Manual:Developing extensions

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Gnome-preferences-other.svg Extensions:Manual:Extensions DevelopmentManual:Developing extensions Tag extensionsManual:Tag extensions Parser functionsManual:Parser functions HooksManual:Hooks Special pagesManual:Special pages SkinsManual:Skins Magic wordsManual:Magic words APIAPI:Extensions
MediaWiki extensions

Each extension consists of three parts:

  1. Setup
  2. Execution
  3. Localisation

A minimal extension will consist of three files, one for each part:

MyExtension/extension.json
Stores the setup instructions. The file name must be extension.json. (Prior to MediaWiki 1.25 the setup instructions were in a MyExtension/MyExtension.php file named after the extension. Many extensions still have backwards-compatibility shims in this PHP file.)
MyExtension/MyExtension_body.php
Stores the execution code for the extension. The file name MyExtension_body.php is conventional but not required. If your extension is complex and involves multiple PHP files, you should follow the convention to put its implementation code in a subdirectory named MyExtension/includes (although the Example and BoilerPlate extensions do not follow this convention). For example, see the Semantic MediaWiki extension.
MyExtension/i18n/*.json
Stores localisation information for the extension.

Note Note: Originally, extensions were single files, and you may still find some examples of this deprecated style.

When you develop an extension, replace MyExtension above with the name of your extension. Use UpperCamelCase names for its directory and PHP file(s); this is the general file naming convention.[1] (The BoilerPlate extension is a good starting point for your extension. Also check out the cookiecutter template for MediaWiki extensions on GitHub.)

The three parts of an extension, setup, execution, and, localisation as well as extension types and licensing and publishing your extension are described in the following sections of this page.

Note Note: While developing, you may want to disable caching by setting $wgMainCacheTypeManual:$wgMainCacheType = CACHE_NONE and $wgCacheDirectoryManual:$wgCacheDirectory = false, otherwise system messages and other changes may not show up.

Setup

Your goal in writing the setup portion is to consolidate set up so that users installing your extension need do nothing more than include the setup file in their LocalSettings.phpManual:LocalSettings.php file, like this:

wfLoadExtension( 'MyExtension' );

If you want to make your extension user configurable, you need to define and document some configuration parameters and your users' setup should look something like this:

wfLoadExtension( 'MyExtension' );
$wgMyExtensionConfigThis = 1;
$wgMyExtensionConfigThat = false;

To reach this simplicity, your setup file needs to accomplish a number of tasks (described in detail in the following sections):

  • register any media handler, parser function, special page, custom XML tag, and variable used by your extension.
  • define and/or validate any configuration variables you have defined for your extension.
  • prepare the classes used by your extension for autoloading
  • determine what parts of your setup should be done immediately and what needs to be deferred until the MediaWiki core has been initialized and configured
  • define any additional hooks needed by your extension
  • create or check any new database tables required by your extension.
  • set up localisation for your extension

Registering features with MediaWiki

MediaWiki lists all the extensions that have been installed on its Special:Version page. For example, you can see all the extensions installed on this wiki at Special:Version. It is good form to make sure that your extension is also listed on this page. To do this, you will need to add an entry to $wgExtensionCreditsManual:$wgExtensionCredits for each media handler, parser function, special page, custom XML tag, and variable used by your extension. The entry will look something like this:

{
	"name": "Example",
	"author": "John Doe",
	"url": "https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Example",
	"description": "This extension is an example and performs no discernible function",
	"version": "1.5",
	"license-name": "GPL-2.0+",
	"type": "validextensionclass",
	"manifest_version": 1
}

See Manual:$wgExtensionCreditsManual:$wgExtensionCredits for full details on what these fields do. Many of the fields are optional, but it's still good practice to fill them out. The manifest_version refers to the version of the schema the extension.jsonextension.json file is written against. As of now the only supported version is 1 (MediaWiki 1.26.x and 1.27.x).

In addition to the above registration, you must also "hook" your feature into MediaWiki. The above only sets up the Special:Version page. The way you do this depends on the type of your extension. For details, please see the documentation for each type of extension:

Gnome-preferences-other.svg Extensions:Manual:Extensions DevelopmentManual:Developing extensions Tag extensionsManual:Tag extensions Parser functionsManual:Parser functions HooksManual:Hooks Special pagesManual:Special pages SkinsManual:Skins Magic wordsManual:Magic words APIAPI:Extensions

Making your extension user configurable

If you want your user to be able to configure your extension, you'll need to provide one or more configuration variables. It is a good idea to give those variables a unique name. They should also follow MediaWiki naming conventions (e.g. global variables should begin with $wg).

For example, if your extension is named "Very silly extension that does nothing", you might want to name all your configuration variables to begin $wgVsetdn or $wgVSETDN. It doesn't really matter what you choose so long as none of the MediaWiki core begins its variables this way and you have done a reasonable job of checking to see that none of the published extensions begin their variables this way. Users won't take kindly to having to choose between your extension and some other extensions because you chose overlapping variable names.

It is also a good idea to include extensive documentation of any configuration variables in your installation notes.

Warning Warning: To avoid register_globalsRegister globals vulnerabilities, ALWAYS explicitly set all your extension's configuration variables in extension setup file. Constructs like if ( !isset( $wgMyLeetOption ) ) $wgMyLeetOption = somevalue; do not safeguard against register_globals!

Here is an example boiler plate that can be used to get started:

{
	"name": "BoilerPlate",
	"version": "0.0.0",
	"author": [
		"Your Name"
	],
	"url": "https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:BoilerPlate",
	"descriptionmsg": "boilerplate-desc",
	"license-name": "MIT",
	"type": "other",
	"AutoloadClasses": {
		"BoilerPlateHooks": "BoilerPlate.hooks.php",
		"SpecialHelloWorld": "specials/SpecialHelloWorld.php"
	},
	"config": {
		"BoilerPlateEnableFoo": true
	},
	"callback": "BoilerPlateHooks::onExtensionLoad",
	"ExtensionMessagesFiles": {
		"BoilerPlateAlias": "BoilerPlate.i18n.alias.php"
	},
	"Hooks": {
		"NameOfHook": [
			"BoilerPlateHooks::onNameOfHook"
		]
	},
	"MessagesDirs": {
		"BoilerPlate": [
			"i18n"
		]
	},
	"ResourceModules": {
		"ext.boilerPlate.foo": {
			"scripts": [
				"modules/ext.boilerPlate.js",
				"modules/ext.boilerPlate.foo.js"
			],
			"styles": [
				"modules/ext.boilerPlate.foo.css"
			]
		}
	},
	"ResourceFileModulePaths": {
		"localBasePath": "",
		"remoteExtPath": "BoilerPlate"
	},
	"SpecialPages": {
		"HelloWorld": "SpecialHelloWorld"
	},
	"manifest_version": 1
}

Preparing classes for autoloading

If you choose to use classes to implement your extension, MediaWiki provides a simplified mechanism for helping PHP find the source file where your class is located. In most cases this should eliminate the need to write your own __autoload($classname) method.

To use MediaWiki's autoloading mechanism, you add entries to the AutoloadClassesManual:$wgAutoloadClasses field. The key of each entry is the class name; the value is the file that stores the definition of the class. For a simple one class extension, the class is usually given the same name as the extension, so your autoloading section might look like this (extension is named MyExtension):

{
	"AutoloadClasses": {
		"MyExtension": "MyExtension_body.php"
	}
}

The filename is relative to the directory the extension.json file is in.

Defining additional hooks

See Manual:HooksManual:Hooks.

Adding database tables

Warning Warning: If your extension is used on any production WMF-hosted wiki please follow the Schema change guide.

If your extension needs to add its own database tables, use the LoadExtensionSchemaUpdatesManual:Hooks/LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates hook. See the manual page for more information on usage.

Set up localisation

See:

Add logs

On MediaWiki, all actions by users on wiki are tracked for transparency and collaboration. See Manual:Logging to Special:LogManual:Logging to Special:Log for how to do it.

Execution

The technique for writing the implementation portion depends upon the part of MediaWiki system you wish to extend:

See also Extensions FAQExtensions FAQ, Developer hubDeveloper hub

Localisation

Note Note: While developing, you may want to disable both cache by setting $wgMainCacheType = CACHE_NONE and $wgCacheDirectory = false, otherwise your system message changes may not show up.

If you want your extension to be used on wikis that have a multi-lingual readership, you will need to add localisation support to your extension.

Store messages in <language-key>.json

Store message definitions in a localisation JSON-file, one for each language key your extension is translated in. The messages are saved with a message key and the message itself using standard JSON format. Each message id should be lowercase and may not contain spaces. An example you can find e.g. in extension MobileFrontend. Here is an example of a minimal JSON file (in this case en.json:

en.json

{
	"myextension-desc": "Adds the MyExtension great functionality.",
	"myextension-action-message": "This is a test message"
}

Store message documentation in qqq.json

The documentation for message keys can be stored in the JSON file for the pseudo language with code qqq. A documentation of the example above can be:

qqq.json:

{
	"myextension-desc": "The description of MyExtension used in Extension credits.",
	"myextension-action-message": "Adds 'message' after 'action' triggered by user."
}

Define messages

  • Assign each message a unique, lowercase, no space message id; e.g.uploadwizard-desc
  • For any text string displayed to the user, define a message.
  • MediaWiki supports parameterized messages and that feature should be used when a message is dependent on information generated at runtime. Parameter placeholders are specified with $n, where n represents the index of the placeholder; e.g.
"mwe-upwiz-api-warning-was-deleted": "There was a file by this name, '$1', but it was deleted and you can not reupload the file. If your file is different, try renaming it."

Define message documentation

Each message you define needs to have an associated message documentation entry Message documentation; in qqq.json e.g.

"uploadwizard-desc": "Description of extension. It refers to [//blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2009/07/02/ford-foundation-awards-300k-grant-for-wikimedia-commons/ this event], i.e. the development was paid with this $300,000 grant."

Load the localisation file

In your setup routine, define the location of your messages files (e.g. in directory i18n/):

{
	"MessagesDirs": {
		"MyExtension": [
			"i18n"
		]
	}
}

Use wfMessage in PHP

In your setup and implementation code, replace each literal use of the message with a call to wfMessage( $msgID, $param1, $param2, ... ). In classes that implement IContextSourceManual:RequestContext (as well as some others such as subclasses of SpecialPage), you can use $this->msg( $msgID, $param1, $param2, ... ) instead. Example:

wfMessage( 'myextension-addition', '1', '2', '3' )->parse()

Use mw.message in JavaScript

It's possible to use i18n functions in JavaScript too. Look at Manual:Messages APIManual:Messages API for details.

Extension types

Gnome-preferences-other.svg Extensions:Manual:Extensions DevelopmentManual:Developing extensions Tag extensionsManual:Tag extensions Parser functionsManual:Parser functions HooksManual:Hooks Special pagesManual:Special pages SkinsManual:Skins Magic wordsManual:Magic words APIAPI:Extensions

Extensions can be categorized based on the programming techniques used to achieve their effect. Most complex extensions will use more than one of these techniques:

  • Subclassing: MediaWiki expects certain kinds of extensions to be implemented as subclasses of a MediaWiki-provided base class:
    • Special pagesManual:Special pages – Subclasses of the SpecialPageManual:SpecialPage.php class are used to build pages whose content is dynamically generated using a combination of the current system state, user input parameters, and database queries. Both reports and data entry forms can be generated. They are used for both reporting and administration purposes.
    • SkinsManual:Skins – Skins change the look and feel of MediaWiki by altering the code that outputs pages by subclassing the MediaWiki class SkinTemplate.
  • HooksManual:Hooks – A technique for injecting custom php code at key points within MediaWiki processing. They are widely used by MediaWiki's parser, its localization engine, its extension management system, and its page maintenance system.
  • Tag-function associationsManual:Tag extensions – XML style tags that are associated with a php function that outputs HTML code. You do not need to limit yourself to formatting the text inside the tags. You don't even need to display it. Many tag extensions use the text as parameters that guide the generation of HTML that embeds google objects, data entry forms, RSS feeds, excerpts from selected wiki articles.
  • Magic wordsManual:Magic words – A technique for mapping a variety of wiki text string to a single id that is associated with a function. Both variables and parser functions use this technique. All text mapped to that id will be replaced with the return value of the function. The mapping between the text strings and the id is stored in the array $magicWords. The interpretation of the id is a somewhat complex process – see Manual:Magic wordsManual:Magic words for more information.
    • VariableManual:Variable – Variables are something of a misnomer. They are bits of wikitext that look like templates but have no parameters and have been assigned hard-coded values. Standard wiki markup such as {{PAGENAME}}Help:Variables or {{SITENAME}}Help:Variables are examples of variables. They get their name from the source of their value: a php variable or something that could be assigned to a variable, e.g. a string, a number, an expression, or a function return value.
    • Parser functionsManual:Parser functions – {{functionname: argument 1 | argument 2 | argument 3...}}. Similar to tag extensions, parser functions process arguments and returns a value. Unlike tag extensions, the result of parser functions is wikitext.
  • API modulesAPI:Extensions – you can add custom modules to MediaWiki's "action" web API, that can be invoked by JavaScript, bots or third-party clients.

Support other core versions

You can visit the extension support portal to keep on top of changes in future versions of MediaWiki and also add support for older versions that are still popular.

License

MediaWiki is an open-source project and users are encouraged to make any MediaWiki extensions under an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license compatible with GPL-2.0+ (Wikimedia's standard software license).

We recommend adopting one of the following compatible licenses for your projects in Gerrit:

For extensions that have a compatible license, you can request developer access to the MediaWiki source repositories for extensions. To specify the licence in code and with "license-name" a key should be used to provide it's short name, e.g. "GPL-2.0+" or "MIT" adhering to the list of identifiers at spdx.org.

Publishing

To autocategorize and standardize the documentation of your existing extension, please see Template:ExtensionTemplate:Extension. To add your new extension to this Wiki:


A developer sharing their code on the MediaWiki wiki or code repository should expect:

Feedback / Criticism / Code reviews
Review and comments by other developers on things like framework use, security, efficiency and usability.
Developer tweaking
Other developers modifying your submission to improve or clean-up your code to meet new framework classes and methods, coding conventions and translations.
Improved access for wiki sysadmins
If you do decide to put your code on the wiki, another developer may decide to move it to the MediaWiki code repository for easier maintenance. You may then request commit access to continue maintaining it.
Future versions by other developers
New branches of your code being created by other developers as new versions of MediaWiki are released.
Merger of your code into other extensions with duplicate or similar purposes — incorporating the best features from each extension.
Credit
Credit for your work being preserved in future versions — including any merged extensions.
Similarly, you should credit the developers of any extensions whose code you borrow from — especially when performing a merger.

Any developer who is uncomfortable with any of these actions occurring should not host their code directly on the MediaWiki wiki or code repository. You are still encouraged to create a summary page for your extension on the wiki to let people know about the extension, and where to download it. You may also add the {{Extension exception}} template to your extension requesting other developers refrain from modifying your code, although no guarantees can be made that an update will be made if deemed important for security or compatibility reasons. You may use the current issues noticeboard if you feel another developer has violated the spirit of these expectations in editing your extension.


Deploying and registering

Consult Writing an extension for deploymentWriting an extension for deployment. If your extension adds namespaces, you may wish to register its default namespaces; likewise, if it adds database tables or fields, you may want to register those at database table and field registrationdatabase table and field registration.

Help documentation

You should provide public-domain help documentation for features provided by your extension. Help:CirrusSearchHelp:CirrusSearch is a good example. You should give users a link to the documentation via the addHelpLink()Manual:Special pages#Help page function.

Providing support / collaboration

Extension developers should open an account on Wikimedia's PhabricatorPhabricator, and request a new project for the extension. This provides a public venue where users can submit issues and suggestions, and you can collaborate with users and other developers to triage bugs and plan features of your extension.

See also

References

  1. ↑ mailarchive:wikitech-l/2011-August/054839.html
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