Reimplement extensible sorting mechanisms, in the same way as pagespecs

[ikiwiki.git] / doc / plugins / write.mdwn

diff --git a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
index 4fd9c436920e11da49e31563c8805e31def5b810..de2b47015a6f5e8b4ce9a79178ef2a22edca76f4 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
+++ b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
@@ -536,7 +536,7 @@ The data returned is a list of `%config` options, followed by a hash
 describing the option. There can also be an item named "plugin", which
 describes the plugin as a whole. For example:
 
-                return
+               return
                        plugin => {
                                description => "description of this plugin",
                                safe => 1,
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ By default, dependencies are full content dependencies, meaning that the
 page will be updated whenever anything matching the PageSpec is modified.
 This can be overridden by passing a `deptype` value as the third parameter.
 
-#### `pagespec_match($$;@)`
+### `pagespec_match($$;@)`
 
 Passed a page name, and [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]], returns a true value if the
 [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]] matches the page.
@@ -766,7 +766,7 @@ dependency type from one or more of these keywords:
 
 If multiple types are specified, they are combined.
 
-#### `bestlink($$)`
+### `bestlink($$)`
 
 Given a page and the text of a link on the page, determine which
 existing page that link best points to. Prefers pages under a
@@ -774,7 +774,7 @@ subdirectory with the same name as the source page, failing that
 goes down the directory tree to the base looking for matching
 pages, as described in [[ikiwiki/SubPage/LinkingRules]].
 
-#### `htmllink($$$;@)`
+### `htmllink($$$;@)`
 
 Many plugins need to generate html links and add them to a page. This is
 done by using the `htmllink` function. The usual way to call
@@ -911,6 +911,10 @@ time.
 
 This is the standard gettext function, although slightly optimised.
 
+### `ngettext`
+
+This is the standard ngettext function, although slightly optimised.
+
 ### `urlto($$;$)`
 
 Construct a relative url to the first parameter from the page named by the
@@ -1106,6 +1110,29 @@ For example, "backlink(foo)" is influenced by the contents of page foo;
 they match; "created_before(foo)" is influenced by the metadata of foo;
 while "glob(*)" is not influenced by the contents of any page.
 
+### Sorting plugins
+
+Similarly, it's possible to write plugins that add new functions as
+[[ikiwiki/pagespec/sorting]] methods. To achieve this, add a function to
+the IkiWiki::PageSpec package named `cmp_foo`, which will be used when sorting
+by `foo` or `foo(...)` is requested.
+
+The function will be passed three or more parameters. The first two are
+page names, and the third is `undef` if invoked as `foo`, or the parameter
+`"bar"` if invoked as `foo(bar)`. It may also be passed additional, named
+parameters.
+
+It should return the same thing as Perl's `cmp` and `<=>` operators: negative
+if the first argument is less than the second, positive if the first argument
+is greater, or zero if they are considered equal. It may also raise an
+error using `error`, for instance if it needs a parameter but one isn't
+provided.
+
+You can also define a function called `check_cmp_foo` in the same package.
+If you do, it will be called while preparing to sort by `foo` or `foo(bar)`,
+with argument `undef` or `"bar"` respectively; it may raise an error using
+`error`, if sorting like that isn't going to work.
+
 ### Setup plugins
 
 The ikiwiki setup file is loaded using a pluggable mechanism. If you look