PageRedirect

This Wiki uses a PageRedirect command first implemented in StevenBlack's VisualFoxProWiki (http://fox.wikis.com/ ). This solution allows multiple names to share the same page. The PageRedirect command is also useful for correcting misspellings without a PageDelete command. See PluralNameProblems? for an example and more background.

To use the PageRedirect command, simply type

#REDIRECT NewPageName

...at the beginning of the page. (The command must start at the first character of the first line of the page. REDIRECT must be in FULL CAPS.)

When the page containing the command is viewed, the NewPageName? will be viewed instead. Redirections are not recursive--only the first redirection will be used.

Editing a redirected page

Editing a redirected page can be tricky. One way is to edit a normal page, then change the URL to edit the redirected page (change the "id=SomePageName" to "id=MyRedirectedPage?").

just came across this. I did something similar in my Wiki (Wiki:BazzaWiki ). Take a look for a description, it's solving a different problem. However, the editing issue I resolved by putting edit markers next to page links when they appear in search results. The same marker is used (for the same purpose) beside the title of each page when you read it, so the users picked up on what was meant fairly quickly. -- Wiki:BrianEwins

A simpler way to edit the redirected page is to view the redirected page, then click the link in the redirection notice at the top of the page. For example, if you visit the Activestate page, you will be redirected to ActivePerl. To edit the Activestate page, first visit the Activestate link. When the ActivePerl page is shown, visit the "Activestate" link at the very top of the page. This link will edit the Activestate page. --CliffordAdams

Filesystem similarities and differences

Redirected pages are a lot like symlinks in UNIX. Just another example of my contention that Wikis are just a GUI interface to a datastore / filesystem, and will eventually need all of the functionality that a filesystem has (create, rename, delete, subdirectories, etc.) -- AndyGlew

There is a small "bug" if you have eric/theking and eric is a redirect to erik, I think the obvious action would be to redirect the children as well.. This makes a big difference from a filesystem

Not really. If eric -> erik, the obvious action would be eric/theking -> erik/theking -- just like in a filesystem.

This is an interesting idea (redirections affecting subpages), but I am unlikely to implement it. The proposed behavior (eric/theking -> erik/theking) would require that all subpages open their parent page to look for a redirect command. One of my design goals is that the display/output of any wiki page should not automatically depend on the content of any other wiki page. Any information that affects the display of a page should be stored outside of a page (like the InterWiki "intermap" file). --CliffordAdams

Speaking of InterMap, PageRedirect doesn't seem to work with InterWiki links. Is that intentional? -- MichaelSparks?

Looking at the code, it's clearly intentional. &GetRedirectPage constructs its url by joining $FullUrl and the ScriptLinkChar? with the name of the redirect target page, passed as $newid. It could be modified to handle InterWiki and even external links. This line makes the redirect url:

$url = $FullUrl . &ScriptLinkChar() . $newid;

Understood. I should have phrased my question better - what I really want to know about is the motivation behind making it that way. Is there a philosophical reason it was done that way?