Extension:CodeMirror

Not to be confused with CodeEditor .

MediaWiki extensions manual

CodeMirror Release status: stable
Implementation	User interface
Description	Provides syntax highlighting in wikitext editor
Author(s)	Pavel Astakhov (pastakhovtalk)
Latest version	6.0.0
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
MediaWiki	1.32+
PHP	5.3+
Database changes	No
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Help	Help:Extension:CodeMirror
Parameters $wgCodeMirrorConflictingGadgets $wgCodeMirrorV6 $wgCodeMirrorTemplateFoldingNamespaces $wgCodeMirrorLineNumberingNamespaces
Hooks used EditPage::showEditForm:initial EditPage::showReadOnlyForm:initial GetPreferences ResourceLoaderGetConfigVars
Quarterly downloads	278 (Ranked 17th)
Public wikis using	6,549 (Ranked 62nd)
Translate the CodeMirror extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Vagrant role	codemirror
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

CodeMirror is currently being upgraded to a new major version. See Extension:CodeMirror/6 for the new documentation.

The CodeMirror extension provides syntax highlighting in MediaWiki's wikitext editor. It adds a button with the icon to the editing toolbar that allows for switching syntax highlighting on and off. It supports the 2010 WikiEditor toolbar as well as the VisualEditor toolbar.

By default it is switched off. When switched on, it will replace the standard textarea with the editor provided by CodeMirror library. When switched off, it will switch back to the standard textarea.

The colors used in this extension have been optimised for higher contrast, accessibility and better readability and now conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.4.3 AA). The colors provide better access for people with limited vision as well as for users working in bright daylight conditions. (more information)

Features

Bracket matching

This feature highlights the innermost pair of brackets when the cursor lies between any bracket pair, and when the cursor lies directly next to a bracket, the feature highlights the corresponding matching bracket. Bracket matching is active in both editors when syntax highlighting is turned on in any namespace using these editors.

• 
  Bracket matching

Line numbering

In the wikitext edit mode line numbers are automatically displayed in both editors.

This feature is enabled only for the template namespace on most wikis, and on all namespaces on some wikis (see the roadmap and the configuration).

• 
  Line numbering in 2010 wikitext editor
• 
  Line numbering in 2017 wikitext editor

Colorblind mode

For users who have difficulty distinguishing between colors, CodeMirror offers a colorblind-friendly mode. This feature can be activated on wikis with CodeMirror enabled by navigating to the Special:Preferences page.

With the colorblind-friendly scheme active, the colors of the following page elements change:

Headings, symbols, signatures, section names, magic words	#E4A400
Templates	#9C3A00
HTML tags, references, mathematical expressions	#56B4E9
Variables	#009E73

In addition, background highlights and colors are removed from all text and objects. Bolding and underlining behavior remains unaffected.

Browser support

All browsers supported by MediaWiki are supported.

Installation

• Install either the WikiEditor extension or the VisualEditor extension, as instructed on their pages; at least one of these is required for this extension to work.
• Download and move the extracted CodeMirror 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/CodeMirror
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'CodeMirror' );
  

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

Vagrant installation:

• If using Vagrant , install with vagrant roles enable codemirror --provision

Configuration

For color and style customization, see Meta help page. You can use your own styles for wikitext highlighting. Used styles available here. You should place your own styles to common.css .

Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php .

# Enables use of CodeMirror by default but still allow users to disable it
$wgDefaultUserOptions['usecodemirror'] = true;

Additional configuration:

$wgCodeMirrorLineNumberingNamespaces

Restrict line numbering to specific namespaces. Defaults to null, which enables it for all namespaces. Set to [] to disable everywhere.

$wgCodeMirrorV6

Temporary feature flag to control the migration to CodeMirror 6 (phab:T259059).

$wgCodeMirrorConflictingGadgets

An array of gadget names that, if enabled, will prevent CodeMirror from loading. Defaults to wikEd.

Extension integration

This functionality is subject to change following the CodeMirror 6 upgrade. See Extension:CodeMirror/6#Integration for documentation on CodeMirror 6.

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T348684

If your MediaWiki extension adds a new tag and you want to make sure CodeMirror properly highlights the content within it, you can add CodeMirror support to your extension. Here are two examples: Cite extension and PhpTags extension.

JavaScript integration

The following front-end hooks are used in this extension:

Hook	Parameters
	Type	Description
ext.CodeMirror.switch	boolean	Whether the CodeMirror editor is now shown
	jQuery object	The current "editor", which is either the normal ‎<textarea /> or the .CodeMirror element.

If you need to interact with the contents of a CodeMirror instance, use jQuery.plugin.textSelection.

To do

• Unfortunately, right-to-left content is not supported. (task T170001)
• highlighting definition lists ( ;foo :bar ) (task T170042)
• auto-completion (task T95100)
• code folding (task T166098)
• highlighting inside gallery tag (<gallery> foo | bar </gallery>)

See also

• Overview of missing features and bugs: MediaWiki-extensions-CodeMirror
• User:Remember the dot/Syntax highlighter
• Extension:VisualEditor
• Extension:WikiEditor
• Extension:CodeEditor
• Community Tech/Wikitext editor syntax highlighting - includes information on customizing the colors
• c:Category:MediaWiki extension CodeMirror