TWiki Reference Manual (01 Feb 2003)

This page contains all documentation topics as one long, complete reference sheet.
Doubleclick anywhere to return to the top of the page.

Note: Read the most up to date version of this document at http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/TWikiDocumentation

Related Topics: TWikiSite, TWikiHistory, TWikiPlannedFeatures, TWikiEnhancementRequests

TWiki System Requirements

Server and client requirements for TWiki 01-Feb-2003

Low client and server requirements are core features that keep TWiki widely deployable, particularly across a range of browser platforms and versions.

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.

Required Server Environment
Resource Unix Windows*
Perl 5.005_03 or higher (5.6.1 recommended,
5.8.0 not recommended yet, see TWiki:Codev.UsingPerl58OnRedHat8)
Non-standard Perl modules Net::SMTP (or sendmail) Net::SMTP, MIME::Base64, Digest::SHA1
RCS 5.7 or higher (including GNU diff)
Optional, but the all-Perl RCS replacement is not currently recommended for live sites - see TWiki:Codev.RcsLite.
GNU diff GNU diff 2.7 or higher is required when not using the all-Perl RcsLite.
Install on PATH if not included with RCS (check version with diff -v)
Other external programs ls, fgrep, egrep
Cron/scheduler cron cron equivalents
Web server Apache 1.3 is well supported; Apache 2.0 is not recommended yet (see TWiki:Support.FailedAuthenticationWithApache2OnWinNT).
For other servers, CGI support, authentication, extended path required

ALERT! * Current documentation mainly covers Linux and Apache installations. See WindowsInstallCookbook for a Windows installation guide. See TWiki:Codev.TWikiOn for help with installation on various platforms including Unix, MacOS X, Apache mod_perl, web hosts, etc.

Client Requirements

The TWiki standard installation has extremely low browser requirements:

You can easily add functionality, by customizing TWikiTemplates, for one, while tailoring the browser requirements to your situation.

Known Issues

-- MikeMannix - 12 Jan 2002

TWiki Installation Guide

Installation instructions for the TWiki 01-Feb-2003 production release. Update notes for the new RCS configuration are marked Dataframework.

These installation steps are based on the Apache web server on Linux. TWiki runs on other web servers and Unix systems, and should be fine with any web server and OS that meet the system requirements. Documentation for other platforms is somewhat limited:

Standard Installation

Request and download the TWiki 01-Feb-2003 distribution in Unix ZIP format from http://TWiki.org/download.html. Please review the AdminSkillsAssumptions before you install TWiki.

Step 1: Create & Configure the Directories

ALERT! NOTE: If you don't have access to your Web server configuration files - for example, if you're installing on an ISP-hosted account, or you don't have administrator privileges on your intranet server - use the alternative Step 1 instead.

Example httpd.conf entries: 
 ScriptAlias /twiki/bin/ "/home/httpd/twiki/bin/"
 Alias /twiki/ "/home/httpd/twiki/"
 <Directory "/home/httpd/twiki/bin">
    Options +ExecCGI
    SetHandler cgi-script
    Allow from all
 </Directory>
 <Directory "/home/httpd/twiki/pub">
    Options FollowSymLinks +Includes
    AllowOverride None
    Allow from all
 </Directory>
 <Directory "/home/httpd/twiki/data">
    deny from all
 </Directory>
 <Directory "/home/httpd/twiki/templates">
    deny from all
 </Directory>

Step 1 for Non-Root Accounts

To install TWiki on a system where you don't have Unix/Linux root (administrator) privileges, for example, on a hosted Web account or an intranet server administered by someone else:

TWiki dir: What it is: Where to copy: Example:
twiki start-up pages root TWiki dir /home/smith/twiki/
twiki/bin CGI bin CGI-enabled dir /home/smith/twiki/bin
twiki/lib library files same level as twiki/bin /home/smith/twiki/lib
twiki/pub public files htdoc enabled dir /home/smith/twiki/pub
twiki/data topic data dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/data
twiki/templates web templates dir secure from public access /home/smith/twiki/templates

If you are not able to create the twiki/lib directory at the same level as the twiki/bin directory (e.g. because CGI bin directories can't be under your home directory and you don't have root access), you can create this directory elsewhere and edit the setlib.cfg file in the bin directory: 

    # -------------- Change these settings if required

    $twikiLibPath = '/some/other/path/lib';   # Path to lib directory containing TWiki.pm

You can also edit $localPerlLibPath in the setlib.cfg file if you are not root and need to install additional CPAN modules, but can't update the main Perl installation files on the server. Just set this variable to the full pathname to your local lib directory, typically under your home directory.

Step 2: Set File Permissions 

cd twiki/data
perl -pi~ -e 's/nobody:/www-data:/' */*,v

Step 3: Set the Main Configuration File

Step 4: Configure Site-Wide Email Preferences

Step 5: Finish Up from Your Browser

That's it for the standard virgin installation of TWiki. Read on for server-level customization options.

Additional Server-Level Options

With your new TWiki installation up and running, you can manage most aspects of your site from the browser interface. Only a few functions require access to the server file system, via Telnet or FTP. You can make these server-level changes during installation, and at any time afterwards.

Enabling Authentication of Users

That's it for a basic new web set-up!

Optionally, you can also:

ALERT! NOTE: User home topics are located in the TWiki.Main web - don't try to move them or create them in other webs. From any other web, user signatures have to point to TWiki.Main web, using a Main.UserName or %MAINWEB%.UserName format. (The %MAINWEB% variable is an advantage if you ever change the Main web name, but the standard Main.UserName is easier for users to enter, which is the bottom line!

TWiki File System Info

See Appendix A: TWiki File System for an installed system snapshot and descriptions of all files in the TWiki 01-Sep-2001 distribution.

-- PeterThoeny - 28 Dec 2002
-- MikeMannix - 16 May 2002

Windows Install Cookbook

Introduction

This cookbook is intended to get you up and running with TWiki on Windows quickly, with as few problems as possible. The 'cookbook' approach is simply to restrict the many choices that someone installing TWiki must make, so that a reasonably well-defined procedure can be followed - new users can simply follow the steps, while experts can use this as more of a guideline. Please read TWiki:Codev.WindowsModPerlInstallCookbook in case you use mod_perl.

There is a huge volume of existing material on TWiki about installing on Windows, and I'm indebted to the many contributors for this - the aim of this cookbook is to synthesise the many tips into a recipe that works.

-- RichardDonkin - 24 Feb 2002

Recent updates

Scope

This document covers installation of the TWiki -1-Feb-2003 production release in the following environment - if you want to use a different environment, feel free to use this as a guideline only.

Component Name, version Comment
Operating System Windows 2000 Should also work for Windows NT
Web Server Apache 1.3.26 Windows-specific security holes fixed in this build
(check latest version at http://httpd.apache.org, but don't use Apache 2.0 yet)
Unix tools Cygwin 1.3.9 Simplest way to get a whole set of required tools
Perl Cygwin perl-5.6.1-2 Comes with Cygwin
RCS Cygwin rcs-5.7-2 Comes with Cygwin, includes a file corruption bugfix

Why this choice of packages? Because I've tried them, and they work well, without requiring a complicated setup... In particular, Apache is the commonest choice for TWiki on Unix/Linux, Cygwin Perl is very close to Unix Perl, and the Cygwin RCS is regularly updated, with a recent TWiki-relevant bug fix in Feb 2002. Cygwin also lets you install the Unix tools, Perl and RCS in a single step, saving quite a lot of time.

More recent minor versions should be OK, but they can introduce bugs.

NEW Major version upgrades, such as Apache 2.0 and Perl 5.8, are very likely to cause problems - for example, Apache 2.0 is unable to authenticate (see TWiki:Support.FailedAuthenticationWithApache2OnWinNT) users created by the current TWiki user registration script (due to a feature being removed in 2.0), and Perl 5.8 may introduce issues due to its Unicode features. Even though the Apache group says that Apache 2.0 is the best version, that's not true for TWiki.

Alternatives

There are doubtless other combinations of components that may work - in particular:

Covering the whole range of additional possibilities, particularly web servers, would make this cookbook too complex, and is best handled as a separate activity.

Checking versions

If you already have some of these add-ons installed, here's how to check the versions - this assumes you have TWiki:Codev.CygWin already installed: 

   $ : Cygwin DLL version is the number in 1.3.x format
   $ uname -r
   $ less c:/your-apache-dir/Announcement
   $ perl -v
   $ rcs -V

If you have an older version of any component, do yourself a favour and upgrade it as part of the install process.

Pre-requisites and upgrades

You will need to have local administrator rights and to be comfortable with Windows administration.

This cookbook is intended for a clean install, i.e. none of these components are already installed. However, since Cygwin and Apache's installation process is fairly upgrade-friendly, upgrades should work as well - take backups of all your data and config files first, though!

Text editing

Editing Cygwin files is best done with an editor that can handle Unix file format (see the Cygwin binary mode section below) - the installation process includes nano, a non-GUI editor, but if you prefer to use a GUI editor, you should first install PFE, a freeware editor that supports Unix format files. PFE is available on download.com and Simtel.

Another good TWiki:Codev.OpenSource editor is SciTE (aka WSciTE), available at http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html.

The Unix/Windows Environment

It's a little known fact that you can use pathnames such as c:/apache almost everywhere in Windows - try it in a File Open dialogue box. The main exception is the Win2000 cmd.exe command line shell - here, you must use double quotes around forward slashes, e.g. dir "c:/apache" will work fine.

The reason this matters is that '\' is a special character to Perl and other tools, so it's much easier to use '/' everywhere.

The Cygwin environment

TWiki:Codev.CygWin is a Unix-like environment for Windows - many of its tools support the c:/apache format, but it also provides a more Unixlike syntax, e.g. /usr/bin/rcs.exe, because some Unix tools ported onto Cygwin only support the Unix format.

When you launch a Cygwin shell, your existing PATH variable is translated from the Windows format to the Unix format, and the ';' separators in the Windows PATH are changed into ':' separators as required by Unix. A Cygwin tool (e.g. Cygwin Perl or Cygwin RCS) will always use the Unix PATH format, and will accept Unix format pathnames.

The Apache environment

Apache runs as a native Windows process and has nothing to do with Cygwin (at least the version used in this cookbook doesn't). Hence it supports c:/ pathnames in its config files and the first line of Perl CGI scripts.

If you need to use spaces in file names (not recommended), put double quotes around the file name in the httpd.conf file. There have been some security-related bugs in Apache with long pathnames, which are a bit more likely if you use spaces, so it's best to just avoid long names and using spaces.

The Perl environment

Once Perl has been launched by Apache, it is in Cygwin mode, and so is everything it launches, including ls, egrep, and RCS tools that it (typically) launches with the bash shell.

If you need to use spaces in file names (not recommended), you may be able to put double quotes around the file name in the TWiki.cfg file - however, it's not clear whether all the TWiki code would work with this.

Installing Components

Enough background, let's get on with the installation.

TWiki (part 1)

Head to http://twiki.org, click the download link, and fill in the form to request a URL for download. You'll get an automated email, which should arrive by the time you need it.

Apache

1. Download Apache

2. Install Apache

3. Test Apache

Congratulations, you now have a working web server!

To restart Apache after changing its config, type:

Another useful command is apache -k stop.

Cygwin, Unix tools, Perl and RCS

4. Install Cygwin

Head to http://cygwin.com, and click the Install Cygwin Now link. Save the setup.exe in a directory, e.g. c:\download\cygwin-dist.

Now run the Cygwin setup.exe file - this will also install Perl and RCS in one fell swoop.

5. Test Cygwin

The Cygwin User Guide is well worth reading for some background on how Cygwin works.

6. Configure Cygwin for binary mode 

   $ mkdir /twiki /c c:/twiki
   $ mount -b -s c:/twiki /twiki
   $ mount -b -s c:/ /c
   $ mount -b -c /cygdrive
   $ mount
   Device              Directory           Type         Flags
   C:\cygwin\bin       /usr/bin            system       binmode
   C:\cygwin\lib       /usr/lib            system       binmode
   C:\cygwin           /                   system       binmode
   c:\twiki            /twiki              system       binmode
   c:                  /c                  system       binmode

This setup is written to the Windows registry, so there's no need to put these commands into a .profile file. For more information on binary vs text mode, see this User Guide section and this FAQ entry.

TWiki (part 2)

7. Download TWiki

Download the latest TWiki release from the URL that PeterThoeny sent you, and save it in the c:/twiki directory.

8. Install TWiki

Unzip the ZIP file under c:/twiki using WinZip, or by going into Cygwin and doing the following - you can hit the TAB key to complete filenames after you've typed the first part: 

   $ cd /twiki
   $ unzip TWiki20011201.zip

Configuring components

Now that all the components are installed, you need to configure them.

Configuring Apache

The setup given here is fairly simple, in that it allows only TWiki to be served by the web server. For more complex setups, you can investigate the Alias and ScriptAlias commands that are left commented out in this configuration.

1. Configure Apache (part 1)

Using a suitable text editor (e.g. Cygwin's 'nano', or the Windows PFE editor, unless you already know 'vi'), edit c:/apache/conf/httpd.conf as follows - this tells Apache where TWiki lives, and removes the need to tinker with the Windows 2000 environment settings. 

# Change this to point to the Apache administrator (e.g. you)
ServerAdmin you@yourdomain.com

# Replaces DocumentRoot "C:/apache/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "C:/twiki"

# Replaces <Directory "C:/apache/htdocs">
<Directory "C:/twiki">



# Alias /twiki/ "C:/twiki/"
# ScriptAlias /twiki/bin/ "C:/twiki/bin/"
<Directory  "C:/twiki/bin/">
    # RD: Changed None to All in next line, to enable .htaccess
    AllowOverride All
    Allow From All
    Options  ExecCGI
    SetHandler cgi-script
</Directory>

# Environment setup required to run Apache as service or as a
# standalone process.
<IfModule mod_env.c>
   # Adjust TZ for your server timezone, e.g. EST5EDT - put the non-daylight-savings
   # timezone code first (e.g. EST or GMT), followed by the number of hours that it's behind GMT 
   # during non-daylight-savings time (use '-5' for timezones in advance of GMT).
   SetEnv TZ GMT0BST
   SetEnv RCSINIT -x,v/
   # Adjust TEMP and TMP for your server and create directories if necessary
   SetEnv TEMP c:/temp
   SetEnv TMP c:/temp
   SetEnv LOGNAME system
   SetEnv HOME c:/twiki
</IfModule>

2. Configure Apache (part 2)

Add an AddHandler line to the <IfModule mod_mime.c> section of httpd.conf - this removes the need to rename all the TWiki CGI scripts later in the installation. 

#
# Document types
#
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
    # TWiki setup - avoid renaming scripts
    AddHandler cgi-script .
</IfModule>

Configuring TWiki

3. Configure TWiki

Edit the TWiki config file, c:/twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg (or in Cygwin terms, /twiki/lib/TWiki.cfg) as follows: 

# variables that need to be changed when installing on a new server:
# ==================================================================
#                   http://TWiki.org/ : link of TWiki icon in upper left corner :
$wikiHomeUrl      = "http://yourdomain.com/bin/view";
#                   Host of TWiki URL :    (Example "http://myhost.com:123")
$defaultUrlHost   = "http://yourdomain.com";
#                   /cgi-bin : cgi-bin path of TWiki URL:
$scriptUrlPath    = "/bin";
#                   /p/pub : Public data path of TWiki URL (root of attachments) :
$pubUrlPath       = "/pub";

# NOTE: Next three settings should be valid absolute pathnames using Cygwin; if using
# TWiki:Codev.ActiveState Perl, use z:/twiki format pathnames if your TWiki directory is not on C:.

#                   Public data directory, must match $pubUrlPath :
$pubDir           = "/twiki/pub";
#                   Template directory :
$templateDir      = "/twiki/templates";
#                   Data (topic files) root directory :
$dataDir          = "/twiki/data";

....

#                   Set ENV{'PATH'} explicitly for taint checks ( #!perl -T option ) :
#                   (Note: PATH environment variable is not changed if set to "")

# On Windows, $safeEnvPath needs only one component, the directory where RCS is installed
# - used by 'rcsdiff' to run 'co' program, so PATH must be correct.

# Unix/Linux setting:
# $safeEnvPath      = "/bin:/usr/bin";

# Using Cygwin perl, so can use Unix-like paths, with ':' as separator.
# Note that /usr/bin and /bin are identical due to default /usr/bin mount
# in Cygwin.  Must NOT use 'c:/foo' type paths, as ':' is taken as separator
# meaning that 'c' is interpreted as a pathname, giving Perl taint error.
$safeEnvPath      = "/bin";

# If using ActiveState perl, use Windows paths instead
# $safeEnvPath      = "c:/cygwin/bin";

...

#                   RCS directory (find out by 'which rcs') :
$rcsDir           = "c:/cygwin/bin";

...

#                   Unix egrep command :
$egrepCmd         = "/bin/grep -E";
#                   Unix fgrep command :
$fgrepCmd         = "/bin/grep -F";

For the cookbook install using Cygwin Perl, there's no more TWiki.cfg editing to be done, so you can get onto the next section. 

#                   NOTE: When using ActiveState Perl, you must specify
#                   a full Windows-style pathname, using '\\' for backslashes,
#                   for the ls, egrep and fgrep commands, because Cygwin's shell
#                   is not used - forward slashes are OK in Windows everywhere
#                   except in the cmd.exe shell. Drive letters are OK - e.g.
#                   'c:\\foo\\ls' will work.  When using Cygwin perl, just
#                   use the default '/bin/ls' type settings.
#
#                   Unix ls command :
$lsCmd            = "c:\\cygwin\\bin\\ls";
#                   Unix egrep command :
$egrepCmd         = "c:\\cygwin\\bin\\grep";
#                   Unix fgrep command :
$fgrepCmd         = "c:\\cygwin\\bin\\grep";

Editing the CGI scripts

4. Editing the Shebang lines

Now to edit the curiously named 'shebang lines' at the top of the TWiki CGI scripts... 

$ cd /twiki/bin

$ ls
attach   geturl         oops     rdiff     save        testenv  viewfile
changes  installpasswd  passwd   register  search      upload
edit     mailnotify     preview  rename    statistics  view

$ mkdir .backup 
$ cp * .backup

$ head -1 view
#!/usr/bin/perl -wT

$ perl -pi~ -e 's;#!/usr/bin/perl;#!c:/cygwin/bin/perl;' *[a-z]

$ head -1 view
#!c:/cygwin/bin/perl -wT

$ ls
attach    geturl          oops      rdiff      save         testenv   viewfile~
attach~   geturl~         oops~     rdiff~     save~        testenv~  view~
changes   installpasswd   passwd    register   search       upload
changes~  installpasswd~  passwd~   register~  search~      upload~
edit      mailnotify      preview   rename     statistics   view
edit~     mailnotify~     preview~  rename~    statistics~  viewfile

If for some reason the edit goes wrong, just type cp .backup/* . (while within the bin directory) to restore the original distribution files. Use ls -a to see the .backup directory, and ls -a .backup to view its contents.

Optional step: you can do 'rm *~' to clean out the backups made by Perl, but that's not essential as all the original files cannot be executed. If you do this, type the command very carefully, as a space after the '*' will wipe out all files in this directory!

5. Minor changes to TWiki scripts

As an interlude, you now need to make some minor edits to files in the c:/twiki/bin directory, using a suitable editor (remember to use nano -w filename if you prefer nano to vi - or just use the Windows PFE editor). 

         return $user . ':{SHA}' . MIME::Base64::encode_base64(Digest::SHA1::sha1($passwd));

Perl module installation

6. Installing required Perl modules

Some additional Perl modules are needed for the register script to work properly. Fortunately, there is an automated tool that makes it easy to do this - it's called cpan, and goes to the Perl module archive site, http://www.cpan.org/, to download all required modules, and then build and install them. Here's what you need to do:

First of all, you need to get the cpan tool configured and working - this is only necessary once. From the Cygwin shell, type the following (putting the export command in ~/.profile is recommended to make this setting persistent). Without the TEMP variable, some modules may fail to install on Windows 2000 and higher. 

$ export TEMP=/c/temp
$ cpan
Lots of questions about configuration and preferences - just hit Enter until you 
get to the questions about mirror sites, but answer the questions about FTP proxies etc
 if you are behind a proxy-based firewall.  The CPAN tool will fetch a series of files, 
some quite large, as part of this setup process, so be patient...

NOTE: If you are behind a non-proxy-based firewall that requires the use of passive FTP, the initial downloads of files using Net::FTP may appear to hang - just wait 5 or more minutes, however, and the CPAN tool should eventually hit on ncftpget, which is part of Cygwin and does work OK. If this doesn't work and you are behind a typical NAT-based firewall, try doing the following at the Cygwin shell before running cpan - this forces Net::FTP to use passive FTP, letting it get through such firewalls: 

$ export FTP_PASSIVE=1
If this works, add this line to your ~/.profile file for future use.

Once some initial files are downloaded, you are asked to select your continent and country, and then mirror sites - just type the number of the mirror sites you want to use (pick a few in case one is down): 

...
(28) Turkey
(29) Ukraine
(30) United Kingdom

Select your country (or several nearby countries) [] 30

(1) ftp://cpan.teleglobe.net/pub/CPAN
(2) ftp://ftp.clockerz.net/pub/CPAN/
(3) ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/CPAN/
(4) ftp://ftp.flirble.org/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/
(5) ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/
(6) ftp://ftp.plig.org/pub/CPAN/
(7) ftp://mirror.uklinux.net/pub/CPAN/
(8) ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/CPAN/
(9) ftp://usit.shef.ac.uk/pub/packages/CPAN/
Select as many URLs as you like,
put them on one line, separated by blanks [] 4 7 8

Enter another URL or RETURN to quit: []
New set of picks:
  ftp://ftp.flirble.org/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/
  ftp://mirror.uklinux.net/pub/CPAN/
  ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/CPAN/

Eventually, you'll get to the CPAN tool's shell prompt, where you need to install a few modules - the tool will do all the work for you. 

cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.59_54)
cpan> install Net::SMTP
May already be installed - if it is, try 'force install', since it's useful to be able to set
firewall and passive FTP configuration when using Net::FTP.  Make sure you answer 'Y' to the question 
about whether you want to configure this package.
cpan> install Digest::SHA1
Lots of output about how CPAN finds, builds and installs the module - watch for 
any errors, though it should work fine if you have installed the Cygwin packages listed above (particularly 'gcc' and 'make').
cpan> install MIME::Base64
May already be installed.

Re-locking RCS files

7. Re-locking files

First, some testing: in your browser, go to http://yourdomain.com/bin/testenv - this provides a lot of detail, including warnings. Write down the Apache server's userid that is given by this script - typically either 'system' or 'administrator' - I'll assume 'system' from now on.

This 'system' user must own the locks on the RCS files, which are shipped with the lock held by 'nobody'. The reason this matters is that no revisions will be tracked by RCS unless the Apache userid matches that of the RCS file locks.

You can re-lock files using rcs -u and rcs -l, but it's a painfully manual process. Instead, just use Perl again to mass-edit all the RCS files, as follows: 

$ cd /twiki/data

$ : Make a backup of all files
$ tar czvf all-files.tar.gz */*

$ : Test edit a single file to check your typing
$ perl -pi~~~ -e 'NR <= 10 && s/nobody:/system:/ ' Main/WebIndex.txt,v

$ diff Main/WebIndex.txt,v Main/WebIndex.txt,v~~~
5c5
<       system:1.2; strict;
---
>       nobody:1.2; strict;

$ : Now edit all the RCS files at once - use cursor-up to recall previous command
$ perl -pi~~~ -e 'NR <= 10 && s/nobody:/system:/ ' */*,v

$ : Check for any remaining files not edited
$ grep 'strict;$' */*,v | grep -v system

$ : Clean up - type this very carefully 
$ rm */*~~~

You have now re-locked all the RCS files and are almost ready to start using TWiki!

Email setup

8. Email setup for notification and registration

You need to set the SMTPMAILHOST to an SMTP email host that is reachable and currently working. Otherwise you'll get a confusing message from TWiki when registering new users or running mailnotify (for WebNotify), along the lines of: 

   Software Error: Can't call method "mail" on an undefined value at ../lib/TWiki/Net.pm line 187.

There are other settings to be made in TWikiPreferences, e.g. the WIKIWEBMASTER and (probably) the SMTPSENDERHOST (normally your mail server or TWiki server). See the TWikiInstallationGuide for more details, what's listed here is just enough to let you run the basic tests.

Testing your TWiki installation

It is important to test your TWiki installation before you release it to other users or put any significant data into it.

Here are the main things to test:

Troubleshooting

If anything doesn't work, go back and check the configuration of the Apache httpd.conf file, and TWiki.cfg. Have a look at the Apache error log, c:/apache/logs/error_log, and the TWiki error log, /twiki/data/log*.txt, and if necessary enable debugging on selected scripts (the commands are right at the top of each script) - the results go into /twiki/data/debug.txt. There is also a /twiki/data/warning.txt file that contains less serious messages.

See TWiki:Codev.TWikiPatches in case there are patches (i.e. specific code changes) for particular problems that may affect you (e.g. TWiki:Codev.ChangePasswordOnWin2K).

If you find that the Index feature doesn't work, or topic name searches fail, you should check you have set $egrepCmd and $fgrepCmd correctly, as mentioned above.

Permissions

TWiki:Codev.CygWin has several models for how it does security:

I have not had any problems with TWiki permissions on Windows, unlike Linux/Unix, which is probably because I'm using the default security model for Cygwin. If you use the other models, you may still be OK if you have local admin rights, and Apache is running as the SYSTEM user (which it uses if started as a service). If you do have trouble in this area, see the TWikiInstallationGuide's advice, some of which will apply to TWiki:Codev.CygWin, and log any issues in TWiki:Codev.WindowsInstallCookbookComments.

Next Steps

See the TWikiInstallationGuide for other setup. In particular, you'll probably want to refer to the section on basic authentication - remember to use c:/twiki type filenames (i.e. Windows format) since you are using Apache for Windows.

Improved authentication

You may want to investigate TWiki:Codev.WindowsInstallModNTLM, which describes how to add an Apache module so that TWiki:Codev.InternetExplorer users are automatically authenticated based on their Windows domain login - this avoids TWiki:Codev.GettingTheUsernameWrong and TWiki:Codev.ForgettingPasswords, which are usually very common among TWiki users.

Improved performance

See TWiki:Codev.WindowsModPerlInstallCookbook and TWiki:Codev.ModPerl for information on installing TWiki under Apache's mod_perl - this is somewhat more complex and follows a different model, so it's best to get some experience with TWiki, Apache and Perl first.

Format of filenames

In your TWiki on Windows installation, it's worth remembering that:

Credits

Material in this cookbook is heavily based on the enormous number of contributions in TWiki:Codev.TWikiOnWindowsArchive and related topics - too many people to thank, but have a look at the contributor list to TWiki:Codev.TWikiOnWindowsArchive to get an idea!

People who've tested or reviewed this document and provided valuable feedback include:

ALERT! Comments welcome at TWiki:Codev.WindowsInstallCookbookComments

-- PeterThoeny - 30 Jan 2003

TWiki Upgrade Guide

Upgrade from the previous TWiki 01-Dec-2001 production release to TWiki 01-Feb-2003

Overview

This guide describes how to upgrade from TWiki 01-Dec-2001 to TWiki 01-Feb-2003. The new version involves several new features and numerous enhancements to the previous version.

Upgrade Requirements

Major Changes from TWiki 01-Dec-2001

Upgrade Procedure from 01-Dec-2001 to 01-Feb-2003 Release

The following steps describe the upgrade assuming that $TWIKIROOT is the root of your current 01-Dec-2001 release. As written this will require some downtime. A process for switching over without downtime is described at the end of this section.

  1. Back up and prepare:
  2. Update files in TWiki root:
  3. Update template files:
  4. Update script files:
  5. Update library files:
  6. Update data files:
  7. Adapt the other webs (all other than TWiki and _default):
  8. Update pub files:
  9. Update TWikiPreferences to authorize users to create webs:
  10. Verify installation:

Note: These steps assume a downtime during the time of upgrade. You could install the new version in parallel to the existing one and switch over in an instant without affecting the users. As a guideline, install the new version into $TWIKIROOT/bin1, $TWIKIROOT/lib1, $TWIKIROOT/templates1, $TWIKIROOT/data/TWiki1 (from data/TWiki), $TWIKIROOT/pub/TWiki1 (from pub/TWiki), and configure TWiki.cfg to point to the same data and pub directory like the existing installation. Once tested and ready to go, reconfigure $TWIKIROOT/bin1/setlib.cfg and $TWIKIROOT/lib1/TWiki.cfg, then rename $TWIKIROOT/bin to $TWIKIROOT/bin2, $TWIKIROOT/bin1 to $TWIKIROOT/bin. Do the same with the lib, templates and data/TWiki directories.

Known Issues

-- PeterThoeny - 01 Feb 2002
-- MartinRaabe? - 15 Jan 2003

TWiki User Authentication

TWiki site access control and user activity tracking options

TWiki does not authenticate users internally, it depends on the REMOTE_USER environment variable. This variable is set when you enable Basic Authentication (.htaccess) or SSL "secure server" authentication (https protocol).

TWiki uses visitor identification to keep track of who made changes to topics at what time and to manage a wide range of personal site settings. This gives a complete audit trail of changes and activity.

Authentication Options

No special installation steps are required if the server is already authenticated. If it isn't, you have three standard options for controlling user access:

  1. Forget about authentication to make your site completely public - anyone can browse and edit freely, in classic Wiki mode. All visitors are assigned the TWikiGuest default identity, so you can't track individual user activity.
  2. Use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer; HTTPS) to authenticate and secure the whole server.
  3. Use Basic Authentication (.htaccess) to control access by protecting key scripts: attach, edit=, installpasswd, preview, rename, save, upload using the .htaccess file. The TWikiInstallationGuide has step-by-step instructions.

Partial Authentication

Tracking by IP address is an experimental feature, enabled in lib/TWiki.cfg. It lets you combine open access to some functions, with authentication on others, with full user activity tracking:

Quick Authentication Test - Use the %WIKIUSERNAME% variable to return your current identity:

TWiki Username vs. Login Username

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

TWiki internally manages two usernames: Login Username and TWiki Username.

TWiki can automatically map an Intranet (Login) Username to a TWiki Username, provided that the username pair exists in the TWikiUsers topic. This is also handled automatically when you register.

NOTE: To correctly enter a WikiName - your own or someone else's - be sure to include the Main web name in front of the Wiki username, followed by a period, and no spaces. Ex:
Main.WikiUsername or %MAINWEB%.WikiUsername
This points WikiUser to the TWiki.Main web, where user registration pages are stored, no matter which web it's entered in. Without the web prefix, the name appears as a NewTopic? everywhere but in the Main web.

Changing Passwords

Change and reset passwords using forms on regular pages. Use TWikiAccessControl to restrict use as required.

Change password

Forgot your old password? Then use ResetPassword instead. Please only use ResetPassword in case you really forgot your password. Thank you.

Your WikiName: **
Old password: **
New password: **
Retype new password: **
     (Fields marked ** are required)

After submitting this form your password will be changed.

Request for reset of password

Please only use this ResetPassword form in case you really forgot your password. Otherwise just change it using ChangePassword. Thank you.

Your WikiName: **
New password: **
Retype new password: **
     (Fields marked ** are required)

After submitting this form you will see a page with your new password appearing encrypted.

-- MikeMannix - 19 May 2002

TWiki Access Control

Restricting read and write access to topics and webs, by Users and groups

TWikiAccessControl allows you restrict access to single topics and entire webs, by individual user and by user Groups, in three areas: view; edit & attach; and rename/move/delete. Access control, combined with TWikiUserAuthentication, lets you easily create and manage an extremely flexible, fine-grained privilege system.

An Important Control Consideration

Open, freeform editing is the essence of WikiCulture - what makes TWiki different and often more effective than other collaboration tools. For that reason, it is strongly recommended that decisions to restrict read or write access to a web or a topic are made with care - the more restrictions, the less Wiki in the mix. Experience shows that unrestricted write access works very well because:

As a collaboration guideline:

Users and Groups

Access control is based on the familiar concept of Users and Groups. Users are defined by their WikiNames. They can then be organized in unlimited combinations by inclusion in one or more user Groups. For convenience, Groups can also be included in other Groups.

Managing Users

A user can create an account in TWikiRegistration. The following actions are performed:

Users can be authenticated using Basic Authentication (htaccess) or SSL (secure server). In either case, TWikiUserAuthentication is required in order to track user identities, and use User and Group access control.

The default visitor name is TWikiGuest. This is the non-authenticated user.

Managing Groups

Groups are defined by group topics created in the Main web, like the TWikiAdminGroup. To create a new group:

  1. Edit TWikiGroups by entering a new topic with a name that ends in Group. Example:
  2. Set Preferences for two Variables in the new group topic:

Restricting Write Access

You can define who is allowed to make changes to a web or a topic.

Deny Editing by Topic

Denying editing of a topic also restricts file attachment; both privileges are assigned together.

Deny Editing by Web

Restricting web-level editing blocks creating new topics, changing topics or attaching files.

The same rules apply as for restricting topics, with these additions:

Restricting Rename Access

You can define who is allowed to rename, move or delete a topic, or rename a web.

Deny Renaming by Topic

To allow a user to rename, move or delete a topic, they also need write (editing) permission. They also need write access to change references in referring topics.

Deny Renaming by Web

You can define restrictions of who is allowed to rename a TWiki web.

The same rules apply as for topics, with these additions:

Restricting Read Access

You can define who is allowed to see a web.

Deny Viewing by Topic

ALERT! Technically it is possible to restrict read access to an individual topic based on DENYTOPICVIEW / ALLOWTOPICVIEW preferences variables, provided that the view script is authenticated. However this setup is not recommended since all content is searchable within a web - a search will turn up view restricted topics.

Deny Viewing by Web

You can define restrictions of who is allowed to view a TWiki web. You can restrict access to certain webs to selected Users and Groups, by:

Obfuscate Webs

The idea is to keep a web hidden by not publishing its URL and by preventing the all webs search option from accessing obfuscated webs. Do so by enabling the NOSEARCHALL variable in WebPreferences:

This setup can be useful to hide a new web until content its ready for deployment.

ALERT! Obfuscating webs is insecure, as anyone who knows the URL can access the web.

Authenticate all Webs and Restrict Selected Webs

Use the following setup to authenticate users for topic viewing in all webs and to restrict access to selected webs:

  1. Restrict view access to selected Users and Groups. Set one or both of these variables in its WebPreferences topic:
  2. Hide the web from an "all webs" search. Enable this restriction with the NOSEARCHALL variable in its WebPreferences topic:
  3. Add view to the list of authenticated scripts in the .htaccess file.

HELP This method only works if the view script is authenticated, which means that all Users have to login, even for read-only access. (An open guest account, like TWikiGuest, can get around this, allowing anyone to login to a common account with, for example, view-only access for public webs.) TWikiInstallationGuide has more on Basic Authentication, using the .htaccess file.

Authenticate and Restricting Selected Webs Only

Use the following setup to provide unrestricted viewing access to open webs, with authentication only on selected webs:

  1. Restrict view access to selected Users and Groups. Set one or both of these variables in its WebPreferences topic:
  2. Hide the web from an "all webs" search. Enable this restriction with the NOSEARCHALL variable in its WebPreferences topic:
  3. Enable the $doRememberRemoteUser flag in lib/TWiki.cfg as described in TWikiUserAuthentication. TWiki will now remember the IP address of an authenticated user.
  4. Copy the view script to viewauth (or better, create a symbolic link)
  5. Add viewauth to the list of authenticated scripts in the .htaccess file. The view script should not be listed in the .htaccess file.

When a user accesses a web where you enabled view restriction, TWiki will redirect from the view script to the viewauth script once (this happens only if the user has never edited a topic). Doing so will ask for authentication. The viewauth script shows the requested topic if the user could log on and if the user is authorized to see that web.

ALERT! Authenticating webs is not very secure, as there is a way to circumvent the read access restriction. It can be useful in certain situations - for example, to simplify site organization and clutter, by hiding low traffic webs - but is not recommended for securing sensitive content.

Hiding Control Settings

TIP To hide access control settings from normal browser viewing, place them in comment markers.

<!--
   * Set DENYTOPICCHANGE = Main.SomeGroup
-->

The SuperAdminGroup

By mistyping a user or group name in the ALLOWTOPICCHANGE setting, it's possible to lock a topic so that no-one can edit it from a browser. To avoid this, you can create Web-based superusers: 

$superAdminGroup = "TWikiAdminGroup";

-- PeterThoeny - 04 May 2002
-- MikeMannix - 12 May 2002

TWiki Text Formatting

Working in TWiki is as easy as typing in text - exactly like email. You don't need to know HTML, though you can use it if you prefer. Links to topics are created automatically when you enter WikiWords. And TWiki shorthand gives you all the power of HTML with a simple coding system that takes no time to learn. It's all layed out below - refer back to this page in a pop-up window from the Edit screen.

TWiki Editing Shorthand

Formatting Command: Example: You write: You get:
Paragraphs:
Blank lines will create new paragraphs. 
1st paragraph

2nd paragraph
1st paragraph

2nd paragraph

Headings:
At least three dashes at the beginning of a line, followed by plus signs and the heading text. One plus creates a level 1 heading (most important), two pluses a level 2 heading; the maximum is level 6. Note: A Table of Content can be created automatically with the %TOC% variable, see TWikiVariables. Any heading text after !! is excluded from the TOC; for example, write ---+!! text if you do not want to list a header in the TOC. 
---++ Sushi

---+++ Maguro

Sushi

Maguro
Bold Text:
Words get bold by enclosing them in * asterisks. 
*Bold*
Bold
Italic Text:
Words get italic by enclosing them in _ underscores. 
_Italic_
Italic
Bold Italic:
Words get _bold italic by enclosing them in _ double-underscores. 
__Bold italic__
Bold italic
Fixed Font:
Words get shown in fixed font by enclosing them in = equal signs. 
=Fixed font=
Fixed font
Bold Fixed Font:
Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in double equal signs. 
==Bold fixed==
Bold fixed
Note: Make sure to "stick" the * _ = == signs to the words, that is, take away spaces. 
_This works_,
_this not _
This works, _this not _
Verbatim Mode:
Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags.
Note: Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want that HTML code is interpreted.
Note: Each tag must be on a line by itself. 
<verbatim>
class CatAnimal {
  void purr() {
    <code here>
  }
}
</verbatim>

class CatAnimal {
  void purr() {
    <code here>
  }
}
Separator:
At least three dashes at the beginning of a line. 
-------
List Item:
Three spaces and an asterisk. 
   * bullet item
  • bullet item
Nested List Item:
Six, nine, ... spaces and an asterisk. 
      * nested stuff
    • nested stuff
Ordered List:
Three spaces and a number. 
   1 Sushi
   1 Dim Sum
  1. Sushi
  2. Dim Sum
Definition List:
Three spaces, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition.
Note: Terms with spaces are not supported. In case you do have a term with more then one word, separate the words with dashes or with the &nbsp; non-breaking-space entity. 
   Sushi: Japan
   Dim&nbsp;Sum: S.F.
Sushi
Japan
Dim Sum
S.F.
Table:
Optional spaces followed by the cells enclosed in vertical bars.
Note: | *bold* | cells are rendered as table headers.
Note: |   spaced   | cells are rendered center aligned.
Note: |     spaced | cells are rendered right aligned.
Note: | 2 colspan || cells are rendered as multi-span columns.
Note: In case you have a long row and you want it to be more readable when you edit the table you can split the row into lines that end with a '\' backslash character. 
| *L* | *C* | *R* |
| A2 |  2  |  2 |
| A3 |  3  |  3 |
| multi span |||
| A4 | next | next |
L C R
A2 2 2
A3 3 3
multi span
A4 next next
WikiWord Links:
CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically.
Note: In case you want to link to a topic in a different TWiki web write Webname.TopicName. 
WebNotify

Know.ReadmeFirst
WebNotify

ReadmeFirst

Forced Links:
You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets.
Note: Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; for example, [[text formatting FAQ]] links to topic TextFormattingFAQ. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors. 
[[wiki syntax]]

[[Main.TWiki users]]
wiki syntax

Main.TWiki users

Specific Links:
Create a link where you can specify the link text and the link reference separately, using nested square brackets like [[reference][text]]. Internal link references (e.g. WikiSyntax) and external link references (e.g. http://TWiki.org/) are supported.
Note: The same Forced Links rules apply for internal link references.
Note: For external link references, you can simply use a space instead of ][ to separate the link URL from the descriptive text.
Note: Anchor names can be added as well, like [[WebHome#MyAnchor][go home]] and [[http://gnu.org/#Action][GNU Action]]. 
[[WikiSyntax][syntax]]

[[http://gnu.org][GNU]]

[[http://xml.org XML]]
syntax

GNU

XML

Anchors:
You can define a link reference inside a TWiki topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To define an anchor write #AnchorName at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a WikiWord. To link to an anchor name use the [[MyTopic#MyAnchor]] syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic. 
[[WebHome#NotThere]]

[[#MyAnchor][Jump]]

#MyAnchor To here
WebHome#NotThere

Jump

To here

Prevent a Link:
Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with the <nop> tag. 
<nop>SunOS
SunOS
Disable Links:
You can disable automatic linking of WikiWords by surrounding text with <noautolink> and </noautolink> tags.
Note: Each tag must be on a line by itself.
Note: This also works for TWiki tables, but only if you add a blank line between the end of the table and the closing </noautolink> tag (known issue of the TablePlugin). 
 <noautolink>
 RedHat &
 SuSE
 </noautolink>
RedHat & SuSE
Mailto: Links:
To create 'mailto:' links that have more descriptive link text, specify subject lines or message bodies, or omit the email address, you can write [[mailto:user@domain descriptive text]]. 
[[mailto:a@z.com Mail]]

[[mailto:?subject=Hi Hi]]
Mail

Hi

Using HTML

You can use just about any HTML tag without a problem - however, there are a few usability and technical considerations to keep in mind.

HTML and TWiki Usability

TWiki HTML Rendering

Hyperlinks

Being able to create links without any formatting required is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords. New TWiki linking rules are a simple extension of the syntax that provide a new set of flexible options.

Internal Links

External Links

TWiki Variables

Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs % that are expanded on the fly.

TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions

Plugins provide additional text formatting capabilities and can extend the functionality of TWiki into many other areas. For example, the optional SpreadSheetPlugin lets you create a spreadsheet with the same basic notation used in TWiki tables.

Available Plugins are located in the Plugins web on TWiki.org. Currently enabled plugins on this TWiki installation, as listed by %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%:

Check on current Plugin status and settings for this site in TWikiPreferences.

Common Editing Errors

TWiki formatting rules are fairly simple to use and quick to type. However, there are some things to watch out for, taken from the TextFormattingFAQ:

-- MikeMannix - 02 Dec 2001
-- PeterThoeny - 01 Feb 2003

TWiki Variables

Special text strings expand on the fly to display user data or system info

TWikiVariables are text strings - %VARIABLE% - that expand into content whenever a page is opened. When a topic is rendered for viewing, VARIABLES are replaced by data, either user-entered, or info automatically generated by TWiki (like the date, or the current username). There are predefined variables, and Preference variables that you configure. You can also define custom variables, with new names and values.

Predefined Variables

Most predefined variables return values that were either set in the lib/twiki.cfg file, when TWiki was installed, or taken from server info (like current username, or date and time). Many of the variables let you format the appearance of the display results.

This version of TWiki - 01 Feb 2003 - expands the following variables (enclosed in % percent signs):

Variable: Expanded to:
%WIKIHOMEURL% The base script URL of TWiki, is the link of the Home icon in the upper left corner, is http://TWiki.org/
%SCRIPTURL% The script URL of TWiki, is http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin
%SCRIPTURLPATH% The path of the script URL of TWiki, is /cgi-bin
%SCRIPTSUFFIX% The script suffix, ex: .pl, .cgi is
%PUBURL% The public URL of TWiki, is http://TWiki.org/p/pub
Example: You can refer to a file attached to another topic as %PUBURL%/%WEB%/OtherTopic/image.gif
%PUBURLPATH% The path of the public URL of TWiki, is /p/pub
%ATTACHURL% The attachment URL of the current topic, is http://TWiki.org/p/pub/TWiki/TWikiVariables
Example: If you attach a file you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif
%ATTACHURLPATH% The path of the attachment URL of the current topic, is /p/pub/TWiki/TWikiVariables
%URLPARAM{"name"}% Returns the value of a URL parameter. Note that there is a low risk that this variable could be misused for cross-scripting. Ex: %URLPARAM{"skin"}% returns print for a .../view/TWiki/TWikiVariables?skin=print URL. Is
%URLENCODE{"string"}% Encodes a string for use as a URL parameter. Ex: %URLENCODE{"spaced name"}% returns spaced%20name
%WIKITOOLNAME% The name of your TWiki site - TWiki
%WIKIVERSION% Your current TWiki version - 01 Feb 2003
%USERNAME% Your login username - guest
%WIKINAME% Your Wiki username. Same as %USERNAME% if not defined in the TWikiUsers topic. Is TWikiGuest
%WIKIUSERNAME% Your %WIKINAME% including the Main web name - always use full signatures - Main.TWikiGuest
%MAINWEB% The web containing TWikiUsers, OfficeLocations and TWikiGroups is Main
%TWIKIWEB% The web containing all documentation and site-wide preference settings for TWiki - TWiki
%WEB% The current web is TWiki
%BASEWEB% The web name where the includes started, e.g. the web of the first topic of nested includes. Same as %WEB% in case there is no include.
%INCLUDINGWEB% The web name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as %WEB% if there is no INCLUDE.
%HOMETOPIC% The home topic in each web - WebHome
%NOTIFYTOPIC% The notify topic in each web - WebNotify
%WIKIUSERSTOPIC% The index topic of all registered users - TWikiUsers
%WIKIPREFSTOPIC% The site-wide preferences topic - TWikiPreferences
%WEBPREFSTOPIC% The local web preferences topic in each web - WebPreferences
%STATISTICSTOPIC% The web statistics topic WebStatistics
%TOPIC% The current topic name - TWikiVariables
%BASETOPIC% The name of the topic where a single or nested INCLUDE started - same as %TOPIC% if there is no INCLUDE.
%INCLUDINGTOPIC% The name of the topic that includes the current topic. Same as %TOPIC% in case there is no include.
%SPACEDTOPIC% The current topic name with added spaces, for regular expression search of Ref-By, is TWiki%20*Variables
%TOPICLIST{"format"}% Topic index of a web. The "format" defines the format of one topic item. It may include variables: The $name variable gets expanded to the topic name; the $web variable gets expanded to the name of the web. Parameters are format, separator and web:
Parameter: Description: Default:
"format" Format of one line, may include $name and $web variables "$name"
format="format" (Alternative to above) "$name"
separator=", " line separator "\n" (new line)
web="Name" Name of web Current web
Examples:
%TOPICLIST{"   * $web.$name"}% creates a bullet list of all topics.
%TOPICLIST{separator=", "}% creates a comma separated list of all topics.
%TOPICLIST{" <option>$name</option>"}% creates an option list (for drop down menus).
%WEBLIST{"format"}% Web index, ex: list of all webs. Hidden webs are excluded, e.g. webs with a NOSEARCHALL=on preference variable. The "format" defines the format of one web item. The $name variable gets expanded to the name of the web, $qname gets expanded to double quoted name, $marker to marker where web matches selection. Parameters are format, separator and web:
Parameter: Description: Default:
"format" Format of one line, may include $name variable "$name"
format="format" (Alternative to above) "$name"
separator=", " line separator "\n" (new line)
webs="public" comma sep list of Web, public expands to all non-hidden "public"
marker="selected" Text for $marker where item matches selection, otherwise equals "" "selected"
selection="%WEB%" Current value to be selected in list section="%WEB%"
Examples:
%WEBLIST{"   * [[$name.WebHome]]"}% creates a bullet list of all webs.
%WEBLIST{"<option $marker value=$qname>$name</option>" webs="Trash,public" selection="TWiki" separator=" "}% Dropdown of all public Webs + Trash Web, current Web highlighted.
%GMTIME% GM time, is Sun Feb 2 02:45:08 2003
%GMTIME{"format"}% Formatted GM time based on time variables.
Variable: Unit: Example
$seconds seconds 59
$minutes minutes 59
$hours hours 23
$day day of month 31
$month month in ISO format Dec
$mo 2 digit month 12
$year 4 digit year 1999
$ye 2 digit year 99
Variables can be shortened to 3 characters. Example:
%GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}% is
02 Feb, 2003 - 02:45:08
%SERVERTIME% Server time, is Sat Feb 1 18:45:08 2003
%SERVERTIME{"format"}% Formatted server time.
Example: %SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}% is 18:45
%HTTP_HOST% HTTP_HOST environment variable, is
%REMOTE_ADDR% REMOTE_ADDR environment variable, is
%REMOTE_PORT% REMOTE_PORT environment variable, is
%REMOTE_USER% REMOTE_USER environment variable, is
%INCLUDE{"page" ...}% Server side include to IncludeTopicsAndWebPages:
Parameter: Description: Default:
"SomeTopic" The name of a topic located in the current web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"WebNotify"}%  
"Web.Topic" A topic in another web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%  
"http://..." A full qualified URL, i.e. %INCLUDE{"http://twiki.org/"}%  
pattern="..." A RegularExpression pattern to include a subset of a topic or page none
rev="1.2" Include a previous topic revision; N/A for URLs top revision
%STARTINCLUDE% If present in included topic, start to include text from this location up to the end, or up to the location of the %STOPINCLUDE% variable. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the %STARTINCLUDE% variable itself.
%STOPINCLUDE% If present in included topic, stop to include text at this location and ignore the remaining text. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the %STOPINCLUDE% variable itself.
%TOC% Table of Contents of current topic.
%TOC{"SomeTopic" ...}% Table of Contents. Shows a TOC that is generated automatically based on headings of a topic. Headings in WikiSyntax ("---++ text") and HTML ("<h2>text</h2>") are taken into account. Any heading text after "!!" is excluded from the TOC; for example, write "---+!! text" if you do not want to list a header in the TOC. Parameters are topic name, web and depth:
Parameter: Description: Default:
"TopicName" topic name Current topic
web="Name" Name of web Current web
depth="2" Limit depth of headings shown in TOC 6
Examples: %TOC{depth="2"}%, %TOC{"TWikiDocumentation" web="TWiki"}%
%SEARCH{"text" ...}% Inline search, shows a search result embedded in a topic. Parameters are the search term, web, scope, order and many more: [1]
Parameter: Description: Default:
"text" Search term. Is a regular expression or literal, depending on the regex parameter. For regular expressions ";" is used to mean and e.g. "search;agrep" will find all topic containing search and agrep. required
search="text" (Alternative to above) N/A
web="Name"
web="Main Know"
web="all" 		Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or all webs. [2] Current web
scope="topic"
scope="text" 		Search topic name (title) or in the text (body) of the topic Topic text (body)
order="topic"
order="modified"
order="editby"
order=
 "formfield(name)" 		Sort the results of search by the topic names, last modified time, last editor, or named field of TWikiForms Sort by topic name
limit="all"
limit="16" 		Limit the number of results returned All results
regex="on" RegularExpression search; also enables ";" as and Literal search
reverse="on" Reverse the direction of the search Ascending search
casesensitive="on" Case sensitive search Ignore case
nosummary="on" Show topic title only Show topic summary
bookview="on" BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text Show topic summary
nosearch="on" Suppress search string Show search string
noheader="on" Suppress search header
Topics: Changed: By: 		Show search header
nototal="on" Do not show number of topics found Show number
header="..."
format="..." 		Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage, variables & examples Results in table
Regular example: %SEARCH{"wiki" web="Main" scope="topic"}%
Formatted example: %SEARCH{"FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="| *Topic: * | *Summary: * |" format="| $topic | $summary |"% (displays results in a table with header - details)
HELP If the TWiki:Plugins.TablePlugin is installed, you may set a %TABLE{}% variable just before the %SEARCH{}% to alter the output of a search. Example: %TABLE{ tablewidth="90%" }%
%METASEARCH{...}% Special search of meta data
Parameter: Description: Default:
type="topicmoved" What sort of search is required?
"topicmoved" if search for a topic that may have been moved
"parent" if searching for topics that have a specific parent i.e. its children 		required
web="%WEB%" Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or all webs. required
topic="%TOPIC%" The topic the search relates to required
title="Title" Text that is prepended to any search results required
Example: %METASEARCH{type="topicmoved" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "}%, you may want to use this in WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate
%METASEARCH{type="parent" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="Children: "}%
%VAR{"NAME" web="Web"}% Get a preference value from a web other then the current one. Example: To get %WEBBGCOLOR% of the Main web write %VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR" web="Main"}%, is #FFFFC0

[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):

Variable: Level: What:
%WIKIWEBMASTER% SL Webmaster email address (sender of email notifications) , is webmaster@your.company
%WIKIWEBLIST% SL List of TWiki webs (in upper right corner of topics)
%WEBTOPICLIST% WL Common links of web (second line of topics)
%WEBCOPYRIGHT% SL , WL Copyright notice (bottom right corner of topics)
%WEBBGCOLOR% WL Background color of web
%NOSEARCHALL% WL Exclude web from a web="all" search (set variable to on for hidden webs)
%NEWTOPICBGCOLOR% SL , UL Background color of non existing topic. ( UL needs authentication for topic views )
%NEWTOPICFONTCOLOR% SL , UL Font color of non existing topic. ( UL needs authentication for topic views )
%EDITBOXWIDTH% SL , UL Horizontal size of edit box, is 70
%EDITBOXHEIGHT% SL , UL Vertical size of edit box, is 17
%RELEASEEDITLOCKCHECKBOX% SL , UL Default state of the "Release edit lock" (UnlockTopic) check box in preview. Checkbox is initially checked if Set RELEASEEDITLOCKCHECKBOX = checked="checked", or unchecked if empty. If checked, make sure to click on Edit to do more changes; do not go back in your browser to the edit page, or you risk that someone else will edit the topic at the same time! Value is:
%DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX% SL , UL Default state of the "Minor Changes, Don't Notify" (DontNotify) check box in preview. Check box is initially checked if Set DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX = checked="checked", or unchecked if empty. Value is:
%ATTACHLINKBOX% SL , UL Default state of the link check box in the attach file page. Check box is initially checked if value is set to CHECKED , unchecked if empty. If checked, a link is created to the attached file at the end of the topic. Value is:
%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW% SL http-equiv meta tags for view, rdiff, attach, search* scripts.
%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_EDIT% SL , UL http-equiv meta tags for edit script.
%HTTP_EQUIV_ON_PREVIEW% SL , UL http-equiv meta tags for preview script.
%DENYWEBCHANGE% WL List of users and groups who are not allowed to change topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%ALLOWWEBCHANGE% WL List of users and groups who are allowed to change topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%DENYTOPICCHANGE% (any topic) List of users and groups who are not allowed to change the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%ALLOWTOPICCHANGE% (any topic) List of users and groups who are allowed to change the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%DENYWEBRENAME% WL List of users and groups who are not allowed to rename topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%ALLOWWEBRENAME% WL List of users and groups who are allowed to rename topics in the TWiki web. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%DENYTOPICRENAME% (any topic) List of users and groups who are not allowed to rename the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%ALLOWTOPICRENAME% (any topic) List of users and groups who are allowed to rename the current topic. (More in TWikiAccessControl)
%FINALPREFERENCES% SL , WL List of preferences that are not allowed to be overridden by next level preferences

Note: There are some more useful variables defined in the TWikiPreferences like %BR% for line break, colors like %RED% for colored text and small icons like %H% for a HELP Help icon.

Setting Preferences

Creating Custom Variables

Example: Create a custom logo variable the TWiki web

-- PeterThoeny - 19 Jan 2003
-- MikeMannix - 12 May 2002

File Attachments

Each topic can have one or more files of any type attached to it by using the Attach screen to upload (or download) files from your local PC. Attachments are stored under revision control: uploads are automatically backed up; all previous versions of a modified file can be retrieved.

What Are Attachments Good For?

File Attachments can be used to create powerful customized groupware solutions, like file sharing and document management systems, and quick Web page authoring.

Document Management System

File Sharing

Web Authoring

Uploading Files

Downloading Files

Moving Attachment Files

An attachment can be moved between topics.

Deleting Attachments

It is not possible to delete attached files directly. You can delete a topic, and its attachments with it.

Linking to Attached Files

File Attachment Contents Table

Files attached to a topic are displayed in a directory table, displayed at the bottom of the page, or optionally, hidden and accessed when you click Attach.

Attachment: Action: Size: Date: Who: Comment:
Sample.txt action 30 22 Jul 2000 - 19:37 PeterThoeny Just a sample
Smile.gif action 94 22 Jul 2000 - 19:38 PeterThoeny Smiley face

File Attachment Controls

Clicking on an Action link takes you to a new page that looks like this:

Attachment: Action: Size: Date: Who: Comment: Attribute:
Sample.txt action 30 22 Jul 2000 - 19:37 PeterThoeny Just a sample  
Smile.gif action 94 22 Jul 2000 - 19:38 PeterThoeny Smiley face  

Update attachment Sample.txt

Version: Action: Date: Who: Comment:
1.1 view 2001.08.30.09.28.56 PeterThoeny  

Previous
upload: 		C:\DATA\Sample.txt (PeterThoeny)
Local file:
Comment:
Link: Create a link to the attached file at the end of the topic.
Hide file: Hide attachment in normal topic view.
Help text ...

Topic FileAttachment . { | | Move attachment | Cancel }

Known Issues

TWiki Forms

Form-based input in topics, with name/value pairs stored as Meta Data variables; choose one of multiple forms per web & topic

Overview

By adding form-based input to freeform content, you can structure topics with unlimited, easily searchable categories. When forms are enabled for a web and selected in a topic, a single form appears in edit mode, and the contents are rendered as a table when viewed on the display page. You can define unlimited forms per web. For each topic, you can select a template if more than one is defined, or remove forms entirely. Form input values are stored as TWikiMetaData; all data is saved.

Form Templates replace TWikiCategoryTables from the 01-Dec-2000 version of TWiki.

Main Changes from Category Tables

The Form Template system is a more powerful, flexible replacement for the original TWikiCategoryTable. Data from existing category tables can be imported directly.

Form Templates Category Tables
defined in topics defined in templates
many forms per web one table per web
saved as Meta Data saved as HTML
Change & Add Form buttons UseCategory radio button

Importing Category Table Data

On upgrading from the previous TWiki, a Form Template topic has to be built for each web that used a Category Table, recreating the fields and values from the old twikicatitems.tmpl. The replacement Form Template must be set as the first item in the WebPreferences variable WEBFORMS. If missing, pages will display, but attempting to edit results in an error message.

The new Form Template system should work with old Category Table data with no special conversion. Data is assigned to Meta variables the first time an imported topic is edited and saved in the new system.

TIP NOTE: If things aren't working correctly, there may be useful entries in data/warning.txt.

Defining a Form Template

A Form Template is simply a page containing your form, defined as a table where each row is one form field.

Form Template Elements

Defining a Form in One Topic

  1. Create a new topic with your form name: YourForm, ExpenseReport, InfoCategory, RecordReview, whatever you need.
  2. Create a TWiki table, with each column head representing one element of an entry field: Name, Type, Size, Values, and Tooltip message (see sample below).
  3. For each field, fill in a new line; for the type of field, select from the list.
  4. Save the topic (you can later choose to enable/disable individual forms).

Example: WebForm 
| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | *Values* | *Tooltip message* |
| Know.TopicClassification | select | 1 | Know.NoDisclosure, 
  Know.PublicSupported, Know.PublicFAQ | blah blah... |
| Know.OperatingSystem | checkbox | 3 | Know.OsHPUX, Know.OsLinux,
  Know.OsSolaris, Know.OsWin | blah blah... |
| Know.OsVersion | text | 16 | | blah blah... |

Name Type Size Values Tooltip message
TopicClassification select 1 NoDisclosure, PublicSupported, PublicFAQ blah blah...
OperatingSystem checkbox 3 OsHPUX, OsLinux, OsSolaris, OsWin blah blah...
OsVersion text 16   blah blah...

Defining a Form with Multiple Topics

Forms can also be defined by using form templates that retrieve field values from one or more separate topics:

Example: WebFormTemplate

Enabling Forms by Web

Forms are enabled on a per web basis. The WEBFORMS variable in WebPreferences is optional and defines a list of possible form templates. Example:

Including Forms in New Topics

Setting Up Multiple Form Options

Form Data Storage

The form topic name, fields and values are stored as TWikiMetaData - the order of the field/value pairs is the same as in the template.

Using Form Data

TWikiForms accept user-input data, stored as TWikiMetaData. Meta data also contains program-generated info about changes, attachments, etc. To find, format and display form and other meta data, see TWikiMetaData, SEARCH and METASEARCH variables in TWikiVariables, and TWiki Formatted Search for various options.

-- JohnTalintyre - 16 Aug 2001
-- MikeMannix - 05 Jan 2002

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 markup for template-specific content. Templates are used to define page layout, and also to supply default 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:

How Template Variables Work

Types of Template

There are three types of template:

Master Templates

Common parts, appearing in two or more templates, can be defined in a master template and then shared by others: twiki.tmpl is the default master template.

Template variable: Defines:
%TMPL:DEF{"sep"}% "|" separator
%TMPL:DEF{"htmldoctype"}% Start of all HTML pages
%TMPL:DEF{"standardheader"}% Standard header (ex: view, index, search)
%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

HTML Page Templates

TWiki uses HTML template files for all actions, like topic view, edit, and preview. This allows you to change the look and feel of all pages by editing just a few template files.

Templates 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 by individual webs. The following search order applies:

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

HELP 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 topic:

Topic Name: What it is:
WebTopicViewTemplate Error page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic
WebTopicNonWikiTemplate Alert page shown when you try to view a nonexistent topic with a non-WikiName
WebTopicEditTemplate Default text shown when you create a new topic.
All template topics are located in the TWiki web. The WebTopicEditTemplate can be overloaded. When you create a new topic, TWiki locates a topic to use as a content template according to the following search order:

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

Edit Template Topics and Variable Expansion

The following variables get expanded when a user creates a new topic based on a template topic:

Variable: Description:
%DATE% Current date, e.g. 02 Feb 2003
%WIKIUSERNAME% User name, e.g. Main.TWikiGuest
%URLPARAM{"name"}% Value of a named URL parameter
%NOP% A no-operation variable that gets removed. Useful to prevent a SEARCH from hitting an edit template topic; also useful to escape a variable like %URLPARAM%NOP%{...}%
%NOP{ ... }% A no-operation text that gets removed. Useful to write-protect an edit template topic, but not the topics based this template topic. See notes below. Example:
%NOP{
   * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = Main.TWikiAdminGroup
}%

Notes:

All other variables are unchanged, e.g. are carried over "as is" into the new topic.

Template Topics in Action

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

The above form asks for a topic name. A hidden input tag named templatetopic specifies ExampleTopicTemplate as the template topic to use. Here is the HTML source of the form: 

<form name="new" action="%SCRIPTURLPATH%/edit%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/%INTURLENCODE{"%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.

TIP TIP: You can use the %WIKIUSERNAME% and %DATE% variables in your topic templates to include the signature of the person creating a new topic. The variables are expanded into fixed text when a new topic is created. The standard signature is:
-- %WIKIUSERNAME% - %DATE%

Templates by Example

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

Base template oopsbase.tmpl

The first line declares a 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/Sandbox/TestTopic2?template=oopstest&param1=WebHome&param2=WebNotify

testscreen.gif

Known Issues

-- PeterThoeny - 01 Feb 2003
-- MikeMannix - 14 Sep 2001
-- TWiki:Main/DavidLeBlanc - 11 Mar 2002

TWiki Skins

Skins overlay regular templates with alternate header/footer layouts; topic text is not affected

Overview

Skins are customized TWikiTemplates files. You can use skins to change the look of a TWiki topic, for example, the layout of the header and footer. Rendered text between header and footer does not change. You can also use skins to define an alternate view, like a view optimized for printing.

Defining Skins

Skin files are located in the twiki/templates directory and are named with the syntax: <scriptname>.<skin>.tmpl. For example, the Printable skin for the view template is view.print.tmpl.

Use the existing TWikiTemplates (like view.tmpl) or skin files as a base for your own skin, name it for example view.myskin.tmpl.

Variables in Skins

You can use template variables, TWikiVariables, and other predefined variables to compose your skins. Some commonly used variables in skins:

Variable: Expanded to:
%WIKILOGOURL% Link of page logo
%WIKILOGOIMG% Image URL of page logo
%WIKILOGOALT% Alt text of page logo
%WEBBGCOLOR% Web specific background color, defined in the WebPreferences
%WIKITOOLNAME% The name of your TWiki site
%SCRIPTURL% The script URL of TWiki
%SCRIPTSUFFIX% The script suffix, ex: .pl, .cgi
%WEB% The name of the current web. Note: It is recommended to URL-encode the variable in form actions with %INTURLENCODE{"%WEB%"}% for proper handling in an internationalized environment
%TOPIC% The name of the current topic. Note: It is recommended to URL-encode the variable in form actions with %INTURLENCODE{"%TOPIC%"}% for proper handling in an internationalized environment
%WEBTOPICLIST% Common links of current web, defined in the WebPreferences. It includes a #GoBox
%TEXT% The topic text, e.g. the content that can be edited
%META{"form"}% TWikiForm, if any
%META{"attachments"}% FileAttachment table
%META{"parent"}% The topic parent
%EDITTOPIC% Edit link
%REVTITLE% The revision title, if any, ex: (r1.6)
%REVINFO% Revision info, ex: r1.6 - 24 Dec 2002 - 08:12 GMT - TWikiGuest
%WEBCOPYRIGHT% Copyright notice, defined in the WebPreferences

The "Go" Box and Navigation Box

The %WEBTOPICLIST% includes a "Go" box to jump to a topic. The box also understand URLs, e.g. you can type http://www.google.com/ to jump to an external web site. The feature is handy if you build a skin that has a select box of frequently used links, like Intranet home, employee database, sales database and such. A little JavaScript gets into action on the onSelect method of the select tag to fill the selected URL into the "Go" box field, then submits the form.

Here is an example form that has a select box and the "Go" box for illustration purposes. You need to have JavaScript enabled for this to work:

Bare bones header for demo only
Welcome | Register | Changes | Topics | Index | Search | Go

Packaging and Publishing Skins

See TWiki:Plugins/SkinPackagingHowTo

Activating Skins

A skin can be activated in two ways:

The ?skin=name URL parameter overrides the SKIN Preference value.

-- PeterThoeny - 05 Jan 2003

TWiki Formatted Search Results

Inline search feature allows flexible formatting of search result

The %SEARCH{...}% variable documented in TWikiVariables has a fixed format for the search result, that is, a table consisting of topic names and topic summaries. Use the format="..." parameter to specify a customized format of the search result. The string of the format parameter is typically a bullet list or table row containing variables (such as %SEARCH{ "food" format="| $topic | $summary |" }%).

Syntax

Two parameters can be used to specify a customized search result:

1. header="..." parameter

Use the header parameter to specify the header of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional.
Example: header="| *Topic:* | *Summary:* |"

2. format="..." parameter

Use the format parameter to specify the format of one search hit.
Example: format="| $topic | $summary |"

Variables that can be used in the format string:

Name: Expands To:
$web Name of the web
$topic Topic name
$topic(20) Topic name, "- " hyphenated each 20 characters
$topic(30, -<br />) Topic name, hyphenated each 30 characters with separator "-<br />"
$topic(40, ...) Topic name, shortended to 40 characters with "..." indication
$text Formatted topic text
$locked LOCKED flag (if any)
$date Time stamp of last topic update, like 02 Feb 2003 - 02:45
$isodate Time stamp of last topic update, like 2003-02-02T02:45Z
$rev Number of last topic revision, like 1.4
$wikiusername Wiki user name of last topic update, like Main.JohnSmith
$username User name of last topic update, like JohnSmith
$summary Topic summary
$formfield(name) The field value of a form field; for example, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to PublicFAQ. This applies only to topics that have a TWikiForm
$formfield(name, 10) Form field value, "- " hyphenated each 10 characters
$formfield(name, 20, -<br />) Form field value, hyphenated each 20 characters with separator "-<br />"
$formfield(name, 30, ...) Form field value, shortended to 30 characters with "..." indication
$pattern(reg-exp) A regular expression pattern to extract some text from a topic. For example, $pattern(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the email address from a bullet of format * Email: ....
$n or $n() New line
$nop or $nop() Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search
$quot Double quote ("). Alternatively write \" to escape it
$percnt Percent sign (%)
$dollar Dollar sign ($)

Note: For $pattern(reg-exp), specify a RegularExpression that scans from start to end and contains the text you want to keep in parenthesis, like $pattern(.*?(from here.*?to here).*). You need to make sure that the integrity of a web page is not compromised; for example, if you include a table make sure to include everything including the table end tag.

Examples

Bullet list showing topic name and summary

Write this:

%SEARCH{ "FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="   * *Topic: Summary:*" format="   * [[$topic]]: $summary" }%

To get this:

Table showing form field values of topics with a form

Write this in the Know web:

| *Topic:* | *OperatingSystem:* | *OsVersion:* |
%SEARCH{ "[T]opicClassification.*?value=\"[P]ublicFAQ\"" scope="text" regex="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="| [[$topic]] | $formfield(OperatingSystem) | $formfield(OsVersion) |" }%

To get this:

Topic: OperatingSystem: OsVersion:
IncorrectDllVersionW32PTH10DLL OsWin 95/98
WinDoze95Crash OsWin 95

Extract some text from a topic using regular expression

Write this:

%SEARCH{ "__Back to\:__ TWikiFAQ" scope="text" regex="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="TWiki FAQs:" format="   * $pattern(.*?FAQ\:[\n\r]*([^\n\r]+).*) [[$topic][Answer...]]" }%

To get this:

TWiki FAQs:

Nested Search

Search can be nested. For example, search for some topics, then form a new search for each topic found in the first search. The idea is to build the nested search string using a formatted search in the first search.

Here is an example. Let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (first search), and let's find out where each topic found is linked from (second search).

Write this:

%SEARCH{ "culture" format="   * $topic is referenced by:$n      * $percntSEARCH{ \"$topic\" format=\"   $dollartopic\" nosearch=\"on\" nototal=\"on\" }$nop%" nosearch="on" nototal="on" }%

To get this:

-- PeterThoeny - 16 May 2002

TWiki Meta Data

Additional topic data, program-generated or from TWikiForms, is stored in META variable name/value pairs

Overview

TWikiMetaData uses META variables to store topic data that's separate from the main free-form content. This includes program-generated info like FileAttachment and topic movement data, and user-defined TWikiForms info. Use META variables to format and display Meta Data.

Meta Data Syntax

Example of Format 
%META:TOPICINFO{version="1.6" date="976762663" author="PeterThoeny" format="1.0"}%
   text of the topic
%META:TOPICMOVED{from="Codev.OldName" to="Codev.NewName"
   by="JohnTalintyre" date="976762680"}%
%META:TOPICPARENT{name="NavigationByTopicContext"}%
%META:FILEATTACHMENT{name="Sample.txt" version="1.3" ... }%
%META:FILEATTACHMENT{name="Smile.gif" version="1.1" ... }%
%META:FORM{name="WebFormTemplate"}%
%META:FIELD{name="OperatingSystem" value="OsWin"}%
%META:FIELD{name="TopicClassification" value="PublicFAQ"}%

Meta Data Specifications

The current version of Meta Data is 1.0, with support for the following variables.

META:TOPICINFO

Key Comment
version Same as RCS version
date integer, unx time, seconds since start 1970
author last to change topic, is the REMOTE_USER
format Format of this topic, will be used for automatic format conversion

META:TOPICMOVED

This is optional, exists if topic has ever been moved. If a topic is moved more than once, only the most recent META:TOPICMOVED meta variable exists in the topic, older ones are to be found in the rcs history.

%META:TOPICMOVED{from="Codev.OldName" to="Codev.NewName" by="talintj" date="976762680"}%

Key Comment
from Full name, i.e., web.topic
to Full name, i.e., web.topic
by Who did it, is the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName
date integer, unx time, seconds since start 1970

Notes:

META:TOPICPARENT

Key Comment
name The topic from which this was created, WebHome if done from Go, othewise topic where ? or form used. Normally just topic, but is full web.topic format if parent is in a different Web. Renaming a Web will then only break a few of these references or they can be scanned and fixed.

META:FILEATTACHMENT

Key Comment
name Name of file, no path. Must be unique within topic
version Same as RCS revision
path Full path file was loaded from
size In bytes
date integer, unx time, seconds since start 1970
user the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName
comment As supplied when file uploaded
attr h if hidden, optional

Extra fields that are added if an attachment is moved:

Key Comment
movedfrom full topic name - web.topic
movedby the REMOTE_USER, not WikiName
movedto full topic name - web.topic
moveddate integer, unx time, seconds since start 1970

META:FORM

Key Comment
name A topic name - the topic represents one of the TWikiForms. Can optionally include the web name (i.e., web.topic), but doesn't normally

META:FIELD

Should only be present if there is a META:FORM entry. Note that this data is used when viewing a topic, the form template definition is not read.

Key Name
name Ties to entry in TWikiForms template, is title with all bar alphanumerics and . removed
title Full text from TWikiForms template
value Value user has supplied via form

Recommended Sequence

There is no absolute need for Meta Data variables to be listed in a specific order within a topic, but it makes sense to do so a couple of good reasons:

The recommended sequence is:

Viewing Meta Data in Page Source

When viewing a topic the Raw Text link can be clicked to show the text of a topic (i.e., as seen when editing). This is done by adding raw=on to URL. raw=debug shows the meta data as well as the topic data, ex: debug view for this topic

Rendering Meta Data

Meta Data is rendered with the %META% variable. This is mostly used in the view, preview and edit scripts.

Current support covers:

Variable usage: Comment:
%META{"form"}% Show form data, see TWikiForms.
%META{"attachments"}% Show attachments, except for hidden ones. Options:
all="on": Show all attachments, including hidden ones.
%META{"moved"}% Details of any topic moves.
%META{"parent"}% Show topic parent. Options:
dontrecurse="on": By default recurses up tree, at some cost.
nowebhome="on": Suppress WebHome.
prefix="...": Prefix for parents, only if there are parents, default "".
suffix="...": Suffix, only appears if there are parents, default "".
separator="...": Separator between parents, default is " > ".

Known Issues

At present, there is no Meta Data support for Plugins. However, the format is readily extendable and the Meta.pm code that supports the format needs only minor alteration.

-- JohnTalintyre - 29 Aug 2001
-- MikeMannix - 03 Dec 2001
-- PeterThoeny - 10 Jan 2002

TWiki Plugins

Plug-in enhanced feature add-ons, with a Plugin API for developers

Overview

You can add Plugins to extend TWiki's functionality, without altering the core program code. A plug-in approach lets you:

Everything to do with TWiki Plugins - demos, new releases, downloads, development, general discussion - is available at TWiki.org, in the TWiki:Plugins web.

Preinstalled Plugins

TWiki comes with three Plugins as part of the standard installation.

Installing Plugins

Each TWikiPlugin comes with full documentation: step-by-step installation instructions, a detailed description of any special requirements, version details, and a working example for testing.

Most Plugins can be installed in three easy steps, with no programming skills required:

  1. Download the zip file containing the Plugin, documentation, and any other required files, from TWiki:Plugins.
  2. Distribute the files to their proper locations - unzip the zip archive in your TWiki installation directory - if have a standard TWiki installation, this will distribute automatically. Otherwise, place the files according to the directory paths listed on the Plugin top in TWiki:Plugins.
  3. Check the demo example on the Plugin topic: if it's working, the installation was fine!

Special Requests: Some Plugins need certain Perl modules to be preinstalled on the host system. Plugins may also use other resources, like graphics, other modules, applications, templates. In these cases, detailed instructions are in the Plugin documentation.

Each Plugin has a standard release page, located in the TWiki:Plugins web at TWiki.org. In addition to the documentation topic (SomePlugin), there's a separate development page.

On-Site Pretesting

To test new Plugins on your installation before making them public, you may want to use one of these two approaches:

Managing Plugins

When you finish installing a Plugin, you should be able to read the user instructions and go. In fact, some Plugins require additional settings or offer extra options that you have to select. Also, you may want to make a Plugin available only in certain webs, or temporarily disable it. And may want to list all available Plugins in certain topics. You can handle all of these management tasks with simple procedures.

Setting Preferences

Installed Plugins can be toggled on or off, site-wide or by web, through TWikiPreferences and individual WebPreferences:

Plugin execution order in TWiki is determined by searching Plugin topics in a specific sequence: First, full web.topicname name, if specified in INSTALLEDPLUGINS; next, the TWiki web is searched; and finally, the current web.

Plugin-specific settings are done in individual Plugin topics. Two settings are standard for each Plugin:

  1. One line description, used to form the bullets describing the Plugins in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  2. Debug Plugin, output can be seen in data/debug.txt. Set to 0=off or 1=on:

Listing Active Plugins

Plugin status variables let you list all active Plugins wherever needed. There are two list formats:

DEMO: Automatically List Active Plugins Using Variables

Using %ACTIVATEDPLUGINS%:
On this TWiki site, the active Plugins are: DefaultPlugin, InterwikiPlugin.

Using %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%:
You can use any of these active TWiki Plugins:

The TWiki Plugin API

The Application Programming Interface (API) for TWikiPlugins provides the specifications for hooking into the core TWiki code from your external Perl Plugin module. The Plugin API is new to the Production version of TWiki with the 01-Sep-2001 release.

Available Core Functions

The TWikiFuncModule (lib/TWiki/Func.pm) implements ALL official Plugin functions. Plugins should ONLY use functions published in this module.

ALERT! If you use functions not in Func.pm, you run the risk of creating security holes. Also, your Plugin will likely break and require updating when you upgrade to a new version of TWiki.

Predefined Hooks

In addition to TWiki core functions, Plugins can use predefined hooks, or call backs, listed in the lib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm module.

Plugin Version Detection

To eliminate the incompatibility problems bound to arise from active open Plugin development, a Plugin versioning system and an API GetVersion detection routine are provided for automatic compatibility checking.

Creating Plugins

With a reasonable knowledge of the Perl scripting language, you can create new Plugins or modify and extend existing ones. Basic plug-in architecture uses an Application Programming Interface (API), a set of software instructions that allow external code to interact with the main program. The TWiki Plugin API Plugins by providing a programming interface for TWiki.

The DefaultPlugin Alternative

Anatomy of a Plugin

A basic TWiki Plugin consists of two elements:

The Perl module can be a block of code that connects with TWiki alone, or it can include other elements, like other Perl modules (including other Plugins), graphics, TWiki templates, external applications (ex: a Java applet), or just about anything else it can call. In particular, files that should be web-accessible (graphics, Java applets ...) are best placed as attachments of the MyFirstPlugin topic. Other needed Perl code is best placed in a lib/TWiki/Plugins/MyFirstPlugin/ directory.

The Plugin API handles the details of connecting your Perl module with main TWiki code. When you're familiar with the Plugin API, you're ready to develop Plugins.

Creating the Perl Module

Copy file lib/TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm to <name>Plugin.pm. The EmptyPlugin.pm module contains mostly empty functions, so it does nothing, but it's ready to be used. Customize it. Refer to the Plugin API specs for more information.

If your Plugin uses its own modules and objects, you must include the name of the Plugin in the package name. For example, write Package MyFirstPlugin::Attrs; instead of just Package Attrs;. Then call it using: 

  use TWiki::Plugins::MyFirstPlugin::Attrs;
  $var = MyFirstPlugin::Attrs->new();

Writing the Documentation Topic

The Plugin documentation topic contains usage instructions and version details. It serves the Plugin files as FileAttachments for downloading. (The doc topic is also included in the distribution package.) To create a documentation topic:

  1. Copy the Plugin topic template from TWiki.org. To copy the text, go to TWiki:Plugins/PluginPackage and:
  2. Customize your Plugin topic.
  3. Save your topic, for use in packaging and publishing your Plugin.

OUTLINE: Doc Topic Contents
Check the Plugins web on TWiki.org for the latest Plugin doc topic template. Here's a quick overview of what's covered:

Syntax Rules: <Describe any special text formatting that will be rendered.>"

Example: <Include an example of the Plugin in action. Possibly include a static HTML version of the example to compare if the installation was a success!>"

Plugin Global Settings: <Description and settings for custom Plugin %VARIABLES%, and those required by TWiki.>"

Plugin Installation Instructions: <Step-by-step set-up guide, user help, whatever it takes to install and run, goes here.>"

Plugin Info: <Version, credits, history, requirements - entered in a form, displayed as a table. Both are automatically generated when you create or edit a page in the TWiki:Plugins web.>"

Packaging for Distribution

A minimum Plugin release consists of a Perl module with a WikiName that ends in Plugin, ex: MyFirstPlugin.pm, and a documentation page with the same name(MyFirstPlugin.txt).

  1. Distribute the Plugin files in a directory structure that mirrors TWiki. If your Plugin uses additional files, include them ALL:
  2. Create a zip archive with the Plugin name (MyFirstPlugin.zip) and add the entire directory structure from Step 1. The archive should look like this:

Publishing for Public Use

You can release your tested, packaged Plugin to the TWiki community through the TWiki:Plugins web. All Plugins submitted to TWiki.org are available for download and further development in TWiki:Plugins. Publish your Plugin in three steps:

  1. Post the Plugin documentation topic in the TWiki:Plugins web:
  2. Attach the distribution zip file to the topic, ex: MyFirstPlugin.zip
  3. Link from the doc page to a new, blank page named after the Plugin, and ending in Dev, ex: MyFirstPluginDev. This is the discussion page for future development. (User support for Plugins is handled in TWiki:Support.)

-- AndreaSterbini - 29 May 2001
-- PeterThoeny - 29 Jan 2003
-- MikeMannix - 03 Dec 2001

TWiki::Func Module Documentation

Official list of stable TWiki functions for Plugin developers

Description

This module defines official funtions that Plugins and add-on scripts can use to interact with the TWiki engine and content.

Plugins should only use functions published in this module. If you use functions in other TWiki libraries you might impose a security hole and you will likely need to change your Plugin when you upgrade TWiki.

Functions: CGI Environment

getSessionValue( $key ) ==> $value

Description: Get a session value from the Session Plugin (if installed)
Parameter: $key Session key
Return: $value Value associated with key; empty string if not set; undef if session plugin is not installed

setSessionValue( $key, $value ) ==> $result

Description: Set a session value via the Session Plugin (if installed)
Parameter: $key Session key
Parameter: $value Value associated with key
Return: $result "1" if success; undef if session plugin is not installed

getSkin( ) ==> $skin

Description: Get the name of the skin, set by the SKIN preferences variable or the skin CGI parameter
Return: $skin Name of skin, e.g. "gnu". Empty string if none

getUrlHost( ) ==> $host

Description: Get protocol, domain and optional port of script URL
Return: $host URL host, e.g. "http://example.com:80"

getScriptUrl( $web, $topic, $script ) ==> $url

Description: Compose fully qualified URL
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main"
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "WebNotify"
Parameter: $script Script name, e.g. "view"
Return: $url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/view.pl/Main/WebNotify"

getScriptUrlPath( ) ==> $path

Description: Get script URL path
Return: $path URL path of TWiki scripts, e.g. "http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin"

getViewUrl( $web, $topic ) ==> $url

Description: Compose fully qualified view URL
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main". The current web is taken if empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "WebNotify"
Return: $url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/view.pl/Main/WebNotify"

getOopsUrl( $web, $topic, $template, $param1, $param2, $param3, $param4 ) ==> $url

Description: Compose fully qualified "oops" dialog URL
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main". The current web is taken if empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "WebNotify"
Parameter: $template Oops template name, e.g. "oopslocked"
Parameter: $param1 ... $param4 Parameter values for %PARAM1% ... %PARAM4% variables in template, optional
Return: $url URL, e.g. "http://example.com:80/cgi-bin/oops.pl/ Main/WebNotify?template=oopslocked&param1=joe"

getPubUrlPath( ) ==> $path

Description: Get pub URL path
Return: $path URL path of pub directory, e.g. "/pub"

getCgiQuery( ) ==> $query

Description: Get CGI query object. Important: Plugins cannot assume that scripts run under CGI, Plugins must always test if the CGI query object is set
Return: $query CGI query object; or 0 if script is called as a shell script

writeHeader( $query )

Description: Prints a basic content-type HTML header for text/html to standard out
Parameter: $query CGI query object
Return: none

redirectCgiQuery( $query, $url )

Description: Redirect to URL
Parameter: $query CGI query object
Parameter: $url URL to redirect to
Return: none, never returns

Functions: Preferences

extractNameValuePair( $attr, $name ) ==> $value

Description: Extract a named or unnamed value from a variable parameter string
Parameter: $attr Attribute string
Parameter: $name Name, optional
Return: $value Extracted value

getPreferencesValue( $key, $web ) ==> $value

Description: Get a preferences value from TWiki or from a Plugin
Parameter: $key Preferences key
Parameter: $web Name of web, optional. Current web if not specified; does not apply to settings of Plugin topics
Return: $value Preferences value; empty string if not set

getPreferencesFlag( $key, $web ) ==> $value

Description: Get a preferences flag from TWiki or from a Plugin
Parameter: $key Preferences key
Parameter: $web Name of web, optional. Current web if not specified; does not apply to settings of Plugin topics
Return: $value Preferences flag "1" (if set), or "0" (for preferences values "off", "no" and "0")

getWikiToolName( ) ==> $name

Description: Get toolname as defined in TWiki.cfg
Return: $name Name of tool, e.g. "TWiki"

getMainWebname( ) ==> $name

Description: Get name of Main web as defined in TWiki.cfg
Return: $name Name, e.g. "Main"

getTwikiWebname( ) ==> $name

Description: Get name of TWiki documentation web as defined in TWiki.cfg
Return: $name Name, e.g. "TWiki"

Functions: User Handling and Access Control

getDefaultUserName( ) ==> $loginName

Description: Get default user name as defined in TWiki.cfg's $defaultUserName
Return: $loginName Default user name, e.g. "guest"

getWikiName( ) ==> $wikiName

Description: Get Wiki name of logged in user
Return: $wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. "JohnDoe"

getWikiUserName( $text ) ==> $wikiName

Description: Get Wiki name of logged in user with web prefix
Return: $wikiName Wiki Name, e.g. "Main.JohnDoe"

wikiToUserName( $wikiName ) ==> $loginName

Description: Translate a Wiki name to a login name based on Main.TWikiUsers topic
Parameter: $wikiName Wiki name, e.g. "Main.JohnDoe" or "JohnDoe"
Return: $loginName Login name of user, e.g. "jdoe"

userToWikiName( $loginName, $dontAddWeb ) ==> $wikiName

Description: Translate a login name to a Wiki name based on Main.TWikiUsers topic
Parameter: $loginName Login name, e.g. "jdoe"
Parameter: $dontAddWeb Do not add web prefix if "1"
Return: $wikiName Wiki name of user, e.g. "Main.JohnDoe" or "JohnDoe"

isGuest( ) ==> $flag

Description: Test if logged in user is a guest
Return: $flag "1" if yes, "0" if not

permissionsSet( $web ) ==> $flag

Description: Test if any access restrictions are set for this web, ignoring settings on individual pages
Parameter: $web Web name, required, e.g. "Sandbox"
Return: $flag "1" if yes, "0" if no

checkAccessPermission( $type, $wikiName, $text, $topic, $web ) ==> $flag

Description: Check access permission for a topic based on the TWiki.TWikiAccessControl rules
Parameter: $type Access type, e.g. "VIEW", "CHANGE", "CREATE"
Parameter: $wikiName WikiName of remote user, i.e. "Main.PeterThoeny"
Parameter: $text Topic text, optional. If empty, topic $web.$topic is consulted
Parameter: $topic Topic name, required, e.g. "PrivateStuff"
Parameter: $web Web name, required, e.g. "Sandbox"
Return: $flag "1" if access may be granted, "0" if not

Functions: Content Handling

webExists( $web ) ==> $flag

Description: Test if web exists
Parameter: $web Web name, required, e.g. "Sandbox"
Return: $flag "1" if web exists, "0" if not

topicExists( $web, $topic ) ==> $flag

Description: Test if topic exists
Parameter: $web Web name, optional, e.g. "Main"
Parameter: $topic Topic name, required, e.g. "TokyoOffice", or "Main.TokyoOffice"
Return: $flag "1" if topic exists, "0" if not

getRevisionInfo( $web, $topic ) ==> ( $date, $loginName, $rev )

Description: Get revision info of a topic
Parameter: $web Web name, optional, e.g. "Main"
Parameter: $topic Topic name, required, e.g. "TokyoOffice"
Return: ( $date, $loginName, $rev ) List with: ( last update date, login name of last user, minor part of top revision number ), e.g. ( "01 Jan 2003", "phoeny", "5" )

checkTopicEditLock( $web, $topic ) ==> ( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime )

Description: Check if topic has an edit lock by a user
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
Return: ( $oopsUrl, $loginName, $unlockTime ) The $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery(), user's $loginName, and estimated $unlockTime in minutes. The $oopsUrl and $loginName is empty if topic has no edit lock.

setTopicEditLock( $web, $topic, $lock ) ==> $oopsUrl

Description: Lock topic for editing, or unlock when done
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
Parameter: $lock Set to 1 to lock topic, 0 to unlock
Return: $oopsUrl Empty string if OK; the $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery() in case lock is already taken when trying to lock topic

readTopicText( $web, $topic, $rev, $ignorePermissions ) ==> $text

Description: Read topic text, including meta data
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
Parameter: $rev Topic revision to read, optional. Specify the minor part of the revision, e.g. "5", not "1.5"; the top revision is returned if omitted or empty.
Parameter: $ignorePermissions Set to "1" if checkAccessPermission() is already performed and OK; an oops URL is returned if user has no permission
Return: $text Topic text with embedded meta data; an oops URL for calling redirectCgiQuery() is returned in case of an error

saveTopicText( $web, $topic, $text, $ignorePermissions, $dontNotify ) ==> $oopsUrl

Description: Save topic text, typically obtained by readTopicText(). Topic data usually includes meta data; the file attachment meta data is replaced by the meta data from the topic file if it exists.
Parameter: $web Web name, e.g. "Main", or empty
Parameter: $topic Topic name, e.g. "MyTopic", or "Main.MyTopic"
Parameter: $text Topic text to save, assumed to include meta data
Parameter: $ignorePermissions Set to "1" if checkAccessPermission() is already performed and OK
Parameter: $dontNotify Set to "1" if not to notify users of the change
Return: $oopsUrl Empty string if OK; the $oopsUrl for calling redirectCgiQuery() in case of error

getPublicWebList( ) ==> @webs

Description: Get list of all public webs, e.g. all webs that do not have the NOSEARCHALL flag set in the WebPreferences
Return: @webs List of all public webs, e.g. ( "Main",  "Know", "TWiki" )

getTopicList( $web ) ==> @topics

Description: Get list of all topics in a web
Parameter: $web Web name, required, e.g. "Sandbox"
Return: @topics Topic list, e.g. ( "WebChanges",  "WebHome", "WebIndex", "WebNotify" )

Functions: Rendering

expandCommonVariables( $text, $topic, $web ) ==> $text

Description: Expand all common %VARIABLES%
Parameter: $text Text with variables to expand, e.g. "Current user is %WIKIUSER%"
Parameter: $topic Current topic name, e.g. "WebNotify"
Parameter: $web Web name, optional, e.g. "Main". The current web is taken if missing
Return: $text Expanded text, e.g. "Current user is TWikiGuest"

renderText( $text, $web ) ==> $text

Description: Render text from TWiki markup into XHTML as defined in TWiki.TextFormattingRules
Parameter: $text Text to render, e.g. "*bold* text and =fixed font="
Parameter: $web Web name, optional, e.g. "Main". The current web is taken if missing
Return: $text XHTML text, e.g. "<b>bold</b> and <code>fixed font</code>"

internalLink( $pre, $web, $topic, $label, $anchor, $createLink ) ==> $text

Description: Render topic name and link label into an XHTML link. Normally you do not need to call this funtion, it is called internally by renderText()
Parameter: $pre Text occuring before the TWiki link syntax, optional
Parameter: $web Web name, required, e.g. "Main"
Parameter: $topic Topic name to link to, required, e.g. "WebNotify"
Parameter: $label Link label, required. Usually the same as $topic, e.g. "notify"
Parameter: $anchor Anchor, optional, e.g. "#Jump"
Parameter: $createLink Set to "1" to add question linked mark after topic name if topic does not exist;
set to "0" to suppress link for non-existing topics
Return: $text XHTML anchor, e.g. "<a href="http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Main/WebNotify#Jump">notify</a>"

search text( $text ) ==> $text

Description: This is not a function, just a how-to note. Use: expandCommonVariables("%SEARCH{...}%" );
Parameter: $text Search variable
Return: "$text" Search result in TWiki.FormattedSearch format

formatGmTime( $time, $format ) ==> $text

Description: Format the time to GM time
Parameter: $time Time in epoc seconds
Parameter: $format Format type, optional. Default e.g. "31 Dec 2002 - 19:30", can be "iso" (e.g. "2002-12-31T19:30Z"), "rcs" (e.g. "2001/12/31 23:59:59", "http" for HTTP header format (e.g. "Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:21:56 GMT")
Return: $text Formatted time string

Functions: File I/O

getDataDir( ) ==> $dir

Description: Get data directory (topic file root)
Return: $dir Data directory, e.g. "/twiki/data"

getPubDir( ) ==> $dir

Description: Get pub directory (file attachment root). Attachments are in $dir/Web/TopicName
Return: $dir Pub directory, e.g. "/htdocs/twiki/pub"

readTemplate( $name, $skin ) ==> $text

Description: Read a template or skin file. Embedded template directives get expanded
Parameter: $name Template name, e.g. "view"
Parameter: $skin Skin name, optional, e.g. "print"
Return: $text Template text

readFile( $filename ) ==> $text

Description: Read text file, low level. NOTE: For topics use readTopicText()
Parameter: $filename Full path name of file
Return: $text Content of file

saveFile( $filename, $text )

Description: Save text file, low level. NOTE: For topics use saveTopicText()
Parameter: $filename Full path name of file
Parameter: $text Text to save
Return: none

writeWarning( $text )

Description: Log Warning that may require admin intervention to data/warning.txt
Parameter: $text Text to write; timestamp gets added
Return: none

writeDebug( $text )

Description: Log debug message to data/debug.txt
Parameter: $text Text to write; timestamp gets added
Return: none

Copyright and License

Copyright (C) 2000-2003 Peter Thoeny, Peter@Thoeny.com

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, published at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

NOTE: Above text is copied from the TWiki::Plugins/PerlDocPlugin output of TWiki::Func in twiki format. In case you want to get dynamically updated documentation based on the actual Perl module, install the PerlDocPlugin and replace above text with %PERLDOC{"TWiki::Func"}%.

-- PeterThoeny - 31 Dec 2002

TWiki Site Tools

Utilities for searching, navigation, and monitoring site activity

TWikiSiteTools include utilities for navigating, searching and keeping up with site activity. Preferences can be configured by web or site-wide. You are currently in the TWiki web. In particular, TWiki provides two highly configurable, automated site monitoring tools, WebNotify, to email alerts when topics are edited, and WebStats, to generate detailed activity reports.

WebNotify Recent Changes Alert

Each TWiki web has an automatic email alert service that sends a list of recent changes on a preset schedule, like once a day. Users can subscribe and unsubscribe using WebNotify in each web. The Perl script mailnotify is called by a background process at regular intervals. The script sends an automated email to subscribed users if topics were changed in a web since the script was last run.

TWiki handles WebNotify entries that include the WikiName of a user or a TWikiGroup and an optional e-mail address. Example entries in WebNotify: 

    * Main.FredBloggs
    * Main.FredBloggs - secondary@home.com
    * Main.EngineeringGroup

The first entry is the default form, the notification gets sent to the e-mail address specified in the user's home page. The second entry lists an alternative e-mail address. The third entry specifies a group, the notification gets sent to each member of the group.

You can also use %MAINWEB% instead of Main, but this is not necessary even if you have renamed the main web by configuring $mainWebname in TWiki.cfg.

Configuring Outgoing Mail

TWiki will use the Net::SMTP module if it is installed on your system. Set this with the SMTPMAILHOST variable in TWikiPreferences.

The notify e-mail uses the default changes.tmpl template, or a skin if activated in the TWikiPreferences.

mailnotify also relies on two hidden files in each TWiki/data/[web] directory: .changes and .mailnotify. Make sure both are writable by your web server process. .changes contains a list of changes; go ahead and make this empty. .mailnotify contains a timestamp of the last time notification was done.

You can use an external mail program, like sendmail, if the Net::SMTP module is not installed. Set the program path in $mailProgram in TWiki.cfg.

Setting the Automatic Email Schedule

For Unix platforms: Edit the cron table so that mailnotify is called in an interval of your choice. Please consult man crontab of how to modify the table that schedules program execution at certain intervals. Example: 

% crontab -e
15,45 * * * * (cd ~twiki/public_html/bin; ./mailnotify -q)
The above line will call mailnotify at 15 minutes and 45 minutes past every hour. The -q switch suppresses all normal output.

For ISP installations: Many ISPs don't allow hosted accounts direct cron access, as it's often used for things that can heavily load the server. Workaround scripts are available.

On Windows NT/2000: You can use a scheduled task if you have administrative privileges. Note: AT on an NT machine is pretty limited. Microsoft lists several third-party replacements (as of 2001-11-20, none of them free).

WebStatistics Site Usage Log

You can generate a listing manually, or on an automated schedule, of visits to individual pages, on a per web basis. Compiled as a running total on a monthly basis. Includes totals for Topic Views, Topic Saves, Attachment Uploads, Most Popular Topics with number of views, and Top Contributors showing total of saves and attachment uploads. Previous months are saved.

Configuring for Automatic Operation

Generating Statistics Manually by URL

WebSearch

WebSearch is an extremely fast and flexible search facility, part of the core TWiki feature set. Options include:

See also: TWikiVariables for including hard-coded searches in text.

WebChanges

To check for the most recently edited topics while on-site, use the WebChanges link, usually located on the upper toolbar. It lists the most recently modified topics, newest first, along with the first couple of lines of the page content.

This is simply a preset SEARCH. The number of topics listed by the limit parameter.: 

%SEARCH{".*" web="TWiki" regex="on" nosearch="on" order="modified" 
reverse="on" limit="50"}%

WebIndex

WebIndex lists all web topics in alphabetical order, with the first couple of lines of text. This is simply a preset SEARCH: 

%SEARCH{"\.*" scope="topic" regex="on" nosearch="on"}%

-- MikeMannix - 01 Dec 2001
-- PeterThoeny - 30 Jan 2003

Managing Topics

Browser-based rename, move, and delete for individual topics

Overview

You can use browser-based controls to change a topic's name, move it to another TWiki web, or delete it to a hidden Trash web.

How to Rename/Move/Delete a Topic

  1. Click on [More] (bottom right of page) on the topic to be changed, then, in the new screen, on [Rename/move]. You can now rename and/or move/delete in one operation:
  2. Move/Delete: Select the target web if other than the current web - choose Trash to delete a topic.
  3. Rename: Enter the new topic name - default is current name
    ALERT! NOTE: You'll be warned if any of the topics to be affected are locked (being edited), or if there is a name conflict.
  4. Prevent updates by unchecking individual items on the list of referring links - these topics will NOT to be updated with the new name (by default, all referring links will be updated).
  5. Click on [Rename/Move]: the topic will be renamed and links to the topic updated as requested.

Deleted Topics: How to Clear the Trash

Deleted topics are moved to a special Trash web - they are NOT physically erased from the server. All webs share Trash - in case of a name conflict with a topic already Trash, the user is alerted and asked to choose a new name.

The Trash web should be be cleared periodically, by archiving (saving) the text and RCS files if required (recommended), then deleting them from the Trash directory.

Redirecting from an Old Topic

You can use TWikiMetaData to place a command in the WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate that will indicate that a topic has been moved by searching for the tag %META:TOPICMOVED{...}%. Customize something like this: 

%<nop>METASEARCH{type="topicmoved" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" 
title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "}%

How Rename/Move Works

  1. %SEARCH%, with a special template, finds and displays all occurrences of the topic name in other topics, site-wide. These referring links are by default automatically changed to the new topic and/or web name. This includes relevant TWikiMetaData definitions.
  2. The topic is moved (if locks allow).
  3. References are changed (locks and permissions permitting).
  4. Any referring topics that can't be changed due to locks are listed - user can take note and change them at another time.

How Referring Topics Are Found

Referring topics are found using the %SEARCH% variable - see the template searchrenameview.tmpl. First, matching topics in the current web are listed - matches are to topic. Next, all webs (including the current one) are listed that match web.topic. Because %SEARCH% is used, webs marked in WebPreferences as NOSEARCHALL will not show up in the search for references to the topic being changed.

Changed references are kept are as short as possible, ex: topic is used in preference to web.topic.

Effect of User Access Settings

User permissions affect the Rename function in various ways. To rename a topic, you need both ALLOWTOPICCHANGE and ALLOWTOPICRENAME permission for that topic. To alter referring topics, you need change permission. See TWikiAccessControl for information on setting up access permissions.

Special Considerations

Consider carefully whether to make browser-based Rename/Move/Delete widely available, or to restrict it to an administrator/moderator group. Allowing all users to easily manipulate topics can be extremely useful in refactoring a busy web or site. However, there are at least two significant potential drawbacks to take into account:

Ultimately, the size, objectives, and policies of your TWiki site, the real-world behavior of your user group, and most importantly, the initial TWiki site management leadership, will determine the most effective implementation of this feature, and the success of the site overall.

Known Issues

Rename/Move is fairly complicated due to the dynamic generation of links. Ideally, it would be possible to run the required part of rendering in a way that would allow identification of the text to be changed. Unfortunately, these hooks don't exist in TWiki at present. Instead, %SEARCH% is used with a special template to show the text to be changed, and the selected topics are then altered. One drawback is that search can show matches that will not be updated due to case differences. Other mismatches with actual rendered output are also possible as the approaches are so different.

The following shows some limitations of square bracket processing. 

[[Old Topic]]  => [[NewTopic][Old Topic]]
[[old topic]]  => [[NewTopic][old topic]]
[[old t opic]] => not changed
[[OldTopic]]   => [[NewTopic]]

-- MikeMannix - 27 Dec 2001

Managing Webs

Adding webs is a web based operation; renaming and deleting webs are manual operations done directly on the server

Overview

A TWikiSite is divided into webs; each one represents one subject, one area of collaboration. Administrators can add/rename/delete webs.

Choose Web Template

There are two methods used to create a new web. First you can use a specially designed TemplateWeb. This is an invisible web that begins with an underscore "_" character. All topics in the _default template web will be copied into your new web.

The second method is to use an existing web as a template web. This may be useful if you already have a web that you like to use as a starting point. Only topics that have names beginning with Web... (like "WebHome", "WebNotify", etc.) are copied.

In either case you will want to be sure to verify that your new web has all the custom modifications that you desire.

Adding a New Web

Create a new web by filling out this form. Note: It is not recommended to create a new web for each little project. You can organize content within a web using TWikiForms and FormattedSearch. Cross-linking topics and search is easier if there are only a few larger webs.
Name of new web: Enter a short name of up to 10 characters. The name must start with one or more upper case letters, followed by optional lower case letters or numbers; it cannot be a WikiWord
Based on web: Select a TemplateWeb
Web color: Enter a StandardColors code for the web
Description:
 
 
Enter a short description of the web. Write Web.TopicName instead of just TopicName if you include links. This will list the web in the SiteMap (leave field empty if you prefer not to update the directory.)
Use to...
 
Continue the sentence describing the intended use. This is also for the SiteMap
Exclude web from "search all": No   Yes Specify if you want to exclude the web from a "search all webs" search. Note that the SiteMap will not list the web if you select Yes.
 

Note: Attachments will NOT get copied over along with their topics. This will be a feature added for the TWiki:Codev/CairoRelease.

Note: This script does not yet edit the TWiki.TWikiPreferences file to update the WIKIWEBLIST. This must be done by hand.

The manage script while creating the new web will update the following variables in the WebPreferences: WEBBGCOLOR, SITEMAPLIST, SITEMAPWHAT, SITEMAPUSETO and NOSEARCHALL. These variables are now used to dynamically generate the SiteMap.

Renaming or Deleting a Web

Renaming or deleting a web requires direct access to the installation files on the host server. There are currently no browser-based equivalents of the Rename/move/delete topic tools for working with webs.

NOTE: If you plan to rename the TWiki.Main web, remember that TWiki stores user and group topics in %MAINWEB%, default named Main. That means, every WikiName signature - Main.SomeUserName - points to it and would need updating (unless the variable, %MAINWEB%.SomeUserName, is used throughout).

  1. Prepare your site: Search each web for links to the target web, searching topic text for Oldwebname., including the dot so you'll find references like Oldwebname.SomeTopic.
  2. Edit the TWikiPreferences topic: Rename or delete the web from the WIKIWEBLIST variable.
  3. Login to the TWiki server, via Telnet or FTP.
  4. Go to twiki/data and rename or remove the web directory.
  5. Go to twiki/templates and rename or remove the web directory if present.
  6. Go to twiki/pub and rename or remove the web directory if present.

-- MikeMannix - 14 Sep 2001
-- PeterThoeny - 07 Apr 2002
-- GrantBow - 16 Jan 2003

Appendix A: TWiki Filesystem

Annotated directory and file listings, for the 01-Feb-2003 TWiki production release.

Who and What is This Good For?

Interested Users and Site Administrators can find out in simple terms what each part of TWiki actually does. Adventurous Adminstrators with server access to files (via telnet, ssh or ftp) can also figure out where to look to make minor modifications, like changing hardcode text or color. Software Developers can get an at-a-glance overview of TWiki code architecture.

Directory Structure

You can rename the root TWiki directory - twiki - to whatever you like by changing it in the TWiki.cfg configuration file. However, to keep the current installation and future upgrades simple, you should leave the five main subdirectories intact:

Directory: Files: Used for:
twiki list Start-up info
twiki/bin list Perl scripts
twiki/lib list Configuration file, main library, Perl system modules, Plugins directory
twiki/pub list Public files (eg: images) and FileAttachments and their RCS histories
twiki/data list Individual topics (page content) and their RCS histories
twiki/templates list HTML templates, used by TWiki scripts

File Descriptions

A rundown of the individual files included in the current distribution, organized by TWiki root directories.

Files in twiki

Application info and the current reference documentation. Full file list:

File: Used for:
index.html Links to launch TWiki after install and for files in this directory
license.txt GNU General Public License and TWiki-specific info
readme.txt General TWiki start-up info with relevant URLs
TWikiDocumentation.html All documentation packaged as a single page
TWikiHistory.html TWiki development timeline: versions, features, developers

Files in twiki/bin

Perl CGI scripts. Full file list:

File: Used for:
.htaccess.txt Authentication. Rename to .htaccess and customize if used
attach Shows the attach file page (FileAttachment)
edit Edit a topic
geturl Fetch URL data
installpasswd Install new password by admin
mailnotify Script called by cron job to notify users of changes
manage Manage script to create new webs
oops Shows an OK or oops dialog
passwd Reset and change password
preview Preview topic after edit
rdiff See differences of topics
register Register new users
rename Rename/move topics and move attachments
save Saves a topic, called by preview
search Displays search results
setlib.cfg Location of the TWiki libraries. Customize if needed
statistics Create statistics topic
testenv Test CGI environment variables
upload Does file upload (FileAttachment)
view View a topic ( the script )
viewfile View a file attachment

Files under twiki/lib

The new lib/TWiki/Plugins directories contain configuration, library and function files, and TWikiPlugins. Full file list:

File: Used for:
TWiki.cfg Main configuration, used by TWiki.pm
TWiki.pm Main TWiki library
TWiki/Access.pm Access control
TWiki/Attach.pm Attachment handling
TWiki/Form.pm Form handling
TWiki/Func.pm Public functions that Plugins may use
TWiki/Meta.pm Meta data in topics
TWiki/Net.pm SMTP mail handling
TWiki/Plugins.pm Plugin handling
TWiki/Prefs.pm Preferences handling
TWiki/Search.pm Search engine, used by wiki.pm
TWiki/Store.pm Back-end storage, *.txt text file and *.txt,v RCS repository file handling
TWiki/Store/RcsFile.pm Generic file handling code, a class
TWiki/Store/RcsWrap.pm Wrappers around RCS executables, a class that inherits from RcsFile
TWiki/Store/RcsLite.pm A Perl RCS implemention, a class that inherits from RcsFile
TWiki/Plugins/DefaultPlugin.pm Handles some legacy rules
TWiki/Plugins/EmptyPlugin.pm Empty plugin, use to create your own
TWiki/Plugins/InterwikiPlugin.pm Use aliases as links for predefined URLs

Files under twiki/pub

The pub directory stores topic-related files, including images used by TWiki and FileAttachments. Attachments are stored in subdirectories created with the related topic name. You can also upload files directly for and link manually (but not through Attach) Partial file list:

File: Used for:
favicon.ico ICO file
wikiHome.gif GIF file
icn/_filetypes.txt Lookup table to translate file extension to file type
icn/bat.gif GIF file for file type
icn/bmp.gif GIF file for file type
... ...
TWiki/FileAttachment/Sample.txt TEXT file: sample
TWiki/FileAttachment/Smile.gif GIF image: sample
TWiki/FileAttachment/Smile.gif,v RCS repository for GIF file
TWiki/PreviewBackground/blankltgraybg.gif GIF image
TWiki/PreviewBackground/blankwhitebg.gif GIF image
TWiki/PreviewBackground/previewbg.gif GIF image: Preview view background
TWiki/PreviewBackground/preview2bg.gif GIF image: Alternate preview view background
TWiki/TWikiLogos/twikiRobot121x54.gif GIF image: TWiki logo
... ...
TWiki/TWikiTemplates/testscreen.gif GIF image: Screen shot
TWiki/WabiSabi/wabisabi.gif GIF image: illustration
Know/IncorrectDllVersionW32PTH10DLL/W32PTH10.DLL DLL file: sample

Files under twiki/data

TWiki topics: data stored as individual text files and rendered by TWiki for display as regular Web pages. Each active web has its own subdirectory. The TWiki distribution includes four start-up webs - Main, TWiki, Know, Sandbox - with documentation and demo content, a Trash web for browser-based, recoverable topic deletion, and a _default directory containing a core topic set required to start a new web. Partial file list:

File: Used for:
.htpasswd Basic Authentication (htaccess) users file with username and encrypted password pairs
debug.txt Program-generated messages useful for debugging
mime.types Recognized file formats
warning.txt Diagnostic messages for identifying problems
_default/.changes Per web record of topic changes
_default/.mailnotify Per web timestamp of most recent email notification
_default/WebChanges.txt Display most recent topic changes in web
_default/WebChanges.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebHome.txt Default web home page
_default/WebHome.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebIndex.txt Lists all topics in a web
_default/WebIndex.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebNotify.txt Subscribe/unsubscribe to web changes email alert
_default/WebNotify.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebPreferences.txt Per web Preference Settings
_default/WebPreferences.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebSearch.txt Per web search options
_default/WebSearch.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebStatistics.txt Generates web usage statistics
_default/WebStatistics.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
_default/WebTopicList.txt Lists all topics in a web in compact format
_default/WebTopicList.txt,v Revisions history (RCS)
... ...

Files in twiki/templates

Templates and skins used to control appearance of topics rendered as Web pages. Full file list:

File: Used for:
attach.tmpl Attach (FileAttachments) control screen
attachagain.tmpl Attachment control screen
attachnew.tmpl Attachment control screen
changeform.tmpl Control screen to change the form in edit mode
changes.tmpl Displays list of recently changed topics
edit.iejs.tmpl Edit window with IE-specific JavaScript
edit.tmpl Main edit window
mailnotify.tmpl Email notification
moveattachment.tmpl Move attachment control screen
oopsaccesschange.tmpl Error message
oopsaccesscreateweb.tmpl Error message
oopsaccessgroup.tmpl Error message
oopsaccessrename.tmpl Error message
oopsaccessview.tmpl Error message
oopsauth.tmpl Error message
oopsbadpwformat.tmpl Error message
oopschangepasswd.tmpl Error message
oopsempty.tmpl Error message
oopslocked.tmpl Error message
oopslockedrename.tmpl Error message
oopsmanage.tmpl Error message
oopsmissing.tmpl Error message
oopsmore.tmpl More topic actions message
oopsmoveerr.tmpl Error message
oopsnoformdef.tmpl Error message
oopsnotwikiuser.tmpl Error message
oopsnoweb.tmpl Error message
oopspreview.tmpl Error message
oopsregemail.tmpl Error message
oopsregexist.tmpl Error message
oopsregpasswd.tmpl Error message
oopsregrequ.tmpl Error message
oopsregthanks.tmpl Error message
oopsregwiki.tmpl Error message
oopsrenameerr.tmpl Error message
oopsrenamenotwikiword.tmpl Error message
oopsresetpasswd.tmpl Error message
oopsrev.tmpl Error message
oopssave.tmpl Error message
oopssaveerr.tmpl Error message
oopssendmailerr.tmpl Error message
oopstopicexists.tmpl Error message
oopsupload.tmpl Error message
oopswrongpassword.tmpl Error message
preview.tmpl Preview Changes screen
rdiff.tmpl Displays text changes before & after Diffs
registernotify.tmpl Registration notification
rename.tmpl Rename/move control screen (choose web & new topic tile
renamebase.tmpl Used by other rename templates
renameconfirm.tmpl Confirms a pre-specified rename, ex: undoing a rename
renamerefs.tmpl Display if rename done, but some references not changed (topics were locked)
search.tmpl Search screen
searchbookview.tmpl Search results with full topic content
searchformat.tmpl Search screen for formatted search
searchmeta.tmpl Search screen
searchrenameview.tmpl Used by rename to list references to topic being renamed
twiki.tmpl Master template: definitions are used by other templates
view.plain.tmpl Skin for bare bone topic view without header/footer
view.print.tmpl Skin for printable topic view with a simple header/footer
view.rss.tmpl Skin for topic view in RDF XML format
view.tmpl Main topic view - the standard regular Web page

TWiki File System Snapshot

The following partial directory listings from a Linux installation show typical file permissions and ownership. This is provided for general debugging use only and isn't an exact representation of the current distribution.

Directory twiki/bin: 

drwxrwxr-x    2 twiki  twiki        4096 Jan  7 23:56 .
drwxrwxr-x    5 twiki  twiki        4096 Nov 18 12:21 ..
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         979 Aug  3 19:36 .htaccess
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1598 Jun  1  2002 .htaccess.txt
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        4986 Jan  4 17:27 attach
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        3734 Jan  4 17:27 changes
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        9362 Jan  4 18:04 edit
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        1878 Jan  4 17:28 geturl
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        4587 Jan  4 17:28 installpasswd
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        7231 Jan  6 09:04 mailnotify
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        6000 Dec 11 01:26 makedistrib
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        8228 Jan  4 18:25 manage
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        2445 Jan  4 18:08 oops
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        6936 Jan  4 18:08 passwd
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        5820 Jan  4 17:30 preview
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        9235 Jan  4 17:31 rdiff
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       10584 Jan  4 18:09 register
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       14746 Jan  5 00:14 rename
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        4800 Jan  4 18:09 save
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        4729 Jan  4 17:32 search
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1446 Jan  8 01:03 setlib.cfg
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       19261 Jan  4 17:33 statistics
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       30626 Jan  4 17:33 testenv
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       14306 Jan  4 18:11 upload
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki       11414 Jan  5 01:12 view
-rwxrwxr-x    1 twiki  twiki        2944 Jan  5 00:36 viewfile

Directory twiki/templates/: 

drwxrwxr-x    2 twiki  twiki        4096 Dec 11 00:38 .
drwxrwxr-x    4 twiki  twiki        4096 Jan  8 01:03 ..
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2590 Jan  7 22:53 attach.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1604 Aug  3  2001 attachagain.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         449 Aug  3  2001 attachnew.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1276 Dec  9 21:48 changeform.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1620 Dec  9 21:48 changes.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki       12777 Jan  7 22:54 edit.iejs.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2801 Jan  7 22:54 edit.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         975 Dec  9 21:48 mailnotify.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1606 Jan  7 22:54 moveattachment.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         570 Aug  1  2001 oopsaccesschange.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         596 Apr 13  2002 oopsaccesscreateweb.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         586 Aug  1  2001 oopsaccessgroup.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         573 Aug  1  2001 oopsaccessrename.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         573 Aug  1  2001 oopsaccessview.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         997 Nov 11 22:21 oopsauth.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         405 Aug  1  2001 oopsbadpwformat.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         344 Jul 31  2001 oopschangepasswd.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         624 Jul 31  2001 oopsempty.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         891 Dec 30 15:51 oopslocked.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         589 Dec 30 15:55 oopslockedrename.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         678 Apr 12  2002 oopsmanage.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         328 Jul 31  2001 oopsmissing.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2352 Apr 13  2002 oopsmngcreateweb.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2322 Jan  7 22:55 oopsmore.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         407 Aug  1  2001 oopsmoveerr.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1132 Nov 30  2001 oopsnoformdef.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         520 Jan  4 18:21 oopsnotwikiuser.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1495 Apr  7  2002 oopsnoweb.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         393 Aug  1  2001 oopspreview.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         340 Dec 10 14:14 oopsregemail.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         475 Jun 10  2002 oopsregexist.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         345 Aug  1  2001 oopsregpasswd.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         356 Aug  1  2001 oopsregrequ.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         540 Aug  1  2001 oopsregthanks.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         679 Aug  1  2001 oopsregwiki.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         502 Mar 24  2002 oopsrenameerr.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         433 May 19  2002 oopsrenamenotwikiword.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         506 Jun 10  2002 oopsresetpasswd.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         957 Jan  7 22:55 oopsrev.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         774 Aug  1  2001 oopssave.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         477 Aug  1  2001 oopssaveerr.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         465 Jun 10  2002 oopssendmailerr.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         379 Aug  1  2001 oopstopicexists.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         342 Jul 31  2001 oopsupload.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         364 Aug  1  2001 oopswrongpassword.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2603 Jan  7 22:55 preview.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1719 Jan  7 22:56 rdiff.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1160 Dec  9 21:48 registernotify.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         993 Jun 23  2002 rename.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2369 Jan  7 22:56 renamebase.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         471 May 31  2002 renameconfirm.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         595 May 31  2002 renamerefs.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1818 Jan  7 22:56 search.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1676 Jan  7 22:57 searchbookview.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         980 Jan  7 22:57 searchformat.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         149 Sep 13  2001 searchmeta.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2071 Jan  7 22:57 searchrenameview.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2284 Dec  9 21:48 twiki.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         419 Dec  9 21:48 view.plain.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         827 Dec  9 21:48 view.print.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         300 Dec 14 17:16 view.rss.tmpl
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1629 Jan  7 22:58 view.tmpl

Directory twiki/data/: 

drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Jan  3 23:50 .
drwxrwxr-x    4 twiki  twiki        4096 Jan  8 01:03 ..
-rw-rw-rw-    1 twiki  twiki         210 Jan 11 15:58 .htpasswd
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Dec 11 02:15 Know
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Jan 11 17:45 Main
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Dec 11 02:15 Sandbox
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       8192 Jan 11 22:45 TWiki
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Dec 11 02:15 Trash
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Dec 11 01:01 _default
-rw-rw-rw-    1 twiki twiki            0 Aug  2 14:16 debug.txt
-rw-rw-r--    1 nobody nobody      36630 Jan 11 22:26 log200301.txt
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki twiki         3419 Aug 13  2001 mime.types
-rw-rw-rw-    1 twiki twiki         1320 Dec 11 00:18 warning.txt

Partial file list for twiki/data/Main: 

drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Jan 11 17:45 .
drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Jan  3 23:50 ..
-rw-rw-rw-    1 twiki  twiki        3662 Jan 11 16:29 .changes
-rw-rw-rw-    1 twiki  twiki           9 Oct 25  2001 .mailnotify
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        280 Dec 15  2000 TokyoOffice.txt
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        774 Dec 15  2000 TokyoOffice.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        124 Aug 16  2001 WebChanges.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody        526 Aug 16  2001 WebChanges.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody       1721 Jun 28  2002 WebHome.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody      11314 Jun 28  2002 WebHome.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        176 Nov 24  2001 WebIndex.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody        483 Nov 24  2001 WebIndex.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        729 Mar 24  2001 WebNotify.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody       2981 Mar 24  2001 WebNotify.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody       3670 Apr 12  2002 WebPreferences.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody       8203 Apr 12  2002 WebPreferences.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        158 Aug  7  2001 WebSearch.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody      18332 Aug  7  2001 WebSearch.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        850 Dec 11 00:58 WebStatistics.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody       1690 Dec 11 00:58 WebStatistics.txt,v
-rw-r--r--    1 nobody nobody        182 Nov 24  2001 WebTopicList.txt
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody        371 Nov 24  2001 WebTopicList.txt,v

Directory twiki/pub/: 

drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 .
drwxrwxr-x    3 twiki  twiki        4096 Nov 18 12:31 ..
drwxrwxr-x    3 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 Know
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Apr  7  2002 Main
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Apr 20  2002 Sandbox
drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 TWiki
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Dec  3  2001 Trash
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        1078 Jan 14  2000 favicon.ico
drwxrwxr-x    2 twiki  twiki        4096 Nov 18 12:31 icn
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki        2877 Jun  7  1999 wikiHome.gif

Partial file list for twiki/pub/icn/: 

drwxrwxr-x    2 twiki  twiki        4096 Nov 18 12:31 .
drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 ..
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         801 Mar 26  1999 _filetypes.txt
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         143 Mar  9  1999 bat.gif
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         926 Mar  9  1999 bmp.gif
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         141 Mar 25  1999 c.gif
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         144 Mar  9  1999 dll.gif
-rw-rw-r--    1 twiki  twiki         152 Mar  9  1999 doc.gif

Directory twiki/pub/TWiki: 

drwxrwx--x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 .
drwxrwxr-x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 ..
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 FileAttachment
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 PreviewBackground
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 TWikiDocGraphics
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 TWikiLogos
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 TWikiTemplates
drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 WabiSabi

Directory twiki/pub/TWiki/FileAttachment: 

drwxrwxr-x    2 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 .
drwxrwx--x    8 nobody nobody       4096 Nov 18 12:31 ..
-rw-rw-r--    1 nobody nobody         30 Jul 22  1999 Sample.txt
-rw-rw-r--    1 nobody nobody         94 Jun  7  1999 Smile.gif
-r--r--r--    1 nobody nobody         81 Aug 15 10:14 Smile.gif,v

-- PeterThoeny - 11 Jan 2003
-- MikeMannix - 16 May 2002

Appendix B: TWiki Development Timeline

01-Feb-2003 Release (Beijing)

01-Dec-2001 Release (Athens)

01-Sep-2001 Release

01-Dec-2000 Release

01-May-2000 Release

01-Sep-1999 Release

01-Jul-1999 Release

1998 Releases

Dev Flow

The typical TWiki development flow...