Markup format

[adambadura]

In my JIRA (6.3) macros and alike constructs are entered as XML.

For example here is internal JIRA link:

<ac:link ac:anchor="{my anchor}">
  <ri:page ri:content-title="{my page}"/>
  <ac:plain-text-link-body><![CDATA[{my link text}]]></ac:plain-text-link-body>
</ac:link>

while ToC in a single-column section looks like this:

<ac:structured-macro ac:name="section">
  <ac:rich-text-body>
    <ac:structured-macro ac:name="column">
      <ac:rich-text-body>
        <ac:structured-macro ac:name="toc">
          <ac:parameter ac:name="printable">false</ac:parameter>
          <ac:parameter ac:name="maxLevel">1</ac:parameter>
          <ac:parameter ac:name="type">flat</ac:parameter>
        </ac:structured-macro>
      </ac:rich-text-body>
    </ac:structured-macro>
  </ac:rich-text-body>
</ac:structured-macro>

Yet when browsing online documentation I see mostly markup using {} syntax. For example:

{local-reporter:prefix:key}
  {xxx-sort:prefix:subkey|order=[ascending, descending]}
  {xxx-filter:prefix:subkey|extra parameters go here}
{local-reporter}

Is one of the approaches prefered over the other? Is it a matter of choice or given JIRA version (or setup) enforces one over the other? As I noticed that during typing when I add for example {csv a list shows offering "CSV (Comma Separated Values)" macro and when I choose it XML content is entered instead of the {} format.

[Guilherme Nedel [Atlassian] · Accepted solution]

Hello Adam, Confluence has been through major chances regarding the markup, passing from the wiki markup syntax to a XHTML based markup. Today it is still possible to insert information in Wiki Markup format through the application toolbar, it also has autocomplete features for that syntax - the underlying format is printed into the database as XHTML - reference doc here.

Currently, most of the documentation from the application is recycled for new versions, the team works diligently creating new versions to match the current functionality though you may see portions like the above where functionality is still depicted in wiki markup. We look into having pages like this where both markup examples can be seen.

For additional information and detail on the changes, this is a good blogpost. Hope this can make it clearer.