Extension:Gadgets

This extension comes with MediaWiki 1.18 and above. Thus you do not have to download it again. However, you still need to follow the other instructions provided.

MediaWiki extensions manual

Gadgets Release status: stable
Implementation	MyWiki , Special page , API
Description	Allow users to enable JS-based, user-provided gadgets from their preferences page
Author(s)	Daniel Kinzler (Duesentriebtalk)
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
MediaWiki	1.19+
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review README
Example	Wikimedia Commons: Gadget overview, user preferences (click "Gadgets"; you need to be logged in of course)
Parameters $wgGadgetsRepo $wgSpecialGadgetUsageActiveUsers
Hooks used BeforePageDisplay CodeEditorGetPageLanguage ContentHandlerDefaultModelFor DeleteUnknownPreferences GetPreferences PageDeleteComplete PageSaveComplete PreferencesGetIcon PreferencesGetLegend ResourceLoaderRegisterModules UserGetDefaultOptions getUserPermissionsErrors wgQueryPages
Quarterly downloads	115 (Ranked 50th)
Public wikis using	4,529 (Ranked 177th)
Translate the Gadgets extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The Gadgets extension allows users to select JavaScript or CSS-based "gadgets" provided by other wiki users.

Gadgets are made up of JavaScript and/or CSS Snippets located on pages in the MediaWiki namespace. Each gadget is defined by a line in MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition, providing a name and description for the gadget, and a list of the JS and CSS snippets that it uses (see the Usage section below).

Since Gadgets reside in the MediaWiki namespace (the list defining the gadgets as well as the actual code snippets), only sysops (interface admins from 1.32) can edit the code. This is as it should be: only users especially trusted by the wiki community should be able to edit JavaScript code used by other users since JavaScript can easily be used to hijack accounts or spy on people.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted Gadgets folder to your extensions/ directory.
  Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/Gadgets
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'Gadgets' );
  

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

Usage

Selection of some gadgets at the user preferences in de.wikipedia

Once MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition is created with at least one valid gadget, a new "Gadgets" section will be shown on Special:Preferences for all users. Users can enable the gadgets they would like to use there. An overview of gadgets currently defined by MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition is also rendered on Special:Gadgets, along with helpful links to the relevant localisation and script/style pages for easy creation or editing. Statistics about gadget preferences are available at Special:GadgetUsage.

Definition format

Each line on the MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition page should start with a "*" (asterisk) character to define a gadget. The line takes the following format:

* mygadget [options] | page names

The first field ("mygadget" in the example) is the gadget's internal name. The label for the preferences page comes from an interface message page (MediaWiki:Gadget-mygadget) where the proper name and a short description can be written, which also allows wikitext markup to be used.

The internal name must begin with a basic Latin letter ([A-Za-z]) and may be followed by any number of letters, digits ([0-9]), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and periods (.). The reason for this limitation is that the internal name must be valid as the name of an HTML form name, as MediaWiki interface message key, and as ResourceLoader module name.

Options format:

[ResourceLoader | option1 | option2 | ... optionN]

The ResourceLoader flag is required unless the gadget contains only styles. Options that are "flags" only need to have their name written to be turned on. Options that need a value are followed by an equals sign and a comma-separated list of values. All whitespace is optional and may be omitted.

[ResourceLoader | myflag | mykey = value1, value2, value3 ]

Examples:

* mygadget[ResourceLoader]|mygadget.js|mygadget.css

or

* mygadget[ResourceLoader|package]| mygadget.js | mygadget-Foo.js | mygadget-data.json | mygadget.css

or

* mygadget[ ResourceLoader | rights=foo, bar ] | mygadget.js | mygadget.css

Using Gadget Definition Namespace

MediaWiki version:

≤ 1.41

There are two ways to define gadgets depending on the $wgGadgetsRepoClass. If It is 'MediaWikiGadgetsDefinitionRepo' (the default value), the list of available gadgets is defined on MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition. In an alternative way, Gadget definitions are defined on pages in the Gadget definition namespace when $wgGadgetsRepoClass is set to 'GadgetDefinitionNamespaceRepo'. (On MediaWiki 1.39+, the value to use instead is '\\MediaWiki\\Extension\\Gadgets\\GadgetDefinitionNamespaceRepo'.)

The migration of existing gadget definitions is not yet supported, so you will lose previously defined gadgets after changing this option.

Creation of the Gadget definition:mygadget page and putting in it the below JSON code have the same effect as mygadget[ ResourceLoader | rights=foo, bar ] | mygadget.js | mygadget.css.

{
	"settings": {
		"rights": [ "foo", "bar" ],
		"default": false,
		"package": false,
		"hidden": false,
		"skins": [],
		"actions": [],
		"category": ""
	},
	"module": {
		"scripts": [ "mygadget.js" ],
		"styles": [ "mygadget.css" ],
		"datas": [],
		"peers": [],
		"dependencies": [],
		"messages": [],
		"type": ""
	}
}

In above example, the Gadget:Mygadget.js and the Gadget:mygadget.css are used.

Options

Options

Name	Parameters	Description	Since
ResourceLoader	None	Marks gadget's scripts as compatible with ResourceLoader .	1.17 (r76527)
dependencies	Comma-separated module names	These modules will be loaded before the scripts of this gadget execute. See list of default modules.	1.17 (r76639)
rights	Comma-separated privilege names	Make the gadget available (and visible in preferences) only to users who have the specified privileges.	1.18 (r85268)
hidden	None	Hide the gadget from the Preferences page. This can be used in two ways: Enable a gadget by default without the ability to disable (as a modular alternative to Common.js). Note that you need to add both: hidden | default to load a module for all users. Gadgets that are not meant for end-users but rather are meant to be loaded by other gadgets. For example, to allow two gadgets to re-use the same internal code or to register the "core" part of a gadget that only loads on certain pages.	1.28
skins	Comma-separated skin names	Make the gadget available (and visible in preferences) only to users who use the specified skins. Before MediaWiki 1.32 it was taking into consideration the skin set in preferences for the user, not the current displayed one (like when adding ?useskin=monobook in the URL, task T199478). Since 1.39, the ResourceLoader module is not registered on skins the gadget is unavailable on, so the gadget cannot be loaded on those skins as a dependency or using mw.loader.load() either (task T236603). Use of skins is a last resort, and should be restricted to specialized code. For example code which relies on DOM manipulation in the absence of standardized APIs and that cannot be implemented using Core modules.	1.19 (r100509)
actions	Comma-separated action names	Make the gadget available only on the specified page actions. E.g. actions = edit, history to load a gadget only while editing and on history pages. Specifying edit action will also load it on action=submit. Invalid actions effectively disable the gadget since it can't be run anywhere.	1.38 (gerrit:747112)
categories	Comma-separated category names	Make the gadget available only on the specified categories. E.g. categories = Archived, Maintenance to load a gadget only on pages in the Category:Archived or Category:Maintenance. See also: Template gadgets .	1.42 (gerrit:1005092)
namespaces	Comma-separated namespace numbers	Make the gadget available only on the specified namespaces. E.g. namespaces = 0, 2 to load a gadget only in mainspace and user namespace.	1.41 (gerrit:624517)
contentModels	Comma-separated content models	Make the gadget available on pages with the given content models. E.g. contentModels = wikitext to load a gadget only on wikitext pages.	1.41 (gerrit:922062)
default	None	Enable the gadget by default for everyone (including IPs). Registered users can still disable it in their preferences.	1.18 (r85902)
package	None	Mark this gadget as packaged. Only the first JavaScript page will be executed in this mode. Other pages can be imported by using the require() function. This mode also enables the use of JSON pages, which cannot be included otherwise.	1.38
type	styles (default for CSS-only gadgets) or general (default otherwise)	Use styles for modules that only modify styling for elements already on the page (e.g. when customizing the skin, layout, or article content). It will cause the CSS files of the module to be included from the page HTML instead of being loaded via JavaScript. For details, see ResourceLoader/Migration guide (users)#Gadget type. Using styles will not load in any specified JavaScript files. For gadgets that modify styling for elements through both JavaScript and CSS, two individual gadget definitions are required.	1.28
peers	Comma-separated gadget names	These CSS-only gadgets will be loaded with this gadget. These gadgets will be loaded before any dependencies, and their styles will be applied even if JavaScript is disabled. For details, see ResourceLoader/Migration guide (users)#Gadget peers.	1.29
supportsUrlLoad	None | true | false	Make the gadget available to be loaded with the ?withgadget URL query parameter.	1.38

Removed options

Name	Parameters	Description	Since	Removed
top	None	Makes the gadget to be top-loaded. This should be used sparingly, but may be needed for some initialization stuff like registering plugins with VisualEditor.	1.22 (gerrit:75506)	1.29
requiresES6	None	Allow use of ES6 syntax (ES2015) in the gadget. Enabling this means server-side syntax validation is skipped for the gadget. Any ES6-requiring gadgets are loaded together in a single web request, which isolates failures due to invalid or unsupported syntax to those gadgets only, without affecting other gadgets and MediaWiki software features. It is recommended to use a tool like ESLint to ensure only valid ES6 syntax is used. Conflicts with default.	1.40 (gerrit:758086)	1.42
targets	desktop, mobile or desktop, mobile(default)	Set the ResourceLoader target(s) for the gadget. Do not use targets, instead use skins where absolutely necessary.	1.21 (gerrit:60954)	1.42

You can specify extra dependencies for your gadgets, for example:

* mygadget[ResourceLoader|dependencies=jquery.ui, jquery.effects.clip]|mygadget.js|mygadget.css

Here, we ask ResourceLoader to load modules jquery.ui and jquery.effects.clip with mygadget. Note that gadgets can't depend on scripts from pages, static files, or external URLs, only on modules already registered in ResourceLoader. To make a script from a page depend on another script from a page, each should be a gadget that registers itself as a module in ResourceLoader, then they can be made to have dependencies using the following syntax:

* childgadget[ResourceLoader|dependencies=ext.gadget.parentgadget]|childgadget.js

To enable a gadget by default, use "default":

* mygadget[ResourceLoader|default|dependencies=mediawiki.util]|mygadget.js|mygadget.css

To make the gadget available only to users with appropriate permissions, set the rights option, for example:

* ImprovedDeletion [rights=delete] | ImprovedDeletion.js

It makes the gadget available only to users who can delete pages.

Note that restrictions are based on permissions, not user groups like administrators or bureaucrats. Here are some real examples:

* modrollback [ResourceLoader |rights=rollback] |modrollback.js
* geonotice [ResourceLoader |default |rights=viewmywatchlist] |geonotice.js
* Ajax_sysop [ResourceLoader |rights=patrol, rollback, markbotedits, delete]|Ajax_sysop.js

User rights

This extension adds two new user rights, gadgets-edit and gadgets-definition-edit, which by default aren't given to any group.

You can add the following in your LocalSettings.php to provide the appropriate permissions for users who are within the interface-admin group. Editing pages in the Gadget namespace requires the gadgets-edit right and editing pages in the Gadget definition namespace requires the gadgets-definition-edit right.

$wgGroupPermissions['interface-admin']['gadgets-edit'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['interface-admin']['gadgets-definition-edit'] = true;

Pages

The remaining fields on the definition line refer to the JavaScript, CSS, or JSON source pages that make up the gadget module. These are stored in the MediaWiki namespace as interface messages (MediaWiki:Gadget-mygadget.js and MediaWiki:Gadget-mygadget.css in the example). The page names must end with ".css", ".js", or ".json" respectively.

A gadget can use any number of source pages, e.g.:

 * frobinator[ResourceLoader]|frob.js|frob.css|pretty.css
 * l33t[ResourceLoader]|l33t.js
 * foobar[ResourceLoader|package]|foo.js|bar.js|foobar-data.json

Please note that if your code contains strings that could be interpreted as wiki syntax (e.g., the signature code ~~~~), you may want to enclose your code into ‎<nowiki>...‎</nowiki> and put these tags in JavaScript or CSS comments so they're not interpreted when used.

See the first and last lines of MediaWiki:Gadget-externalsearch-bar.js for an example.

Sections

The list of gadgets in MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition can be broken into sections using lines that start and end with two or more "=" (equals) characters, enclosing the name of a system message that defines the section's name, for example:

 == interface-gadgets ==
 ...
 == editing-gadgets ==
 ...

This would define two new sections, with the titles defined on the pages MediaWiki:Gadget-section-interface-gadgets and MediaWiki:Gadget-section-editing-gadgets.

Popular gadgets

See meta:Gadgets for gadgets that are popular in Wikimedia communities.

See also

• Special:Gadgets – lists all the gadgets and a brief description of each
• Extension:Gadgets/Roadmap
• Gadget Manager
• Extension:Widgets
• Snippets