Extension:Collection

Language:	English

MediaWiki extensions manual - list

Collection Release status: stable
Implementation	Special page
Description	This extension makes it possible to collect a number of pages. Collections can be edited, persisted and optionally retrieved as PDF, ODF or DocBook (XML)
Author(s)	PediaPress.com, Siebrand Mazeland, Marcin Cieślak
Last version	1.6.1
MediaWiki	1.17+
License	GPL
Download	Download snapshot (Git master) Git [?]: repo summary tree code changes README.txt
Example	http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Help:Books
Hooks used ApiMain OutputPageCheckLastModified ResourceLoaderGetConfigVars SiteNoticeAfter SkinBuildSidebar SkinTemplateBuildNavUrlsNav_urlsAfterPermalink User
Check usage and version matrix
Bugs: list open list all report

This extension allows a user to organize personal selections of pages in a collection. Collections can be

• edited and structured using chapters
• persisted, loaded and shared
• rendered as PDF (see Extension:PDF_Writer)
• exported as ODF Text Document (see Extension:OpenDocument_Export)
• exported as DocBook XML (see Extension:XML_Bridge)
• ordered as a printed book at http://pediapress.com/
• exported as ZIM file (see Extension:Collection/openZIM)

See the press release Wikis Go Printable for more information on this project.

Documentation & Support

The documentation for the collection can be found at http://mwlib.readthedocs.org/en/latest/collection.html

There is also a Google group for support and discussion of mwlib, mwlib.rl and the Collection extension.

mwlib developers have also been spotted on the pediapress IRC channel:

• Server: irc.freenode.net
• Channel: #pediapress

A detailed guide on how to prepare your wiki (templates, help pages, categories) if you setup the extension is available at meta.wikimedia.org.

Download

You can download the extension directly from the MediaWiki source code repository (browse code). You can get:

One of the extensions tags

Not all extensions have tags. Some extensions have tags for each release, in which case those tags have the same stability as the release. To download a tag

• Go to the tags list
• Click the name of the tag you want to download
• Click "snapshot"

The latest version of one of the extensions branches

Each extension has a master branch containing the latest code (might be unstable). Extensions can have further branches as well.

• Go to the branches list
• Click the branch name
• Click "snapshot"

A snapshot made during the release of a MediaWiki version.

This might be unstable and is not guaranteed to work with the associated MediaWiki version.

• Download snapshot

After you've got the code, save it into the extensions/Collection directory of your wiki.

If you are familiar with git and have shell access to your server, you can obtain the extension, with all its tags and branches, as follows:

cd extensions
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/extensions/Collection.git

Installation

To install Collection, download the latest snapshot and extract it to your extensions directory. Then, add the following line near the end of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once("$IP/extensions/Collection/Collection.php");

Please read the included README.txt for detailed configuration instructions of the extension.

• Howto: Installation on Ubuntu
• How does it work on debian?

Configuration

Since version 1.6 (r113740) the extension offers the variable $wgCollectionPODPartners that is used to define available providers of the print-on-demand service.

By default it uses PediaPress service:

$wgCollectionPODPartners = array(
    'pediapress' => array(
        'name' => 'PediaPress',
        'url' => 'http://pediapress.com/',
        'posturl' => 'http://pediapress.com/api/collections/',
        'infopagetitle' => 'coll-order_info_article',
    ),
);

It is an array of elements, every of them will be listed as a possible print-on-demand provider. The parameters are:

name

short name of the provider

url

URL to point for more information if there is no information page

posturl

URL of the actual printing web service

infopagetitle

MediaWiki system message name (as visible in the MediaWiki: namespace) that contains page title of the page that will be used to shortly describe the provider. The default (for PediaPress) is MediaWiki:Coll-order_info_article, which defaults to Help:Books/PediaPress order information. If this page exists, it is used to display information about PediaPress book printing service.

It is also possible to disable print on demand altogether by setting:

$wgCollectionPODPartners = false;

Please see bug 33536 and commit entry for more information about this feature.

You can also configure which file formats are available:

$wgCollectionFormats = array(
    'rl' => 'PDF', # enabled by default
    'odf' => 'ODT',
    'docbook' => 'DocBook XML',
    'xhtml' => 'XHTML 1.0 Transitional',
    'epub' => 'e-book (EPUB)',
    'zim' => 'Kiwix (OpenZIM)',
);

See README.txt for more configuration options.

User rights for saving books

To allow users to save books in both their user space and the community space, add the following lines to your LocalSettings.php:

$wgGroupPermissions['user']['collectionsaveascommunitypage'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['collectionsaveasuserpage']      = true;

Help improving the extension

If you want to help to make the extension better, you can:

• add your idea or feature request to this Wishlist
• open a ticket for a bug or feature request in the bug tracker (use MediaWiki Extensions/Collection as component name)
  • see also several lost PediaPress tracker issues
• fix and add translations using translatewiki.net
• fix and improve the code (PHP, HTML, JavaScript, CSS) by sending patches to the mwlib mailinglist or attaching them to tickets in the bug tracker (use MediaWiki Extensions/Collection as component name)
• help improve mwlib and mwlib.rl, the Python libraries that are the "backbone" of the Collection extension. The code is available via GitHub. See also development information available from PediaPress GmbH.

Source

The Collection extension is copyrighted by PediaPress and is distributed under the GNU General Public License (see the included README.txt for details).

Current sources can be obtained from the official MediaWiki Subversion repository found at http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/. You can check out a copy right into the extensions directory of your MediaWiki installation with the following commands (after installing Subversion):

cd extensions/
svn co http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/Collection/

Screenshot

Screenshot (click to enlarge): This user interface will allow wiki readers to compile their own selections of articles, to download copies in different output formats, or to order printed copies from PediaPress.

See also: Collection Help on Wikibooks

Screencast

There is a screencast demoing the basic functionality available at youtube (in German) (2:45 minutes).

Generating PDFs, OpenDocument- & DocBook-Exports

It's easy to enable PDF (ODF, DocBook) support with this Extension. It is configured by default to use the server http://tools.pediapress.com/. Therefore (low traffic) sites that are accessible from the internet don't need to install their own PDF Server.

Simply install and configure the Collection extension using the default value http://tools.pediapress.com/mw-serve/ for $wgCollectionMWServeURL (see README.txt of the Collection Extension for instructions) and make sure the MediaWiki API (api.php) is enabled on your MediaWiki installation.

No installation of Python, ReportLab, mwlib etc. required! Note however, that in order to use this service, your wiki must be accessible from the internet and must be either accessible for non-logged-in users or login credentials are configured (see README.txt for instructions).

If you either have a wiki which is not accessible from the outside or your site has high traffic, you need to install your own render server. The server is included with mwlib and can be used as a stand-alone HTTP server (which is the default protocol) or as FastCGI or SCGI server or as a CGI script.

Have a look at the Solar system, example article from the English language Wikipedia, rendered as PDF using this technology.

Printed Books with PediaPress

Printed Wikipedia-Books as offered by PediaPress

PediaPress is a service that offers printed books based from wiki content. This service is seamlessly integrated in this extension (can be disabled).

Creating cross-wiki article collections

It's best to use http://pediapress.com/collection/ for this purpose, see ticket 408.

Related

• Extension:PDF_Writer
• Extension:XML_Bridge
• Extension:OpenDocument_Export

External links

• A comprehensive guide about Extension:Collection installation and configuration with instructions for installing on local machines - by edutechwiki (TECFA, University of Geneva).