Extension:RandomImage

MediaWiki extensions manual

RandomImage Release status: unmaintained
Implementation	Tag
Description	Adds a ‎<randomimage> tag to the parser allowing for randomisation of multimedia content on a page
Author(s)	Rob Church (Robchurchtalk)
Latest version	1.5.1 (continuous updates)
MediaWiki	>= 1.35
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review README
Parameters $wgRandomImageNoCache
Tags randomimage
Hooks used ParserBeforeInternalParse ParserBeforePreprocess ParserFirstCallInit
Quarterly downloads	15 (Ranked 117th)
Public wikis using	5,812 (Ranked 2nd)
Translate the RandomImage extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The RandomImage extension adds a ‎<randomimage> tag to the MediaWiki parser which allows for randomisation of multimedia content on a page.

When the tag is rendered, a random image is selected from those uploaded and inserted at the location of the tag. Users can select a custom size, float and provide a caption for the resulting image.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted RandomImage folder to your extensions/ directory.
  Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/RandomImage
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'RandomImage' );
  

•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Usage

The tag can be used in two forms:

‎<randomimage />

Produces an image using an automatic caption (see below)

‎<randomimage>...‎</randomimage>

Produces an image with a preset caption (text inside the tags)

The tag also supports the following attributes:

size

Set the image width (default is the user's thumbnail width)

float

Float the image; valid values are left, center and right

choices

Confines image selection to a pipe-delimited list of images

For example

<randomimage size="100" float="left" choices="Apple.jpg|Pear.jpg" />

Caption

If no caption is specified, one will be pulled, if possible, from the image description page.

If the description page contains text wrapped in ‎<randomcaption>...‎</randomcaption> tags, then this will be used as the caption. The tags are ignored during normal page views. Otherwise, the first paragraph of the page text will be used as the caption.

Selection

On wikis where non-images are uploaded (e.g. sound and video files, or documents, etc.), the extension might select a non-image file. There are few performance-efficient means of limiting those files selected.

If $wgRandomImageStrict is switched on, a more complex database query will be performed, with a greater performance cost, which will ensure only images with an image major MIME type are selected.

By default, this option has the same value as $wgMiserMode. You may wish to switch it off if all of the content on your wiki has an appropriate renderer.

Caching

By default, the output is cached in the regular parser cache. This can be advantageous on larger sites which need to use caching to reduce the effects of load, however, it means that content is not 100% dynamic.

To disable the parser cache on pages which use the ‎<randomimage> tag, set $wgRandomImageNoCache = true; in LocalSettings.php (after the call to include the extension file). This will affect all users, and might incur additional overhead on page views.

See also

• Extension:RandomSelection — Displays a random option from the given set.