ikiwiki/doc/todo/Add_a_plugin_to_list_available_pre-processor_commands.mdwn

I've found myself wanting to know which [[plugins]] are switched on so I know which pre-processor commands I can use.  The attached [[patch]] adds a new plugin that generates the list of available plugins. -- [[Will]]

> Good idea, I do see a few problems:
> 
> - preprocessor directives do not necessarily have the same name as the
>   plugin that contains them (for example, the graphviz plugin adds a graph
>   directive). Won't keys `%{IkiWiki::hooks{preprocess}}` work?

>>> Er, yeah - that's a much better solution. :) -- and done

> - "listplugins" is a bit misnamed since it only does preprocessor directives.

>>> Yes.  Initially this was going to list all enabled plugins.  Then when searching
>>> for enabled plugins I changed my mind and decided that a list of pre-processor
>>> directives was more useful.  I'll fix that too. -- changed to `listpreprocessors`

> - comment was copied from version plugin and still mentions version :-)

>>> :-) -- fixed

> - Seems like [[ikiwiki/formatting]] could benefit from including the
>   list.. however, just a list of preprocessor directive names is not
>   the most user-friendly thing that could be put on that page. It would
>   be nice if there were also a short description and maybe an example of
>   use. Seems like the place to include that info would be in the call
>   to `hook()`.
>   (Maybe adding that is more involved than you want to go though..)
> 
> --[[Joey]]

>> Adding a whole new hook for a usage example is more effort than I
>> wanted to go to.  I was thinking of either:

>>> Just to clarify, I meant adding new parameters to the same hook call
>>> that registers the plugin. --[[Joey]]

>>    - Adding a configuration for a wiki directory.  If a matching page is in the
>>      specified wiki directory then the plugin name gets turned into a link to that
>>      page
>>    - Adding configuration for an external URL.  Each plugin name is added as
>>       a link to the plugin name appended to the URL.

>>The first option is easier to navigate and wouldn't produce broken links,
>>but requires all the plugin documentation to be local.  The second option
>>can link back to the main IkiWiki site, but if you have any non-standard
>>plugins then you'll get broken links.
>>
>>Hrm.  After listing all of that, maybe your idea with the hooks is the better
>>solution.  I'll think about it some more. -- [[Will]]

>>> I've also run into this problem with the websetup plugin, and
>>> considered those ideas too. I don't like the external url, because
>>> ikiwiki.info may be out of sync with the version of ikiwiki being used.
>>> (Or maybe it's gone! :-) The first idea is fine, except for the bloat
>>> issue. If turning on listpreprocessors and/or websetup means adding
>>> hundreds of pages (and of kilobytes) to your wiki, that could be an
>>> incentive to not turn them on..
>>>
>>> Hmm.. maybe the thing to do is to use _internal pages for the plugins;
>>> then the individual pages would not be rendered, and your inlines would
>>> still work. Although I don't know how websetup would use it then, and
>>> also they would have to be non-internal for ikiwiki's own docwiki. Hmm.
>>> Maybe these are two different things; one is a set of pages describing
>>> preprocessor directives, and the second a set of pages describing
>>> plugins. They're so closely related though it seems a shame to keep
>>> them separate..
>>> --[[Joey]]

>>> I started implementing the hook based solution, and decided I didn't like
>>> it because there was no nice way to rebuild pages when the preprocessor
>>> descriptions changed.  So instead I assumed that the the [[plugins]] pages
>>> would be moved into the underlay directory.  This plugin then uses an
>>> `inline` directive to include those pages.  You can use the `inline`
>>> parameter to decide if you want to include all the descriptions or
>>> just the titles.  There is also an option to auto-create default/blank
>>> description pages if they are missing (from a template).  As preprocessor
>>> commands don't list unless they have a description page, auto-creation
>>> is enabled by default.
>>>
>>>  There are three new templates that are needed.  These are for:
>>>
>>>  - The auto-created description pages are generated from `preprocessor-description.tmpl`.
>>>  - When only pre-processor names are listed, the `listpreprocessors-listonly.tmpl` template is used.
>>>  - When pre-processor descriptions are included inline, the `listpreprocessors-inline.tmpl` template is used.
>>>
>>> -- [[Will]]

>>>> Just a quick note: pages are only created for pre-processor commands
>>>> that exist when the `refresh` hook is called.  This is before the [[shortcuts]] are
>>>> processed.  However, the list of available pre-processor commands will include
>>>> shortcuts if they have description pages (the list is generated later, after the
>>>> shortcuts have been added).  While this was unplanned, it seems a reasonable
>>>> tradeoff between including all the large number of shortcuts and including none. -- [[Will]]

>>>>>> I think that using an inline is elegant! However, I don't understand
>>>>>> why it has to create stub description pages? I doubt that, if a
>>>>>> directive is missing a page, the stub will be filled out in many
>>>>>> wikis. And it adds a lot of complexity, particularly committing a
>>>>>> bunch of generated pages to revision control when the user just
>>>>>> wants a plugin list seems undesirable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Seems to me it could use the inline for pages that exist, and append
>>>>>> to the bottom a generated text for anything that is currently missing.
>>>>>> The generated text could even have a page creation link in it if
>>>>>> you wanted.
>>>>>> --[[Joey]]

>>>>>>> I kinda agree about the page generation.  I don't like mixing an
>>>>>>> inlined and a list though.  Besides which, that ends
>>>>>>> up keeping much of complexity of the page generation because
>>>>>>> the code still has to detect which pages are missing.  I've added
>>>>>>> a patch that uses a list of wikilinks instead.  This way available
>>>>>>> pages get linked correctly, and missing pages get normal creation
>>>>>>> links.  The old patch is still here if you decide you prefer that. -- [[Will]]

>>>>>>>> Can you explain the full/early list (why track both?) and generated parameter?

>>>>>>>>> If you add in all the shortcuts you get quite a long list.  My original idea
>>>>>>>>> was to just track the plugin commands.  This is the early list.  But then
>>>>>>>>> I thought that it might be nice for someone looking at wiki source and
>>>>>>>>> seeing a shortcut to know where it came from.  So I decided to make
>>>>>>>>> displaying the full list an option, with the original concept as the default.

>>>>>>>>> Another option here might be to generate the full list every time, but give
>>>>>>>>> generated pre-processor commands (e.g. shortcuts) a different css class.
>>>>>>>>> I'm not sure that is better than what I have though. 

>>>>>>>>> I keep track of both in the page state because if a command moves from
>>>>>>>>> a shortcut to the early list (or vice versa) it changes what should be
>>>>>>>>> displayed in the default use of the plugin.  I thought about tracking just what
>>>>>>>>> was actually used on the page, but I don't know in the needsbuild hook whether the `generated`
>>>>>>>>> parameter has been supplied (or maybe the plugin is used twice on the page -
>>>>>>>>> once in each form).  It was just easier to track both.

>>>>>>>> Only code change I'd suggest is using `htmllink` rather than 
>>>>>>>> generating a wikilink.

>>>>>>>>> Yeah - that would make sense.  done. -- [[Will]]

Patch is applied (along with some changes..). [[done]] (But, see
[[directive_docs]].