Stamp Plugin

The Stamp Plugin is an extension for Grav CMS. The Stamp Plugin automatically adds or modifies the date, date_modified, author, editor, revision and taxonomy.author to frontmatter when the page is saved via the Grav Admin Plugin. Optionally adds Twig variable users which contains data from user accounts.

The plugin extends and complements the Auto Date Plugin and the Auto Author Plugin (wrong link, plugin is here), but is not dependent on them and works completely independently.

The dependency on Grav v1.6.0 is now set, but it is being developed on Grav v1.7 and Admin Panel v1.10.

You can always find the latest version of this documentation on the project homepage.

If you find a problem or have a suggestion for improvement, please send me an issue.

If you translate the Stamp Plugin into another language, please send me the strings via pull request or issue.

The demo is available on the Grav.cz website.

Installation

Installing the Stamp Plugin can be done in one of three ways: The GPM (Grav Package Manager) installation method lets you quickly install the plugin with a simple terminal command, the manual method lets you do so via a zip file, and the admin method lets you do so via the Admin Plugin.

GPM Installation (Preferred)

To install the plugin via the GPM, through your system's terminal (also called the command line), navigate to the root of your Grav installation, and enter:

bin/gpm install stamp

This will install the Stamp Plugin into your /user/plugins directory within Grav. Its files can be found under /your/site/grav/user/plugins/stamp.

Manual Installation

To install the plugin manually, download the zip-version of this repository and unzip it under /your/site/grav/user/plugins. Then rename the folder to stamp. You can find these files on GitHub or via GetGrav.org.

You should now have all the plugin files under

/your/site/grav/user/plugins/stamp

NOTE: This plugin is a modular component for Grav which may require other plugins to operate, please see its blueprints.yaml file on GitHub.

Admin Plugin

If you use the Admin Plugin, you can install the plugin directly by browsing the Plugins menu and clicking on the Add button.

Configuration

Before configuring this plugin, you should copy the /user/plugins/stamp/stamp.yaml to /user/config/plugins/stamp.yaml and only edit that copy.

Here is the default configuration and an explanation of available options:

enabled: true

Note that if you use the Admin Plugin, a file with your configuration named stamp.yaml will be saved in the /user/config/plugins folder once the configuration is saved in the Admin.

Usage

Automatic generation of variables related to the page modification

The primary purpose of this plugin is to automatically generate variables related to the page modification:

• date_modified - the date the page was last saved
• editor - the user who last saved the page
• revision - the number of page revisions (0 means original, 1 means first revision, etc.)

These variables are overwritten each time the page is saved via the Admin Plugin. For information: moving the page via the Admin Plugin is the same as saving it!

The revision variable serves several purposes. It primarily shows how many page revisions have been made. However, it can also be used in a twig template to display variables related to the page modification:

Published <i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> {{ page.date|date(system.pages.dateformat.long) }}
by <i class="fa fa-user"></i> {{ page.header.author }}
{% if page.header.revision %}
    | Modified <i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> {{ page.header.date_modified|date(system.pages.dateformat.long) }}
    by <i class="fa fa-user"></i> {{ page.header.editor }}
    | Revision <i class="fa fa-save"></i> {{ page.header.revision }}
{% endif %}

Name format

Since Stamp v1.0.3 you can choose between using a full name and a username in the Name format (name) variable in the stamp.yaml. The default option is the Full name (full) for backward compatibility, but I recommend changing it to the Username (user), which can be further processed:

{% if page.find('/author/' ~ page.header.author) %}
    <i class="fa fa-user"></i> <a href="/author/{{ page.header.author }}">{{ page.find('/author/' ~ page.header.author).title|e }}</a>
{% else %}
    <i class="fa fa-user"></i> {{ page.header.author }}
{% endif %}

However, this example can also be used for an editor, or it can be combined with the above example for revision. It is not necessary to use only pages, but also Flex Objects or other repositories with details about the users (author or editor).

Taxonomy type of author

Since Stamp v1.0.4 support for taxonomy type of author has been added, so it is now possible to save multiple authors automatically:

taxonomy.author - combines the advantages of author and editor fields in taxonomy

It is necessary to add the taxonomy type of author in the site.yaml file:

taxonomies: [category, tag, author]

The following rules apply:

• In all actions, all duplicate values are removed. In the None action, duplicate values are also removed. This is a precautionary measure when saving in Expert mode.
• The active user aka editor is always added as the author to the desired location in the array, except None and Current alphabetically actions.
• In the Editor only action, all values will be replaced by the name of the active user aka editor!

Specific actions:

1. None - everything remains completely unchanged, except for the removal of duplicate values (Expert mode does not check for duplicates),
2. Editor only - adds only the active user, deletes all other users,
3. Current alphabetically - sorts current users alphabetically, does not solve the active user,
4. All alphabetically - adds the active user, sorts all users alphabetically,
5. Editor first, others unchanged - adds the active user to the beginning, leaves the other users unchanged,
6. Editor last, others unchanged - adds the active user to the end, leaves the other users unchanged,
7. Editor first, others alphabetically - adds the active user to the beginning, sorts the other users alphabetically,
8. Editor last, others alphabetically - adds the active user to the end, sorts the other users alphabetically.

If necessary, you can override page-level behavior through the taxonomy_author variable. The following values are allowed: none, editor_only, current_alphabetically, all_alphabetically, editor_first_others_unchanged, editor_last_others_unchanged, editor_first_others_alphabetically and editor_last_others_alphabetically.

Twig variable users

Since Stamp v1.0.5 there is a Twig variable users which contains data from user accounts, specifically from the /user/accounts folder and the *.yaml files it contains. For now, only the variables user.username, user.fullname, user.title and user.email are available, which can be obtained from the users area in this way, for example:

{% set control = false %}
{% for user in users %}
    {% if page.header.author == user.username %}
        <i class="fa fa-user"></i> {{ user.fullname|e }} <i class="fa fa-users"></i> {{ user.title|e }} <i class="fa fa-envelope"></i> <a href="mailto:{{ user.email|e }}">{{ user.email|e }}</a>
        {% set control = true %}
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}
{% if control == false %}
    <i class="fa fa-user"></i> {{ page.header.author }}
{% endif %}

Important! For a Twig variable users to be available, the Twig variables button must be active, or the twig variable in the stamp.yaml must be set to true (default is false).

Keep in mind that the Twig variable users contains information about all registered users, so when combined with taxonomy.author, information about multiple users can be obtained at once.

Able to add or modify date and author variables when the page is first saved

The secondary purpose of this plugin is to be able to add or modify date and author variables when the page is first saved via the Admin Plugin. The Stamp Plugin can replace previous plugins (Auto Date Plugin and Auto Author Plugin), but it behaves differently, which must be taken into account. The main difference is that previous plugins generate variables when the page is created, and this plugin generates variables when the page is saved. If the date is to match the first save, using this plugin is the right choice.

Meaning of variables:

• date - the date is one of the main variables of the Grav, but nowhere is it specified what the date means. This can be the date the page was created, the date the page was first saved, but also the date the page was first published (or a completely different date - past, present or future). This flexibility is completely unique and perfect.
• author - the author is a completely user variable. This can be the author of the page content, but also only the first page editor who has nothing to do with the page content.

It is therefore important to determine exactly what these values mean.

When the page is first saved via the Admin Plugin, there are the following options for these variables in the stamp.yaml:

Date action

• if the date does not exist and the Add option is selected in the plugin settings, the date is added. The date is the same as the first date_modified.
• if the the Modify option is selected in the plugin settings, the date is always modified (if the date does not exist, it will be added). The date is the same as the first date_modified.

Author action

• if the author does not exist and the Add option is selected in the plugin settings, the author is added. The author is the same as the first editor.
• if the the Modify option is selected in the plugin settings, the author is always modified (if the author does not exist, it will be added). The author is the same as the first editor.

Modifying the value of the revision variable

There are many reasons to modify the value of the revision variable. For example, if the page has been re-saved with only minor adjustments, then it is certainly not necessary for those adjustments to take effect in the revision value. Therefore, it is possible to modify the value of the revision variable to the last known one before editing and the page must be saved again.

If it is necessary to set the value of the revision variable to 0 to simulate the original version of the page (for example, to hide modified values in the twig template, or simply to restart numbering), the value of the revision variable must be adjusted to -1, null, or reset, and the page must be saved again. Frankly, this can now be achieved with any value other than an integer of 0 or higher and a special value named new. Alternatively, the revision variable can also be completely deleted.

The revision variable can be modified via expert mode (control value) or directly in the .md file (final value).

Simulate the behavior as when the page is first saved

In practice, there are many cases where it is necessary to repeatedly save the page as a draft and publish only the final version. For this reason, it is possible to overwrite the values of the date and author variables by setting the value new to the revision variable. To prevent accidental overwriting, Override behavior (override) variable must also be enabled in the plugin settings. Otherwise, a value of new will only set the revision variable to 0, just like null in the previous setting.

Other words, if the value of the revision variable is set to new and the override variable in the stamp.yaml is set to true (default is false), it provides the same behavior as when the page is first saved via the Grav Admin Plugin.

Recommendation!

It is recommended that you add the value of seconds to the dateformat.default variable in the system.yaml file for accurate time determination:

dateformat:
  default: 'Y-m-d H:i:s'

Credits

Grav.cz - Czech portal about Grav CMS containing lots of instructions and tips

Timestamp Plugin - plugin for Grav CMS written by the same author

To Do

• Add support for taxonomy type of author
• Add the optional ability to automatically modify the parent page (usually a modular page)
• Add new variables to Twig, containing complete information about registered users, or from other sources
• Translantions (after standard terms have been introduced)
• Sample templates
• Standardize the contents of the README.md file
• Add option for modification only (now merged with addition), if necessary
• Add other variables, for example: date_created, creator, date_accessed (probably within a storage other than the frontmatter), visitor (probably within a storage other than the frontmatter), etc.
• Add alternative stamp variables: stamp.created.on, stamp.created.by, stamp.modified.on, stamp.modified.by, etc., if necessary
• Additional control values for the revision variable, for example: change the value of the revision variable without affecting the values of other variables
• All changes made through the revision variable will be conditional on enabling the override variable