MediaWikiTablePlugin

Format tables the MediaWiki way

This plugin allows to create tables using the MediaWiki table syntax and can be used to help porting MediaWiki content to Foswiki as well as lower the entry barier of users acustommed to MediaWiki to also use Foswiki.

This plugin deliberately does not provide the full MediaWiki markup syntax and only focuses on table markup. Foswiki's and MediaWiki's table markup can't be mapped on each other as the latter is much more powerful and allows to control the resulting HTML markup in much detail.

If you want to enable MediaWiki wiki markup then you might also be interested in the Foswiki:Extensions/EditSyntaxPlugin.

If you want to import content in MediaWiki format and convert it to Foswiki markup as much as possible then use the Foswiki:Extensions/MediaWiki2FoswikiAddOn.

Syntax Rules

The entire table is encased with curly brackets and a vertical bar character (a pipe). So use {| to begin a table, and |} to end it. Each one needs to be on its own line:

An optional caption is included with a line starting with a vertical bar and plus sign |+ and the caption after it:

To start a new row, type a vertical bar and a dash on its own line: |-. The codes for the cells in that row will start on the next line.

Type the codes for each cell in the next row, starting with a bar:

Cells can be separated with either a new line and new bar, or by a double bar || on the same line. Both produce the same output:

A row of column headings is identified by using ! instead of |, and using !! instead of ||. Header cells typically render differently than regular cells, depending on the browser. They are often rendered in a bold font and centered.

The first cell of a row is identified as row heading by starting the line with ! instead of |, and starting subsequent data cells on a new line.

Optional parameters can modify the behavior of cells, rows, or the entire table. For instance, a border could be added to the table:

The final table would display like this:

The table parameters and cell parameters are the same as in HTML see w3c However, the thead, tbody, tfoot, colgroup, and col elements are currently not supported.

A table can be useful even if none of the cells have content. For example, the background colors of cells can be changed with cell parameters, making the table into a diagram. An "image" in the form of a table is much more convenient to edit than an uploaded image.

Each row must have the same number of cells as the other rows, so that the number of columns in the table remains consistent (unless there are cells which span several columns or rows, see colspan and rowspan in Mélange example below). For empty cells, use the non-breaking space   as content to ensure that the cells are displayed. To show a visible pipe in a cell, use <nop>| or |.

Pipe syntax in terms of the HTML produced

The pipe syntax, developed by Magnus Manske, substitutes pipes (|) for HTML. There is an on-line script which converts html tables to pipe syntax tables.

The pipes must start at the beginning of a new line, except when separating parameters from content or when using || to separate cells on a single line. The parameters are optional.

Tables

A table is defined by which equals

Rows

<tr> tags will be generated automatically for the first row. To start a new row, use which results in

Parameters can be added like this: which results in

Cells

Cells are generated either like this: or like this: which both equal so "||" equals "newline" + "|"

Parameters in cells can be used like this: which will result in

Headers

Functions the same way as TD, except "!" is used instead of the opening "|". "!!" can be used instead of "||". Parameters still use "|", though! Example:

Captions

A <caption> tag is created by which generates You can also use parameters: which will generate

Comparison of table syntax

This is a comparison of the three basic ways to compose tables. The Foswiki collumn just lists the basic markup capabilities. Note, that there are table plugins to enhance the formatting capabilities, i.e. the Foswiki:Extensions/TablePlugin. For the sake of simplicity its features are not under consideration here.

The the notion of n/a in some cases means that the element under consideration is not represented in the markup model.

	XHTML	Foswiki	MediaWiki
Table	<table></table>	n/a	{| |}
Caption	<caption></caption>	n/a	|+
Row	<tr></tr>	n/a	|-
Data cell	<td>cell1</td> <td>cell2</td>	| cell1 | cell2 | cell3 |	| cell1 | cell2 | cell1 || cell2 || cell3
Header cell	<th></th>	| *cell1* | *cell2* | *cell3* |	!
Sample table	1 2 3 4
	<table>  <tr>   <td>1</td>   <td>2</td>  </tr>  <tr>   <td>3</td>   <td>4</td>  </tr> </table>	| 1 | 2 | | 3 | 4 |	{| | 1 || 2 |- | 3 || 4 |}

Examples

Simple example

Both of these generate the same output. Choose a style based on the amount of cells in each row and the total text inside each cell.

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Multiplication table

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Colors and scope of parameters

Two ways of specifying color of text and background for a single cell are as follows. The first form is preferred:

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Like other parameters, colors can also be specified for a whole row or the whole table; parameters for a row override the value for the table, and those for a cell override those for a row:

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

To make the table blend in with the background, use style="background:none". (Warning: style="background:inherit", does not work with some browsers, including IE6!)

Width and height

The width and height of the whole table can be specified, as well as the height of a row. To specify the width of a column one can specify the width of an arbitrary cell in it. If the width is not specified for all columns, and/or the height is not specified for all rows, then there is some ambiguity, and the result depends on the browser.

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Note that style="inline CSS" has no effect with some browsers. If it's important equivalent older constructs like width="75%" should work on more browsers.

Setting your column widths

If you wish to force column widths to your own requirements, rather than accepting the width of the widest text element in a column's cells, then follow this example. Note that wrap-around of text is forced.

To set column widths in a table without headers, specify the width in the first cell for each column, like this:

Vertical alignment

By default data in tables is vertically centrally aligned, which results in odd-looking layouts like this:

To fix this, apply the valign="top" attribute to the rows (unfortunately it seems to be necessary to apply this individually to every single row). For example:

Positioning

One can position the table itself, and all contents in a row, and contents in a cell, but not with a single parameter all contents in the table. Do not, under any circumstances, use "float" to position a table. It will break page rendering at large font sizes.

Mélange

Here's a more advanced example, showing some more options available for making up tables. You can play with these settings in your own table to see what effect they have. Not all of these techniques may be appropriate in all cases; just because you can add colored backgrounds, for example, doesn't mean it's always a good idea. Try to keep the markup in your tables relatively simple -- remember, other people are going to be editing the article too! This example should give you an idea of what is possible, though.

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Floating table

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Nested tables

This shows one table (in blue) nested inside another table's cell2. ''Nested tables have to start on a new line.''

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Combined use of COLSPAN and ROWSPAN

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Note that using rowspan="2" for cell G combined with rowspan="3" for cell F to get another row below G and F won't work, because all (implicit) cells would be empty. Likewise complete columns are not displayed if all their cells are empty. Borders between non-empty and empty cells might be also not displayed (depending on the browser), use   to fill an empty cell with dummy content.

Centering tables

Centered tables can be achieved, but they will not "float"; that is to say, no text will appear to either side. The trick is {| style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Setting parameters

At the start of a cell, add your parameter followed by a single pipe. For example width="300"| will set that cell to a width of 300 pixels. To set more than one parameter, leave a space between each one.

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Decimal point alignment

A method to get columns of numbers aligned at the decimal point is as follows:

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

If the column of numbers appears in a table with cell padding or cell spacing, one can still align the decimal points without an unsightly gap in the middle. Embed a table in each number's cell and specify its column widths. Make the embedded tables' column widths the same for each cell in the column. (If decimal points are still misaligned using this method, the main table's column may be too narrow. Add a parameter to increase the column's width.)

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

In simple cases one can dispense with the table feature and simply start the lines with a space, and put spaces to position the numbers:

 432.1
  43.21
   4.321

Style classes

Some users have created CSS classes and templates to make table styles easier. Instead of remembering table parameters, you just include an appropriate style class after the {|. This helps keep table formatting consistent, and can allow a single change to the class to fix a problem or enhance the look of all the tables that are using it at once.

For instance, this:

becomes this:

simply by replacing inline CSS for the table by class="wikitable". This is because the wikitable class in the plugin's styles.css file contains a number of wikitable CSS style rules. These are all applied at once when you mark a table with the class. You can then add additional style rules if desired. These override the class's rules, allowing you to use the class style as a base and build up on it:

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Notice that the table retains the gray background of the wikitable class, and the headers are still bold and centered. But now the text formatting has been overridden by the local style statement; all of the text in the table has been made italic and 120% normal size, and the wikitable border has been replaced by the red dashed border.

Of course this works only for browsers supporting inline CSS, if it's important use XHTML markup like <big> instead of "font-size:120%", or Wiki markup like _text_ instead of "font-style:italic".

Installation Instructions

You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.

Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. "Extensions Operation and Maintenance" Tab -> "Install, Update or Remove extensions" Tab. Click the "Search for Extensions" button. Enter part of the extension name or description and press search. Select the desired extension(s) and click install. If an extension is already installed, it will not show up in the search results.

You can also install from the shell by running the extension installer as the web server user: (Be sure to run as the webserver user, not as root!)

cd /path/to/foswiki
perl tools/extension_installer <NameOfExtension> install

If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in configure, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See https://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.

Dependencies

%$Dependencies%

Change History

28 Oct 2020:	rewrite in OO style
30 Sep 2011:	using a rendering handler instead of a macro handler to parse mediawiki tables; deferring css and js initialization until a mediawiki table actually was found on a page
21 Sep 2010:	fixed adding css to the page (gawd)
12 Feb 2010:	using Foswiki:Extensions/ZonePlugin to add css to the page; shipping minified and gziped css now
08 Mar 2009:	added evenrow/oddrow to tables Foswiki:Main/BramVanOosterhout
19 Feb 2009:	converted to foswiki
08 Jan 2009:	certified on foswiki/compat
17 Jul 2008:	fixed some Wikipedia:Mojibake in documentation
13 Nov 2007:	minor performance tweaks
13 Oct 2006:	table markup may start have whitespaces at the beginning of a line
22 Sep 2006:	Initial version