Unseen Library

Unseen Library Help

Welcome to Unseen Library!

Unseen Library is powered by Pepperminty Wiki, a complete wiki in a box you can drop into your server and expect it to just work.

Contents

  1. Extra Information
  2. Navigating
  3. Editing
  4. User Pages
  5. Editor Syntax
  6. Interwiki Links
  7. Mathematical Expressions
  8. External Renderers
  9. Redirect Pages
  10. Jumping to a random page
  11. Searching
  12. Uploading Files
  13. Commenting
  14. Listing pages and tags
  15. Logging in
  16. Exporting
  17. Sidebar
  18. Deleting Pages
  19. Moving Pages
  20. Statistics
  21. Viewing Raw Page Content
  22. Avatars
  23. Wiki Status API
  24. Command Line Interface

Extra Information

You can find out which version of Pepperminty Wiki Unseen Library is using by visiting the credits page.

Information for developers can be found on this page.

Navigating

All the navigation links can be found on the top bar, along with a search box (if your site administrator has enabled it). There is also a "More..." menu in the top right that contains some additional links that you may fine useful.

This page, along with the credits page, can be found on the bar at the bottom of every page.

Editing

To edit a page on Unseen Library, click the edit button on the top bar. Note that you will probably need to be logged in. If you do not already have an account you will need to ask Unseen Library's administrator for an account since there is no registration form. Note that the Unseen Library's administrator may have changed these settings to allow anonymous edits.

Editing is simple. The edit page has a sizeable box that contains a page's current contents. Once you are done altering it, add or change the comma separated list of tags in the field below the editor and then click save page.

A reference to the syntax that Unseen Library supports can be found below.

User Pages

If you are logged in, Unseen Library allocates you your own user page that only you can edit. On Unseen Library, user pages are sub-pages of the Users page, and each user page can have a nested structure of pages underneath it, just like a normal page. Your user page is located at Users/Anonymous. You can see a list of all the users on Unseen Library and visit their user pages on the user list.

Editor Syntax

Unseen Library's editor uses an extended version of Parsedown to render pages, which is a fantastic open source Github flavoured markdown parser. You can find a quick reference guide on Github flavoured markdown here by adam-p, or if you prefer a book Mastering Markdown by KB is a good read, and free too!

Tips

Extra Syntax

Unseen Library's editor also supports some extra custom syntax, some of which is inspired by Mediawiki.

Type thisTo get thisComments
[[Internal link]]Internal LinkAn internal link.
[[Internal link|Display Text]]Display TextAn internal link with some display text.
![Alt text](http://example.com/path/to/image.png | 256x256 | right)Alt textAn image floating to the right of the page that fits inside a 256px x 256px box, preserving aspect ratio.
![Alt text](http://example.com/path/to/image.png | 256x256 | caption)
Alt text
Alt text
An image with a caption that fits inside a 256px x 256px box, preserving aspect ratio. The presence of the word caption in the regular braces causes the alt text to be taken and displayed below the image itself.
![Alt text](Files/Cheese.png)Alt textAn example of the short url syntax for images. Simply enter the page name of an image (or video / audio file), and Pepperminty Wiki will sort out the url for you.
Some text ==marked text== more textSome text marked text more textMarked / highlighted text
Some text^superscript^ more textSome textsuperscript more textSuperscript
Some text~subscript~ more textSome textsubscript more textSubscript (note that we use a single tilda ~ here - a double results in strikethrough text instead)
[ ] Unticked checkbox Unticked checkboxAn unticked checkbox. Must be at the beginning of a line or directly after a list item (e.g. - or 1. ).
[x] Ticked checkbox Ticked checkboxAn ticked checkbox. The same rules as unticked checkboxes apply here too.
some text >!spoiler text!< more textsome text spoiler text more textA spoiler. Users must click it to reveal the content hidden beneath.
some text ||spoiler text|| more textsome text spoiler text more textAlternative spoiler syntax inspired by Discord.
[__TOC__]An automatic table of contents. Note that this must be on a line by itself with no text before or after it on that line for it to work.

Note that the all image image syntax above can be mixed and matched to your liking. The caption option in particular must come last or next to last.

Templating

Unseen Library also supports including one page in another page as a template. The syntax is very similar to that of Mediawiki. For example, {{Announcement banner}} will include the contents of the "Announcement banner" page, assuming it exists.

You can also use variables. Again, the syntax here is very similar to that of Mediawiki - they can be referenced in the included page by surrrounding the variable name in triple curly braces (e.g. {{{Announcement text}}}), and set when including a page with the bar syntax (e.g. {{Announcement banner | importance = high | text = Maintenance has been planned for tonight.}}). Currently the only restriction in templates and variables is that you may not include a closing curly brace (}) in the page name, variable name, or value.

Special Variables

Unseen Library also supports a number of special built-in variables. Their syntax and function are described below:

Type thisTo get this
{{{@}}}Lists all variables and their values in a table.
{{{#}}}Shows a 'stack trace', outlining all the parent includes of the current page being parsed.
{{{~}}}Outputs the requested page's name.
{{{*}}}Outputs a comma separated list of all the subpages of the current page.
{{{+}}}Shows a gallery containing all the files that are sub pages of the current page.

Note that a page does not need to be included as a template to use these variables.

Unseen Library doesn't currently support interwiki links, but if you'd like it to, please contact Administrator (Unseen Library's administrator) through their contact details at the bottom of every page and point them at the documentation on how to set it up. It's really easy, and they can always open an issue if they get stuck :-)

Mathematical Expressions

Unseen Library supports rendering of mathematical expressions. Mathematical expressions can be included practically anywhere in your page. Expressions should be written in LaTeX and enclosed in dollar signs like this: $x^2$.

Note that expression parsing is done on the viewer's computer with javascript (specifically MathJax) and not by Unseen Library directly (also called client side rendering).

External Renderers

Unseen Library supports external renderers. External renderers take the content of a code fence block, like this:

```language_code
Insert text here
```

...and render it to an image. This is based on the language_code specified, as is done in the above example. Precisely what the output of a external renderer is depends on the external renderers defined, but Unseen Library currently has the following external renderers registered:

NameLanguage codeDescriptionReference Link
nomnomlnomnomlThe nomnoml UML diagram renderer. Requires the 'nomnoml' npm package to be globally installed.🔗
PlantUMLplantumlThe PlantUML diagram renderer. Supports many different diagram types. Requires plantuml to be installed.🔗
ABC NotationabcA simple music notation typesetter. Much easier to understand than Lilypond. Requires abcm2ps to be installed.🔗
Server-Side MathJaxlatexserverClient-side Mathjax via the 'enable_math_rendering' setting not your thing? Try it server-side instead! Requires the 'mathjax-node-cli' npm package to be globally installed. Note that you obviously don't want to include the latex math inside dolar signs $$ as the reference link tells you to.🔗
Inkscape SVGsvginkscapeServer-side SVG-to-PNG rendering with inkscape. Requires inkscape to be installed and in your PATH, of course.🔗
Administrator can register more external renderers - see the documentation for more information.

Redirect Pages

Unseen Library supports redirect pages. To create a redirect page, enter something like # REDIRECT [[pagename]] on the first line of the redirect page's content. This must appear as the first line of the page, with no whitespace before it. You can include content beneath the redirect if you want, too (such as a reason for redirecting the page).

Jumping to a random page

Unseen Library has a function that can send you to a random page. To use it, click here. Administrator (Unseen Library's adminstrator) may have added it to one of the menus.

Unseen Library has an integrated full-text search engine, allowing you to search all of the pages on Unseen Library and their content. To use it, simply enter your query into the page name box and press enter. If a page isn't found with the exact name of your query terms, a search will be performed instead.

Additionally, advanced users can take advantage of some extra query syntax that Unseen Library supports, which is inspired by popular search engines:

ExampleMeaning
cat -dogSearch for pages containing "cat", but not "dog". This syntax does not make sense on it's own - other words must be present for it to take effect.
+glass marbleDouble the weighting of the word "glass".
intitle:rocketSearch only page titles for "rocket".
intags:billSearch only tags for "bill".
inbody:satelliteSearch only the page body for "satellite".

More query syntax will be added in the future, so keep an eye on the latest releases of Pepperminty Wiki to stay up-to-date (Atom / RSS feed available here).

Uploading Files

Unseen Library supports the uploading of files, though it is up to Administrator, Unseen Library's administrator as to whether it is enabled or not (uploads are currently enabled).

Currently Pepperminty Wiki (the software that Unseen Library uses) only supports the uploading of images, videos, and audio, although more file types should be supported in the future (open an issue on GitHub if you are interested in support for more file types).

Uploading a file is actually quite simple. Click the "Upload" option in the "More..." menu to go to the upload page. The upload page will tell you what types of file Unseen Library allows, and the maximum supported filesize for files that you upload (this is usually set by the web server that the wiki is running on).

Use the file chooser to select the file that you want to upload, and then decide on a name for it. Note that the name that you choose should not include the file extension, as this will be determined automatically. Enter a description that will appear on the file's page, and then click upload.

Commenting

Unseen Library has a threaded commenting system on every page. You can find it below each page's content, and can either leave a new comment, or reply to an existing one. If you reply to an existing one, then the authors of all the comments above yours will get notified by email of your reply - so long as they have an email address registered in their preferences.

Listing pages and tags

All the pages and tags on Unseen Library are listed on a pair of pages to aid navigation. The list of all pages on Unseen Library can be found by clicking "All Pages" on the top bar. The list of all the tags currently in use can be found by clicking "All Tags" in the "More..." menu in the top right.

Each tag on either page can be clicked, and leads to a list of all pages that possess that particular tag.

Redirect pages are shown in italics. A page's last known editor is also shown next to each entry on a list of pages, along with the last known size (which should correct, unless it was changed outside of Unseen Library) and the time since the last modification (hovering over this will show the exact time that the last modification was made in a tooltip).

Logging in

In order to edit Unseen Library and have your edit attributed to you, you need to be logged in. Depending on the settings, logging in may be a required step if you want to edit at all. Thankfully, loggging in is not hard. Simply click the "Login" link in the top left, type your username and password, and then click login.

If you do not have an account yet and would like one, try contacting [protected with javascript], Unseen Library's administrator and ask them nicely to see if they can create you an account.

Exporting

Unseen Library supports exporting the entire wiki's content as a zip. Note that you may need to be a moderator in order to do this. Also note that you should check for permission before doing so, even if you are able to export without asking.

To perform an export, go to the credits page and click "Export as zip - Check for permission first".

Sidebar

Unseen Library has an optional sidebar which displays a list of all the current pages and their respective subpages that it is currently hosting in a tree like structure. It may or may not be enabled.

If it isn't enabled, it can be enabled for your current browser only by appending sidebar=yes to the current page's query string.

If it is enabled, it can be disabled for your current browser only by appending nosidebar to the current page's query string.

Deleting Pages

If you are logged in as an adminitrator, then you have the power to delete pages. To do this, click "Delete" in the "More..." menu when browsing the pge you wish to delete. When you are sure that you want to delete the page, click the given link.

Warning: Once a page has been deleted, you can't bring it back! You will need to recover it from your backup, if you have one (which you really should).

Moving Pages

If you are logged in as an administrator, then you have the power to move pages. To do this, click "Move" in the "More..." menu when browsing the pge you wish to move. Type in the new name of the page, and then click "Move Page".

Statistics

Unseen Library records some statistics about itself, including the number of pages, the longest pages, the most wanted pages, the most linked-to pages, and more. They are updated roughly every 1 day ago, though moderators may occasionally update them sooner.

You can see these statistics here.

Viewing Raw Page Content

Although you can use the edit page to view a page's source, you can also ask Unseen Library to send you the raw page source and nothing else. This feature is intented for those who want to automate their interaction with Unseen Library.

To use this feature, navigate to the page for which you want to see the source, and then alter the action parameter in the url's query string to be raw. If the action parameter doesn't exist, add it. Note that when used on an file's page this action will return the source of the description and not the file itself.

Avatars

Unseen Library allows you to upload an avatar and have it displayed next to your name. If you don't have an avatar uploaded yet, then Unseen Library will take a hash of your email address and ask Gravatar for for your Gravatar instead. If you haven't told Unseen Library what your email address is either, a hash of your username is used instead. If you don't have a gravatar, then Unseen Library asks Gravatar for an identicon instead.

Your avatar on Unseen Library currently looks like this: - you can upload a new one by going to your preferences, or clicking here.

Wiki Status API

Unseen Library has a status page that returns some basic information about the current state of the wiki in JSON. It can be used as a connection tester - as the Pepperminty Wiki Android app does.

Command Line Interface

System administrators can interact with Unseen Library via a command-line interface if they have console or terminal-level access to the server that Unseen Library runs on.

To do this, system administrators can display the CLI-specific help by changing directory (with the cd command) to be next to index.php, and executing the following:

php index.php