Extension:Page Forms/Creating query forms

Forms can also be used for querying, as opposed to adding or editing data. To do so, use the Special:RunQuery page, which displays a form in a manner similar to Special:FormEdit, but with no associated 'target page'. Instead, when the user submits the form by hitting the "Run query" button, they see what the template looks like when displayed with the values they entered.

The template that the form uses should most likely contain one or more queries (using Semantic MediaWiki inline queries, Cargo queries, External Data queries, etc.) to query data using values that the user entered.

Example of a query form - Try it !.

The "Run query" button

By default, button Run query shows up at the bottom of forms if they are accessed via Special:RunQuery. You can change the location and text of this button, using the tag "{{{standard input|run query}}}" (or "{{{standard input|run query|label=...}}}", etc.) within the form definition.

See part "standard input" tag (Defining forms manual) for more information.

Query form at top

If you add the parameter "query form at top" to the {{{info}}} tag, the query input field will show up at the top of the results page, instead of the bottom.

Creating links to query forms

Once a query form has been created, you can link to it using syntax that looks like this:

[[Special:RunQuery/query form name]]

However, the preferred solution, because it's easier and more powerful, is to use the #queryformlink parser function. A basic call to that function would look like:

{{#queryformlink:form=query form name}}

Here's the complete syntax of #queryformlink:

{{#queryformlink:form=|link text=|link type=|query string=query string parameters|tooltip=|popup}}

These parameters are almost identical to the ones used by #formlink; for a full explanation of the parameters, see using #formlink (Linking to forms manual).

Embedding query forms

You can also embed a query form within another page. To do that, add the following in a page where you want the query form to appear:

{{Special:RunQuery/query form name}}

You can similarly embed multiple Special:RunQuery forms in the same page.

Preloading data in the query

In case query data needs to be pre-loaded, the Special:RunQuery should follow the convention:

Special:RunQuery/form-name?template-name[item-name]=value

For example, like this:

http://discoursedb.org/wiki/Special:RunQuery/Item_query?Item_query[author]=John

The construction item-name might cause a problem in connection with the wiki markup, and therefore the square brackets— [ and ] —can be replaced with either %5B and %5D, or [ and ]).

Finally, make sure that the case in the query string matches the declaration in the form (e.g., {{{for template|Item_query}}} must match ?Item_query[author]=John and {{{for template|item_query}}} must match ?item_query[author]=John).

Alternatively, you can preload data by using the default= parameter for form fields.

Displaying results automatically

The above technique will produce pre-selected values in the form, but the user will still has to press the "Run query" button to see the results of the query. If you want the results to be displayed automatically as well, you simply have to add _run to the query string, like the following:

http://discoursedb.org/wiki/Special:RunQuery/Item_query?Item_query[author]=John&_run

 Example of item query - Try it ! 

As before, the recommended way to link to such a page internally is with #queryformlink; such a call would look as follows:

{{#queryformlink:form=Item_query|query string=Item_query[author]=John&_run}}