function injection overhaul

[git.ikiwiki.info.git] / doc / plugins / write.mdwn

diff --git a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
index daf70c8e23393d5b860b30e324523da6f46c45ab..2e11e6234ef24b1e7ca64df3b09c950f25772a18 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
+++ b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
@@ -196,7 +196,6 @@ generating the page.
 
        hook(type => "pagetemplate", id => "foo", call => \&pagetemplate);
 
 
        hook(type => "pagetemplate", id => "foo", call => \&pagetemplate);
 

-

 [[Templates|wikitemplates]] are filled out for many different things in
 ikiwiki, like generating a page, or part of a blog page, or an rss feed, or
 a cgi. This hook allows modifying the variables available on those
 [[Templates|wikitemplates]] are filled out for many different things in
 ikiwiki, like generating a page, or part of a blog page, or an rss feed, or
 a cgi. This hook allows modifying the variables available on those


@@ -361,6 +360,13 @@ This hook is called whenever ikiwiki normally saves its state, just before
 the state is saved. The function can save other state, modify values before
 they're saved, etc.
 
 the state is saved. The function can save other state, modify values before
 they're saved, etc.
 

+### displaytime
+
+       hook(type => "displaytime", id => "foo", call => \&display);
+
+This hook can be registered to override the regular `displaytime` function.
+Only the last displaytime hook will be used.
+

 ### renamepage
 
        hook(type => "renamepage", id => "foo", call => \&renamepage);
 ### renamepage
 
        hook(type => "renamepage", id => "foo", call => \&renamepage);


@@ -848,6 +854,56 @@ By the way, to parse a ikiwiki setup file and populate `%config`, a
 program just needs to do something like:
 `use IkiWiki::Setup; IkiWiki::Setup::load($filename)`
 
 program just needs to do something like:
 `use IkiWiki::Setup; IkiWiki::Setup::load($filename)`
 

+### Function overriding
+
+Sometimes using ikiwiki's pre-defined hooks is not enough. Your plugin
+may need to replace one of ikiwiki's own functions with a modified version,
+or wrap one of the functions.
+
+For example, your plugin might want to override `displaytime`, to change
+the html markup used when displaying a date. Or it might want to override
+`IkiWiki::formattime`, to change how a date is formatted. Or perhaps you
+want to override `bestlink` and change how ikiwiki deals with WikiLinks.
+
+By venturing into this territory, your plugin is becoming tightly tied to
+ikiwiki's internals. And it might break if those internals change. But
+don't let that stop you, if you're brave.
+
+Ikiwiki provides an `inject()` function, that is a powerful way to replace
+any function with one of your own. This even allows you to inject a
+replacement for an exported function, like `bestlink`. Everything that
+imports that function will get your version instead. Pass it the name of
+the function to replace, and a new function to call. 
+
+For example, here's how to replace `displaytime` with a version using HTML 5
+markup:
+
+       inject(name => 'IkiWiki::displaytime', call => sub {
+               return "<time>".formattime(@_)."</time>";
+       });
+
+Here's how to wrap `bestlink` with a version that tries to handle
+plural words:
+
+       my $origbestlink=\&bestlink;
+       inject(name => 'IkiWiki::bestlink', call => \&mybestlink);
+
+       sub deplural ($) {
+               my $word=shift;
+               $word =~ s/e?s$//; # just an example :-)
+               return $word;
+       }
+
+       sub mybestlink ($$) {
+               my $page=shift;
+               my $link=shift;
+               my $ret=$origbestlink->($page, $link);
+               if (! length $ret) {
+                       $ret=$origbestlink->($page, deplural($link));
+               }
+               return $ret;
+       }
+

 ### Javascript
 
 Some plugins use javascript to make ikiwiki look a bit more web-2.0-ish.
 ### Javascript
 
 Some plugins use javascript to make ikiwiki look a bit more web-2.0-ish.