Last updated Oct 3, 2024

Confluence objects accessible from Velocity

Confluence has a few distinct Velocity contexts for different purposes in the application (user macros, email templates, and exports), but the most commonly used context is called the "default context".

Velocity usage guidelines for plugins

To detect deprecation and code change breakages during compilation time, it is recommended that, where possible, you add functionality that calls Confluence code in your plugin Java code (that is, actions or components) rather than in a Velocity template. Additionally, this makes your application more secure by not exposing complex objects on the Velocity context which can be leveraged by attackers in the event of an SSTI vulnerability.

You can call any method on your plugin action from Velocity with $action.getComplicatedCustomObject() instead of putting complicated logic in your Velocity template.

For example, if your plugin needs a calculated list of particular pages to display in the Velocity template, you should do the following:

  1. Inject a PageManager into your action class by using constructor injection (more information on dependency injection).
  2. In your action's execute() method, retrieve the desired pages using the pageManager object and store them in a field in your class called calculatedPages.
  3. Add a getCalculatedPages() method to your action, which returns the list of pages.
  4. To get the calculated pages from the action and display them, use $action.calculatedPages.

You should NOT perform data updates or any mutations directly from Velocity templates and it will often be blocked; they should be used purely as a view layer.

Default Velocity context

The following list highlights the most important entries in the default Velocity context. You can get a full list by calling ConfluenceVelocityManager.getConfluenceVelocityContext(). The default Velocity context is used for templates rendered by:

  • Struts Actions
  • Macros
  • Email notifications (with additions - see below)
  • User macro (with additions - see below)

Variable

Description

$action

The current Struts Action

Class Reference: Struts Action class, usually a subclass of ConfluenceActionSupport

$i18n

$i18n.getText() should be used for plugin internationalization.

Class Reference: I18NBean

$dateFormatter

Provides a date and time formatter suitable for the exporting user's locale and environment.

Class Reference: DateFormatter

$request

The current servlet request object (if available)

Class Reference: HttpServletRequest

$request.contextPath

The current context path. Used for creating relative URLs:

1
2
<a href="$request.contextPath/dashboard.action">Dashboard</a>

Class Reference: String

$response

The current servlet response object (avoid accessing in Velocity)

Class Reference: HttpServletResponse

$globalSettings

Current global settings configuration

Class Reference: Settings

$generalUtil

A general utility object containing miscellaneous helpful methods

Class Reference: VelocityUtil

$htmlUtil

Provides methods for HTML and URL encoding

Class Reference: HtmlUtil

$authenticatedUser

The currently authenticated user, or null if unauthenticated

Class Reference: ConfluenceUser

$userAccessor

For retrieving users, groups and checking membership

Class Reference: UserAccessor

$permissionHelper

Can be used to check permissions, but it is recommended that you check permission in your action

Class Reference: PermissionHelper

User macro Velocity context

User macros have a Velocity context, which may include any of the above and some additional entries specific to the user macros. See Guide to user macro templates for a list of the latter.

Email notifications using Velocity context

Starting from Confluence 5.2, Soy templates are used instead of Velocity for email notifications.

When you customise the Velocity templates for Confluence email notifications, you can use the following items in addition to the default context.

Variable

Description

Class Reference

$stylesheet

Default stylesheet CSS contents

String

$contextPath

Same as $request.contextPath in the default context

String

$subject

The email notification subject

String

$renderContext

Notification render context

RenderContext

$report

Daily report (only for digest notifications)

ChangeDigestReport

$showDiffs

Whether this notification should include diffs

boolean

$showFullContent

Whether this notification should include full page content

boolean

$diff

Diff for the notification, if enabled

ConfluenceDiff

Export Velocity context

The export context does not include any of the values from the default context. See Available Velocity contexts in exporters for a complete list.

Rate this page: