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Core Overview

This is a walk through the source code during a request for /doku.php?id=start&do=show to explain the basics of DokuWiki. You should have the full source available when reading this to fully enjoy this journey. Use the XRef links to obtain a browsable version of the source. There is also a more detailed callgraph page available including the rendering process. A lot of detail is left out of this description to make it simpler.

Filename	Code snippet	Description
doku.php	`if(!defined('DOKU_INC'))`	Everything starts here by defining the base code directory
	`$ACT = $_REQUEST['do']`	next we determine which action is requested a.k.a. do modes
	`require_once('init.php')`	over to init.php, initialize core
inc/init.php	`include('preload.php')`	preload make it possible to override directories and configuration cascade
	`if(!defined('DOKU_CONF')`	create environment defines for code location
	`include(DOKU_INC. 'inc/config_cascade.php')`	prepare and load the global configuration file(s)
	`global $lang;`	load and prepare the language files using English for all missing entries
	`if(!defined('DOKU_REL')`	create all environment defines not already defined, which might be dependent of the config settings
	`if(!headers_sent() && ..`	init session and set cookie
	`require_once (DOKU_INC.'inc/load.php')`	load all libraries
	`… auth_setup() …`	initialize plugin controller, event handling system, authentication and exit after setting up mail
doku.php	`$ID = getID()`	back from init.php, sanitize and turn request into global variables
	`$INFO = pageinfo()`	add page metadata into a global variable, this includes calling auth_quickaclcheck() and p_get_metadata(). The later causing a rendering of page metadata if it isn't cached.
	`if(!$INFO['exists'] …`	send 404 for missing pages
	`trigger_event(DOKUWIKI_STARTED)`	call action plugins subscribing the DOKUWIKI_STARTED event
inc/actions.php	`act_dispatch($ACT)`	do the work depending on action
	`if ($evt->advise_before()) ...`	allow plugins to override default behavior using ACTION_ACT_PREPROCESS event
	`$ACT = act_clean($ACT)`	sanitize and redirect disabled actions into `do=show`
	`… $ACT = act_permcheck($ACT) …`	call processing code for requested action(s) while checking needed ACL permissions. The $ACT might change during act_dispatch().
	`global $INFO global $conf`	make global variables accessible to template code
	`trigger_event(ACTION_HEADERS_SEND)`	call action plugins subscribing the ACTION_HEADERS_SEND event
	`include(template('main.php'))`	over to the selected template main script
lib/tpl/default/main.php	`… tpl_metaheaders() …`	the template main script consist of HTML design elements calling on php methods for content like metaheaders, buttons, breadcrumb navigation elements etc. all available in the inc/template.php file
lib/tpl/default/main.php	`tpl_content()`	here the actual wiki page is created
inc/template.php	`tpl_content()`	here the actual wiki page is created
	`trigger_event(TPL_ACT_RENDER)`	call to tpl_content_core() using TPL_ACT_RENDER event
	`switch($ACT)`	select content based on action, the basic `do=show` calls html_show()
inc/html.php	`$html = p_wiki_xhtml(…)`	which uses a cached XHTML version of the page OR triggers the renderer to render cached instructions as XHTML OR use the parser to turn wiki text into instructions first.
inc/template.php	`trigger_event(TPL_CONTENT_DISPLAY)`	back in tpl_content() action plugin's have a last chance to edit raw HTML before output by using TPL_CONTENT_DISPLAY event
doku.php	`trigger_event(DOKUWIKI_DONE)`	finish by calling action plugins subscribing the DOKUWIKI_DONE event when the template main script has ended