Extension:RandomSelection

MediaWiki extensions manual

RandomSelection Release status: stable
Implementation	Tag
Description	Displays a random option from the given set.
Author(s)	Ross McClure (Algorithmtalk)
Latest version	2.1.7 (2012-09-02)
MediaWiki	1.12+
Database changes	No
License	GPL
Download	GitHub: project page git repository URL [help] commit history Note: No localisation updates are provided by translatewiki.net. Changelog
Example	Example http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Template:Featured_article
Tags <choose> <option> <choicetemplate>
Hooks used ParserFirstCallInit
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The RandomSelection extension allows for randomly-generated content inside your wiki; e.g. rotating images, random greetings, etc.

Usage

To choose between one or more options, simply place each option inside an <option> tag, like so:

<choose>
<option>This is the first choice.</option>
<option>This is the second choice.</option>
<option>And so on...</option>
</choose>

From each set of <choose> tags, precisely one <option> tag will be selected at random, and its contents shown. Anything can be placed inside of option tags: links, images, even templates. Note, however, that template arguments will not be expanded due to bugzilla:2257.

Parameters to <choose>

Parameter	Description
before	Put this text before the chosen option
after	Put this text after the chosen option

Parameters to <option>

Parameter	Description
weight	Weight of the option

Weight

If you'd like some options to be shown more often than others, you can add weight to the option tags, like so:

<choose>
<option weight="2">This option will be shown twice as often as a normal option.</option>
<option>By default, options have a weight of 1.</option>
<option weight="1.5">This option also has a weight of 1.  Fractional portions are ignored.</option>
</choose>

You can also have what is placed inside the option tags be sent as an argument to a template, e.g.:

Choice templates

<choose>
<option>Template:Featured article/Elephant</option>
<option>Template:Featured article/Giraffe</option>
<option>Template:Featured article/Rhinoceros</option>
<choicetemplate>PageWithEditButton</choicetemplate>
</choose>

You could then create a Template:PageWithEditButton with these contents:

[{{canonicalurl:{{{1}}}|action=edit}} Edit] {{{{{1}}}}}

This is useful if you want to set up randomly rotating featured articles and have an edit button to allow the user to edit the featured article blurbs.

"before" and "after" parameters

If you wanted to display one of three YouTube videos, you could try this (Extension:Widget and Widget:YouTube required):

<choose before="{{#widget: YouTube|id=" after="}}">
<option>eR7-AUmiNcA</option><!--King of Anything-->
<option>cSCi7kCXKDA</option><!--Slipping Through My Fingers-->
<option>7n2d9XPsmmE</option><!--When Death Note Music Plays in My Car-->
</choose>

Installation

• Download and extract the file(s) in a directory called RandomSelection in your extensions/ folder. If you're a developer and this extension is in a Git repository, then instead you should clone the repository.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once "$IP/extensions/RandomSelection/RandomSelection.php";

• Done! Navigate to "Special:Version" on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Changelog

• 2007-12-10 -- Updated for compatibility with MW 1.12's new parser model
• 2008-02-23 -- Minor bugfix
• 2008-05-08 -- Bugfix
• 2008-07-01 -- Use ParserFirstCallInit hook if it's available
• 2009-09-30 -- Doxygen comments added + minor tweaks
• 2010-01-17 -- dropped backwards compatibility with old MediaWikis as per r55838 and made the extension work under PHP 5.3+
• 2012-09-02 -- Added <choicetemplate> functionality
• 2013-11-10 -- Added "before" and "after" parameters

Tested

• MW 1.22.x -  OK --Leucosticte (talk) 10:32, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
• MW 1.16.x -  OK --[[kgh]] (talk) 22:10, 7 June 2012 (UTC)
• MW 1.18.x -  OK --[[kgh]] (talk) 18:37, 7 June 2012 (UTC)
• MW 1.19.x -  OK --Leucosticte (talk) 21:58, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
• MW 1.20.x -  OK --Arcane21 (talk) 00:14, 30 August 2013 (UTC)Arcane21
• MW 1.21.x -  OK --Arcane21 (talk) 00:14, 30 August 2013 (UTC)Arcane21

See also

• Extension:BedellPenDragon#FAQ (has a discussion of the differences between RandomSelection, Blurb and BedellPenDragon)
• Extension:Blurb