Extensions

Extensions extend the functionality of MediaWiki in some way. These often manifest themselves as new special pages or extensions to wiki markup.

Implementations

 * Extending wiki markup:
 * With XML style tags. The parser is very flexible, and you can give it custom hooks for specific XML tags. For instance, you wanted to make a form that let users subscribe to a server mailing list, instead of enabling HTML, you could write an extension that parses  into a form. Note however that wikitext codes such as quotes, brackets and braces in the result are not interpreted. Also the result cannot be used in the name of a template etc. or in the target of an internal or external link. If the result is attempted to be used as link label a replacement code starting with "UNIQ" shows up. However, the result can be used as value of a template parameter, and also in the label of an external link.
 * with tags with double braces: parser functions. The result, like that of a template, can be used in the name of a template, variable or parser function, in the name or value of a parameter, or in the target or label of an internal or external link.
 * Writing a new special page &mdash; Special pages are the little bits of extra logic that are helpful. MediaWiki 1.5 offers reflective extension loading, which means hooking up your extension to the system is fast and easy. The possibilities for special pages are boundless, only limited to your programming ability.
 * MediaWiki hooks &mdash; After certain events happen, you can hook functions into MediaWiki and execute your own behavior.
 * How to become a MediaWiki hacker &mdash; Tips on how to get started.