Howdy. I sent the message below to the wikitech-I list, but I didn't get
any response. Sumana recommended I post it here as well, so here you go!
Hi all. When working on a wiki extension I came across this thread
(
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2011-January/051437.html)
regarding the purpose/history of setFunctionTagHook() and where/when to use
it.
Daniel Friesen wrote:
"setFunctionTagHook was added so that you could expand variables inside
tags. Then setHook() got added $frame and the need for such hook type
disappeared. I'd like to kill it, although it has been there for some
time (if any list reader uses it, please stand up)."
I started using the hook in a Firebase extension
(
http://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:Firebase)
in order to replace <firebaseraw> tags with responses to HTTP requests
/before most other wiki text is parsed/.
It works great for me because I can insert data into chunks of code like a
google street view widget:
{{#widget:Google Street View
|lat=<firebaseraw
url="http://gamma.firebase.com/SomeAccountName/lat" />
|lng=<firebaseraw
url="http://gamma.firebase.com/SomeAccountName/lon" />
|yaw=370.64659986187695
|pitch=-20
|zoom=0
}}
I'm new to extension writing, though, so maybe there are other, better ways
to accomplish this?
If not, consider this a vote to leave in setFunctionTagHook()!
--Benny