What is TWikiBot?

TWikiBot is an IRC bot for the #twiki IRC channel. The bot is a Mozbot with a few custom modules.

What can TWikiBot do?

TWikiBot does the following:

• Expands InterwikiPlugin style links
• Provides a link to the current line in the LOGGER logs
• Notifies #twiki-dev to changes in RSS feeds
  • Codev/WebChanges
  • Develop's Bugs/WebChanges changes
  • SVN commits
• Remembers little bits of information
• Checks spelling
• Other random IRC bot things

How do I use TWikiBot?

TWikiBot generally only understands commands when you directly address him. There are two ways to address the bot: by name or by a command character. The command character is currently set to ! (exclamation mark).

Addressing the bot by name

< QBFreak> twikibot: slap QBFreak
 * twikibot pokes QBFreak in the ribs

Addressing the bot by command character

< QBFreak> !slap twikibot
< twikibot> QBFreak: Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you, you sadist pervert.

InterwikiPlugin style links

TWikiBot automatically expands any InterwikiPlugin style links he hears in conversation, no special command is required.

Link expansion example

< PeterThoeny> kenneth, other topic, on Bugs:Item2353
< twikibot> http://develop.twiki.org/~develop/cgi-bin/view/Bugs/Item2353

See TWikiBotInterWikis for a list of links the bot supports.

Link to the current line of the LOGGER logs

TWikiBot can provide a link to the IRC logs, selecting the current line and causing the browser to jump to it. If you request a link for a channel from somewhere other than that channel, a note will be appended to the message stating which channel the log is for.

Requesting a link to the current line in the #twiki logs

< QBFreak> !logtime #twiki
< twikibot> http://koala.ilog.fr/twikiirc/bin/irclogger_log/twiki?date=2006-05-31,Wed&sel=673#l669 (channel #twiki)

Requesting a link to the current line in the current channel's logs

< QBFreak> !logtime
< twikibot> http://koala.ilog.fr/twikiirc/bin/irclogger_log/twiki?date=2006-05-31,Wed&sel=673#l669

These logs are recorded by a seperate bot run by ColasNahaboo. Perhaps [LOGGER] needs its own topic hint hint

RSS feed notification

TWikiBot notifies the #twiki-dev channel of changes in the TWiki.org Codev web, develop.twiki.org Bugs web, and new SVN commits.

< twikibot> Just appeared in SVN: TWiki Project - http://twiki.org :
< twikibot> Revision 10407 by PeterThoeny
< twikibot> Just appeared in TWiki's Bugs web - http://develop.twiki.org/~develop/cgi-bin/view/Bugs :
< twikibot> New -- http://develop.twiki.org/~develop/cgi-bin/view/Bugs/Item2082 - TemplateLogin could allow logging in with WikiName or email address. (SteffenPoulsen)

This happens once every 15 minutes. If you would like to check the entries sooner, privately message the bot with one of the following commands:

Command	Feed
bugs	develop.twiki.org Bugs
codev	twiki.org's Codev web
svn	Subversion commits

/msg twikibot codev
<QBFreak> codev
<twikibot> QBFreak: Items in TWiki.Codev - http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev: MiniAhah
<twikibot> QBFreak: CopyPreviousRevisionTopicContentIntoNewRevision -- KindsOfTWikiDocUsers
<twikibot> QBFreak: EdinburghReleaseMeeting2006x05x29 -- TWikiAjaxFrameworkShowcaseTools
<twikibot> QBFreak: TWikiAjaxFrameworkShowcase -- FunctionsNeededForPlugins -- WebTopicCreator
<QBFreak> shut up
<twikibot> Dropped 4 messages.

You can always use the command shut up to make the bot stop reading off the message queue. This works any time he responds with multiple messages.

Storing and retrieving information (factoids)

TWikiBot can associate a phrase with a word and when asked about the word respond with the phrase. These are called factoids, originally from the Infobot IRC bot. To set a factoid, say word is phrase, TWikiBot will pick up assoications like this from conversation and save them. For instance, this occured quite by accident shortly after the bot was started:

Setting a factoid

< SvenDowideit> vi is like... <giggle>

Retrieving a factoid

< QBFreak> !vi
< twikibot> QBFreak: vi is like... <giggle>

Check spelling

Quite often we all forget how to spell one word or another, thankfully TWikiBot is here to help. Any word you're unsure of how to spell, make a best guess and then type (sp?) after it, the bot will pick this up in your conversation and make spelling suggestions.

< QBFreak> it was quite the conondrum (sp?)
< twikibot> Suggestions for 'conondrum': conundrum, conundrums, corundum, condemnor, condoners, condoner, condemnors...

Other bits of fun

Like most IRC bots, TWikiBot also has a few fun and semi-useless commands. One of which is the slap command used to illustrate the different ways to address the bot. TWikiBot can also track karma. You give or remove karma points with the ++ and -- operators. Karma can be checked with the rank command.

< QBFreak> !rank twikibot
< twikibot> twikibot has 1 points of karma (rank 2).
< QBFreak> twikibot++
< QBFreak> !rank twikibot
< twikibot> twikibot has 2 points of karma (rank 1)

It is possible to display all ranked entries using rank with no parameters. TWikiBot will annouce the person with the most points in the channel and privately message the list to avoid spamming the channel.

Comments

Thanks Jason for sharing this bot with the community!

-- PeterThoeny - 01 Jun 2006

I have added a new module to TWikiBot to monitor the SVN repository directly. The new SVN announcements contain more information than the RSS feed provided.

Example SVN notification

<twikibot> TWiki SVN update: r13077 by ArthurClemens (1 file) - Item3730: remove newline so TMPL can be emptied
                  without generating a linebreak

Note: There is currently no easy way to determine which branch is being reported. I may or may not add a means to do so in the future.

-- JasonHill - 06 Mar 2007

-- ManfredMislik - 18 Feb 2008