External Files

External files provides a shortcode [external] which can be used to insert the contents of a file or url into the current post or page. The plugin will automatically format the text based on the extension (for files) or mime type (for urls), using Alex Gorbatchevs’ Syntax Highlighter javascript.

The shortcode can accept three optional parameters:

• format can be used to specify a highlighting format, rather than letting the plugin decide which format to use
• start specifies a line number to output from, so sections of a file/url can be shown
• end specifies the line to stop at

See the installation page for usage examples.

The available formats are:

• AS3
• Bash
• Cpp
• CSharp
• Css
• Delphi
• Diff
• Groovy
• Java
• JavaFX
• JScript
• Perl
• Php
• Plain
• PowerShell
• Python
• Ruby
• Scala
• Sql
• Vb
• Xml

Future features

Following is a list of ideas and features to add:

• BASE_PATH and BASE_URL options that can be used in the shortcode to avoid typing the same long path/url each time
• a list of available formats with the checkboxes to enable/disable each individually, thus avoiding having to load all of them
• an option for changing the theme of the syntax highlighter

1. Install the plugin and activate
2. In a post or page, type [external]/path/to/your/script.txt[/external]

Examples:

[external]/path/to/file.php[/external]
[external]http://my.website.com/about.html[/external]
[external start=10 end=20]/very/long/script.js[/external]
[external format=xml]/not/really/a-php-document.php[/external]

My code isn’t being highlighted

This might mean that the theme you are using doesn’t call wp_footer before the closing body tag. The javascript that applies the highlighter is attached to the wp_footer action – either try another theme (the default wordpress theme will work) or add the theme by typing the following inside the closing body tag:

<?php wp_footer(); ?>

My code should be formatted as *x, but is showing up as plain*

If you are specifying a format, are you using one from the available formats list (see the Description page)? If you are not specifying a format, does the file have a correct extension for the file type or is the web page returning with the correct Content-Type header?

I’m still stuck

Get in touch, I’ll see what I can do!

0.1

2009-06-21
* First version! Works for me, comments appreciated.