The
FormQueryPlugin provides a query interface to the
Foswiki::Contrib::DBCacheContrib module, giving a way to present query results. It also supports 'result sets' that simplify successive refinements of searches.
When using the plugin each topic is treated as a container for data fields. These are the fields in the form attached to the topic. You can also request that tables in the topics be made searchable.
The tutorial section of this topic gives an introduction to formulating and formatting queries using this plugin, and is a good place to start.
Features
- Perform complex queries on the database
- Use result sets
- Extensive conditional formatting support
- Automatic derivation of new topic names
- Recognition and special formatting of key data strings
Searching tables
As well as the form data attached to a topic, the
FormQueryPlugin adds the ability to extract embedded tables from topics.
Embedded tables that follow a specific format (defined using the EditTablePlugin) are added to the topic as an array of rows, each of which contains a map keyed on the fields and mapping to the values in the table. This array is added to the topic as a field named the same as the table type. Where there are multiple tables of the same type in a topic, they are concatenated together into a single array. See
Settings for more information about how to set up tables.
Topics can also be automatically related to each other by name. The plugin uses something called
Topic Relations that allow the creation of two-way relationships between topics. Topic relations from parent topics to child topics are stored in the map of the parent topic using
the name of the relation as the field name and an array of references to the maps of child topics. Reverse relations from child to parent topics are also stored. See
Settings for more information about how to set up topic relations.
Most of the rest of this documentation describes how to search this database and generate reports.
Syntax Rules
A query has first to be
formed using
FORMQUERY, and then
shown using
SHOWQUERY. You can combine these operations using
DOQUERY. Queries are output according to a format specification in the parameters to
SHOWQUERY. You can cache these specifications for re-use by defining them using
TABLEFORMAT.
The syntax of queries supported by
FormQueryPlugin is very similar to the synatx used in
%SEARCH{type="query". However it is subtly different; the
FormQueryPlugin predated the core support for query searches by some years.
%FORMQUERY is the basic FormQueryPlugin query mechanism. A
%FORMQUERY works either on the whole database or, if the
query parameter is given, the results of another query.
| Parameter |
Description |
name |
Required, gives the name of the query result for use in %SHOWQUERY or another %FORMQUERY |
search |
Required, the search to perform (see Search operators). Default parameter; the keyword search may be omitted. |
casesensitive |
Optional, if missing or off search is not casesensitive. |
query |
Optional, the name of the query to refine. If missing, defaults to the whole database |
extract |
Optional, the name of a field in each of the matched maps to flatten out into the returned list. |
moan |
Optional, "on" or "off", if set to "off" will disable match failed message |
For example,
%FORMQUERY{name="AQuery" search="Owner='Main\.Fred'"}%
%FORMQUERY{name="BQuery" query="AQuery" search="Product='Boiled Egg'"}%
%FORMQUERY{name="CQuery" query="BQuery" search="" extract="CookingTimes"}%
%FORMQUERY{name="DQuery" query="CQuery" search="Time < '4'"}%
will search for all topics with a form field
Owner set to
Main.Fred, then filter that down to those topics that have
Product set to
Boiled Egg. Then it will extract and flatten out the embedded table
CookingTimes in each matched topic. By "flatten out" we mean that future queries on
CQuery must refer to the fields of the
CookingTimes table, not the fields of the topic, i.e.
CQuery will be an array of all the rows in the embedded table. Finally it will filter down to those rows that have the column
Time < 4 minutes.
Of course there is more than one way to skin a cat. A faster way to formulate the
same query would be to say:
%FORMQUERY{name=AQuery search="Owner='Main\.Fred' AND Product='Boiled Egg'" extract=CookingTimes}%
%FORMQUERY{name=DQuery query=AQuery search="Time < '4'"}%
FORMQUERY is normally silent i.e. it generates no output unless there is an error, in which case an error description is inserted. This error message can be disabled using the
moan parameter which makes
FORMQUERY totally silent.
Search operators
Fields are given by name, and values by strings or numbers. Strings should always be surrounded by 'single-quotes'. Strings which are regular expressions (RHS of =, != =~ operators) use 'perl' regular expression syntax (google for
perlre for help). Numbers can be signed integers or decimals. Single quotes in values may be escaped using backslash (\).
The following operators are available:
| Operator |
Result |
Meaning |
= |
Boolean |
LHS exactly matches the regular expression on the RHS. The expression must match the whole string. |
!= |
Boolean |
Inverse of = |
=~ |
Boolean |
LHS contains RHS i.e. the RHS is found somewhere in the field value. |
< |
Boolean |
Numeric < |
> |
Boolean |
Numeric > |
>= |
Boolean |
Numeric >= |
<= |
Boolean |
Numeric <= |
@ |
Node |
Access node referenced by LHS. e.g. ProjectLeader@TopicTitle returns the formfield TopicTitle of the topic stored in the formfield ProjectLeader |
lc |
String |
Unary lower case |
displayValue |
String |
return display value of a formfield, e.g. displayValue('State') |
uc |
String |
Unary UPPER CASE |
d2n |
Number |
Convert a date string into epoch seconds |
n2d |
String |
Convert epoch seconds into a date string |
length |
Number |
Length of an array, e.g. length(attachments) to return the number of attachments |
! |
Boolean |
Unary NOT |
AND |
Boolean |
AND |
OR |
Boolean |
OR |
ALLOWS |
Boolean |
LHS is a topic that allows to perform RHS by the current user e.g. topic ALLOWS VIEW is true when the current user is allowed to view the given topic |
() |
any |
Bracketed subexpression |
IS_DATE |
Boolean |
Compare two dates e.g. '1 Apr 2003' IS_DATE '1 Apr 2004' |
EARLIER_THAN |
Boolean |
Date is earlier than the given date |
EARLIER_THAN_OR_ON |
Boolean |
Date is earlier than, or on, the given date |
LATER_THAN |
Boolean |
LHS is later than the given date |
LATER_THAN_OR_ON |
Boolean |
LHS is later than the given date |
WITHIN_DAYS |
Boolean |
Date (which must be in the future) is within n working days of todays date |
Search operators work on the fields of each map, be it a topic or an embedded table row.
Fields can be simple field names or can be more complex, and may even contain embedded searches. See
Fields below for more information.
A search defined as some text
string without any search operators is interpreted as
text=~'string'.
At present there is no way to constrain a search on the contents of a contained table, such as an embedded table or forward relation. However there are usually ways around this; for example, a
%FORMQUERY that uses
extract to flatten all the sub-tables, and then use of the parent relation to complete the search. For example:
%FORMQUERY{name=AQuery search="Product='Boiled Egg'" extract=CookingTimes}%
%FORMQUERY{name=DQuery query=AQuery search="Time < '4' AND CookingTimes_of.Owner='Main\.Fred'"}%
Fields
Field references can be as simple as the name of a field, or may be more complex expressions that can even include embedded searches. The precise interpretation of the syntax depends on the type (Map or Array) of the object being referenced.
Arrays
-
N where N is a number will get the Nth entry in the array e.g. attachments.9
-
X will return the sum of the subfield X of each entry e.g. TaskTable.Effort will sum the Effort column in a table called TaskTable.
-
[?search] will perform the given search over the entries in the array. Always returns an array result, even when there is only one result. For example: attachments[?name='pitcha.gif'] will return an array of all the entries that have their subfield name set to pitcha.gif.
-
[*X] will get a new array made from field X of each entry in this array. For example attachments[*size] will get an array of the sizes of each attachment.
Maps
-
X will get the subfield named X. For example, Product will get the formfield named Product.
-
X.Y will get the subfield Y of the subfield named X.
In all cases
-
# means "reset to root". So #.Y will return the subfield Y of the Map at the root of the query.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
%TABLEFORMAT provides a template for the display of values extracted from a FormQueryPlugin query (like the old Fortran 'format' statement).
| Parameter |
Description |
name |
Required, gives the name of the format for use in %SHOWQUERY or another %FORMQUERY |
format |
Required, gives the format of the body rows (or the format to subclass) |
header |
Optional, gives the format of the header row |
separator |
Optional, separate rows with this (default newline) |
footer |
Optional, gives the string to use to terminate the table |
sort |
Optional, defines the sort order |
help |
Optional, if present then a helpful message will be output for undefined fields. So if you see a table entry that is blank and you don;t think it should be, add the help parameter and it should give some guidance. |
moan |
Optional, "on" or "off", if set to "off" disables error output |
The
header,
footer and
format parameters are very similar in application to the parameters used in the standard
%SEARCH Foswiki command. For the uninitiated, the header is used to define the first row of the results table:
header="| *Topic* | *Summary* |"
header="<table><tr><th>Topic</th><th>Summary</th></tr> |"
footer="</table>"
The
format parameter is overloaded so it can also be used to refer to a table format previously defined using
%TABLEFORMAT. This allows you to derive new formats (e.g. with different
sort orders) For example,
%TABLEFORMAT{ name=TBLFMT format="|$topic|" sort="Owner,Priority"}%
%TABLEFORMAT{ name=SUBFMT format=TBLFMT sort="Priority,Owner" }%
Any of the
header,
footer or
sort parameters in the referenced table format can be overridden by giving new values in the
%SHOWQUERY.
The footer is usually only used for tables generated directly in HTML, in which case it is usually set to
footer="</table>"
footer="</table>"
The format is used to define the rows in the body of the table:
format="| $topic | $Summary |"
Any fields in the form in the topic can be output by putting a $ sign before the name of the field. The two special fields
$topic and
$form are available for outputting the name of the topic and the type of the form. You can also refer to fields in related topics using the syntax
$field.field where $field is the name of the relation and
field is a field in the related topic; for example,
format="|$Child_of.topic|".
The following special variables can be used in the format string:
| Name: |
Expands To: |
$web |
Name of the web |
$topic |
Topic name |
$topic(20) |
Topic name, "- " hyphenated each 20 characters |
$topic(30, -<br />) |
Topic name, hyphenated each 30 characters with separator "-<br />" |
$topic(40, ...) |
Topic name, shortended to 40 characters with "..." indication |
$parent |
Name of parent topic; empty if not set |
$parent(20) |
Name of parent topic, same hyphenation/shortening like $topic() |
$text |
Formatted topic text. |
$locked |
LOCKED flag (if any) |
$date |
Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 20 Apr 2024 - 02:01 |
$isodate |
Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2024-04-20T02:01Z |
$rev |
Number of last topic revision, e.g. 1.4 |
$username |
Login name of last topic update, e.g. jsmith |
$wikiname |
Wiki user name of last topic update, e.g. JohnSmith |
$wikiusername |
Wiki user name of last topic update, like Main.JohnSmith |
$createdate |
Time stamp of topic revision 1.1 |
$createusername |
Login name of topic revision 1.1, e.g. jsmith |
$createwikiname |
Wiki user name of topic revision 1.1, e.g. JohnSmith |
$createwikiusername |
Wiki user name of topic revision 1.1, e.g. Main.JohnSmith |
$summary |
Topic summary, with 162 characters |
$summary(50) |
Topic summary, with 50 characters |
$summary(showvarnames) |
Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables shown as ALLTWIKI{...} |
$summary(noheader) |
Topic summary, with leading ---+ headers removed
Note: The tokens can be combined into a comma separated list like $summary(100, showvarnames, noheader) |
$formname |
The name of the form attached to the topic; empty if none |
$formfield(name) |
The field value of a form field; for example, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to PublicFAQ. This applies only to topics that have a DataForm. An alternative to using the name of the field directly. |
$formfield(name, 10) |
Form field value, "- " hyphenated each 10 characters |
$formfield(name, 20, -<br />) |
Form field value, hyphenated each 20 characters with separator "-<br />" |
$formfield(name, 30, ...) |
Form field value, shortended to 30 characters with "..." indication |
$pattern(reg-exp) |
A regular expression pattern to extract some text from the topic text (does not search meta data; use fields instead).
• Specify a RegularExpression that covers the whole text (topic or line), which typically starts with .*, and must end in .*
• Put text you want to keep in parenthesis, like $pattern(.*?(from here.*?to here).*)
• Example: $pattern(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the email address from a bullet of format * Email: ...
• This example has non-greedy .*? patterns to scan for the first occurance of the Email bullet; use greedy .* patterns to scan for the last occurance
• Limitation: Do not use .*) inside the pattern, e.g. $pattern(.*foo(.*)bar.*) does not work, but $pattern(.*foo(.*?)bar.*) does
• Note: Make sure that the integrity of a web page is not compromised; for example, if you include an HTML table make sure to include everything including the table end tag |
$formatTime(<formfield-accessor> [,<format>]) |
format the datefield pointed to by the <formfield-accessor> using the given <format>; the format can be in any form supported by Foswiki::Func::formatTime() (see Macros). |
$n or $n() |
New line |
$nop or $nop() |
Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search |
$quot |
Double quote ("). Alternatively, write \" to escape it. |
$percnt |
Percent sign (%) |
$dollar |
Dollar sign ($) |
It is also possible to expand the contents of tables embedded in the topic, in two ways:
- using the syntax
$field[format=FORMAT] where $field is the table type, which is named the same as the table topic, and FORMAT is the name of a format previously defined using %TABLEFORMAT and suitable for expanding the sub-table.
- using the syntax
$field.subfield where subfield is a numeric field in the contents of the embedded table (i.e. it contains a number). In this case the result will be the sum of all subfield values over all the rows in the table.
sort is used to define the sort order, and is a list of field names (without $'s) separated by commas. You can reverse the sort order for a column by prepending '-' to the field name. For example,
sort="Owner,-Priority"
The default sort method is string comparison. If the field data is numeric, then you can put a '#' in front of the field name to force the sort to be numeric. For example,
sort="Owner,#Priority"
or
sort="Owner,-#Priority"
%TABLEFORMAT is silent i.e. it produces no output on the page unless there is an error, in which case a descriptive error message is output. This message can be disabled using the
moan parameter.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
SHOWQUERY
Used to show the results of a FormQueryPlugin query,
%SHOWQUERY accepts all the same parameters as
%TABLEFORMAT (except
name), and also the following parameters:
| Parameter |
Description |
query |
Required, gives the name of the query to show |
start |
Optional, first row to display |
limit |
Optional, number of rows to display, or all |
For example,
%SHOWQUERY{ query=AFORMQUERY format=ATBLFMT }%
Note: If you render your results in Foswiki table format and limit the rows displayed using
limit (e.g. first 10 from 99 rows), and also use
TablePlugin to allow sorting on the headers, then only the 10 displayed rows will be sorted by
TablePlugin (and not the full 99 rows in the table).
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
DOQUERY
Combines a FormQueryPlugin query and showing the results of that query,
%DOQUERY accepts all the same parameters as
%FORMQUERY and
%SHOWQUERY (except
name and
query).
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
QUERYTOCALC
Used to transform the results of a FormQueryPlugin query into a format which
SpreadSheetPlugin can operate on. %QUERYTOCALC accepts all the same parameters as %TABLEFORMAT (except name), and also the following parameters:
| Parameter |
Description |
query |
Required, gives the name of the query to show |
start |
Optional, first row to display |
limit |
Optional, number of rows to display, or all |
For example,
%QUERYTOCALC{ query=AFORMQUERY format=ATBLFMT }%
The query must be formatted as a table. This variable produces no output, but must precede any calculation on the resultant query.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
SHOWCALC
Operates on the result of a FormQueryPlugin query represented as a table, using a previous %QUERYTOCALC. Accepts a single, unnamed parameter:
| Parameter |
Description |
| |
Required; the calculation to perform |
The parameter is text as required by the $CALC statement (see
SpreadSheetPlugins); all operations supported by %CALC are supported by %SHOWCALC. This command behaves identical to %CALC when used following a table; it operates on the implicit table constructed by a preceding %QUERYTOCALC statement. Arbitrary many %SHOWCALC can be performed; all apply to the preceeding implicit table.
Example:
%SHOWCALC{"$ROW()"}%
returns the number of matches of a query that had been formatted as an implicit table.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
SUMFIELD
Used to calculate the sum of a numeric field across all the matches in a FormQueryPlugin query result.
| Parameter |
Description |
query |
Required, name of the query to sum over |
field |
Required, name of the field to sum |
For example, let's say we have a form type called "VitalStatistics" that has a field "Age" in it. We can sum all the ages in all occurences of the form using:
%FORMQUERY{name=vs search="form='VitalStatistics'"}%
Sum of ages = %SUMFIELD{query=vs field="Age"}%
The result is a single number representing the sum of all the fields.
Note that values embedded in tables can be summed using the shorthand described
above.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
MATCHCOUNT
Used to determine the total number of results a FormQueryPlugin query returned.
| Parameter |
Description |
query |
Required, name of the query to sum over |
The result is a single number representing the number of results the query returned.
See also:
FormQueryPlugin,
%SUMFIELD%,
%FORMQUERY%,
%QUERYTOCALC%,
%TABLEFORMAT%,
%SHOWCALC%,
%MATCHCOUNT%,
%SHOWQUERY%
Tutorial
See Foswiki::Plugins/FormQueryPluginTutorial for a tutorial describing how to use the plugin in real-world applications.
%TABLEFORMAT% is able to generate (roughly) the same output as
FormattedSearch, based on an earlier query. Multiple different formatted results can be produced without having to rerun the query.
Bullet list showing topic name and summary
Write this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="topic=~'FAQ'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" header=" * *Topic: Summary:*" format=" * [[$web.$topic]]: $summary(25)"}%
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="topic=~'FAQ'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" header=" * *Topic: Summary:*" format=" *
$web.$topic: $summary(25)"}%
Write this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~'__Back to:__ FrequentlyAskedQuestions'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" header="FAQs:" format=" * $pattern(.*?FAQ\:[\n\r]*([^\n\r]+).*) [[$web.$topic][Answer...]]"}%
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~'__Back to:__
FrequentlyAskedQuestions'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" header="FAQs:" format=" * $pattern(.*?FAQ\:[\n\r]*([^\n\r]+).*)
Answer..."}%
Nested Search
Search can be nested. For example, search for some topics, then form a new search for each topic found in the first search. The idea is to build the nested search string using a formatted search in the first search.
For example, let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (first search), and let's find out where each topic found is linked from (second search).
- First search:
-
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~'culture'" web="Extensions"}% %SHOWQUERY{query="q1" format=" * $web.$topic is referenced by:$n(list all references)"}%
- Second search. For each hit we want this search:
-
%DOQUERY{"(topic found in first search)" separator=", " web="Extensions" format="$web.$topic"}%
- Now let's nest the two. We need to escape the second search, e.g. the first search will build a valid second search string. Note that we escape the second search so that it does not get evaluated prematurely by the first search:
- Use
$percnt to escape the leading percent of the second search
- Use
\" to escape the double quotes
- Use
$dollar to escape the $ of $topic
Write this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~'culture'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" format=" * $web.$topic is referenced by:$n * $percntDOQUERY{\"$topic\" separator=\", \" web=\"Extensions\" format=\"$dollarweb.$dollartopic\"}$percnt "}%
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~'culture'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" format=" * $web.$topic is referenced by:$n * $percntDOQUERY{\"$topic\" separator=\", \" web=\"Extensions\" format=\"$dollarweb.$dollartopic\"}$percnt "}%
Note: Nested search can be slow, especially if you nest more then 3 times. Nesting is limited to 16 levels. For each new nesting level you need to "escape the escapes", e.g. write
$dollarpercntDOQUERY for level three,
$dollardollarpercntDOQUERY for level four, etc.
Most recently changed pages
Write this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" limit="7" sort="info.date" format="| $web.$topic | $wikiusername | $date |"}%
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" limit="7" sort="info.date" format="| $web.$topic | $wikiusername | $date |"}%
Search with conditional output
A regular expression search is flexible, but there are limitations. For example, you cannot show all topics that are up to exactly one week old, or create a report that shows all records with invalid form fields or fields within a certain range, etc. You need some additional logic to format output based on a condition:
- Specify a search which returns more hits then you need
- For each search hit apply a spreadsheet formula to determine if the hit is needed
- If needed, format and output the result
- Else supress the search hit
This requires the
Foswiki:Extensions.SpreadSheetPlugin. The following example shows all topics that are up to exactly one week old.
Write this:
%CALC{$SET(weekold, $TIMEADD($TIME(), -7, day))}%
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="name='.*'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" sort="info.date" format="$percntCALC{$dollarIF($dollarTIME($date) < $dollarGET(weekold), , | $web.$topic | $wikiusername | $date | $rev |)}$percnt" }%
- The first line sets the
weekold variable to the serialized date of exactly one week ago
- The SHOWQUERY has a deferred CALC. The
$percnt makes sure that the CALC gets executed once for each search hit
- The CALC compares the date of the topic with the
weekold date
- If topic is older, a
<nop> is returned, which gets removed at the end of the Foswiki rendering process
- Otherwise, the search hit is formatted and returned
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="name='.*'" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" sort="info.date" format="$percntCALC{$dollarIF($dollarTIME($date) < $dollarGET(weekold), , | $web.$topic | $wikiusername | $date | $rev |)}$percnt" }%
Note: If you don't see any output, then there are no files newer than 7 days. Rows without entries in all but the first field are due to incorrect topics present in the Foswiki web (no topic info line, thus we cannot find date, author, rev).
Use an HTML form and an embedded formatted search on the same topic. You can link them together with an
%URLPARAM{"..."}% variable. Example:
Write this:
<form action="%SCRIPTURLPATH%/view%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%">
Find Topics:
<input type="text" name="q" size="32" value="%URLPARAM{"q"}%" />
<input type="submit" value="Search" />
</form>
Result:
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~''" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" limit="7" format=" * $web.$topic: %BR% $summary" }%
To get this:
Result (first 7):
%FORMQUERY{name="q1" search="text=~''" web="Extensions"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="q1" limit="7" format=" * $web.$topic:
$summary" }%
Generate a table with embedded calculations
Assume you want to produce a summary of all the large attachments in a topic (where by large we mean any attachment greater than 10k). The table should show topic, the name of the attachment, the file size in k, and the date when the attachment was created.
Write this:
%FORMQUERY{name="all" search="" web="Extensions" extract="attachments"}%
%FORMQUERY{name="big" query="all" search="size>'10240'"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="big" format="|$_up.web.$_up.name|$name| $percntCALC{$dollarROUND($dollarEVAL($size / 1024), 1)k}$percnt|$percntCALC{$dollarFORMATTIME($date, $dollarday $dollarmon $dollaryear)}$percnt|"}%
To get this:
%FORMQUERY{name="all" search="" web="Extensions" extract="attachments"}%
%FORMQUERY{name="big" query="all" search="size>'10240'"}%
%SHOWQUERY{query="big" format="|$_up.web.$_up.name|$name| $percntCALC{$dollarROUND($dollarEVAL($size / 1024), 1)k}$percnt|$percntCALC{$dollarFORMATTIME($date, $dollarday $dollarmon $dollaryear)}$percnt|"}%
Topic Relations
Topic relations are defined by setting the
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_RELATIONS variable in the WebPreferences topic of the web to be processed. This defines a semicolon-separated list of rules for deriving relationships between topics using common portions of names. This is best illustrated by an example. Let's say we set
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_RELATIONS to be:
ReQ%Ax%B SubReq ReQ%A; TiT%An%B TestItem ReQ%A
This describes two rules, the first of which says "Any topic named "ReQ<something>x<something>" is a SubReq of another topic called "ReQ<something>". Single upper case characters with a preceding percent sign are used to define the <something>s. So, in this example,
ReQ1456 has the
SubReq relation to
ReQ1456x7. The reverse relation is also inserted, but appending
_of to the relation name, so
ReQ1456x7 has the
SubReq_of relation to
ReQ1456.
Obviously a single topic may have many topics that have the same relation to it (i.e. they are
one-to-many), so forward relations are stored as arrays in the maps that represent topics. Reverse relations are
many_to_one so they are stored as a simple field in the other topic. Relations are stored as pointers to the maps of the other topic so they can't be printed as if they were simple names. Instead you have to use them to refer to fields within the other topic. For example, in a
%SHOWQUERY showing
ReQReQ1456x7 you can't refer simply to
$SubReq_of to get
ReQ1456 (the name of the related topic); you have to use
$SubReq_of.topic instead.
The default value of
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_RELATIONS is none.
Tables
Tables to be read into the database must use the EditTablePlugin 'include=
topic ' feature (or the EditTablerow 'template=
topic ' feature), which define the format of the tables in another topic. Tables to be read are defined by setting the
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_TABLES variable in the
WebPreferences topic of the web. This is a list of the names of the topics that EditTablePlugin or EditTablerowPlugin use to find the table formats. Tables are read in as arrays of maps, with each map keyed on a field name generated by stripping all non-alphabetic characters from the column header. Note that the column header where the table is defined is used, not the column header in the EditTable include= topic. If the
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_TABLES variable is set to
All (case-insensitive), then any valid table is added to the database.
The default is to load all tables:
- Set FORMQUERYPLUGIN_TABLES = all
Two special map entries are added to each table row,
topic and the equivalent of the reverse relation described above, represented by
_up. So if you load a table type "CookingTimes", each row will have
topic set to the name of the topic it was loaded from and
_up set to the map of that topic. This allows you to refer to the fields of the topic that contains a table even after the table has been extracted.
When a table contains calculations using
Foswiki:Extensions.SpreadSheetPlugin, these are applied before the map entries are created for this table. These calculations must not refer to data outside of the table.
If there are multiple EDITTABLE calls with the same table type, all the table
data is concatenated into a single table.
The current value of
FORMQUERYPLUGIN_TABLES is all.
For example, let's say we have a table in a topic called TableDefinition,
like this:
%EDITTABLE{header="|*Name*|*Description*|"}%
|*Name*|*Description*|
Now, in another topic, TableUse, we have
%EDITTABLE{include="TableDefinition"}%
| Cat | Small furry animal |
...
%EDITTABLE{include="TableDefinition"}%
| Dog | Latch used to seal a hatch on a ship |
In this case,
$TableDefinition.0.Name is
Cat,
$TableDefinition.1.Name is
Dog.
Plugin Installation Instructions
You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.
Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. Use "Find More Extensions" to get a list of available extensions. Select "Install".
If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in
configure, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See
http://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.
- Note: preferences are no longer read from this topic. They must be set in SitePreferences, WebPreferences in individual webs, or in individual topics
- The variable %FORMQUERYPLUGIN_ENABLE% must be set either globally or in the web where you want to use it. If the plugin is enabled globally (on all webs), this may have an unwelcome performance impact, as the plugin may create a cache of topics in a web where it is not intended to be used. To enable the plugin for selected webs only, put the following line into the WebPreferences topic of the web you want to enable it on:
* Set FORMQUERYPLUGIN_ENABLE = 1
- You can set a default for the
moan parameter by setting the =FORMQUERYPLUGIN_MOAN preference.
- FormQueryPlugin must appear in the Plugins evaluation order before SpreadSheetPlugin. You can ensure this by putting FormQueryPlugin first in the {PluginsOrder} list in
configure.
- Note: If you are using it, MacrosPlugin must appear in the Plugins evaluation order before FormQueryPlugin.
Plugin Info
Copyright
This code is based on an original development of Motorola Inc. and is protected by the following copyrights:
- Copyright © 2002-2003, 2005 Motorola. All Rights Reserved.
- Copyright © 2004. Crawford Currie http://www.c-dot.co.uk
FormQueryPlugin is not installed on Foswiki.org.
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