TWiki-6.0.2 Released - Better Usability, Better App Platform

TWiki-6.0.2 is released, shipped through the virtual door! This is a patch release that brings some usability enhancements, such as easier installation, and strengthens TWiki as an application platform. The release also fixes a number of bugs, including SecurityAlert-CVE-2014-9325 and SecurityAlert-CVE-2014-9367.

The new release can be downloaded from TWiki.org and SourceForge.net. The TWiki-VM has not yet been updated.

TWiki's user base consists of millions of users on tens of thousands of installations in over 130 countries, backed by an open source community of hundreds of contributors and 68,000 twiki.org users.

The TWiki community worked hard on this release. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to this release. Special kudos to Hideyo Imazu and Morgan Stanley team for making the open source TWiki scalable to very large deployments! In all, 99 people are listed in the Jerusalem Hall of Fame. Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

Here are a few feature highlights:

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Search Attachments in a Web:

Each web has now a new WebSearchAttachments topic to search attachments.

To retrofit existing webs after a TWiki upgrade, copy the WebSearchAttachments topic from the _default web to your existing webs.

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Easier TWiki installation with Pre-installed CGI Module:

Newer Linux distributions do not contain the CPAN:CGI module, and if it does, it may have incompatible changes. The newer CGI module is a moving target. TWiki now includes a suitable CGI module to make the TWiki installation easier.

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Improved TWiki Application Platform:

TWiki applications are a wonderful part of TWiki. They help automate workflows at your workplace. As a Structured Wiki, TWiki has a built-in database - use some TML (TWiki Markup Language) to write custom web applications that run in TWiki pages. Add some HTML and JavaScript/jQuery to the mix, and you get sexy looking and usable web applications.

TWiki-6.0 has many feature enhancements that make the Structured Wiki aspect of TWiki more accessible to your user base. The blog post How to Create a TWiki Application is a tutorial to get started. It has been updated with some of the TWiki-6.0 specific features.

For example, TWiki Forms are now auto-detected. You no longer need to declare them in a WEBFORMS setting in the WebPreferences. The form selection has been moved from the edit screen into the "more topic actions" screen to reduce the odds of a user accidentally adding/changing/removing a form.

It is now much easier to create custom forms by using the new EDITFORMFIELD variable.

The SpreadSheetPlugin has been enhanced and now offers 123 functions. The latest addition is support for list (array) variables. Noteworthy is also the support for hash variables, which you can use to store data structures for use in reports. For example, in a formatted search that queries a contact database, you can temporarily store the name, title, address and phone of contacts in hash variables, and then display the data in any format to want. A single search to retrieve and store content performs much better than multiple formatted searches.

Want to create applications with social media features? TWiki has now a number of User Reports available to show user data in various formats.

The pre-installed SetGetPlugin now supports JSON objects. You can SET e.g. save a JSON object, then GET the object, or part of an object with a JSON path. This brings flexibility and power to TWiki applications. Get the details in blog post Setting and Getting JSON Objects using JSON Path.

We also created a number of new plugins to support you when you create TWiki applications. For example, install the new IfThenActionPlugin to automate your workflows with conditional actions. Get an overview in blog post Automate Workflows with If-Then-Actions.

These are just a few of the features that make TWiki a better application platform.

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More Feature Highlights of TWiki-6.0.0, TWiki-6.0.1 and TWiki-6.0.2:

• Usability Enhancements
  • Add dashboards to Web home topics
  • Categorize TWiki variables & add TWiki Variables wizard
  • Upgrade to TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor to version 3.5.8
  • New TOPICTITLE variable for non-WikiWord topic titles
  • Show topic title in square bracket links using [[+TopicName]] syntax
  • Icon bullet lists: Specify any TWiki doc graphics icon as a bullet
  • WebSearch and WebChanges has now search result pagination
  • WebChanges shows topic age instead of topic date
  • Auto-discover TWikiForms, e.g. no need to set in WEBFORMS preferences setting
  • Move change TWiki Form from edit screen to "more" screen
  • Show link to older versions of attachments in attachment table
  • Automatically link @Twitter handles
  • Add comment section to new topic template
  • Copy/clone topic function in more topic action screen
  • Configurable signatures with profile pictures
  • Open external links in new browser window or tab; show external link icon
  • Drag and drop file attachments - PatternSkin to integrate DropzoneJSSkin - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • Add drag and drop to change profile picture screen - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • Responsive multi-column page layout using CSS using TWOCOLUMNS...ENDCOLUMNS - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • Search attachments in a web with new WebSearchAttachments topic to all webs - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • Easier TWiki installation by adding Perl CGI module to TWiki core distribution - added in TWiki-6.0.2

• Scalability Enhancements
  • Read-only and mirror web support for distributed TWiki sites
  • MetadataRepository for site metadata and web metadata to speed up operations across many webs
  • Rename topic operation with option to not replace web internal references
  • Rename web operation can cope with a large site and read-only/mirror webs
  • Introducing web-level administrator for higher web autonomy; web specific WIKIWEBMASTER
  • Support for multiple disk drives for data and pub directories

• TWiki Application Platform Enhancements
  • New EDITFORMFIELD variable to easily create custom forms to create/change topics with TWiki Forms
  • Add rev parameter to FORMFIELD variable
  • New combobox TWiki Form field type
  • New ENTITY variable to entity encode content
  • New CHILDREN variable to show topic children added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • Add createdate, default, encode parameters to SEARCH variable
  • SEARCH variable with sort by parent feature
  • SEARCH variable extended to make results pagination possible
  • SEARCH: Search with sort by multiple fields - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SEARCH: Sort by parent breadcrumb - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SEARCH: Control over formfield rendering in a formatted SEARCH - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • Add encode, newline, nofinalnewline, allowanytype to INCLUDE variable
  • Add subwebs and depth parameters to WEBLIST variable
  • Add section parameter to ADDTOHEAD variable
  • Add encode and decode functions to TWiki::Func
  • Add LWP parameters to TWiki::Func::getExternalResource
  • Conditional Skin based on group membership and other criteria
  • Finer-control variable expansion in topic creation
  • Add topic parameter to VAR variable to get settings defined in another topic
  • Add raw parameter to INCLUDE variable to include a topic in the raw mode
  • New csv encode type for ENCODE variable - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • ENCODE variable with new type="json" parameter to escape a string for JSON use - added in TWiki-6.0.2

• Security Enhancements
  • Support for an implicit "all users" group
  • Empty DENY setting means undefined setting
  • Dynamic access control (experimental)
  • Upgrade support for secure email notification
  • Restrict HTTP variable to not reveal certain header fields
  • User masquerading to check if access restriction is working as expected for another user
  • Disable XSS Protection for JavaScript

• Extensions Enhancements
  • Add new WatchlistPlugin to core and deprecate MailerContrib
  • Add new TWikiDashboardAddOn to core distribution
  • Add new ScrollBoxAddOn to core distribution
  • Add new DatePickerPlugin to core and deprecate JSCalendarContrib
  • Add new MovedSkin to core distribution
  • SpreadSheetPlugin supports hash variables with new functions GETHASH(), HASH2LIST(), HASHCOPY(), HASHEACH(), HASHEXISTS(), HASHREVERSE(), LIST2HASH(), SETHASH(), SETMHASH()
  • SpreadSheetPlugin adds new functions BIN2DEC(), DEC2BIN(), DEC2HEX(), DEC2OCT(), HEX2DEC(), OCT2DEC()
  • SpreadSheetPlugin supports quoted parameters with '''triple quotes'''
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: New functions ADDLIST(), GETLIST(), SETLIST() - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: FORMAT(CURRENY, ...) with support for currency symbol - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Allow newlines and indent around functions and function parameters; allow newlines in triple-quoted strings - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: New functions EQUAL(), NOTE(), RANDSTRING() - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • InterwikiPlugin to observe the links configuration parameter
  • TablePlugin: Possible to add TML (TWiki markup) with newlines in TWiki table cells
  • TagMePlugin with support for multiple tag namespaces
  • PatternSkin: New hideInPrint CSS class to hide specific content from printing - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • PatternSkin: Show history and other topic actions in read-only skin mode - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • SetGetPlugin: SET and GET with support for JSON objects and JSON path - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • SetGetPlugin: Ability to specify store name to persistently store variables - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • SetGetPlugin: Use file locking on persistent store to prevent corrupting the store - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • JQueryPlugin: JQTAB enhancements: Show blue link instead of red on hover over tab; make tab css overridable; remove dotted underline below tab; active tabs with gray gradient - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • JQueryPlugin: Option to load tab content asynchronously; select specific tab in jQuery tab pane; allow tab panes in bullet lists & TWiki table cells; allow HTML in tab title - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • WatchlistPlugin: Don't notify oneself when watching topics; set minor change when updating watchlist topic - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • WatchlistPlugin: Watch all topics in web and watch new topics in web; fix for mod_perl - added in TWiki-6.0.1

• Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
  • CGI Engine to be made Fast CGI compatible
  • Empty IF condition to be regarded valid and false
  • Add seconds to the timestamp in debug/log/warn
  • Viewing topic text with variables expanded
  • WEBLIST canmoveto and cancopyto
  • Add viewRedirectHandler callback to plugins API
  • No such topic, no such web, access denied are done right
    • Return "404 Not Found" status for topic not found instead of 200 OK status
    • Return "404 Not Found" status and show "No Such Web" page title for no such web without redirecting to an oops URL titled "Access Denied"
    • Return "403 Access Denied" status for access denied without redirecting to an oops URL whose status code is "200 OK"
  • Statistics enhancements to show most viewed webs, most updated webs, most popular webs, top viewers, # of unique users who viewed, saved, and uploaded on the web/site, affiliation breakdown
  • Specifying webs to be excluded from WebStatistics update
  • Statistics topics can be annualized to e.g. WebStatistics2013, WebStatistics2014. This prevents statistics topics from growing indefinitely
  • For paragraphs generate <p>...</p> instead of <p/>
  • 20 new TWikiDocGraphics icons
  • 16 new TWikiDocGraphics icons - added in TWiki-6.0.1
  • 5 new TWikiDocGraphics icons - added in TWiki-6.0.2
  • New COPY, REG, TM variables for copyright, registered trademark and trademark symbols, respectively - added in TWiki-6.0.1

To learn more:

• Read the TWiki-6.0 release notes
• Curious how the latest TWiki looks like? See some TWikiScreenshots.

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How You Can Help: Spread the Word!

Word of mouth is an effective way to spread TWiki - we appreciate your help tremendously! More exposure means more contributions, and a better system! Please spread the word in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs etc. You can point your connections to this blog post at http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Blog/BlogEntry201511x1 - short link http://bit.ly/twRel602

Sample tweet you could use:

New TWiki-6.0.2 released for enterprise collaboration & apps: Get. Work. Done. http://bit.ly/twRel602 #socbiz #enterprise #wiki

TWiki keeps getting better and better thanks to the community. Please let us know in the comments below what you think of this new release!

Peter Thoeny - founder of TWiki.org

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