JavaWoman:Wikka

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This is an old revision of JavaWoman made by JavaWoman on 2005-01-09 15:41:18.

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On my Wiki / Wikka efforts

Working on a Wikka installation - for now only on my laptop Alan, as preparation for a (hopefully) community-supported user manual effort for an on-line forum system.

My first focus is on making the process around user accounts somewhat more user-friendly as well as more secure - after all, if we are going to have user accounts with associated rights, we should also ensure those accounts themselves are secure. I'll describe those efforts (and share results) on a UserSettingsAndPasswords page here.

Related to UserSettings and a few other actions, something else I encountered while working on a few user-related actions: I found there are some issues with how email addresses are handled in Wikka; an overview on WikkaAndEmail - some code to be added later. On this page I'll also be relating to some WikiRoles; more on this in the next paragraph.

While working on a re-write of an action, and trying to develop a "clean pattern" for it, some thoughts occurred to me about the various roles people may have with respect to a Wiki. Thinking about the roles made it easier for me to write the code (I'll explain that later); first, here are my thoughts on WikiRoles (updated, in an attempt at clarification). Comments welcome, of course.

Calendar action

Starting with GmBowen's GmBowenCalendar I offered to make a "cleaned up" variant of the Calendar action for inclusion in the next (1.1.6.0) release; the result not only produces accessible table code but also has slightly extended functionality. I'm presenting it on JwCalendar with comments.

Wikka Code Structure

I just created a page describing my proposal for a WikkaCodeStructure new directory structure to organize the Wikka code.

Integration of GeSHi with Wikka

I've worked out a way to integrate GeSHi with Wikka that is very flexible: new language files can be "dropped in" without changing the code, line numbering is possible and can be enabled by a WikiAdmin and then "turned on" for an individual code block by the end user. See WikkaGeSHiIntegration for the details (try it for yourself!).

I've also created a little action that will automatically produce documentation about which language parser files are available for code highlighting - see HighlighterAction for the code and screenshots of output.

Secure configuration

I've never been happy with storing the configuration file in the same directory as wikka.php where it is accessible by a web server, specfically because it contains teh credentials needed to access teh database. Besides, the current process for Wikka configuration is not only HandlingWikkaConfig hard to understand (and thus hard to adapt), it was also WikkaBugs pointed out that it currently uses GetEnv() which constitutes a security risk.

I've now written up my thoughts about a WikkaSecureConfig more secure way to handle Wikka's configuration. This is not a complete solution (yet), but presents the logic we could follow to make Wikka configuration both more flexible and more secure.

New table action

Wikka doesn't have table markup - yet. Discussions about this subject are still going on, but while we haven't made a decision in which direction we want to go with this, a "preliminary" syntax might take us in the "wrong" direction if we later decide on something that's not compatible. That would not just imply extra work, but also cause needless conversions at Wikka sites.

Still, it's obvious we need something more powerful than the current simple table action, so I looked whether I could make that a bit more flexible to tide us over. The result can be found on the development page TableAction, with documentation and examples with screen shots on TableActionInfo. It's definitely not a perfect solution - an action won't be. It is, however backwards compatible with the current table action, so no conversions would be needed - it just can do a lot more.

More as I get to it...

A little about myself

I've been working in I(C)T since the 1980's although at present I'm unemployed. I live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and run a couple of websites (won't mention them all here unless you want me to). My main hobbies are traveling and photography.

If you google for "javawoman" you might find a little more (including sites that have nothing to do with me, of course). :)

Oh, and you may also encounter me here as IamBack (which matches one of my domains, of course). I like having a lot of clones, so I can share out my work. ;-). Actually, I've just created this clone so I can (still) look at this site through the eyes of a non-Admin - the power of an Admin can be deceptive...

Contact

[IRC, #wikka channel] When I'm online, I am usually present in TheLounge - the #wikka channel on irc.freenode.net - so if you have a question about Wikka, check there. Other members of the Wikka community are also regularly found there (and we're a pleasant lot - don't hesitate to ask for help, or just drop in for a chat).

[IM] I also have MSN messenger and ICQ accounts; but there I accept messages only from people in my contact list; if you want to talk to me like that, give me your ID first (in #wikka) so I can add you to my list.

[Skype] And if you have Skype, you can (Hmm - that link doesn't work - looks like SafeHTML is filtering protocols... it should be a link to callto://goneagain).