SID-00551: wondering if twiki is right for my situation/needs

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	4.3.2	Perl version:	N A
Category:	CategoryPerformance	Server OS:	linux	Last update:	16 years ago

I am looking for a wiki that I don't have to program to have it work as a library of articles.....

I would like all articles (submitted by our members) to appear under the proper category title in a side bar as links. I need this functionality to happen easily for those posting articles (non-techies). Maybe offering a drop down list of categories that the submitter has to pick from in order to save a new entry, or some other fail safe.

I would like members to be able to attach images to their articles easily - brows, load and go.

I would like members to be notified if a new article is added or an old one updated.

My thinking was to find a wiki already kind of set up for this type of use, so I wouldn't have to design this functionality from the wiki up.

I've found them for blogs, forums and such uses, but not a simple library. This set-up could also work much like creating a community help file system, or other on going documentation.

I expect the categories and links in the side-bar to grow and always show. There should be easy searching of the library of articles.

I am sure Twiki can do this, but I don't want to create this functionality from scratch. So are there plugins, or add-ons or a template that would give me the functionality I seek mostly out of the box?

I don't want to reinvent the wheel, someone has to have done this already....

Your wisdom on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you ~

-- JamiEllis - 2009-10-05

Discussion and Answer

This looks like a typical application for TWiki. You do not need any additional plugin, this is simple TML "programming". Here is how I would approach it:

1. Create a form (see TWikiForms) that defines the meta-data you want to track per article. For example, for this support question (see bottom) you have Status, Title, SupportCategory, etc.

2. Add the form you defined to the WebTopicEditTemplate of your TWiki web that contains the articles.

3. Create a form where your users can submit a new article. Compare to AskSupportQuestion in this Support forum.

4. Customize the WebLeftBar of your web to show articles sorted by category. You can do that with a FormattedSearch (see also VarSEARCH)

-- PeterThoeny - 2009-10-09

Closing this question after more than 30 days of inactivity. Feel free to reopen if needed. Consider engaging one of the TWiki consultants if you need timely help. We invite you to get involved with the community, it is more likely you get community support if you support the open source project!

-- PeterThoeny - 2009-11-23

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