TiddlyWiki5/editions/prerelease/tiddlers/Release 5.2.0.tid

caption: 5.2.0
created: 20210714091904613
modified: 20210714091904613
tags: ReleaseNotes
title: Release 5.2.0
type: text/vnd.tiddlywiki

\define contributor(username)
<a href="https://github.com/$username$" style="text-decoration:none;font-size:24px;" class="tc-tiddlylink-external" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://github.com/$username$.png?size=32" width="32" height="32"/> @<$text text=<<__username__>>/></a>
\end

//[[See GitHub for detailed change history of this release|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/compare/v5.1.23...master]]//

! Highlights

!! Unrestricted Fieldnames and the New JSON Store Area

The major change in this release is that the format used to store tiddlers in TiddlyWiki's HTML file has changed from an HTML DIV-based format to a new JSON-based format. The consequences of this change are far-reaching. They are thus the primary rationale for bumping the version number from v5.1.x to v5.2.0:

Firstly, the ''characters that can be used in field names are now unrestricted'' (just like tiddler titles), making it possible to use fieldnames like `My^Field` or `☃️`. This became possible because every other part of TiddlyWiki was already capable of dealing with unrestricted field names apart from saving as an HTML file.

Secondly, external tools that read, write or otherwise process TiddlyWiki HTML files will need modification to understand the new store area format.  The details are documented in the [[/dev wiki|https://tiddlywiki.com/prerelease/dev/#Data%20Storage%20in%20Single%20File%20TiddlyWiki]].

For more details, see ticket [[#5708|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5708]] on GitHub.

!! Dragging and Dropping Images into the Editor

It is now possible to drag and drop an image file directly into the tiddler text editor. A popup allows the incoming image tiddler to be renamed, and then `[img[title]]` is automatically inserted into the tiddler text at the insertion point.

* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5699">> (and again [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5705]]) ability to drag and drop images directly in the editor

!! Simplified Access to Tiddler Title with ActionCreateTiddlerWidget

It is now possible to embed actions within the body of the ActionCreateTiddlerWidget, and those actions can directly access the title of the newly created tidddler via the variable `createTiddler-title`, and the title of the corresponding draft in the variable `createTiddler-draftTitle`. The old `$savetitle` and `$savedrafttitle` attributes are now deprecated.

```
<$button>
  <$action-createtiddler $basetitle="Homemade Button" tags="$:/tags/PageControls" text={{$:/state/new-button-caption}}>
    <$action-navigate $to=<<createTiddler-title>>/>
  </$action-createtiddler>
  Create a new non-functional page control button and open the tiddler
</$button>
```

For more details:

* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/9faaa312998d48c56bd50335820b6b881266af4b">> [[ActionCreateTiddlerWidget]] to make the new title available as a variable

!! More Flexible Parsing of Macros

Two long-standing limitations of TiddlyWiki's macro syntax have been resolved.

First, it is now possible to nest macro calls within the parameters to other macros. For example:

```
<<mymacro arg:"""nested <<macro>> call""">>
```

Second, macro parameters can now be used within filter expressions. For example:

```
[<qualify "$:/state/mydata">addsuffix[-]addsuffix<now "YYYY MM DDD hh:mm:ss">]
```

* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5451">> macro calls to use the same parser as that used for widget attributes
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5836">> support for macro parameters within filters (see [[Filter Parameter]])

!! Optimised Refreshing of Transclusions

This simple-sounding change has several important consequences:

The first consequence is that it makes the TranscludeWidget much more efficient, and improves the performance of the refresh cycle.

The second consequence resolves a long-standing difficulty for many users: it is now possible to use an EditWidget to edit another field of the same tiddler. Previously, the edit widget would not work properly in such cases because it would be refreshed on every keypress, leading to the current editing caret/selection position being lost.

As sometimes happens, the third consequence is that constructions that relied on the old, buggy behaviour may no longer work as expected. A common example of such a construction is an invocation of a JavaScript macro. The problem stems from the fact that JavaScript macros are designed to be as simple as possible from the developers perspective, being pure functions that have no side effects, and that always return the same value for the same parameters. In particular, JavaScript macros cannot participate in TiddlyWiki's refresh mechansim, so they cannot force themselves to be updated when underlying data changes (for situations where such processing is needed, JavaScript widgets should be used instead of JavaScript macros).

However, developers have sometimes worked around this limitation by using the TranscludeWidget to force refreshing of a macro invocation when a particular tiddler changes. The newer, more selective behaviour means that sometimes such widgets will avoid a refresh that was previously relied upon to update the JavaScript macro.

For end users, if an upgrade to v5.2.0 causes problems then consult the discussion [[Forums]] to see if other users have encountered the same problem, and make a new posting if needed.

* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5736">> the TranscludeWidget to avoid triggering a refresh unless the transcluded field changes (previously it was also triggered for changes to other fields)

! Performance Improvements

* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5380">> (and again [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5488]]) the efficiency of the linked list implementation used in filter processing
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5362">> the [[all Operator]] and ([[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5369"]]) the [[links Operator]] to use the new linked list implementation
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5436">> [[ETag|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_ETag]]-based browser-side caching for all resources and GZip or Deflate compression for all responses to GET requests
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/70e60cd93fe26e9cde1e350e3236578fa5abfe48">> plugin internal formatting to remove unneeded whitespace, saving about 6% on the size of the $:/core plugin

! Usability Improvements

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5479">> ability to import previously blocked system tiddlers
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5812">> warning message when cancelling a pending import
* <<.link-badge-updated "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/f97850dd05693e84dd36b8af5d72b22fbfd74958">> the default fonts in the "Snow White" theme to be thicker and more legible
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5816">> modal mechanism to prevent page from scrolling while modals are displayed
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/a360adbba924d222c5b55709133c18890c04398d">> size of dropzone when story river is empty
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5326">> fill colour for "remove tag" button
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5370">> page title so that the separating em-dash is only used if the site subtitle is present
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5397">> broken aria-label in $:/PaletteManager
* <<.link-badge-updated "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/caec6bc3fea9155eb2b0aae64d577c565dd7b088">> SVG optimiser script
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/c325380231a8c592a6e51d4498c1e6c3a241b539">> plus/minus SVG icons: <<.icon $:/core/images/plus-button>> and <<.icon $:/core/images/minus-button>>
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5672">> link to the existing tiddler when the warning "Target tiddler already exists" is displayed in the edit template
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5727">> class to make tag pills in the edit template look like those in the ViewTemplate
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5726">> the HTML comment syntax to enable it to be used before and in between pragmas such as macro definitions
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/1661">> overflow of long field values that do not contain whitespace
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/a4421f50c6886b02c3595b7ffa6ba72674d6bf21">> GitHub, Gitea and GitLab savers to wikify the commit message, enabling macros to be used in the message

! Filter improvements

* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5813">> new [[:map filter run prefix|Map Filter Run Prefix]]
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5653">> new [[:sort filter run prefix|Sort Filter Run Prefix]]
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5612">> [[average Operator]], [[median Operator]], [[variance Operator]] and [[standard-deviation Operator]] for calculating averages of a list of numbers
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5673">> [[deserializers filter Operator|deserializers Operator]] for obtaining a list of the available deserializers
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5665">> [[format:titlelist operator|format Operator]] for selectively adding double square brackets around titles
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/83ee363cb4c19246ac977f55e46439dd8a1508ba">> [[charcode Operator]] for easily accessing special characters like tab and linefeed
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5252">> support for suffixes to filter run prefixes

! Hackability Improvements

* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/3094e062366830bdecfb91e3d852667fa951dc50">> action widget execution to ensure all widgets are refreshed before invocation
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5361">> [[unusedtitle Macro]] to add ''separator'' and ''template'' parameters
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5720">> ''color-scheme'' field to all themes to differentiate between light and dark themes
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/d25e540dd2f0decf61c52fdc665a28a5dfeda93f">> support for `image/vnd.microsoft.icon` content type
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5458">> support for throttling refreshes for changed tiddlers with the title prefix $:/temp/volatile/
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/89546b3357b0696a7047e6915bd6cd137b589de6">> a hidden setting to control sandboxing of tiddlers of type `text/html`
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5707">> text operation [[insert-text|WidgetMessage: tm-edit-text-operation]]
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/e157d16b724172f752da0ff714847e0c0ca9664d">> ''data-tag-title'' attribute to tag pills
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5294">> support for [[dynamic toolbar buttons|How to create dynamic editor toolbar buttons]]

! Widget Improvements

* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5611">> (and [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/4a99e0cc7d4a6b9e7071c0b2a9a0f63c3c7d2492]]) [[ListWidget]] with optional `counter` attribute specifying a variable to contain the numeric index of each list item
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/9eda02868f21e9dd1733ffe26352bd7ac96285b4">> (and [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/f87b3bfcdba79b6ad198af286bd827c61044891f]]) new MessageCatcherWidget to catch arbitrary messages and execute action strings
* <<.link-badge-modified "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/b9647b2c48152dac069a1099a0822b32375a66cf">> [[FieldManglerWidget]] to ensure it doesn't propogate events that it traps
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5597">> [[DropzoneWidget]] to optionally invoke actions after the `tm-import-tiddlers` message has been sent, and to specify an optional `contentTypesFilter` which determines which content types are accepted by the dropzone.
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5635">> [[SelectWidget]] refreshing
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5644">> [[ActionListopsWidget]] bug by avoiding concatenating fragmnts of filter expressions
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/07caa16e8714afe9a64eb202375e4a2f95da1508">> [[DropzoneWidget]] to also use the specified deserializer for strings either dropped or pasted on to the dropzone
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/3f986861538a3cc5c3c6da578b45d0d9138a6b2b">> [[ActionPopupWidget]] to create floating popups that must be manually cleared
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5648">> (and [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5782]]) [[KeyboardWidget]] to provide additional information variables

! Client-server Improvements

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/e96a54c7531a2d9e07745e27d2015d8d7d09588f">> crash running in client server configuration when 'ETag' header is missing
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5423">> blank favicon when using lazily loaded images
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/issues/4461">> web server issue with custom path prefix and basic authentication
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5416">> crash on Node.js with ActionSetFieldWidget when type field is given a value upon new tiddler creation
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5329">> issue with saving tiddler files with titles that already end in the required extension
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5465">> several consistency issues with the filesystem plugin
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/issues/5483">> issue with encoding of $:/config/OriginalTiddlerPaths outside the wiki folder
* <<.link-badge-updated "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5628">> the TiddlySpot Saver settings form
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5638">> 401 and 403 error messages for PUT saver
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5570">> the [[external JavaScript template|Using the external JavaScript template]] to be easier to use and work more smoothly when offline

! Node.js Improvements

* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/a38dc1730010c6a2b6a011aff4818bbc67c04055">> RenderCommand to allow multiple variables to be passed

! Plugin Improvements

!! [[Markdown Plugin]]

* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5846">> support for using the [[KaTeX Plugin]] in Markdown
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5848">> extraneous paragraph tags in lists

!! [[XLSX Utilities Plugin|XLSX Utilities Edition]]

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/issues/5400">> crash with the XLSX Utils plugin

!! [[KaTeX Plugin]]

* <<.link-badge-updated "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/a2ca5e4d1ef67374628d2d78afa1550443900ec0">> to KaTeX v0.13.18

!! [[Freelinks Plugin]]

* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/0ed32fded996826a59832d7a7555bb16c4a57864">> the Freelinks plugin with a filter to determine which tiddlers can be the targets of freelinks

!! [[Menubar Plugin]]

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/discussions/5533">> Menu plugin to support optional ''dropdown-position'' field

!! [[BibTeX Plugin]]

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/issues/5581">> BibTeX Plugin to report errors more sensibly
* <<.link-badge-modified "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/953fb9f237ad78e409c03d4b29b9854d8abf6cdf">> BibTex Plugin to force fieldnames to be lowercase

! Developer Experience Improvements

* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5382">> the widget subclassing mechanism to work with widgets that add event listeners in their constructor
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5377">> the Jasmine test suite output
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/9f9ce6595b08032a602981f82940ca113cff8211">> wikitext parser with a subclassing mechanism
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/ef76349c37662e9706acfffc2c2edb51a920183d">> added support for ''utils-browser'' modules
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5464">> ''th-before-importing'' hook to allow plugins to inspect or modify the `importTiddler` object before any tiddlers are imported
* <<.link-badge-added "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/3797">> ''th-closing-tiddler'' hook when tiddlers are closed

! Translation improvements

* <<.link-badge-improved>> Chinese translations
* <<.link-badge-improved>> French translations
* <<.link-badge-improved>> German translations
* <<.link-badge-improved>> Spanish translations


! Other Bug Fixes

* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5376">> issue with [[lookup Operator]] returning "undefined" under some circumstances
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/issues/5396">> crash with unterminated wikitext comments
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5453">> tiddler info area content bleeding on close animation
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5452">> inline/block widget parsing glitch
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5401">> runaway regexp when parsing filters
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5440">> right margin of tag pill when used outside of the tags wrapper
* <<.link-badge-extended "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5455">> upload saver to optionally work without a username or password
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/5e4430dbf9ff66d9a18fbdf3005abcd716efc07d">> RadioWidget to refresh selectively, and to use the ''checked'' attribute correctly
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5542">> "invert" option of `wiki.search()` method
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/7b1a0c6e6a8bd2d3badf8766af0cd3f5f7ac5ec8">> ES5 compatibility issue
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/226df2ad7d2978d3d7400d94767a0503e495cf98">> exporting of tiddlers that begin and end with double quotes
* <<.link-badge-improved "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/d56e8764a1f02a214df5da1cc95191be2da2491b">> accessibility of button widget when controlling a popup
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/d6ea369f5ef9d3092a360a4286a99902df37782b">> EditTextWidget to use default text for missing fields
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5552">> css-escape-polyfill to work under Node.js
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/dbd3f835bf8399ed1a3da7cc322ec9b6ab783d53">> crash when sorting by non-string fields
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5711">> (and [[here|https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5868]]) some bugs in the [[EventCatcherWidget]], introduced new `stopPorpagation` attribute and new syntax for specifying actions
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5691">> CurrentTiddler variable consistency in subfilters and prefixes
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/485779f5b2136b7bcd739352b56188d94b0eb9e4">> crash when accessing variables in filters that don't have a widget context
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/commit/8fbf52e419e71d726ea32b6c44e3ccfc4245d825">> unnecessary triggering of reload warning when JavaScript tiddlers are not subsequently imported
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5521">> minor issue with import pragma 
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5700">> leading and trailing whitespace in themes
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5469">> configuration list of HTML5 block elements
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5692">> shape and color for disabled button to work with `tc-btn-invisible` class
* <<.link-badge-fixed "https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5/pull/5473">> inconsistent spacing of view toolbar items

[[@Jermolene|https://github.com/Jermolene]] would like to thank the contributors to this release who have generously given their time to help improve TiddlyWiki:

* <<contributor Arlen22
* <<contributor BlueGreenMagick>>
* <<contributor BramChen>>
* <<contributor BurningTreeC>>
* <<contributor cdruan>>
* <<contributor clutterstack>>
* <<contributor CodaCodr>>
* <<contributor dixonge>>
* <<contributor donmor>>
* <<contributor felixhayashi>>
* <<contributor FlashSystems>>
* <<contributor flibbles>>
* <<contributor hoelzro>>
* <<contributor jeremyredhead>>
* <<contributor joebordes>>
* <<contributor joshuafontany>>
* <<contributor kookma>>
* <<contributor laomaiweng>>
* <<contributor leehawk787>>
* <<contributor morosanuae>>
* <<contributor neumark>>
* <<contributor NicolasPetton>>
* <<contributor OdinJorna>>
* <<contributor pmario>>
* <<contributor rryan>>
* <<contributor saqimtiaz>>
* <<contributor simonbaird>>
* <<contributor slaymaker1907>>
* <<contributor twMat>>