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NewPageBoxPlus

Question

How can I provide a form or box to allow users to create new pages?

Answer

The newpageboxplus.phpΔ script provides a (:newpagebox:) markup which displays a simple box for creating pages:

(:newpagebox:)

To install, download newpageboxplus.phpΔ, copy into the cookbook folder, and add the following to config.php:

        include_once("$FarmD/cookbook/newpageboxplus.php");

This script can be used as an alternative to NewPageBox and should be installed instead of newpagebox.php.

As the original this alternative script adds markup to place a simple box with button to enter a new page name and submit it, which will take you to the new page ready to edit it.

This script adds additional functionality:

• The button can be placed either to the right or the left of the input box.
• The input box can have an initial text displayed inside the box.
• This can be made to disappear as soon as the box is clicked to enter the new page name, or left as an initial value for a second part of the page name to be entered.
• The input box and button have additional class stylehooks "inputbox" and "inputbutton" which help integrated styling in a skin (used by Gemini Skin, FixFlow Skin, Triad Skin for instance), i.e. you can use a generic class for both searchbox and newpagebox and other form elements for instance.

Use

Usage is the same as original script, by adding this markup to any wiki page:

(:newpagebox:)

Possible parameters to use inside the markup:

• base=Group.PageName -- create page in the same group as Group.PageName (PageName does not need to exist).
• template=Group.PageTemplateName -- use Group.PageTemplateName as template for new page.
• value="Create New Page" -- label or value for the inside of the field, which disappears when clicking the box. Default is empty: "".
• prefix=prefixtext -- prefix will be added in front of name.
• suffix=suffixtext -- suffix will be added behind name.
• size=number -- size of input box, default is 30.
• label="Button Label" -- label for the button, default "Create a new page called:".
• button=position -- use "left" or "right" to position button (default is "left").
• focus=true -- adds onfocus and onblur javascript which will make any intial value disappear when clicking on the box. Default is "".
• save=true or save=1 -- will save the new page directly (without opening it in edit mode), adding any content set with the template option. Default is "". This option is disabld by default, but available for users logged on with 'edit' level. To make it generally available for all users set as local configuration $EnableAutoSave = 1;

note on save -- it looks like save=true and save=false are not working correctly - they both seem to redirect to the same place each time. however, with save=1 or save=0, the redirection seems to work correctly... overtones99? April 27, 2008, at 12:53 AM Fixed now. Thanks for the note! HansB April 27, 2008, at 02:26 AM

Examples:

New pages will be created in group "Test":

(:newpagebox base=Test.HomePage:)

Small box with left "Go" button for use in sidebar:

(:newpagebox value="Create New Page" focus=true label=Go button=right
size=16:)

Update History

• 2008-04-27: Fixed save= option so only save=1 or save=true will result in a page save without opening the edit window.
• 2007-05-02: Changed buggy action to PageUrl, this time properly!
• 2007-04-17: Changed $PageUrl to $ScriptUrl in form.
• 2007-01-25: Small optimisation tweak. Removed size default.
• 2007-01-24a: Optimised code so HTML output is minimised. Hidden fields are only added when needed by the markup.
• 2007-01-24: Added prefix and suffix optional parameters.
• 2006-11-26: Added $EnableAutoSave, default false. save=true option is now only available if this variable is set to true or if user is logged on with 'edit' authorisation.
• 2006-10-28: Added $RecipeInfo
• 2006-08-05: Added code to strip periods from names, if a base= parameter is specified.
• 2006-04-28: Added call to SaveAttributes when save=true, which saves link targets.
• 2006-04-15: Added ctime (page creation time) when new page gets auto saved.
• 2006-04-10a: Rewritten posting code so new page will appear in RecentChanges, even with save-true option.
• 2006-04-10: Added Author name when new page gets auto saved.
• 23 March 06: Changed onfocus/onblur behaviour: Added checking the textbox is still equal to the "value" parameter to stop inadvertant opening of page. Entering a value, leaving the box and returning will have the value still intact and not removed by the second onfocus.
• 23 March 06: Fixed bug which would open an existing page of form Group.Group if Group was entered and a base group specified. Now the new page will be Base.Group.
• 20 March 06: Fixed Redirect to new page when save=true.
• 17 March 06: Fixed bug which allowed overwriting of an existing page by using option save=true. Now it is first checked if the new page exists already, and if it does, it wil open in normal edit mode, and not automatically save a page template as new page content.
• 27 Feb 06: Added "save" option, which when set to save=true will save the new page without opening it for editing. Combined with the template option new pages with content can be created easily. I use it to create new blog archive and category pages.
• 4 Jan 06: First release as fourth version of newpagebox.
• This recipe was last tested on PmWiki version: 2.1.beta17
• This recipe requires at least PmWiki version: 2

Notes

Comments and Questions

• Very nice. Would it be possible to include a short descritpion of the parameters into the script itself? So the meaning and function of the parameters could be easily obtained without need for searching for it. You should integrate also the possbility that someone only adds a group name for base. Ok this is a minor one. Klonk January 11, 2006, at 03:07 AM
  Done the documentation. ~'HansB''
• Would be nice if this could check to make sure the textbox is not left empty (or is still equal to the "value" parameter) - so that inadvertant editing did not happen.
  Fixed now. ~HansB
• Is it possible to place the newpagebox in the very top line near "recent changes" and "search" ? ~~Peter, 2006-03-02

• If I set save=true, then no author-information is saved. So $LastModifiedby is "". What can I do? flox April 10, 2006, at 04:42 AM

• How complex would it be to tweak this to create a newgroupbox, where the base and the entered value are turned around? I want to have a box where someone can enter the name of a new group, and Group.Base is created, instead of Base.Group. -- JonHaupt

• With (:newpagebox .... save=true:) a new created page has 1970-01-01 in $PageCreationDate with:

  # add page variable {$PageCreationDate} in format yyyy-mm-dd
  $FmtPV['$PageCreationDate'] = 'strftime("%Y-%m-%d", $page["ctime"])';

  in config.php. flox April 15, 2006, at 02:57 PM

• If a page is created (save=true), sometimes the page is not listed with (:pagelist:). There seems to be no problem, if I create one without this script. Profiles April 18, 2006, at 12:42 PM

I know, not the best code...

(:pagelist fmt=#galerienormal group=Galerie -2004 -2005 -2006 list=normal -IchHabDichLieb 
-RecentChanges -PageTemplateName -GroupHeader -GroupFooter -GroupAttributes :)

If I create for example the page hallo, it isn't shown there. But it lists "old" pages. Sometimes, if I edit the page again, it is shown in the pagelist. Thanks, flox April 18, 2006, at 03:53 PM

• I'm using save=true and template=Xxx. If the template has markup that adds it to a category (e.g. Yyy), then the new page doesn't appear in the category listing (pagelist link=Category.Yyy) unless I edit that page.
  I updated the script, so link targets are saved as well now. -- HansB April 28, 2006, at 03:40 AM
  Hi Hans, that does work. I ran into problems as was using both NewPageBoxPlus and NewGroupBox on the same site - the latter was included second in the config file and still had the old code. The handler for NewGroupBox appears to overwrite the handler for NewPageBoxPlus when included in this order, it took a while to figure this out and get your changed code working for me. Thanks for your work and quick reply!

• Can you add an option to strip periods (".") from the input? If a visitor uses a period in the input, the specified base group is overridden and the new page is created in a different group, based on the entered string, e.g. "John Q. Public" creates JohnQ.Public (that is, a page called Public in a group called JohnQ). Pico May 17, 2006, at 05:48 PM

Done now. Periods gets stripped if a base= parameter is specified. If no base= is specified the left side will become the group, and the right side of the period the pagename, which lets you create pages in other groups than the current. HansB August 05, 2006, at 01:28 PM

• Can you add a parameter that puts the link to the new page on the original page right above the markup? It would be great for lists of links. Alex 5th Aug 2006

I think this feature goes a bit beyond the scope of this recipe, it will require rather complex alterations, as the page with the newpagebox markup needs to be changed and saved automatically, apart from creating the new page, which is newpagebox's job. You could perhaps use the (:pagelist:) directive instead. If new pages get created in various groups perhaps set up a template page with a marker on it, like (:comment SpecialMarker:), and use (:pagelist SpecialMarker:) above the newpagebox to list links to all pages with SpecialMarker. HansB

• Hans, is there a way to use Newpageboxplus with wikiforms? I would like to use a Wikiform that has a button like 'Create new note' or 'create new page' where both the groupname and pagename can be set with variables. Am I making sense here? (hfwang-aug192006)

You can install newpageboxplus and use input form markup like

(:input form :)
(:input hidden action new:)
(:input hidden name "Test.NewPage":)
(:input submit value="Create new page":)
(:input end:)

This will create a button which when clicked will direct to edit a new page named Test.NewPage. You may want to use variables for 'Test' and 'NewPage'. But I am not sure how you apply them, I did not understand your concept for this. Still the input form will use the newpagebox functions. You could also add more hidden fields, for instanc efor a template page:

~HansB

Hans, thanks for the swift reply! Let me clarify my wishes a bit.

I am using wikiforms to create a 'project information sheet' page. From this page I would like to be able to 'press a button' to create 'issues', 'notes' etc. all in their own group and manageable with wikiforms. New sub project entries must link to the original project (xxx.0001) and list themself on the ViewTemplate page of the wikiform page. In Short, Projects is the main entry to all information, but issues and notes do have their own page where all of them (thus all projects) are listed as a reguar 'wikilist' entry. HTH! (hfwang-aug192006)

I am sorry but I know nothing about WikiForms, you better ask John Rankin. ~HansB

Possible Solution: I have been tracking for a while the posts of HTH, I have been working in a similar project as well, I think I maybe have found a solution for his application. If you take the following line in the newpageboxplus.php:

" <input class='inputbox newpagetext' name='name' value='{$opt['value']}' size='{$opt['size']}'" . ($opt['focus']=="true" ? $onfocusHTML : "") . "/> \n" .

and then changed for the following :

" <input class='inputbox newpagetext' type='hidden' name='name' value='{$opt['value']}' size='{$opt['size']}'" . ($opt['focus']=="true" ? $onfocusHTML : "") . "/> \n" .

This basically hide the Input Text Box. You will get a imple button linking to the page you want to create in the form:

(:newpagebox base=P{$Name}.Main value=Main label=Go button=left
save=true:) 

and you yet have the option to specify the template you want to use with with.

Hope that Helps, Marte

• Could you add a prefix= or suffix= or pattern= option, so that the new page name would have that as part of its name? This isn't the same as base= (which determines the group name); I need something that would affect the page name. For example, if the entered name was NewPage, and the prefix was Foo, then the real new page name would be turned into FooNewPage.
  Kathryn Andersen January 23, 2007, at 07:31 PM

I was looking for a way to have an input select drop down for groups and found this to work in a form (based on the input form markup above:

(:input form :)
(:input hidden action new :)
(:input text name :)
(:input select name="base" value="SomeGroup1" :)
(:input select name="base" value="SomeGroup2" :)
(:input submit value="Add New Page":)
(:input end :)

Seems to work well for me ... so I thought I'd post if for others to see. ~Scott

• Hans, nice recipe. Could you add an option to skip going to the new page altogether? (even when the page already exists). SteP March 10, 2007, at 05:37 AM

                
		if (@$_REQUEST['template'] && PageExists($_REQUEST['template'])) {
			$p = RetrieveAuthPage($_REQUEST['template'], 'read', false, READPAGE_CURRENT);
			if ($p['text'] > '') $new['text'] = $p['text']; 
			$new['author'] = $Author;
			//$new['ctime'] = $Now;   // taking it out of here...
		}       
                $new['ctime'] = $Now; // ... and sticking it here instead...

See Also

• NewPageBox - the original script with less options.
  • see also Fox for variable processing and posting
• FoxPageManagement example of a newpagebox build with Fox

Contributors

• HansB

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