Feedback on NetgrepPlugin

Why this plugin?

Because it is a pain to have to click on links just to check whether externally linked document have changed. We have been spoiled by wikis' abilities to show latest changes and it is about time to start having that feature on linked documents too. When i was hacking HeadlinesPlugin code the other day, it occured to me that it could do what i wanted with very few modifications. It proved correct - grabbing URL and caching code in Netgrep is left as it is in the Headline plugin.

Further ideas for development

1. provide table with default filters, per domain, so that tag can be much shorter
2. automating display of new and updated icons next to each link when appropriate i.e when a document
   • update is not older than X days ( gets displayed)
   • has been created within last X days ( gets displayed)
3. use HTTP header If-Modified-Since to improve effeciency
   • this would allow efficient updates of cached information with a minimum amount of transaction overhead
   • see http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.25

-- ToniPrug - 17 Jul 2005

This plugin sounds like a great idea! However, the doco could be improved, and maybe a screenshot of the expected result (if plugin were installed) could be added. That would give users a better feel for what to expect if they installed this plugin. Given the wide variety of web sites a number of examples would be helpful....

-- ThomasWeigert - 17 Jul 2005

Good idea! Thanks for sharing this Plugin with the growing TWiki community!

Small suggestion: How about renaming the filter parameter to pattern to align it with the parameter naming of other variables?

I made some smaller changes to the Plugin topic, feel free to take that into the next release.

How about measuring and documenting the PluginBenchmarks?

-- PeterThoeny - 17 Jul 2005

• benchmarks added (i'll add my toughts on benchmarking at PluginBenchmarkAddOnDev)
• document improved with visible results and better testing plugin section

I'll add more examples as i continue to use the plugin myself.

As to filer/pattern naming suggestion. I originaly named it pattern. The reason for renaming is to bring regular expressions one step closer to non-technical, or html level, user. In the same way like Total Page History on this skin makes much more sense to non-technical end user than it was previously the case. So, should we try to name pluing parameters according to what makes sense to english speaking non-technical users? If YES, i believe that filter is a better option. However, i'm open to be convinced otherwise and to change it back to pattern.

-- ToniPrug - 18 Jul 2005

checked .zip into CVS

-- WillNorris - 19 Jul 2005

Hi Peter, I made an update to this Plugin using then FilterPlugin from MichaelDaum as a new base. How can I send you this code ?

-- ThomasFreudenberg - 13 Jul 2006

Thanks Thomas for working on this. This Plugin has a PleaseFeelFreeToModify policy, so please feel free to package and upload the new version to the NetgrepPlugin topic. If you want to use SVN please read the relevant topics linked from ReadmeFirst.

-- PeterThoeny - 14 Jul 2006

Thanks for uploading the new version. Could you also update the NetgrepPlugin topic text with the latest version, and update the form?

-- PeterThoeny - 14 Jul 2006

I have this in my webpage: %NETGREP{href="..." filter="(telephoneNumber)\|([\S]+)" format="+1+" }%

I get this: 86-28-xxxxxxx-xxxx

But I really want is this: 86-28-xxxxxxxx-xxx

How can remove the dress put on to the result by Netgrep plugin?

-- GreenLaw - 15 Nov 2006

I updated this plugin in a internal twiki site:

• Add nake option (nake = "(yes|no|true|false)" default to "no")
• If (nake ~= /(yes|true)/i) then no dress is put on the result returned

I don't know if this change can be put in the next version of this plugin.

-- GreenLaw - 16 Nov 2006

Hi Green, if you post your patch lines here (diff -Naur) then I will include this to next update. Btw. I am looking forward if this plugin will be still usefull. Take a look at %INCLUDE{} and MichaelDaum FilterPlugin. It seems, that the other plugins still realize what someone needs (maybe the caching option is only extra). But nevertheless, please bring up your patch.

-- ThomasFreudenberg - 17 Nov 2006