Documentation of the TWiki Implementation (version 04 Sep 2004 $Rev: 1742 $)

• (1) Wiki Username vs. Login Username
• (2) Wiki Templates
• (3) Wiki Variables
• (4) Notification of Changes by Email
• (5) TWiki Category Table
• (6) Implementation Notes
• (7) Installation Notes
• (8) Upgrading Earlier Versions to TWiki 01 Mai 2000

Related Topics: TWikiWeb^?, TWikiHistory, TWikiPlannedFeatures, TWikiEnhancementRequests.

TWiki Username vs. Login Username

This section applies only if your netfrag.org is installed on a server that is both authenticated and on an intranet.

netfrag.org internally manages two usernames: Login username and TWiki username.

• Login username: When you login to the intranet, you use your existing login username, ex: pthoeny. This name is normally passed to netfrag.org by the REMOTE_USER environment variable. netfrag.org uses this name internally to log topic changes. Login usernames are maintained by your system administrator.
• TWiki username: This is your name in WikiNotation, ex: PeterThoeny, recorded when you register in TWikiRegistration; doing so also generates your personal home page in the Main web of your TWiki site.

netfrag.org can map the intranet username to the Wiki username automatically, provided that the Login username and Wiki username pair has been entered in the TWikiUsers topic. This happens automatically when you register.

NOTE: To correctly enter a WikiName - your own or someone else's - be sure to specify the Main web in front of the Wiki username: write Main.WikiUsername or %MAINWEB%.WikiUsername. This assures that the name will be linked automatically to the netfrag.org.Main web, where user registration pages are stored, even if the text is entered in a different netfrag.org web.

-- PeterThoeny - 16 May 2001

TWiki Templates

Definition of the templates used to render all HTML pages displayed in TWiki

Overview

The new modular template system offers flexible, easy control over the layout of all TWiki pages. The master template approach groups parts that are shared by several templates - like headers and footers - in a common file. Special variables allow individual layouts to include parts from a master template - variables are mixed with regular HTML mark-up for template-specific content. Templates are used to define page layout, and also to supplydefault content for new pages.

Major changes from the previous template system

Where the old templates were each complete HTML documents, the new templates are defined using variables to include template parts from a master file. You can now change one instance of a common element to update all occurrences; previously, every affected template had to be updated. This simplifies the conversion of templates into XHTML format, and provides a more versatile solution for templates and for TWikiSkins. The new system:

• separates a set of common template parts into a base template that is included by all of the related templates;
• defines common variables, like a standard separator (ex: "|"), in the base template;
• defines variable text in the individual templates and passes it back to the base template.

Functional Specifications

• Special template directives (or preprocessor commands) are embedded in normal templates.
• Use of template directives is optional, templates work without them.
• All template preprocessing is done in &TWiki::Store::readTemplate() so that the caller simply gets an expanded template file (the same as before).
• Directives are of the form %TMPL:<key>% and %TMPL:<key>{"attr"}%.
• Directives:
  • %TMPL:INCLUDE{"file"}%: Includes a template file. The template directory of the current web is searched first, then the templates root (twiki/templates).
  • %TMPL:DEF{"var"}%: Define a variable. Text between this and the END directive is not returned, but put into a hash for later use.
  • %TMPL:END%: Ends variable definition.
  • %TMPL:P{"var"}%: Prints a previously defined variable.
• Variables are live in a global name space, there is no parameter passing.
• Two-pass processing, so that you can use a variable before declaring it or after.
• Templates and TWikiSkins work transparently and interchangeably. For example, you can create a skin that overloads just the twiki.tmpl, like twiki.print.tmpl, that redefines the header and footer.
• NOTE: The template directives work only for templates, they do not get processed in topic text.

TWiki Master Template

All common parts are defined in a master template, twiki.tmpl, that all other templates use.

Template variable:	Defines:
%TMPL:DEF{"sep"}%	"|" separator
%TMPL:DEF{"htmldoctype"}%	Start of all HTML pages
%TMPL:DEF{"standardheader"}%	Standard header (ex: view, index, seach)
%TMPL:DEF{"simpleheader"}%	Simple header with reduced links (ex: edit, attach, oops)
%TMPL:DEF{"standardfooter"}%	Footer, excluding revision and copyright parts
%TMPL:DEF{"oops"}%	Skeleton of oops dialog

Types of Template

There are two types of templates:

• HTML Page Templates: Defines layout of netfrag.org pages
• Template Topics: Defines default text when you create a new topic

HTML Page Templates

netfrag.org uses HTML template files for all actions like topic view, edit, preview and so on. This allows you to change the look and feel of all pages by editing just some template files.

The template files are in the twiki/templates directory. As an example, twiki/templates/view.tmpl is the template file for the twiki/bin/view script. Templates can be overloaded per web. The following search order applies:

1. twiki/templates/$webName/$scriptName.tmpl
2. twiki/templates/$scriptName.tmpl

Note: $webName is the name of the web (ex: Main), and $scriptName is the script (ex: view).

Note: TWikiSkins can be defined to overload the standard templates.

Special variables are used in templates, especially in view, to display meta data.

Template Topics

Template topics define the default text for new topics. There are three types of template topics:

Topic Name:	What it is:
WebTopicViewTemplate	Help text shown when you view a non existing topic.
WebTopicNonWikiTemplate	Help text shown when you view a non existing topic that has not a WikiName.
WebTopicEditTemplate	Default text shown when you create a new topic.

1. The topic name specified by the templatetopic CGI parameter.
2. WebTopicEditTemplate in the current web.
3. WebTopicEditTemplate in the TWiki web.

Template Topics in Action

Here is an example for creating new topics based on a specific template topic:

Above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag of name "templatetopic" specifies the ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic. Here is the HTML source of the form:

<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH%/edit%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%WEB%/">
   * New example topic: 
     <input type="text" name="topic" value="ExampleTopic%SERVERTIME{$yearx$mox$day}%" size="23" />
     <input type="hidden" name="templatetopic" value="ExampleTopicTemplate" />
     <input type="hidden" name="onlywikiname" value="on" />
     <input type="submit" value="Create" />
     (date format is <nop>YYYYxMMxDD)
</form>

The "onlywikiname" parameter enforces WikiWords for topic names.

Note: Use can use the %WIKIUSERNAME% and %DATE% variables in your topic templates as the signature; those variables are expanded when a new topic is created. The standard topic signature is:
-- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE%

Templates by Example

Attached is an example of an oops base template oopsbase.tmpl and a example oops dialog oopstest.tmpl which is based on the base template. NOTE: This isn't the release version, just a quick, simple demo.

Base template oopsbase.tmpl

The first line declares the delimiter variable called "sep", used to separate multiple link items. The variable can be called anywhere by writing %TMPL:P{"sep"}%

%TMPL:DEF{"sep"}% | %TMPL:END% <html> <head> <title> %WIKITOOLNAME% . %WEB% . %TOPIC% %.TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</title> <base href="%SCRIPTURL%/view%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%"> <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%" rowspan="2" valign="top" width="1%"> <a href="%WIKIHOMEURL%"> <img src="%PUBURLPATH%/wikiHome.gif" border="0"></a> </td> <td> <b>%WIKITOOLNAME% . %WEB% . </b><font size="+2"> <B>%TOPIC%</b> %TMPL:P{"titleaction"}%</font> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%"> <td colspan="2"> %TMPL:P{"webaction"}% </td> </tr> </table> --- ++ %TMPL:P{"heading"}% %TMPL:P{"message"}% <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"> <tr bgcolor="%WEBBGCOLOR%"> <td valign="top"> Topic <b>%TOPIC%</b> . { %TMPL:P{"topicaction"}% } </td> </tr> </table> </body>

Test template oopstest.tmpl

Each oops template basically just defines some variables and includes the base template that does the layout work.

%TMPL:DEF{"titleaction"}% (test =titleaction=) %TMPL:END% %TMPL:DEF{"webaction"}% test =webaction= %TMPL:END% %TMPL:DEF{"heading"}% Test heading %TMPL:END% %TMPL:DEF{"message"}% Test =message=. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... * Some more blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah... * Param1: %PARAM1% * Param2: %PARAM2% * Param3: %PARAM3% * Param4: %PARAM4% %TMPL:END% %TMPL:DEF{"topicaction"}% Test =topicaction=: [[%WEB%.%TOPIC%][OK]] %TMPL:P{"sep"}% [[%TWIKIWEB%.TWikiRegistration][Register]] %TMPL:END% %TMPL:INCLUDE{"oopsbase"}%

Sample screen shot of oopstest.tmpl

With URL: .../bin/oops/Test/TestTopic2?template=oopstest&param1=WebHome&param2=WebNotify

Known Issues

• A drawback of referring to a master template is that you can only test a template from within TWiki, where the include variables are resolved. In the previous system, each template is a structurally complete HTML document with a .tmpl filename extension - it contains unresolved %VARIABLES%, but can still be previewed directly in a browser.

-- PeterThoeny - 23 Jul 2001
-- MikeMannix - 14 Sep 2001

TWiki Variables

Text strings expanded on the fly to display data or system info

Overview

TWikiVariables are text strings - %VARIABLE% - that expand into content whenever a page is opened. Variables are replaced by their actual values: stored data, or system info (like the date, or the current user). There are predefined variables, and Preference variables that you set. You can also define custom variables, with new names and values.

Predefined Variables

Most predefined variables return values that were either defined when TWiki was installed, or taken from server info (like current username, or date and time). Many of the variables let you control how the formatted results appear.

netfrag.org expands the following variables (enclosed in % percent signs):

[1] Note: The search form uses identical names for input fields.

[2] Note: A web can be excluded from a web="all" search if you define a NOSEARCHALL=on variable in its WebPreferences.

Preferences Variables

Additional variables are defined in the preferences ( site-level ( SL ) in TWikiPreferences, web-level ( WL ) in WebPreferences of each web, and user level ( UL ) preferences in individual user topics):

Setting Preferences

• The syntax for Preferences variables is the same anywhere in TWiki. In Edit mode, from the start of a new line:
  [6 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [value]
  Example:
  • Set VARIABLENAME = value

Creating Custom Variables

• You can add your own preference variables for an entire site, a single web, or a single topic, using the standard syntax. Whatever you include in your variable will be expanded on display, and treated exactly as if it had been written out. So you can place formatted text, page links, image paths.

Example: Create a custom logo variable

• To place a logo anywhere in a web by typing %MYLOGO%, simply define the variable on the web's WebPreferences page. You also have to upload logo.gif - this can be done by attaching a file to LogoTopic (any topic name you choose):
  • Set MYLOGO = %PUBURL%/%MAINWEB%/LogoTopic/logo.gif

-- PeterThoeny - 13 Sep 2001
-- MikeMannix - 30 Nov 2001

Note: This feature has been replaced by: TWikiForms

TWiki System Requirements

Server and client system requirements for TWiki 01-Sep-2001

Overview

Maintaining minimum client and server requirements is necessary to keep TWiki deployment as broad as possible.

Server Requirements

TWiki is written in Perl 5, uses a number of shell commands, and requires RCS (Revision Control System), a GNU Free Software package. TWiki is developed in a basic Linux/Apache environment. It also works with Microsoft Windows, and should have no problem on any other platform that meets the requirements:

Current documentation covers Linux only. A TWikiOnWindows installation guide is next.

Client Requirements

The TWiki standard installation has extremely low browser requirements:

• HTML 3.2 compliant
• generates XHTML 1.0 pages that are compatible with HTML 3.2
• minimal use of JavaScript in the user interface (degrades gracefully)
• no cookies
• no CSS

You can easily add capabilities, through customizing the templates, for one, while tailoring the browser requirements to your situation.

Known Issues

• The new TWikiPlugins feature currently does not have compatibility guidelines for developers. Plugins can require just about anything: browser-specific functions, stylesheets (CSS), DHTML, Java applets, cookies.

-- MikeMannix - 15 Sep 2001

• Back up your system.
• Update the templates in the /templates directory (and its subdirs):
  • Take the templates of the latest distribution as the base and merge your changes back into it.
• Update the Perl scripts in the /bin directory:
  • Take the scripts of the latest distribution as the base and merge your changes back into it. Do so also for wikicfg.pm because it has important changes as well.
• Update topics:
  • Copy the new Main. TWikiPreferences^? topic (and *,v file) into your TWiki.Main web. Customize the topic to your needs.
  • Copy the new Main. WebPreferences, WebStatistics topics (and *,v files) into all your webs. Customize all WebPreferences topics to your needs (e.g. web color).
  • Copy WebSearch into all your webs, or modify the existing ones. Reason: Some switches for search changed.
  • Copy the TWiki documentation into your Main web: Topics TWikiDocumentation, TWikiUsernameVsLoginUsername, TWikiVariables, WebNotification^?, TWikiCategoryTable, TWikiImplementationNotes, TWikiInstallationGuide, TWikiUpgradeTo01May2000, TextFormattingRules, TWikiHistory .
  • Copy the registration topic into your Main web:
    • In case you are on an Intranet: Copy topic TWikiRegistration to Main.TWikiRegistration. Customize if needed.
    • In case you are on a public server: Copy topic TWikiRegistrationPub to Main.TWikiRegistration. Customize if needed.
  • Copy the Main. TWikiWebsTable topic (and *,v file) into your Main web and customize it. Reason: The new release does not use the *.inc include files anymore.
  • Optionally: Search for %INCLUDE%'s in all your webs and change them to the new %INCLUDE{"file.ext"}% syntax. Note: Your old %INCLUDE:"file.ext"% syntax still works (the legacy rule is defined in wikicfg.pm .)
• Add the PoweredByTWikiLogo to your netfrag.org home page.

-- PeterThoeny^? - 28 Apr 2000