Clarifying documentation

[ikiwiki.git] / doc / ikiwiki / directive / calendar.mdwn

diff --git a/doc/ikiwiki/directive/calendar.mdwn b/doc/ikiwiki/directive/calendar.mdwn
index 5cbfa2dc66b4d433af52a5f142493e526db225e3..2969d1c37275718d9236b88f4226843a33f2954f 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/ikiwiki/directive/calendar.mdwn
+++ b/doc/ikiwiki/directive/calendar.mdwn
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-The `calendar` directive is supplied by the [[!iki plugins/calendar]] plugin.
-This plugin requires extra setup.  See the plugin documentation for details.
+The `calendar` directive is supplied by the [[!iki plugins/calendar desc=calendar]] plugin.
 
 This directive displays a calendar, similar to the typical calendars shown on
 some blogs.
@@ -12,16 +11,36 @@ some blogs.
 
        \[[!calendar type="year" year="2005" pages="blog/* and !*/Discussion"]]
 
+## setup
+
 The calendar is essentially a fancy front end to archives of previous
 pages, usually used for blogs. It can produce a calendar for a given month,
-or a list of months for a given year.
+or a list of months for a given year. The month format calendar simply
+links to any page posted on each day of the month. The year format calendar
+links to archive pages, with names like `archives/2007` (for all of 2007)
+and `archives/2007/01` (for January, 2007).
+
+While you can insert calendar directives anywhere on your wiki, including
+in the sidebar, you'll also need to create these archive pages. They
+typically use this directive to display a calendar, and also use [[inline]]
+to display or list pages created in the given time frame.
+
+## Generating archive pages
+
+If option `calendar_autocreate` is not set, the `ikiwiki-calendar` command can
+be used to automatically generate the archive pages. It also refreshes the
+wiki, updating the calendars to highlight the current day. This command is
+typically run at midnight from cron.
+
+An example crontab:
+
+    0 0 * * * ikiwiki-calendar ~/ikiwiki.setup "posts/* and !*/Discussion"
+
+
+With [[setup option|plugins/calendar]] `calendar_autocreate`, all this work is
+done by `ikiwiki` itself. Thus, the crontab command can be replaced by:
 
-The month format calendar simply links to any page posted on each
-day of the month. The year format calendar links to archive pages, with
-names like `archives/2007` (for all of 2007)  and `archives/2007/01`
-(for January, 2007). For this to work, you'll need to create these archive
-pages. They typically use [[inline]] to display or list pages created in
-the given time frame.
+    0 0 * * * ikiwiki ~/ikiwiki.setup --refresh
 
 ## usage
 
@@ -29,18 +48,21 @@ the given time frame.
   "month" or "year". The default is a month view calendar.
 * `pages` - Specifies the [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]] of pages to link to from the
   month calendar. Defaults to "*".
-* `archivebase` - Configures the base of the archives hierarchy. The
-  default is "archives". Note that this default can also be overridden
+* `archivebase` - Configures the base of the archives hierarchy. 
+  The default is "archives". Note that this default can also be overridden
   for the whole wiki by setting `archivebase` in ikiwiki's setup file.
+  Calendars link to pages under here, with names like "2010/04" and
+  "2010". These pages can be automatically created using the
+  `calendar_autocreate` [[setup option|plugins/calendar]].
 * `year` - The year for which the calendar is requested. Defaults to the
-  current year.
+  current year. Can also use -1 to refer to last year, and so on.
 * `month` - The numeric month for which the calendar is requested, in the
   range 1..12. Used only for the month view calendar, and defaults to the
-  current month.
+  current month. Can also use -1 to refer to last month, and so on.
 * `week_start_day` - A number, in the range 0..6, which represents the day
   of the week that the month calendar starts with. 0 is Sunday, 1 is Monday,
   and so on. Defaults to 0, which is Sunday.
-* `months_per_row` - In the annual calendar, number of months to place in
+* `months_per_row` - In the year calendar, number of months to place in
   each row. Defaults to 3.
 
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