The `template` directive is supplied by the [[!iki plugins/template]] plugin.
-Templates are files that can be filled out and inserted into pages in the
-wiki.
+[[Templates]] are files that can be filled out and inserted into pages in the
+wiki, by using the template directive. The directive has an `id` parameter
+that identifies the template to use. The remaining parameters are used to
+fill out the template.
-## Using a template
-
-Using a template works like this:
+Example:
\[[!template id=note text="""Here is the text to insert into my note."""]]
This fills out the `note` template, filling in the `text` field with
the specified value, and inserts the result into the page.
-Generally, a value can include any markup that would be allowed in the wiki
-page outside the template. Triple-quoting the value even allows quotes to
-be included in it. Combined with multi-line quoted values, this allows for
-large chunks of marked up text to be embedded into a template:
-
- \[[!template id=foo name="Sally" color="green" age=8 notes="""
- * \[[Charley]]'s sister.
- * "I want to be an astronaut when I grow up."
- * Really 8 and a half.
- """]]
-
-## Creating a template
-
-To create a template, simply add a template directive to a page, and the
-page will provide a link that can be used to create the template. The template
-is a regular wiki page, located in the `templates/` subdirectory inside
-the source directory of the wiki.
-
-The template uses the syntax used by the [[!cpan HTML::Template]] perl
-module, which allows for some fairly complex things to be done. Consult its
-documentation for the full syntax, but all you really need to know are a
-few things:
-
-* Each parameter you pass to the template directive will generate a
- template variable. There are also some pre-defined variables like PAGE
- and BASENAME.
-* To insert the value of a variable, use `<TMPL_VAR variable>`. Wiki markup
- in the value will first be converted to html.
-* To insert the raw value of a variable, with wiki markup not yet converted
- to html, use `<TMPL_VAR raw_variable>`.
-* To make a block of text conditional on a variable being set use
- `<TMPL_IF NAME="variable">text</TMPL_IF>`.
-* To use one block of text if a variable is set and a second if it's not,
- use `<TMPL_IF NAME="variable">text<TMPL_ELSE>other text</TMPL_IF>`
-
-Here's a sample template:
-
- <span class="infobox">
- Name: \[[<TMPL_VAR raw_name>]]<br />
- Age: <TMPL_VAR age><br />
- <TMPL_IF NAME="color">
- Favorite color: <TMPL_VAR color><br />
- <TMPL_ELSE>
- No favorite color.<br />
- </TMPL_IF>
- <TMPL_IF NAME="notes">
- <hr />
- <TMPL_VAR notes>
- </TMPL_IF>
- </span>
-
-The filled out template will be formatted the same as the rest of the page
-that contains it, so you can include WikiLinks and all other forms of wiki
-markup in the template. Note though that such WikiLinks will not show up as
-backlinks to the page that uses the template.
-
-Note the use of "raw_name" inside the [[WikiLink]] generator. This ensures
-that if the name contains something that might be mistaken for wiki markup,
-it's not converted to html before being processed as a [[WikiLink]].
-
-[[!if test="enabled(template) and enabled(inline)" then="""
-
-## Available templates
-
-These templates are available for inclusion onto other pages in this
-wiki:
-
-[[!inline pages="templates/* and !*/discussion" feeds=no archive=yes
-sort=title template=titlepage]]
-"""]]
-
+For a list of available templates, and details about how to create more,
+see the [[templates]] page.