-While ikiwiki can support definition lists (`dl/dt/dd`) through [[multimarkdown|mdwn]], it doesn't actually /do/ anything with those valuable definitions. It would be interesting for third party plugins to have access to this stuff as a proper data structure. This is what allows MoinMoin to have plugins that collect that data across multiple pages and tabulate it, for example.
+While ikiwiki can support definition lists (`dl/dt/dd`) through [[multimarkdown|plugins/mdwn]], it doesn't actually /do/ anything with those valuable definitions. It would be interesting for third party plugins to have access to this stuff as a proper data structure. This is what allows MoinMoin to have plugins that collect that data across multiple pages and tabulate it, for example.
What I am proposing here is that the [[variables exported to plugins|plugins/write/#index6h2]] be extended to include a `%dictionnaries` hash. For a markup like this:
Then for us running the humongous [[koumbit wiki|https://wiki.koumbit.net/]], it is a necessary step to be able to migrate away from MoinMoin to Ikiwiki as we have a lot of pages that tabulate information like this. For example, see our [[ServerList|https://wiki.koumbit.net/ServerList]] ([[source|https://wiki.koumbit.net/ServerList?action=raw]]), being generated from pages like [[this one|https://wiki.koumbit.net/metis.koumbit.net]].
If there are no objections to that concept, I may try to start coding patches. Otherwise this is really just a [[wishlist]].
+
+> Have you looked at the [[plugins/contrib/field]] plugin? This gives you the infrastructure, and all you need is to write a plugin that parses the definition list format. Then you could use [[plugins/contrib/getfield]], [[plugins/contrib/ftemplate]] and/or [[plugins/contrib/report]] to do what you like with the data.
+> --[[KathrynAndersen]]
+
+> ----
+
+> with the recent inclusion of discount to the [[plugins/mdwn]] module, definition lists can be used by default (instead of, as with multimarkdown, after an option is enabled), and look like this:
+>
+> =Apple=
+> Apple is a fruit.
+> Apple is also a company.
+> =Orange=
+> Orange is a fruit.
+>
+> (indented with four spaces). this makes definition lists a bit more attractive for definition harvesting. personally, i'd prefer a solution that works from the markup instead of plugins, as it integrates more naturally in the flow of designing a document, even though a plugin for explicitly stating invisible facts certainly has its purpose too. (think [[!wikipedia RDFa]] here ;-) ) --[[chrysn]]