Re: [xwiki-devs] [Rendering] Questions raised by XRENDERING-290: "Add support for linking to a user profile page in XWiki Syntax"

On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 8:27 PM, Vincent Massol &lt;vincent(a)massol.net&gt; wrote: Right now a user with a dot would not work well but nothing prevent having a document named "user:evalica" so yes it does not change the issue. > > Thanks > -Vincent > >>> Thus we need to add this in a new syntax only (i.e. XWiki Syntax 2.2). >>> >>> Now the problem is that currently Reference Type Parsers are components and implementing a new component means it's going to be available to XWiki Syntax 2.1. So I spent a substantial amount of time to allow syntaxes to specifically specify the list of prefixes that they support. This is done, I just need to push it. >>> >>> Now this all looked good till I started implementing the UserXHTMLLinkTypeRenderer… I realized that I would need to be able to transform a String (supposed to represent a username) into a User reference and even though we don't have an API for this ATM this would normally mean to depend on the Platform User module… which is a big no go since Rendering cannot depend on Platform. >>> >>> Side Note:I also realized that XRENDERING-290 could also be extended to support displaying the user's avatar with image:user:evalica. This is currently done with the {{useravatar}} macro (which is also wrongly located in Rendering and should be in platform for the reason explained!!). >>> >>> So I thought I could just have the UserResourceReferenceTypeParser and UserXHTMLLinkTypeRenderer classes implemented in the Platform User module but that still meant that the XWiki Syntax 2.2 needs to reserve the "user" prefix. >>> >>> Then I realized that any time we will want to add support for a new prefix we would need to introduce a new Syntax version which is a huge PITA and a pity. >>> >>> I thought about several solutions. >>> >>> Solution 1 >>> ======== >>> >>> * Consider that each syntax can reserve prefix type namespaces and this just means that if the user wants to write a link to a document a wiki named after one of these prefixes then he needs to use the full format: [[label>>doc:<wikiname>:….]] >>> * Thus XWiki Syntax 2.2 would just add the "user" prefix to the reserved list of prefix type namespaces. >>> >>> PRO: >>> * I have this code ready to be pushed on my computer >>> * Doesn't change the current XWiki Syntax notation >>> >>> CONS: >>> * Requires a new syntax whenever a new type parser is added (after a syntax has been released as final) >>> * Creates a relationship between the syntax and implementations (the User module will provide an impl. for supporting the reserved "user" namespace).

>>> >>> Solution 2 >>> ======== >>> >>> * Don't implement support for linking to users using resource types and add a {{userlink}} macro and move both macros in platform. >>> >>> PRO: >>> * Simple, no need for a new XWiki Syntax >>> >>> CONS: >>> * Not integrated in the syntax >>> * Not very logical since as a user you would want to write: [[label>>user:evalica]]

>>> >>> Solution 3 >>> ======== >>> >>> Force XWiki Syntax 2.2 to *ALWAYS* use the full form when creating a link, i.e. all links to doc would need to be written: [[label>>doc:reference]] >>> >>> PRO: >>> * Solves all future needs for new reference types and makes the syntax extensible for this. >>> >>> CONS: >>> * Harder to write links to documents and users will need to get used to it >>> >>> Solution 4 >>> ======== >>> >>> Invent a new syntax when you wish to write links using a type prefix and keep the current link syntax for references to documents: >>> * Ref to a doc: [[label>>docref]] (e.g. [[label>>xwiki:Main.WebHome]]) >>> * Ref to anything but using the type prefix: [[label>>>prefix:reference]] (e.g. [[label>>>doc:doc:Main.WebHome]]: link to a wiki named "doc") >>> >>> PRO: >>> * Still easy to make refs to documents >>> * Makes the syntax extensible by allowing new types to be added >>> >>> CONS: >>> * Changes the syntaxes since it means introducing a new link notation [[label>>>ref]]. Also means that references to docs cannot start with ">" anymore (but that's not a real issue IMO) >>> * A bit more complex to implement obviously since it needs a change to the javacc parser

-- Thomas Mortagne