Extension:Favorites

MediaWiki extensions manual

Favorites Release status: stable
Implementation	Special page, Tag
Description	Allows users to create a list of favorite pages.
Author(s)	Jeremy Lemley (Jlemleytalk)
Latest version	0.2.6 (2011-08-20)
MediaWiki	1.16+
PHP	5.3+
Database changes	Yes
License	GPL v2
Download	SVN [?]: svn checkout url browse file tree commit history Template:WikimediaDownload/svn README Changelog
Example
Parameters $wgUseIconFavorite $wgFavoritesPersonalURL
Tags favorites
Hooks used LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates ParserFirstCallInit SkinTemplateNavigation SkinTemplateTabs UnknownAction TitleMoveComplete ArticleDeleteComplete BeforePageDisplay
Translate the Favorites extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
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The Favorites extension makes it easy for users to add pages to their personal favorites list with just one click, so they can browse through them again later or share their favorites with others. It creates a new special page that contains a list of Favorites for each user, similar to the Watchlist. It also allows for the list of favorites to be publicly embedded on a page using a tag.

Usage

Users add items to the Favorite list by either selecting Favorite from the navigation menu, or by clicking the Star icon (if implemented - see Configuration parameters). Conversely, removing a Favorite from the list is a matter of clicking Unfavorite or clicking the Star a second time. Users can also edit their list through the Special:Favoritelist page using the same features included with the Watchlist.

Parser Tag

You can dynamically embed favorites on any page or template using the following tag:

<favorites/>

This tag takes the following arguments:

editlink=true
userpage=true

• The "editlink" argument will add a link at the bottom of the list that will allow the user to edit their list of favorites.
• The "userpage" argument will allow you to display your favorites on your user page. This argument will only work on a user page. Of course, leaving this argument off will display the logged-in user's own list, even while viewing someone else's user page.
• If both arguments are combined, the edit link will display, but it will take the user back to their list of favorites, not those of the user they are viewing. Of course, this could get confusing, so it's not recommended.

Examples:

<favorites editlink=true />
<favorites userpage=true />

Special Page

This extension also creates a new Special page called "Special:Favoritelist". This special page allows users to view or edit their list of favorites. A link to this page can be added to the Personal Urls section of MediaWiki. See Configuration parameters for more details.

Installation

• Download the files and extract the tarball in your extensions/ folder. It should generate a new folder called Favorites directly inside your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once "$IP/extensions/Favorites/Favorites.php";
// Add a Star icon for selecting favorites:
# $wgUseIconFavorite = true; 
// Add a "My Favorites" link to the personal URLs area:
# $wgFavoritesPersonalURL = true;
// Uncomment the parameters you want to use by deleting the "hash" (#) character in front of them.

• Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
• Done! Navigate to "Special:Version" on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

The $wgUseIconFavorite parameter will use the same "Star" icon that is included with the Vector Watchlist portion of the Usability Initiative extension. If you are already using the Star icon for your watched items, you may want to set $wgVectorUseIconWatch to false in LocalSettings.php.

The $wgFavoritesPersonalURL parameter adds a link to "My Favorites" to the Personal Urls section of MediaWiki next to "My Watchlist".

Database Update

This extension also requires a new table in your database.

The easiest way to do this is to run MediaWiki's standard updater (your designated database user needs to have CREATE rights on your MediaWiki database):

php maintenance/update.php 

If you do not have command-line access to your server, you can manually apply the favorites.sql file's commands to your database. Remember to use the proper table prefix, if applicable.

Installation can be verified through Special:Version

Uninstalling

Most extensions can be removed by deleting them and editing LocalSettings.php to remove references to it. Since this extension makes changes to your database, removing it additionally requires undoing database changes. It's as simple as removing the favoritelist table from the database.

If you have access to your database using a tool like PHPMyAdmin, you can just delete the table. For commandline access or to use a script, you would use this command:

drop table favoritelist;