Revision as of 19:13, 4 November 2007

This is the documentation for the MediaWiki plug-in for drawing Hex diagrams.

Syntax

Hex diagrams are specified using the <hex>...</hex> tag. Inside this tag, a series of words describes the diagram itself. The first letter of each word is called the command, and the remaining letters are its arguments. There are commands for specifying the board size and for putting stones on the board.

Setting up the board

The commands for setting up the board all take a single numeric argument. The commands are:

• R: Specifies the number of rows of the board.
• C: Specifies the number of columns of the board.
• Q: Specifies whether the coordinates should be printed next to the board. Zero means no, any other number means yes. By default, they are not shown.

Examples

• R5 sets the number of rows to 5.
• Q1 makes the coordinates appear next to the board.
• Q0 explicitly makes the coordinates disappear.

Setting up single stones

The commands for setting up stones all take a coordinate as their argument. Coordinates are written in the form f7, where f is the column and 7 is the row.

The commands are:

• B for a blue stone.
• R for a red stone.
• H for a horizontal stone (equivalent to B).
• V for a vertical stone (equivalent to R).
• S or * for a star.
• P or + for a plus.

When you want to add move numbers, put a single digit (0-9) between the command and the coordinate, for example R5e4 when Red puts his fifth move onto e4.

Examples

• Ba4 puts a blue stone (B) in the first column (a) of the fourth row (4).
• R7b1 puts a red stone (R) in the second column (b) of the first row (1) and labels it with a seven (7).

Automatically numbered moves

There is a special command (M) for setting up numbered sequences of moves. The first of these moves is for Red and is labelled with a 1. After each M command, the color changes and the move number is increased automatically.

If you want to enter a sequence of moves that starts with a blue move, write MB. This changes the color without affecting the move number or the stones on the board.

When you want to show a complete game, it can be annoying to replace the H... and V... commands with M. For this reason, there is another feature, which automatically numbers the following stones. It is switched on with N:on and off with (you guessed it) N:off.

Limitations

Currently, the number of moves is restricted to 10, but this may be extended if there is the need for it. But before you request this change, please ask yourself whether you really need it. Ten moves is a lot, and especially when analyzing games, it would be easier for the reader if you split the moves into several diagrams.

Examples

• MR Ma1 Ma2 Ma3 Mb4 is a sequence of four moves, starting with a red 1.
• M5a1 Ma2 Ma3 are three moves, starting with a red 5.
• MB Ma1 Ma2 Ma3 are three moves, starting with a blue 1.
• N:on Ra1 Bd7 N:off Re5 results in two numbered moves on a1 and d7, and one unnumbered move at e5.

Setting up a whole line at once

In many cases, there are many stones on the board, and it would be annoying to write one word for each stone. For this reason, there exists a short-cut for drawing a complete line. If a word starts with a number, followed by a colon (:) and a list of cell contents, the whole line can be drawn with only one command. The valid types of cell contents are:

• R or V for red stones,
• B or H for blue stones,
• * or S for stars,
• + or P for plus,
• _ for an empty cell.

Limitations

• Stones with numbers cannot be put using this command. Instead, use the commands for putting a single stone or for putting a series of moves.

Examples

• 3:__BBRRBBRR__* sets up the first 13 stones of the third row. The first two are empty, the next two are blue, and so on.

Formatting diagrams usefully

Depending on the situation and the intent of a diagram, it may be formatted in different styles. Large diagrams should be distributed over several lines, to make editing and reading easier. The suggested format is:

1. Board size and coordinates,
2. Setup stones: One line per color,
3. The moves in the order they are played.

See the diagrams below for examples.

Examples for Complete Diagrams

A simple board with stones in all four corners

Numbered moves

Border

(This feature is work-in-progress.)

All possible fields

Source code

The full source code of the plug-in is available here.