TWiki Meta Data

What, indeed!

Current version: 1.0

• Format is as for [[TWikiDocumentation#TWiki_Variables, except all fields have a key.
  • %META:<type>{key1="value1" [key2="value2" [...]]}%

This is optional, exists if topic has ever been moved. If a topic is moved more than once, only the most recent TOPICMOVED meta variable exists in the topic, older ones are to be found in the rcs history.

• at present version number is not supported directly, it can be inferred from the RCS history.
• there is only one META:TOPICMOVED in a topic, older move information can be found in the RCS history.

Should only be present if there is a FORM entry. Note that this data is used when viewing a topic, the form template definition is not read.

There no absolute need for meta data variables to be in a specific order, however, it does for the following reasons:

• Keep (form) fields in the order they are defined

• FORM - optional
• FIELD - 0 or more entries (FORM required)

When viewing a topic the Raw Text link can be clicked to show the text of a topic (ie: as seen when editing). This is done by adding raw=on to URL. raw=debug shows the meta data as well as the topic data, ex: debug view for this topic

There is currently no support for meta data for Plugins. However, the format is readily extendable and the Meta.pm code that supports the format needs only minor alteration.

Various types of meta data can be stored in topics. The data is rendered using the %META% variable. This is mostly used in the view, preview and edit scripts.