Extension:Page Forms

MediaWiki extensions manual

Page Forms Release status: stable
Implementation	Special page , API
Description	An extension that can be used with Semantic MediaWiki or Cargo (or by itself), that allows users to create forms for creating and editing pages that use infobox-style templates. Forms are defined within wiki pages, written in a custom markup language, and are parsed on-the-fly when a form is displayed.
Author(s)	Yaron Koren <yaron57@gmail.com>, Stephan Gambke and others
Latest version	5.8.1 (October 2024)
Compatibility policy	Master maintains backward compatibility.
MediaWiki	1.38+
Composer	mediawiki/page-forms
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Example	An auto-generated form allowing the user to edit an opinion item
Parameters $wgPageForms24HourTime $wgPageFormsAutocompleteCacheTimeout $wgPageFormsAutocompleteOnAllChars $wgPageFormsAutoeditNamespaces $wgPageFormsCacheAutocompleteValues $wgPageFormsCacheFormDefinitions $wgPageFormsCheckboxesSelectAllMinimum $wgPageFormsDisableOutsideServices $wgPageFormsEmbedQueryCacheTTL $wgPageFormsGoogleMapsKey $wgPageFormsHeightForMinimizingInstances $wgPageFormsIgnoreTitlePattern $wgPageFormsLinkAllRedLinksToForms $wgPageFormsListSeparator $wgPageFormsMainFormsMinimum $wgPageFormsMaxAutocompleteValues $wgPageFormsMaxLocalAutocompleteValues $wgPageFormsRenameEditTabs $wgPageFormsRenameMainEditTab $wgPageFormsShowExpandAllLink $wgPageFormsShowTabsForAllHelperForms $wgPageFormsSimpleUpload $wgPageFormsUseDisplayTitle $wgPageFormsVisualEditorMaxHeight
Added rights viewedittab editrestrictedfields createclass multipageedit
Hooks used AdminLinks ArticlePurge BeforePageDisplay CanonicalNamespaces CargoTablesActionLinks CargoTablesSetActionLinks CargoTablesSetAllowedActions EditPage::importFormData HtmlPageLinkRendererEnd MakeGlobalVariablesScript MultiContentSave PageSaveComplete PageSchemasRegisterHandlers ParserFirstCallInit ResourceLoaderRegisterModules SkinTemplateNavigation::Universal TinyMCEDisable
Hooks provided PageForms::AddRLModules PageForms::BeforeFreeTextSubst PageForms::CreateFormField PageForms::CreateTemplateText PageForms::EditFormInitialText PageForms::EditFormPreloadText PageForms::FormPrinterSetup PageForms::HTMLBeforeForm PageForms::PrintRedirectForm PageForms::RenderingEnd PageForms::SetTargetName PageForms::TemplateFieldEnd PageForms::TemplateFieldStart PageForms::UserCanEditPage PageForms::WritePageData
Translate the Page Forms extension
Vagrant role	pageforms
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

Page Forms (known before 2016 as Semantic Forms) is an extension to MediaWiki that allows users to add, edit and query data using forms. It was originally created as an offshoot of the Semantic MediaWiki extension, to be able to edit templates that store their parameters via SMW, which is why it was originally called "Semantic Forms". However, it can now also work with the alternative Cargo extension, or with neither extension installed.

Very simply, Page Forms allows you to have forms for creating and editing pages on your wiki, as well as for querying data, all without any programming. Forms can be created and edited not just by administrators, but by users themselves.

The main components of Page Forms functionality are form definition pages, which exist in a separate namespace, 'Form:'. These are pages consisting of markup code which gets parsed when a user goes to a form. Since forms are defined strictly through these definition pages, users can themselves create and modify forms, without the need for any actual programming.

The Page Forms extension is mostly used to add and edit calls to infobox-style templates within pages. A form allows a user to populate a pre-defined set of templates, as well as page sections, for any page; if Cargo or Semantic MediaWiki are used, the data within the templates can then be stored and queried.

Forms can also be used to edit the data in an existing page, and you can enable an "edit with form" tab to show up on any page.

Page Forms also supports autocompletion of fields, so users can easily see what the previously-entered values were for a given field. This greatly helps to avoid issues of naming ambiguity, spelling, etc.

Data in a page that doesn't fit into the form, like a free-form text description of the page's subject, isn't ignored when the page is edited with a form; rather, it is placed into a separate input box called "free text".

Page Forms also includes a wide variety of other functionality related to forms.

Below are links to the entire documentation.

• Download and installation

How to download Page Forms via either Git, a standard download, or a software package; and how to install it.

• Quick start guide

How to get started with Page Forms right away.

• Hosting

Wiki hosting sites that support Page Forms, plus public wikis that can be used for trying out the software.

• Special pages

All the "special pages" that Page Forms defines: the ones that provide helper forms (Special:CreateProperty, Special:CreateTemplate, Special:CreateForm, Special:CreateCategory, Special:CreateClass), the ones that display lists (Special:Templates, Special:Forms), the ones used to display actual forms (Special:FormEdit, Special:FormStart, Special:RunQuery, Special:UploadWindow) and one that provides a spreadsheet-like interface to edit multiple pages containing a template (Special:MultiPageEdit).

• Page Forms and templates

The template-based philosophy of Page Forms - plus information on the four parser functions that PF defines for templates: #template_params, #template_display, #arraymap and #arraymaptemplate.

• Defining forms

This is the first of the three major sections. How to define a form via a page within the "Form:" namespace. Covers the entire form-definition syntax, including the {{{info}}}, {{{for template}}}, {{{end template}}}, {{{field}}}, {{{section}}} and {{{standard input}}} tags. Also covers how to add tabs and tooltips.

• Input types

The second major section. A listing of all allowed input types, as well as parameters for each, and the set of SMW and Cargo data types that each can be used with.

• Values, mappings and autocompletion

The third major section. Information on setting possible/allowed values for the relevant input types, including "mapping" values to friendlier display names, options related to autocompletion, and the "show on select" parameter.

• The "edit with form" tab

How to get the "edit with form" tab to appear on pages, using the #default_form parser function. Plus, how to rename the tab to simply "edit", and how to remove the standard "edit" tab (if you want to).

• Linking to forms

How to bring users to forms, via the #forminput, #formlink, #formredlink and #queryformlink functions. Also, how to use #formredlink to have red-linked pages created automatically. Also, how to create links that directly modify a page, via the #autoedit function.

• Creating query forms

Creating forms to query data, instead of to modify data, via the Special:RunQuery page.

• Common problems

Common issues people have run into, and their solutions, relating to forms, data structure design, and the use of Page Forms with other extensions.

• Known bugs and planned features

Known bugs in the software, and potential workarounds for them; plus features that are planned in the current "development roadmap".

• Getting support

Where to ask questions, submit bug reports, submit feature requests, submit fixes, and add new translations.

• Developers' documentation

Information for developers who want to modify Page Forms, or create an extension that works in tandem with it.

• Authors and credits

The main authors, others who have contributed to the code, and credits to other organizations and software projects.

• Version history

A version history of Page Forms, from May 2007 to the present.

• Sites that use Page Forms

A small sampling of the wikis that use Page Forms, plus links to more comprehensive lists.

• Related extensions

Extensions that require the presence of Page Forms, extensions that can be used together with Page Forms, and extensions that have a similar purpose to Page Forms.

Cheat sheet
Links	SMW quick reference · Cargo quick reference · Sandbox
Parser functions	{{#arraymap :value|delimiter|var|formula|new_delimiter|conjunction}} {{#arraymaptemplate :value|template|delimiter|new_delimiter}} {{#forminput :form=|size=|default value=|button text=|query string=|autocomplete on category=|autocomplete on namespace=|placeholder=|popup|no autofocus|namespace selector|query string parameters}} {{#formlink :form=|link text=|link type=|query string=|target=|tooltip=|popup|new window|query string parameters}} {{#formredlink :form=|link text=|existing page link text=|query string=|target=|popup|new window|create page|query string parameters}} {{#queryformlink :form=|link text=|link type=|query string=|tooltip=|popup|new window|query string parameters}} {{#template_params :}} {{#template_display :_format=|_title=}} {{#autoedit :form=|target=|link text=|link type=|minor|query string=|reload|tooltip=|redirect|bring to page=|summary=|confirm|query string parameters}} {{#autoedit_rating :form=|target=|value=|star width=|num stars=|allow half stars=|minor|reload|tooltip=|summary=|confirm|query string parameters}} {{#default_form :form name}}
Input types	text , textarea , tokens , combobox , date , datetime , year , datepicker , datetimepicker , checkbox , dropdown , radiobutton , checkboxes , listbox , tree , rating , regexp , googlemaps , leaflet , openlayers