Extension:Auto Create Category Pages

MediaWiki extensions manual

Auto Create Category Pages Release status: stable
Implementation	Page action
Description	Creates stub category pages automatically
Author(s)	Dror S. [FFS] (maintainer), created by Merrick Schaefer,Mark Johnston Evan Wheeler & Adam Mckaig at UNICEF
Latest version	1.0.4 (2024-09-05)
Compatibility policy	Master maintains backward compatibility.
MediaWiki	1.25+ (see #MediaWiki compatibility)
License	GNU General Public License 3.0
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review README
Parameters $wgAutoCreateCategoryStub
Hooks used PageSaveComplete UserGetReservedNames
Translate the Auto Create Category Pages extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

Auto Create Category Pages (what a mouthful!) automatically creates stub pages for non-existent categories as soon as they are linked to, avoiding the confusing default behavior of "There is currently no text in this page..." or redirecting to the edit page.

Download

For MediaWiki 1.25+, use the master branch - that is always the most recent stable version. You can download it by clicking on "Download snapshot" and then selecting "master".

MediaWiki compatibility

Version 1.0.0 and beyond are compatible with MediaWiki 1.25-1.41. The previous version should work with MediaWiki 1.21-1.24. Version 1.0.4 is compatible from 1.40+.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted AutoCreateCategoryPages 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/AutoCreateCategoryPages
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'AutoCreateCategoryPages' );
  

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

Configuration

Auto Create Category Pages has the following 3 messages in the MediaWiki namespace, which can be changed to accommodate your preferences:

Message	Use
autocreatecategorypages-stub	Used as stub when creating a category page. Parameter $1 is replaced with the category's title.
autocreatecategorypages-createdby	Used as an "edit summary" when creating a category page.
autocreatecategorypages-editor	Used as username when creating a category page automatically. If the user does not exist, it will be created automatically.

The text of 'autocreatecategorypages-stub' can also be overridden using $wgAutoCreateCategoryStub, which can contain wikitext as well.

It is recommended to use a template as the stub, so you always change the default text for all created stubs.

Credits

Auto Create Category Pages was originally created as "Uniwiki Auto Create Category Pages" by Merrick Schaefer, Mark Johnston, Evan Wheeler & Adam Mckaig, as part of the Uniwiki project for UNICEF.

As Uniwiki extensions for MediaWiki are not maintained by the original developers anymore, according to an e-mail by Mark Johnston from Nov 9, 2012, the maintenance of this one extension was taken up by Dror S. [FFS].

Changelog

• Version 1.0.4, 2024-09-05: [bugfix] Replaced deprecated method to function with 1.42+, by PixDeVl
• Version 1.0.3, 2017-05-10: [bugfix] The extension caused page save to fail if no it had no categories
• Version 1.0.2, 2017-03-25: A much improved query of pre-existing categories, by Brent Laabs (labster)
• Version 1.0.1, 2016-02-01: Fix bug where only the first new category page was actually created
• Version 1.0.0, 2015-05-24: Convert to extension registration for MW 1.25
• Version 0.2.0, 2013-10-28: updated to work with MW 1.21.x & MW 1.22alpha.
• Version 0.1.0, 2008-08-01: original release.

See also

• Extension:CategoryBlueLinks by Wikia is an alternative, which instead of creating the actual category pages, tells MediaWiki to treat the links as "known" (existing pages).
• Extension:AutoCreatePage