Development discussion for TopicCreatePlugin

I uploaded the TopicCreatePlugin that PeterThoeny and I built -- it implements the capability desired at my company.

-- StanleyKnutson - 21 Nov 2005

At work we had an application where we needed to create topics based on topic templates without going through the edit/preview/save sequence, e.g. submitting an HTML form would directly create a new topic. We implemented this as a Plugin, but it is too specialized to post here.

All can be done cleanly in a Plugin, without introducing an extra script. Here is how:

• Create a form with text fields, selectors, etc. This form is used to create new topics
• The form has hidden fields:
  • name="func" value="savetopic"     (magic word to trigger a topic create action)
  • name="templatetopic" value="MyTopicTemplate"
  • name="topicparent" value="MyParent"
  • name="topicname" value="MyTopic1234567"
  • name="okmessage" value="Thank you for submitting the suggestion"
  • etc
• The form action points to a TopicCreateAction topic (part of the Plugin)
  • It points to the viewauth script so that the user is authenticated
• The TopicCreateAction topic has a %TOPICCREATE{ func="%URLPARAM{func}%" }% variable
• Nothing happens if you view the TopicCreatePlugin topic in a normal manner, e.g. without any URL parameters
• The topic create action gets triggered with the magic word func="savetopic", e.g. if the Plugin topic is "viewed" by the form action:
  • The TOPICCREATE handler reads parameters from the cgi handler,
  • Checks for required parameters,
  • Checks if the user is authenticated,
  • Checks access permissions,
  • Makes sure the topic does not exist already
• If all checks are OK:
  • The topic gets created
  • The %TOPICCREATE{...}% gets replaced by a "Thank you for submitting the suggestion" message

Anyone interested in implementing this nicely and posting it here on TWiki.org as a TopicCreatePlugin?

See also SaveContentWithoutEdit

-- PeterThoeny - 22 Nov 2003

The core code enables you to create one topic at a time without a edit/preview/save cycle.

The proposed funtionality is pending, it is an ImplementIdeaBeforeTheCompetition thingy. The idea is to create a set of pages at once by placing multiple %TOPICCREATE{ }% in a template topic. Needed by TWikiApplications. At work we implemented this in a company specific Plugin. Useful.

-- PeterThoeny - 02 Nov 2004

So for example you could create a plugin topic, it's Dev topic, and PluginAppraisal topic with one click?

-- SamHasler - 02 Nov 2004

Yes, that is the idea

-- PeterThoeny - 03 Nov 2004

yes, this is definitely needed for TWikiApplications. a plugin that i've recently created (which will be posted at TWiki:Plugins.NewPageEventPlugin when ready) is similiar to this; see also Bugs:Item1014.

-- WillNorris - 21 Nov 2005

Stanley just packaged and uploaded the Plugin. Thanks Stanley! Enjoy.

-- PeterThoeny - 21 Nov 2005

i've added the plugin to SVN:7585

-- WillNorris - 21 Nov 2005

Suggested enhancements:

• Finish disabled/undocumented %TOPICPATCH{}% feature
• Replace external Unix calls with native Perl functions (Bugs:Item1016)

-- PeterThoeny - 21 Nov 2005

I think WillNorris is suggesting an important enhancement: have a form that creates multiple topics directly, without need of an extra 'save' step as needed by TopicCreatePlugin. This would solve an important usability issue with TopicCreatePlugin: the "save" operation is currently require, and the user sees the cryptic TOPICCREATE items listed. This would scare away non-techy users.

-- StanleyKnutson - 22 Nov 2005

Thank you so much for this plugin! I've been trying to figure out a way to do this for months.

I've begun to work with it immediately and have found one small bug (Bugs:Item1030).

-- LynnwoodBrown - 23 Nov 2005

This doesn't seem to be packaged right, as it installed stuff directly into my /twiki directory

-- MeredithLesly - 25 Feb 2006

Very useful plugin. Would be nice if we could define the parent of the new topic. May have a go at implementing this myself if I get some free time (think it said FeelFreeToModify).

I also found that it installed stuff into my /twiki directory.

-- AndrewRJones - 25 Oct 2006

Packaging: Indeed, the zip file had old files in the pakage root. Fixed & re-uploaded.

Setting parent of topic: I am not sure if this works, but try parameters="topicparent=FooBar"

-- PeterThoeny - 25 Oct 2006

Tried parameters="topicparent=FooBar" but it has no effect.

Also the plugin does not recognise %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}%, but its only a Nice To Have.

-- AndrewRJones - 26 Oct 2006

I have also observed that it does not respect the use of %NOP% which I have used to prevent a variable from expanding when the topic is created. This is useful for defining a template of a template topic. TopicCreatePlugin goes ahead and removes the NOP and expands the surrounding variable.

-- LynnwoodBrown - 26 Oct 2006

I got around to updating the archives attached to the plugin topic since several fixes had already been checked into svn. (In particular Bugs:Item1030 which had created problems for TopicClassificationAddOn).

-- LynnwoodBrown - 23 Feb 2007

Thanks Lynnwood for updating the plugin!

-- PeterThoeny - 23 Feb 2007

I just installed this Plugin an my Twiki 4.12. When I try to create an new topic, the Plugin creates the files for the new Topic, but adds a newlinecharacter at the end of the filename => the new Topic is broken. I debugged the error and found out that TWiki::Func::expandCommonVariables() in line 83 in the file Func.pm adds this newline to $topicName and causes this error. I did not have the time to find the real reason, therefore I used the commented workaround I found some lines below. Maybe somebody can fix this ...

-- WolfgangBertl - 11 Nov 2007

I got this feedback via e-mail from MartinFranz:

recursive topic creation does not work due a bug in sub handleTopicCreate

Quite at the end of the function I had to replace:

    # Recursively handle TOPICCREATE and TOPICATTCH 
    #$text =~ s/%RED% Error in %<nop>TOPICCREATE{(.*)}%: Parameter =templatete= is missing or empty. %ENDCOLOR% [\n\r]*/handleTopicCreate( $1, $topicName )/geo; 
    $text =~ s/%RED% Error in %<nop>TOPICCREATE{(.*)}%: Parameter =templatete= is missing or empty. %ENDCOLOR% [\n\r]*/handleTopicCreate( $1, $theWeb, $topicName )/geo;     # FRM Patch 
    #$text =~ s/%TOPICATTCH{(.*)}%[\n\r]*/handleTopicAttach( $1, $topicName )/geo; 
    $text =~ s/%TOPICATTCH{(.*)}%[\n\r]*/handleTopicAttach( $1, $theWeb, $topicName )/geo;      # FRM Patch

The second parameter is expected to be the WEB.

-- PeterThoeny - 16 Mar 2008

Like Andrew commented above, I couldn't get the 'parameters' option to work with this plugin. Has anyone?

-- HelenJohnstone - 14 May 2008

I too am not having any luck getting the parameters option to work. Any new development on this? I am specifically attempting to transfer % URL{topicparent} %

-- XochipalaValdez - 2009-05-06