[[!template id=gitbranch branch=wtk/linktoimageonly author="[[wtk]]"]]

how can I create a link to an image which is part of the wiki, without having it inserted in my page?

I tought this:

    \[[look at this|img/lolcat.png]] 

would work, but it doesn't.

Any hints? --[[jerojasro]]

> Well, currently the syntax above will display the image
> inline with the specified link text used as an alt attribute. Although
> that does not seem to be documented anywhere.
> 
> A few places that use that (found with `git grep '\[\[' | egrep 'png|gif|jpeg|jpg' |grep \|`):
> 
> * [[logo]] uses it to provide useful alt texts for the logos. (This
>   could easily be changed to use [[ikiwiki/directive/img]] though.)
> * The `change.tmpl` template uses it to display 
>   the [[diff|wikiicons/diff.png]] with a very useful "diff" alt text.
>   Using [[ikiwiki/directive/img]] here would mean that the
>   [[plugins/recentchanges]] plugin would depend upon the img
>   plugin.
> 
> I do like your suggestion, it makes more sense than the current behavior.
> I'm not sure the transition pain to get from here to there is worth it,
> though.
> 
> More broadly, if I were writing ikiwiki now, I might choose to leave out the
> auto-inlining of images altogether. In practice, it has added a certian level
> of complexity to ikiwiki, with numerous plugins needing to specify
> `noimageinline` to avoid accidentially inlining an image. And there has not
> been a lot of payoff from having the auto-inlining feature implicitly
> available most places. And the img directive allows much needed control over
> display, so it would be better for users to not have to worry about its
> lesser cousin. But the transition from here to *there* would be another order
> of pain.
> 
> Anyway, the cheap and simple answer to your question is to use html
> or markdown instead of a [[ikiwiki/wikilink]]. Ie, 
> `[look at this](img/lolcat.jpg)`. --[[Joey]]

> > thanks a lot, that's a quite straightforward solution. I actually wrote a
> > broken plugin to do that, and now I can ditch it --[[jerojasro]]

>>> The plugin approach is not a bad idea if you want either the ability
>>> to:
>>>
>>> * Have things that are wikilink-aware (like [[plugins/brokenlinks]]
>>>   treat your link to the image as a wikilink. 
>>> * Use standard wikilink path stuff (and not have to worry about 
>>>   a relative html link breaking if the page it's on is inlined, for
>>>   example).
>>>
>>> I can help you bang that plugin into shape if need be. --[[Joey]] 

>>>> both my plugin and your suggestion yield broken html links when inlining the page (although probably that's what is expected from your suggestion (`[]()`))
>>>>
>>>> I thought using the `bestlink` function would take care of that, but alas, it doesn't.
>>>> Get the "plugin" [here](http://devnull.li/~jerojasro/files/linktoimgonly.pm), see the broken 
>>>> links generated [here](http://devnull.li/~jerojasro/blog/posts/job_offers/) and the source 
>>>> file for that page [here](http://git.devnull.li/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=blog-jerojasro.git;a=blob;f=posts/job_offers.mdwn;hb=HEAD) --[[jerojasro]]

>>>>> Use this --[[Joey]] 

	return htmllink($params{page}, $params{destpage}, $params{"img"},
	    linktext => $params{text},
	    noimageinline => 1);

> [[patch]]: I've updated this plugin for the current ikiwiki. --[[wtk]]
