MediaWiki ScreenPlay Extension 0.4 review

The MediaWiki ScreenPlay Extension (ScreenPlay) is a text-formatting add-on which allows screenwriters and hobbyists the ability to u

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 6K Developer: CJ Niemira

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The MediaWiki ScreenPlay Extension (ScreenPlay) is a text-formatting add-on which allows screenwriters and hobbyists the ability to use MediaWiki as a screen writing tool.

MediaWiki ScreenPlay Extension project is written in PHP.

ScreenPlay supports three new editing hooks to add style codes that visually re-format certain wiki syntax (specifically, that used for definition lists, or "dl's") into proper screenplay format.

The extension also adds a new "Special" page, which produces PDF output for hard copy delivery. PDF output provides additional notation including page and scene numbering, and dialogue continuation notes.

Though ScreenPlay is certainly no replacement for a full-featured ScreenWriting software package

Here are some key features of "MediaWiki ScreenPlay Extension":
It's free (most decent screenwriting software is expensive).
You have all the advantages of a wiki including built-in version control, distributed access, multiple user edits, etc...
You can export PDFs and print them.
Using wiki-links, you have a built-in reference system for notes, character drafts, images, etc...
It's easily extendable.

Usage:

Installing ScreenPlay is as easy as installing any MediaWiki extension. Simply download the php source file (there's only one) and copy it into your 'extensions/' directory inder your MediaWiki installation. Then add an appropriate include to your LocalSettings.php file.

Once installed, it is a simple matter to use ScreenPlay. Simply create a new wiki page, and begin by putting a '< screenplay >' tag on the first line as directed below. When rendered, this page will now contain screenplay formatting. To add a scene, use the '< scene >' tag as directed below.

Stage directions are entered as normal paragraphs, and dialogue is written using "dl" syntax, (the ';' and ':' characters). We use the "dl" method because by simply changing the style attributes associated with them, the "dt" and "dd" html elements become the perfect tool for formatting dialogue, due to their already logically correct structure.

Beyond that you can use any built-in wiki formatting you desire, but be warned that the PDF engine does not yet support any additional formatting codes. PDF output may not look like what you expect.

ScreenPlay was writen written and tested with a standard MediaWiki 1.5 installation under PHP 5.0.5.

What's New in This Release:
This release adds support for generating title pages when creating PDF documents.
There is also some minor code cleanup, and a small bugfix that corrects the default character width when creating PDFs.