How do I get a non-verbatim, non-pre box?

I don't even know exactly how to ask this, but I want to have a verbatim box, only I want Wiki Words to be turned into links, and have the regular markup stuff work.

I guess what I'm really looking for is for a way to draw a box, and then have the effect of every line ending with %BR% without actually having to add %BR% to the end of every line. This would help me immensely with my efforts to convert documents, and thus our users, from tikiwiki to foswiki.

<pre> doesn't work: It doesn't turn Wiki Words into links, for one.

I suppose that I create my own <div> box, with some CSS, but that's not the wiki way, and not something I want folks to see.

-- DougClaar - 13 Feb 2010

Do you want the whole topic content to be in that box or just a part of it?

In case you want the whole topic:

• You can use VIEW_TEMPLATEs to hide your div/css stuff: Put your div/css around the %TEXT% macro.

In case you want to markup just a part of the topic:

• Put your div/css stuff in a global variable (ie. in Main.SitePreferences):

   * Set STARTBOX = <div class='mybox'>
   * Set ENDBOX = </div>

Your users can use %STARTBOX% and %ENDBOX% instead of the full div/css markup.

-- OliverKrueger - 13 Feb 2010

Well, I mis-spoke, err, typed. A <div> box doesn't really do it, because it jams all the text together. I want all the markup to work, but not the line collapsing. So, in effect,

<box>
FourScore and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
</box>

creates the equivalent of:

FourScore and seven years ago %BR%
our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, %BR%
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. %BR%

-- DougClaar - 16 Feb 2010

at times, i have also wanted the TeX equivalent of \obeylines. i can't wait to find out what the answer is...

-- WillNorris - 16 Feb 2010

When asked about breaks, he said "yes you can!" As long as you don't expect my poems to scan.

The answer, you see, is white-space:pre The CSS styles can set you free.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 03 Mar 2010

I've needed something similar to capture IBM z/OS mainframe screens with:

• Use %TERMINAL% in front of text pasted from an emulator screen to create a good facsimile of a screen, but with text that remains searchable, highlightable and link-able. You need to end the block with %ENDTERMINAL%
• Set TERMINAL =

  If this terminal display looks odd, please refresh your browser

  Set ENDTERMINAL =

and then:

If this terminal display looks odd, please refresh your browser

Menu Utilities Compilers Options Status Help OS/390 Primary Option Menu Option ===> 0 Settings Terminal and user parameters User ID . : JML0001 1 View Display source data or listings Time. . . : 06:55 2 Edit Create or change source data Terminal. : 3278 3 Utilities Perform utility functions Screen. . : 6 4 Foreground Interactive language processing Language. : ENGLISH 5 Batch Submit job for language processing Appl ID . : ISR 6 Command Enter TSO or Workstation commands TSO logon : IKJTSO 7 Dialog Test Perform dialog testing TSO prefix: JML0001 8 SDSF Spool Display and Search Facility System ID : TSO1 9 TSO-MAIL Send TSO Datasets to MAIL MVS acct. : P000,408 10 SCLM SW Configuration Library Manager Release . : ISPF 5.9 11 Workplace ISPF Object/Action Workplace 12 OS/390 System OS/390 system programmer applications 13 OS/390 User OS/390 user applications G GROUP Group Option Menu U USER User defined panel Enter X to Terminate using log/list defaults

-- JulianLevens - 03 Mar 2010

Also see the solutions at TWiki:Support.SID-00297

-- SeanMorgan - 04 Mar 2010

Cool! For reference, putting the above in verbatim:

   * Set TERMINAL = <table><tr><td style="font-size:small; font-style:italic; border:5px ridge lawngreen; ">If this terminal display looks odd, please refresh your browser</td></tr><tr><td style="white-space:pre; font-family:'Lucinda Console',monospace; background-color:black; color:lawngreen; margin-right:380px">
   * Set ENDTERMINAL = </td></tr></table>

A simpler definition would be:

   * Set BOX = <div style="white-space:pre;">
   * Set ENDBOX = </div>

With the end result of:

Thanks for all the suggestions!