Advanced Wiki Syntax Examples

Wiki syntax is simple and useful in most cases. However, there are some times where wiki syntax gets in the way or it seems you need to use (x)HTML. This page is to share tips & tricks with you about making the most out of the Tiki's wiki syntax.

Table of contents

• Advanced Wiki Syntax Examples
  • How to make a non-breakable space
  • How to get multiple lines in a table cell
  • How to make a bullet list in a table cell?
  • Creating advanced tables
    • SPLIT plugin work-around
  • Numbered lists which continue after some line breaks
    • Using + for item continuation
  • Using = with underline
  • Allowing Formatting characters to span paragraphs
    • Use %%% to break lines within formatting
  • Wrap code Sections to Fit the Window
  • How to display URL param in a page or the page name or the user name

How to make a non-breakable space

In (x)HTML there's   or   for it but how to make it on a wiki page ? It's easy using ~hs~ which is a shortcut for "hard-space":

This is especially useful when you want to~hs~write a~hs~nicely formatted sentence with some date at~hs~the~hs~end of~hs~a~hs~line which will not break into parts after wrapping when resizing the~hs~viewport: 13th~hs~of~hs~December,~hs~2007.

generates:
This is especially useful when you want to write a nicely formatted sentence with some date at the end of a line which will not break into parts after wrapping when resizing the viewport: 13th of December, 2007.

How to get multiple lines in a table cell

||r1c1|r1c2%%% Here is my first line %%% Here is my second line %%% Here is my third line
r2c1|r2c2||

generates:

r1c1	r1c2 Here is my first line Here is my second line Here is my third line
r2c1	r2c2

How to make a bullet list in a table cell?

Doesn't look possible with current syntax...

r1c1	r1c2 #item1 #item2 #item3
r2c1	r2c2

r1c1	r1c2 * item1 * item2 * item3
r2c1	r2c2

r1c1	r1c2 * item1
* item2
* item3
r2c1	r2c2

So here is a workaround using the HTML wiki plugin:

||r1c1|r1c2{HTML()}<ol><li>item1</li><li>item2</li><li>item3</li></ol>{HTML}
r2c1|r2c2||

generates:

r1c1	r1c2 item1 item2 item3
r2c1	r2c2

Creating advanced tables

Would be nice to not have to resort to HTML when doing tables where you want to span columns or rows. Adding colspan/rowspan options and possibly also allowing individual cell alignment (vert and horiz) would be great. Even if this was relegated to something like FANCYTABLES, I'd be happy with it.

SPLIT plugin work-around

Would have to edit the plugin and/or CSS if you want a border, though.

r1c1	r1c2 item1 item2 item3
r2c1	r2c2

Numbered lists which continue after some line breaks

# ((tw:Top-10 files))
# ((tw:Participate|Top-10 ways to help))
# ((tw:Top-10 news|Top-10 ways to get news))
# ((tw:Top-10 stats)) about Tiki
# ((tw:Top-10 differences|Top-10 ways in which Tiki is very different from other projects))
# ((tw:WhyUseTiki|Top-10 reasons to choose Tiki))
# ((tw:Top-10 criticisms))%%% %%% Also,%%% %%%
# ((tw:TikiBackronym|Top-10 potential meanings for T-i-k-i))
# ((tw:Top-10 Words))

generates:

1. Top-10 files
2. Participate
3. Top-10 news
4. Top-10 stats about Tiki
5. Top-10 differences
6. WhyUseTiki
7. Top-10 criticisms
   
   Also,
   
   
8. TikiBackronym
9. Top-10 Words

Using + for item continuation

An alternative is to use + to continue numbering:

# Item 
# Item 
# Item 
+ Also,
# Item 
# Item

generates:

1. Item
2. Item
3. Item
   Also,
4. Item
5. Item

Using = with underline

=== is the syntax for underline.

This doesn't work:

=== 1+1 = 3 ===

workaround number 1

=== 1+1 ~61~ 3 ===

generates:
1+1 = 3

workaround number 2

{TAG(tag=u)}1+1 = 3{TAG}

generates:
1+1 = 3

Allowing Formatting characters to span paragraphs

When you use :: or '' or similar formatting tags, at leat in 1.9 (haven't tried in 1.10) they don't get recognized. Instead you see the beginning characters, then the paragraph, then the paragraph space, then the continuation of the next paragraph ending with the closing characters.

''This doesn't
work properly.''
But this does.

::Irritating when you want to center
text across multiple lines without bracketing::

Use %%% to break lines within formatting

For example:

This does
work properly.

Wrap code Sections to Fit the Window

Not sure if this is something browser-specific or Tiki-specific (I think it's both), but when you put really long lines inside CODE blocks they tend to run off the right side of the page and completely mess up the pagescape. It would be nice, based on the size of the window (and therefore the size of the middle content box) to wrap the CODE text at the right margin of the middle box.

Having said that, when using CODE blocks on a printer-friendly page, they don't get wrapped there, even when you send it to the printer. I think that's a browser issue. But we should be able to address the wiki page issue?

Solution is easy: use wrap=1 parameter in CODE plugin

How to display URL param in a page or the page name or the user name

You need to activate the feature 'Wiki argument variables' on Admin home → Editing and Plugins for Tiki >= 5. For Tiki version 4.x, you need to manually set the preference in the database as feature_wiki_argvariable.

• {{itemId}} Will display 5 if for instance the URL is http://mysite.com/tiki-index.php?page=mypage&itemId=5
• {{itemId|default}} will display default if itemId is not in the URL

2 special cases that are defined whatever is in the URL

• {{page}} will display the name of the current page
• {{user}} will display the user name

• http://themes.tikiwiki.org/Template+Tricks
• PluginGroup

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