create title=". Yaron Koren 15:07, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Reordering multiple templates
Is it possible to reorder multiple templates using the form, or is it necessary to edit source? - Borofkin 03:47, 22 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, no - you have to do it via the source text. Yaron Koren 04:40, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Setting name of uploadable files
Hello. I used the upload filename= in the form. However once the file is selected it automatically updates it to whatever the image being uploaded is. Can I make it so it stays as the value I have set it?


 * Ah, indeed... it looks like this was never working for MW 1.16 and higher. Thanks for letting me know about that bug. I just checked in a fix into SVN, so it works now in the latest version. By the way, the parameter is actually "default filename=", not "upload filename=" (as was incorrectly written in one place in the documentation); but you probably figured that out. Yaron Koren 05:42, 29 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Awesome thanks, it works now. However another question: Since it sets the default filename to whatever you tell it.. the file name does not include .jpg or .png or anything. So I am getting an error that says "File extension does not match MIME type." How to resolve?


 * That's indeed an inherent problem - there's no programmatic fix for it, that I know of. If you don't know the file extension ahead of time, you'll have to just put in instructions for users to add it in themselves. Yaron Koren 14:04, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

SF 2.0+ & GuMaxDD skin compatibility
It has been shown that in some skins (such as GuMax) some features (such as autocomplete) do not work in SF 2.0+ since the extension no longer uses YUI. The issue here is that 2 references to jQuery are inadvertently created. it has been recommended to remove the line in the skin's PHP file that includes the jQuery library reference. However, when using GuMaxDD (GuMax skin with dropdown menu bar), this will invariably break dropdown menus in all pages except for form pages. Instead (based on my experience), you would want to remove the jquery include from the extension, not the skin. This would be appropriate for wiki's that do not encourage or allow users to change skins in their user preferences. To do so, you would want to comment out the following clause (lines 202-206) in SF 2.0.4):

You may also want to move the jQuery include line in the skin before any other jQuery plugin includes/function calls and after all CSS references. Since there may very well be a number of skins that rely on jQuery, perhaps there could be a way to store a blacklist of skins as a global variable which the extension can check before including jQuery. --Mtyeh411 21:21, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - removing the jQuery call from SF itself sounds like good advice; thanks. I've really only heard of two skins that include jQuery: GuMax (or the GuMax "family" of skins), and OntoSkin. And OntoSkin comes with a package that includes its own (older) version of SF, so it's really only GuMax that's the issue. But I'll update the documentation. Yaron Koren 15:15, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Manual: Chapter for Editor help within forms
As a suggestion i'd like to propose adding a chapter in the manual describing what kind of help can be provided in terms of Wikipage editing usability. It doesn't have to be WYSIWYG, but things like the EditTools below this page would already help a lot. The #info tag itself is great when using the forms but on the con-side the editing help in the free-text area is lost. This greatly diminishes ease of use and already made a lot of my co-workers hesitate using SF and MW. Any solutions to that? On a related note - all i could think of at the moment would using forms to render the complete article structure, i.e. using multiple sub-forms to add further article paragraphs, images and categories. (Mike)


 * I don't know what exactly you're using SF for, but I doubt SF will be able to handle that kind of layout stuff any time soon. Maybe some of the usability initiative functionality would be a better fit for what you want. Yaron Koren 17:57, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Hide no subcategories with input type category
To hide the no subcategories line when using input type category edit MediaWiki:Categorytree-no-subcategories. Creating an empty page is not possible like mentioned in the archive. Creating the page with     works fine. --Planetenxin 14:16, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Lingering pointers after article deletion
The specific problem is within a form I have. In this form is a combobox with the values equivalent to the query. So, this field has the values of the names of all the concepts in my wiki. Great. I add a concept and it adds it to the wikidb; however, I remove a concept and it still exists in the query. This is the problem, and no this isn't caching. The solution is to go into the data base and go through a process ending with DELETE FROM smw_ids WHERE smw_id=specific id. This is tasking and tedious whenever someone makes a mistake. mlGamble


 * What's the tag you have to define the combobox? Yaron Koren 14:43, 25 November 2010 (UTC)


 * In the form I have, effectively, the following:
 * where the inline query has already been evaluated, and does something unrelated
 * Perhaps I don't understand your usage of the term 'tag' or  , per MW definition
 * Neither of those appear within the form for any purpose other than to call includeonly
 * - mlGamble 18:46, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
 * - mlGamble 18:46, 25 November 2010 (UTC)


 * You answered my question - that's what I meant. So I assume you meant "dropdown", not "combobox". I don't actually know how you got this working, but in any case, you could have a true combobox, by having "|input type=combobox|autocomplete on namespace=Concept" in there instead. Unfortunately, there's no "values from namespace=" - that's coming fairly soon, though. Yaron Koren 04:10, 26 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Pardon me. Dropbox is what I meant, then. And, it works through transclusion - but could equally accomplished through a concept. However, back to my issue. When an article is created, you insert it into the database, to be specific to what I've found, in the table swm_ids; however, when it's deleted this remains in swm_id. The effect is... I query and I get all the concepts, both existing and deleted.
 * -User:mlGamble 14:17, 26 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, that sounds like a Semantic MediaWiki issue, then, not a Semantic Forms one. Yaron Koren 20:28, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Using #if function inside the forms Pagename parameter?
Is this possible? I want to customize the page name a form creates depending on if certain fields have values. Every time i try to use the #if function inside it give an error. Any ideas?


 * Unfortunately, I don't think this is possible via the form - I think the only way to do it is to create a small MediaWiki extension that hooks into the Semantic Forms code to do a custom name calculation. Yaron Koren 04:29, 29 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. It says the following on the semantic form page: The "page name=" value gets parsed by the MediaWiki parser, so you can also add parser functions, pre-defined variables, etc. into the value. This makes it seem like I should be able to use #if. Or is this wrong?


 * Ah, I forgot about that... indeed, that looks like a bug, in either the code or the documentation. I'll look into it. Yaron Koren 14:05, 1 December 2010 (UTC)


 * That would be awesome if that was possible. Write back on here if you find a solution! Thanks a lot.

foldr or foldl
In the future, will there possibly be a foldr or foldl function, complimentary to the #arraymap function? It would be nice to remove duplicate values from a list or reverse a list, among other valuable uses. - 19:06, 29 November 2010 (UTC)


 * In general, the ArrayExtension extension is meant to hold all array functions, other than #arraymap - I'm not planning to add any more to SF, unless there's a compelling reason to. Yaron Koren 21:05, 29 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I will look into using these

Post-submit processing
Is there a way to apply a field's input to a template or function after the user hits submit? I have fields, like dates, which I would like to format differently, but since I am putting it into a property in the template page (Eg. Artical date:: ) it has to be altered before use and after input. SFortuna November 30,


 * I'd like to add custom date formatting to SF, but it's not there yet, so as far as I know there's no way to do this. Yaron Koren 14:07, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

RunJobs creates an Error
Hi, when i use runJobs to update my wiki i get the Following Error:

SBachenberg 10:31, 8 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - what versions of MW, SMW and SF are you using? Yaron Koren 23:48, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Category dropdown
I created a form using SF and added some categories in MediaWiki. I want to allow my users to choose the category in the dropdown fasion in the article, is it possibel to achieve this in SF or I will need to use other extension, if so, what extension? If it is possible to achieve it in SF, please direct me on how to do it.


 * Hi - no, it's not possible, and there's no extension at the moment that will let you do it. Yaron Koren 17:06, 9 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi there. I recently mailed Yaron about the same topic. I have a working solution for it, but I'm not sure if this is good practice or has flaws. However I got this to work the following way:


 * 1) In your form add  . This also works with the parameter "dropdown" altough that won't let you select multiple categories via checkbox. Note: I created a side-question for this below.
 * 2) In your form's output template you have to add  . This will parse all categories specified in the form in your output. The delimitier "z" will define a "fake" Category Z within your template, so you might want to use some other delimiter. Doesn't really matter as long as you don't fill in the redlink for that category.
 * 3) For the multi-select checkbox variant from point 1 i created a new property "HasCategory" (of type Page) which helps in limiting down your choice of user-selectable Categories in your form. By editing the property page you can also easily add further categories - even not yet existing ones - just by adding additional Allows value::somecategory entries. If you don't use a Property in your form, ALL Wiki Categories will be selectable by default.
 * 4) As a small warning: Don't allow assignment to categories with other forms attached as this may conflict with the form that has been used to create an article.

@Yaron: If this is a good example i might suggest adding this to the Extension-Page since a lot of people might come accross this issue. (Mike)


 * Oh yeah... that's true. Never mind, then. I don't know if that counts as a good solution, but it certainly works... Yaron Koren 14:32, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Nice, Thank you Mike for sharing! I have a question about this: This will parse all categories specified in the form in your output. I don't know how to specify categories in the form, how do I do that, what and to where do I add code? I did all of the steps, and right now I only have working check boxes, The only categories I have with check boxes are the once I added using Allows value::somecategory but I don't see any categories that I have created before. Where could I have screwed up?
 * Yes, Category Tree extension is installed and from what I can see I can achieve this http://discoursedb.org/w/index.php?title=Jj&action=formedit but for some reason how much I try I can't get to work, I want to get a dropdown with all of my categories listed there. I already tried to replace list with input type=dropdown

Conditional Forms
I think i read something about conditional form options in an earlier discussion but can't remember correctly. Currently i made categories "user-selectable" within my form (see topic above this one), but that could lead to very crowded forms. So the question is: Is there a good way to enable further selection options when activating a form checkbox or bullet point? I guess the proper wording would be "nested forms". I guess I might use the Tabbed sections for this, though a "one extension less" solution is always better. (Mike)


 * Hi - if I understand what you're asking correctly, see "show on select". Yaron Koren 14:30, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

disabling edit with form?
Is it possible to disbable form edit on a particular page, like how yo can add a default form for a particular page?--Technobliterator 13:20, 11 December 2010 (UTC)


 * No, unfortunately - you'd have to use "Page has default form" in place of "Has default form" for that kind of fine-grained control. Yaron Koren 03:53, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Default text problem
When I create a page using a form I have set it to have some default text in the free text box, but if you dont edit the box it will no add the default text to the page? Free text: Make sure to leave the category details at the end of the page. {{{standard input|free text
 * default=Replace this with an intro.

Location
add directions,maps etc here

Site Type
Add details about what sort of site it is, woodland, urban etc

Facilities
Toilets, covered safe zone etc

Contact Details
Contact numbers, email, website, forum etc


 * rows=10}}}

It will add the page to the correct category but thats all it does.

Redeye 02:54, 12 December 2010 (UTC)


 * For a default of that length, you should put the text into its own wiki page and use "preload=" - I bet that will work better. Yaron Koren 03:54, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Well that did not work as I had exspected, if i created a page with the preloaded data and did not edit anything on the page it would try and call a template called ?

I used this code:

Any idea how I messed it up? lol Redeye 04:45, 12 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I assume, in that case, that your form refers elsewhere to the template "Airsoft site". If so, that's an unrelated issue. Yaron Koren 16:05, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Nope, the only ref to that was in the form itself in the category bit. Redeye 06:32, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't know - I would try replicating this on a public wiki, like scratchpad.referata.com; that will make it easier to debug. Yaron Koren 00:40, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Having problem with jquery
Im having javascript erros. Also, because of that, autocomplete is not working.

http://dev.wikireceitas.com.br/index.php?title=Test

What can that be?


 * This looks very strange - the HTML source doesn't contain the main jQuery file. Did you modify any of the Semantic Forms code, by any chance? Yaron Koren 05:21, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * No... Looks fine here: http://dev.wikireceitas.com.br/index.php?title=Especial:RunQuery/Pesquisar_Receitas . I´m using Windows hosting with PHP, I´m changing this week, but I dont know if this is it. Edgard


 * Ah, I didn't realize that page had an embedded 'RunQuery' - of course, yes. That looks like a bug in SF. Yaron Koren 00:35, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Yeah... Do you plan to fix that? I´m sorry for asking... :)

Template with parserfunctions ?
Hello there, i'm sorry i'm new into this. I've been looking around without results. Here's my request :

I'm using template with things like :

It was actually working, if someone do : |keyword=

This will show No keyword. But with forms it's not working anymore.

Is there a way to show a default value when someone isn't filling a field on form ?

Thanks, sorry for my messy English.

--Nuks 15:12, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't understand - does this question have anything to do with forms? Yaron Koren 00:38, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * It does, yes, it seems like if someone doesn't fill a field on a form, there's not "|keyword=" writed, so my "default" value ("generated" by my #if) isn't working. I hope it's clearer. I mean, what i want to do is : if someone doesn't fill a field, i want some default value to be displayed. I've found how to display a default value IN a field but i want a default value is the field is empty. Is there a way to do that ? Thanks. --Nuks 18:27, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Ah, I think I get it. It's not related to forms, but if you replace " " with "  " in the #if statement, it should work. Yaron Koren 23:47, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

SF using FCKEditor (issue ongoing)
I'm experiencing a weird behaviour when using SF 2.0.4 (not 2.0.6 due to the still-existing {{#info: display... bug )and SMW 1.5.4 in combination with the FCKeditor 2.6.6. My Wiki is set up as follows:


 * Category "Content" uses Form: Article -> Template Article --> Puts all items in Category Content
 * Category "Tools" using Form: Tools -> Template Tools --> Puts everything in Category Tools

Both Tools and Article forms each are nearly identical regarding their contents, but call different output templates and preload different wiki content. They read as follows:

"Header stuff here..." "additional footer stuff here"...
 * {{{standard input|free text|preload=Template:WikiPage|class=formtextarea|textarea|rows=30|size=250}}}
 * {{{info|WYSIWYG}}}
 * {{{for template|SubPageDisplay}}}{{{end template}}}

The problem is the preloading of content into the forms, with 2 different cases observed:
 * 1) When i create a new page everything is fine, content gets preloaded from the template:Wikipage / template:Toolpage and saved as intended. But when i edit with form and start using FCK, the freetext-content gets reloaded from the template again upon saving, which completely negates any form of editing. In short: The article gets reset to default values.
 * 2) When i define Category Tools to be a subcategory of Category "Content", FCK will then always use the preload of the form defined within Category "Content" instead. (I know this is due to conflicting forms defined, just for testing).

Is there any way to prevent FCK from doing this, maybe by adding some Syntax in my preload-templates or forms? The only solution i see so far is to completely forget about "preload" when i want to make use of FCK or disabling the editor before saving changes. (Mike)


 * Hi - the {{{info|WYSIWYG}}} tag is not part of Semantic Forms; it's only part of (I think) the SMW+ version of SF - are you using SMW+? If not, is there any way you could replicate this on a public wiki? If you create a new wiki on referata.com, it lets you activate FCKeditor on it - I'd suggest doing that. I also can't replicate the #info problem, but maybe those two are related - some JS error is causing both to break. Yaron Koren 02:08, 16 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I realized yesterday that there was something fishy about this {{{info|WYSIWYG}}} Tag. I guess it was a leftover from "extensions/UsabilityInitiative" which i tried out. However, removing this had no effect on the FCK-related Problem. Unfortunately, removing the "preload" from my "standard input" field didn't help either. Only deactivation of FCK before saving helps with the problem. The Editor then will just save an empty page and ignores my entry completely. I guess it relates to my forms being more complex with multiple {{{for template|x}}}  xxx  {{{end template}}} calls. I'll try to simplyfy things slowly to narrow down on the problem.
 * Regarding the {{#info - bug: It was working fine with SF 2.0.4, maybe i need to try "Data Repair and Upgrade" within the Admin Functions of SMW.
 * I'll do some more testing (also in referata) and report any findings here. Thanks. (Mike)
 * Update: See issue below. You were right, this info-thing WAS related to the problem. Updating to SF 2.0.6 destroyed the functionality of my #info tags, but the editor is working again. It's my wild guess, but maybe there were some issues related to FCK, info tags and SF and therefore the #info-parsing got deactivated?

The '''"preload-issue" however seems to exist "sometimes". I'll test it further.

{{#Info tags within forms issue (Resolved)
As a update to the issue mentioned above, using SF 2.0.6: Example: {{{for template|User}}} {{{end template}}}
 * {{#info tags do work in the wiki layout (i.e. within tables, templates or divs)
 * However they do not work within forms anymore. Instead the info tag content gets rendered right into the page output directly, no (?) icon appears. This feature was still working correctly in my Wiki when using SF 2.0.4. (Mike)
 * Hi - this works for me. What versions of SMW and MW are you using? Yaron Koren 17:47, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Sorry, forgot to sign my entry - Mike here. ;-)
 * It worked with Forms and FCK for a brief period. I don't know what changed but at the moment the form help and FCK did work. I think de- and reactivation of the editor has something to do with it.

Versions are as follows: MediaWiki 	1.16.0 PHP 	5.3.0 (apache2handler) MySQL 	5.1.37 Semantic Drilldown (Version 0.8) Semantic Forms (Version 2.0.6) 	- changed back and forth from 2.0.4 and 2.0.6 and now it works all of a sudden. o_O Semantic Internal Objects (Version 0.6.2) - To assign Projects to User relations Semantic MediaWiki (Version 1.5.4) FCKeditor (Version 1.0.1) - i think there was something fishy here as Version wasn't displayed correctly.
 * I've been experimenting with various versions and snapshots to narrow down the problem. Re-Downloaded all Versions again, then tried the "Initialize and Upgrade Tables" as well as "Data Repair" function of SMW. Seems ok for the moment and i hope it stays that way now.


 * I think this were two different issues and i don't know what caused the {{#help issue. Regarding FCK Editor: I got the version from the page you linked on your SF-Page but this one was classified as "compatible up to MW 1.15". I'd recommend changing your link / and or instructions to this page instead. The "beta" remark was holding me of at first but this version seems to work good atm.
 * On a general note: as a newbie to wikis i find it highly confusing that snapshot Versions are sometimes highlighted in bold and also listed above, making them seem to be the preferrable choice for visitors. Then there are versions of sourceforge and sometimes additional tarballs. Those are often displayed with identical Version numbers in the Wiki (with no visible Release state) but obviously on a highly different functionality level. Is there a general recommendation on which versions to go for when working with SMW? My guess would be SourceForge (if available) as those seem to work best for me most of the time.
 * Oh and once again thanks for your ongoing support and - Merry Christmas. ;-) (Mike)


 * Thanks, happy holidays to you too! I wish the MediaWiki snapshot versions didn't exist at all for the SMW-related extensions - they're just random snapshots, and they cause a lot of confusion. Generally, if you follow the download instructions on each extension's page, that's the best way to go. There's also the Semantic Bundle, which is meant to hold the best-working version of each relevant extension. Yaron Koren 15:10, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Silent definition error?
When defining a property using the silent definition in a template, the form that accompanies it does not include the properties of that property. Such as it does not recognize that a URL property should be a property. Am I doing something wrong?


 * No, that's a known bug; see the first item here. Yaron Koren 23:56, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Wiki text editor
I noticed that there weren't any basic text editor for the text boxes. How can I add the basic text editor to the text fields and no, WYSIWYG won't work for me, I just need basic text editor?


 * There's no way to do that, unfortunately. Yaron Koren 16:07, 21 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I see! For further testing I went with FCK Editor, I see that it works for but not for other fields, ex. {{{field|Definition|rows=10}} . Is there a way so that FCK Editor works for those fields too?


 * No. Yaron Koren 13:22, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

strange problem
When I try and add a template to my wiki page using a form it replaces it with the category. So if I enter I get

It has been working fine but now its all gone wrong!

Also it seems to add it to the page with the already placed category link, my other worry is that at this rate if 100 people edit using the form it will add 100 category calls lol


 * As with your previous question, I don't understand this one; and once again I'd recommend to replicate it on scratchpad.referata.com. Yaron Koren 13:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

How did you know it was me? lol. The problem was that I had 2 free text boxs, one was for people to put the page content and the other was restricted(but not even sysop's could edit it) with a default value of No idea why it messed it up when it had been working fine but I just removed the extra box so its now working fine.I will have to get round to doing the scratchpad thing when i get a chance. Just super busy now my wiki has gone out to testers (so many school boy errors lol) --Redeye 04:38, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Does SF support autocompletion for templates that use the 'multiple' parameter?
I'm having some trouble getting autocompletion to work when I add the 'multiple' tag to the template field. I'm curious if it's just my install that has gotten messed up, so I'm just going to ask if anyone knows if SF support autocompletion here? I have FCKeditor 2.6.6 installed as well and I'm using SF 1.9.1 and SMW 1.4.3

Autocomplete works fine here: Text

But wont work in this situation: Text --Ovoned 20:57, 26 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi - yes, it's supposed to work. You're using an old version of SF, so that might be the issue. You should probably also upgrade SMW while you're at it. Yaron Koren 21:51, 26 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Good to hear! I'll keep at it then. Maybe I'll try an upgrade. --Ovoned 07:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC)