Question

By default, TWiki puts (a slightly modified version of) the breadcrumb path into the web page title.

Is there a way I can override this? (if not, I'll file an enhancement request).

When doing TWiki applications, I end up with pages whose names are, effectively, database keys. e.g.: ProjectDetail200707p2

I want to set the paage Title to show something... easier for the human reader to grok.

Environment

-- VickiBrown - 12 Jul 2007

Answer

If you answer a question - or someone answered one of your questions - please remember to edit the page and set the status to answered. The status selector is below the edit box.

Create a subskin template and override %TMPL:DEF{"windowtitle"}%.

-- ArthurClemens - 12 Jul 2007

Interesting suggestion... unfortunately, I don't think that will scale. unless there's a way to test if a variable is defined usng TWiki TMPL language? This would have to be conditional, based on a toggle switch. (19 times out of 20, I do want the default behaviour).

that is, given constants.pattern.tmpl

%TMPL:DEF{"windowtitle"}%<title>%TMPL:P{"titleaction"}% <nop>%TOPIC% ... %WEB%  ... %TMPL:END%

if, say, var PREFTITLE is set, I'd want to use that. Otherwise, I'd want to use TOPIC as usual.

-- VickiBrown - 13 Jul 2007

The approach we used with one client, to do exactly what you are asking for, was to provide a customised plugin that post-processed the output of the BreadCrumbsPlugin. The plugin recognised database keys in the breadcrumb and converted them to a "friendly" representation.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 13 Jul 2007

This could work (untested):

%TMPL:DEF{"normalwindowtitle"}%<title>%TMPL:P{"titleaction"}% <nop>%TOPIC% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% %WEB% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% <nop>%WIKITOOLNAME%</title>%TMPL:END%

%TMPL:DEF{"dbwindowtitle"}%<title><nop>%PREFTITLE% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% %WEB% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% <nop>%WIKITOOLNAME%</title>%TMPL:END%

%TMPL:DEF{"windowtitle"}%%TMPL:P{"defined PREFTITLE" then="dbwindowtitle" else ="normalwindowtitle"}%%TMPL:END%

-- ArthurClemens - 13 Jul 2007

I'm having some difficulty making the above work (though I like it). However, in trying to find an example of using "defined" I tripped over Codev.CustomPageTitle. The latter didn't have the elegance of Arthur's pair of DEFs but did work.

So I played with Arthurs code and found whhat was missing

%TMPL:DEF{"normalwindowtitle"}%<title>%TMPL:P{"titleaction"}% <nop>%TOPIC% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% %WEB% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% <nop>%WIKITOOLNAME%</title>%TMPL:END%

%TMPL:DEF{"dbwindowtitle"}%<title><nop>%PREFTITLE% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% %WEB% %TMPL:P{"titlesep"}% <nop>%WIKITOOLNAME%</title>%TMPL:END%

%TMPL:DEF{"windowtitle"}%%TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%%IF{"defined PREFTITLE" then="%TMPL:P{"dbwindowtitle"}%" else="%TMPL:P{"normalwindowtitle"}%"}%%TMPL:END%

(see also Codev.CustomPageTitle for the one-line solution

-- VickiBrown - 13 Jul 2007

The cover is working perfectly. If I put

   * Set PAGETITLE = Vicki Loves Bagels

However, if I put

<!--
   * Set PAGETITLE = %IFDEFINED{"%FORMFIELD{"ProjectName"}%" then="%FORMFIELD{"ProjectName"}%" else="%TOPIC%"}%
-->

into the page, the Page Title becomes

%IFDEFINED{

Aargh.

I call this a bug Item4414 filed. Is there a workaround?

-- VickiBrown - 26 Jul 2007

I don't think this is a bug. Did you try to escape the % by using <nop> ?

Don't know which % needs to be escaped but quiet often something does not work because of nested variables and the way they are processed.

-- CarloSchulz - 26 Jul 2007

When the variable in the page has a different value from the same variable in the title, that violates the Principle of Least Astonishment. That qualifies as a bug.

(if I couldn't set any variable as shown, that would be a misunderstanding or a syntax error. But I can set the variable and it evaluates as expected... everywhere except the page title. That's a bug.)

FWIW, my workaround, which I've decided is actually better in this case, is the simpler

<!--
   * Set PAGETITLE = %FORMFIELD{"ProjectName"}% %TOPIC%
-->

-- VickiBrown - 26 Jul 2007