XWiki Syntax 2.1

General

Introduction

2.1 Introduction

Since the introduction of XWiki Syntax 2.0 a few shortcomings of this syntax have been found. To fix these a new, as of now experimental, XWiki Syntax 2.1 was introduced in XWiki Enterprise version 3.0. Some reason for the development of this new syntax are:

• Homogenize the link and image syntax for better clarity, consistency and extensibility.
• Added ability to display icons, to link to files using the UNC notation and to link to relative URLs.

Information

Since XWiki Syntax 2.1 is based on XWiki Syntax 2.0 all syntax from XWiki Syntax 2.0 is valid unless the 2.1 specifications suggest differently.

In addition to these XWiki-specific syntaxes we've also changed our underlying rendering engine in XWiki Enterprise version 1.7 (was Radeox previously) in favor of our own engine which is superset wrapper around Wikimodel and Doxia (and possibly others in the future).  This has allowed us to provide other syntaxes in the wiki: MediaWiki, Confluence, JSPWiki, Creole, TWiki and more.

General Remarks

2.0 General Remarks

XWiki Syntax 2.1 corrects some errors or ambiguous syntax entered by the user as shown in the examples in the table below.

Other Syntaxes

1.0 Other Syntaxes

The following other syntaxes are implemented in XWiki Enterprise 1.6 and later:

• JSPWiki
• MediaWiki
• Confluence
• TWiki
• Creole 1.0
• XHTML 1.0

Warning

The implementation for these syntaxes is not fully finished yet. For example support for links is not working perfectly yet. We also need to define if we want to extend the original syntaxes to support XWiki-specific features like ability to link to another sub-wiki.

Editing

Paragraphs

2.0 Paragraphs

Paragraphs are text elements separated by 2 or more new lines.

Information

In XWiki Syntax 2.1 new lines are honored which is not the case in XWiki Syntax 1.0 and in Creole Syntax.

Headings

2.0 Headings

= level 1 = 
== level 2 ==
=== level 3 ===
==== level 4 ====
===== level 5 =====
====== level 6 ======

Text Formatting

2.0 Text Formatting

Information

New in XWiki Syntax 2.1 over XWiki Syntax 1.0:

• Spaces are allowed just after the syntax symbols (for example in XWiki Syntax 1.0, this was not possible: * bold *).
• Use double symbols when there was only a single symbol in XWiki Syntax 1.0 so that it's less likely that the user will mistakenly use them in text.
• Ability to span several lines (wasn't possible in XWiki Syntax 1.0).

Horizontal Line

2.0 Horizontal Line

Information

There must be 4 or more dashes.

Information

Note that this is different from Creole where exactly 4 dashes are required.

(% style="color:blue" %)
----

Lists

2.0 Lists

Information

Some of the mentioned styles do not work on all browsers. For a comprehensive list follow this link.

* item 1
** item 2
*** item 3
* item 4

1. item 1
11. item 2
111. item 3
1. item 4

1. item 1
1*. item 2
1*. item 3
1. item 4

(% style="list-style-type: square" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: disc" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: lower-alpha" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: upper-alpha" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: lower-roman" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: upper-roman" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: lower-greek" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: upper-greek" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: hiragana" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: hiragana-iroha" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: katakana" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: katakana-iroha" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: armenian" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: hebrew" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: georgian" %)
* item 1
* item 2

(% style="list-style-type: cjk-ideographic" %)
* item 1
* item 2

Definition Lists

2.0 Definition Lists

; term
: definition

; term 1
: definition 1
:; term 2
:: definition 2

(% style="color:blue" %)
; term
: definition

New Line/Line Breaks

2.0 New Line Line Breaks

A new line is a carriage return. A line break is a forced new line that can appear anywhere in the text.

Information

In XWiki Syntax 2.1 new lines are honored which is not the case in XWiki Syntax 1.0 and in Creole Syntax.

Links

2.1 Links

Feature	XWiki Syntax 2.1	Result
Link to a page in the current Space	[[WebHome]]	XWiki
Link with a label	[[label>>WebHome]] InformationXWiki Syntax is supported inside link labels.	label
Link with XWiki Syntax in the label	[[**bold label**>>WebHome]]	bold label
Link to a page with the space specified	[[Main.WebHome]]	Main
Link to a subwiki	[[subwiki:Main.WebHome]]	Main
Link that opens in a new window	[[label>>WebHome||rel="__blank"]]	label
Link to a URL directly in the text	This is a URL: http://xwiki.org	This is a URL: http://xwiki.org
Link to a URL	[[http://xwiki.org]]	http://xwiki.org
Link to a URL with a label	[[XWiki>>http://xwiki.org]]	XWiki
Link to an email address	[[john@smith.net>>mailto:john@smith.net]]	john@smith.net
Image Link	[[image:Space2.Page2@img.png>>Space1.Page1]]
Image Link with image parameters	[[[[image:Space2.Page2@img.png||width="26" height="26"]]>>Space1.Page1]]
Link to an attachment on the current page	[[text>>attach:img.png]]	text
Link to an attachment in a different page	[[text>>attach:Space.Page@img.png]]	text
Link to an Anchor in a page	[[label>>Space.Page||anchor=anchor]]	label
Link to a Heading in a page	[[label>>XWiki.XWikiSyntax||anchor=HMyheading]]	label

Information

When you add a Heading, an anchor named "H" followed by the heading title with only alpha characters is created. For example, for a Heading named "My heading", the generated anchor will be "HMyheading".

XWiki Syntax 2.1 Link Specification

Information

The part in ( ) is required, while the parts in [ ] are optional.

The full format of a link is [label>>] (resource) [||parameters]

• label: An optional string which will be displayed to the user as the link name when rendered. The label may contain XWiki Syntax. If no label is specified a default label will be generated. The generation pattern can be changed, see the Admin Guide. Example: My Page
• resource: A required string with the link reference in one of the following forms
  • URL: Any URL in the form of [url:] (protocol://path). Examples: http://xwiki.org, url:https://svn.xwiki.org/
    • url: An optional string identifying the resource as an URL.
  • Wiki page name reference in the form [doc:] [[wikiName:] space.] (page). Examples: WebHome, Main.WebHome, mywiki:Main.WebHome
    • doc: An optional string identifying the resource as an XWiki document.
    • wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a virtual wiki. The link will point to a page inside that virtual wiki. Example: mywiki
    • space: An optional wiki Space name. If no space is specified the current space is used. Example: Main
    • page: A required string containing the name of the linked wiki page. Example: WebHome
  • InterWiki page name reference in the form interwiki: (interWikiAlias:) (page). Example: interwiki:wikipedia:XWiki
    • interwiki: A required string identifying the resource as an InterWiki link.
    • interWikiAlias: An optional Inter Wiki alias as defined in the InterWiki Map (see the Admin Guide). Example: wikipedia
    • page: A required string containing the name of the linked page. Example: XWiki
  • Attachment reference in the form attach: [wikiPageName@] (attachmentName). Examples: attach:img.png, attach:mywiki:Main.WebHome@img.png
    • attach:: A required string identifying the resource as attachment.
    • wikiPageName: An optional string referencing the document that holds the attachment, see "Wiki page name" above.
    • attachmentName: Name of the attachment as it is stored in the wiki.
  • Email address in the form mailto: (emailAddress) (#anchor is not valid). Example: mailto:john@smith.com
    • mailto:: A required string identifying the resource as email.
    • emailAddress: Targeted email address. Example: john@smith.com
  • Relative path reference on the server in the form path: (relPath). Example: path:$doc.getURL('reset') produces target address http://server.domain.com/xwiki/bin/reset/Space/Page where /xwiki/bin/reset/Space/Page is produced by $doc.getURL('reset').
    • path: A required string identifying the resource as a relative path.
    • relPath: A required string containing the relative path of the resource on the server that shall be linked.
  • UNC (Windows Explorer) reference in the form unc: (path). The link is rendered as a file:// link. Examples: unc:C:\Windows\, unc:\\myserver\path\img.png, unc:home/user/somefile
    • unc: A required string identifying the resource as a UNC (Windows Explorer) path.
    • path: A required string containing the local path of resource accessible by the user. Examples: C:\Windows\, \\myserver\path\img.png, home/user/somefile
• parameters: An optional list of space-separated parameters passed to the link. Example: queryString="mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello" anchor="HTableOfContents" rel="__blank"
  • queryString: An optional query string for specifying parameters that will be appended to the link target address and used in the rendered URL. Example: url:http://domain.com/path||queryString="mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello" produces target address http://domain.com/path?mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello
  • anchor: An optional anchor name pointing to an anchor defined in the referenced link. Note that in XWiki anchors are automatically created for headings. Example: url:http://domain.com/path||anchor="HTableOfContents" produces target address http://domain.com/path#HTableOfContents
  • rel: An optional parameter that allows to open link target in new window. Example: rel="__blank"

Tables

2.0 Tables

Allows to easily create content in table format. Parameters for table, row or cell are also supported in XWiki Syntax 2.1.

Feature	XWiki Syntax 2.1	Result
Standard table	|=Title 1|=Title 2 |Word 1|Word 2 or !=Title 1!=Title 2 !!Word 1!!Word 2	Title 1 Title 2 Word 1 Word 2
Parametrized table	(% style="background-color:red;align=center" %) |=Title 1|=(% style="background-color:yellow" %)Title 2 |Word 1|Word 2	Title 1 Title 2 Word 1 Word 2
Filterable Sortable table	{{velocity}} $xwiki.ssfx.use("js/xwiki/table/table.css") $xwiki.jsfx.use("js/xwiki/table/tablefilterNsort.js", true) {{/velocity}} (% class="grid sortable filterable doOddEven" id="tableid" %) (% class="sortHeader" %)|=Title 1|=Title 2 |Cell 11|Cell 12 |Cell 21|Cell 22 Information For improved features see the Livetable Macro.	Title 1 Title 2 Cell 11 Cell 12 Cell 21 Cell 22

Images

2.1 Images

Feature	XWiki Syntax 2.1	Result
Image from attachment on current page	image:img.png
Image from attachment on another page	image:Space.Page@img.png
Image with parameters	[[image:img.png||width="25" height="25"]]
Images located at URL	image:http://some/url/img.png
Prepackaged Icons	image:icon:accept

XWiki Syntax 2.1 Image Specification

Information

The part in ( ) is required, while the parts in { } are optional.

The full format of an image is either image: (reference) or [[image: (reference) {||parameters}]]

• image: A required string identifying the resource as image.
• reference: The reference to the image that shall be displayed in one of the following forms:
  • URL: Any URL to an image in the form of protocol://path/imageName. Example: http://domain.org/path/img.png
  • Attachment reference in the form {{{wikiName:} space.} page@} (imageName)
    • wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a virtual wiki. The image reference will point to an image attached to a page inside that virtual wiki. Example: mywiki
    • space: An optional wiki Space name. If no space is specified the current space is used. Example: Main
    • page: An optional string containing the name of the wiki page to which the referenced image is attached. Example: WebHome
    • imageName: A required string containing the name of the image attached to a page as it is stored in the wiki.
  • Icon reference in the form (icon:) (iconName). Example: icon:accept
    • icon: A required string identifying the image reference as an icon from the XWiki Icon Set.
    • iconName: A required string identifying the icon referenced. Example: accept
  • Data URI in the form (data:) (content). Example: data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P48/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
    • data: A required string identifying the image as being specified inline using the Data URI scheme.
    • content: The encoded image. Example: image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P48/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
• parameters: An optional list of space-separated parameters passed to the image. Example: width="800" height="600" alt="img.png" title="My nice image"
  • HTML attributes: All attributes defined by the HTML standard will be added to the rendered HTML <img> tag.
    • style: CSS style information that should be applied to the image. Examples: style="float:right;height:50" (image on right side, height 50 px), style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;width:80%" (image centered, width 80% of block width), style="vertical-align:bottom" (text starts at bottom of picture)
    • height: A parameter that defines the height of the displayed image. The value should be presented either in pixel (example: height="80") or in pixel related to the height of the block containing the image (example: height="40%").
    • width: A parameter that defines the width of the displayed image. The value should be presented either in pixel (example: width="80") or in pixel related to the width of the block containing the image (example: width="40%").
    • title: A parameter that defines the title the displayed image which will be visible when hovering the mouse trigger over the image, for instance. Example: title="My nice image"
    • alt: A parameter that defines which text should be displayed if the browser is not able to display the image. Since this is a required HTML attribute XWiki will use the file name instead if the alt parameter is not defined. Example: alt="img.png"
    • More: A more in depth explanation on the HTML <img> tag including more attributes can be reviewed on w3.org.
  • queryString: Allows queries to be passed to the server when creating the download link for the referenced image. Example: queryString="width=100&height=800&keepAspectRatio=true" (keepAspectRatio=true will fail if the width and height parameters are specified in addition to queryString!)

Advanced

Verbatim

2.0 Verbatim

Allow to enter content that will not be formatted (in other words the XWiki Syntax will not be taken into account).

{{{
multi line
**verbatim**
content
}}}

multi line
**verbatim**
content

Quotations

2.0 Quotations

Allows to quote some text.

> john said this
I said ok

> john said this
>> marie answered that
I said ok

Groups

2.0 Groups

Groups can be used to insert another document inline directly into the current document. This allows for example to insert complex elements inside a list item or inside a table cell. Groups are delimited by the following syntactic elements: (((...))). One Group can contain another Group and there is no limit of imbrication.

|=Header 1|=Header 2|=Header 3
|Cell One|(((
= Embedded document =

Some embedded paragraph.

* list item one
* list item two
  ** sub-item 1
  ** sub-item 2
))) | Cell Three

Next paragraph in the top-level document

Escapes

2.0 Escapes

Allows to escape XWiki Syntax.

Parameters

2.0 Parameters

With XWiki Syntax 2.1 it's possible to pass parameters to the different syntax elements and also to blocks of text. This is used for example to style them. You can set any parameter key/value pair you want. The XHTML renderer will pass these parameters as XHTML attributes to the underlying XHTML representation of the different syntax elements.

(% class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId" %)
= heading =

<h1 class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId">heading</h1>

Programming

Macros

2.0 Macros

There is only one kind of macro in XWiki Syntax 2.1, which is called by the syntax: {{macroname param1="value1" ... paramN="valueN"}}

{{code language="java"}}
System.out.println("Hello World!");
{{/code}

Information

Radeox macros cannot be used in XWiki Syntax 2.1. Thus they have been rewritten as Rendering macros.

Information

For the full list of available macros check the Extensions wiki.

HTML

2.0 HTML

Information

In XWiki Syntax 2.1 HTML or XHTML must be entered by using the HTML macro.

Information

In XWiki Syntax 2.1, by default the HTML macro does not understands XWiki Syntax (other macros included since it's XWiki Syntax too). To enable it, use {{html wiki="true"}}.

Scripts

2.0 Scripts

Information

In XWiki Syntax 1.0 it was possible to enter Velocity scripts anywhere directly in the page. This lead to issues for example when the user was involuntarily entering Velocity content. It was also performance hungry for pages not requiring Velocity content. There were several other technical limitations. Thus in XWiki Syntax 2.1 Velocity scripts must be entered using the velocity macro. Same goes for entering Groovy scripts.

{{velocity}}
#set ($var = "whatever")
{{/velocity}}

{{groovy}}
def var = "whatever"
{{/groovy}}