UpdateAttachmentsPlugin

Usage

This plugin provides a rest handler that can replace the inbuilt {AutoAttachPubFiles} functionality with a batched update - so you can upload (ftp, drag&drop etc) thousands of images into TWiki's pub area, and then tell TWiki to update the attachments to all your topics.

This will allow you to SEARCH for attachments, use TWiki:Plugins/DBCacheContrib & TWiki:Plugins/DBCachePlugin, and use any other functionality that relies on the topic files containing references to the attachments.

Doing this may provide a speed advantage as it will remove the need for TWiki to scan the requested topics' attachment directory.

Also, it will (optionally) remove attachment references to files that no longer exist in the topic's attachment directory.

Warning: because TWiki does not deal well with attachments with special characters (or even spaces) in them, these files will be ignored on update.

Warning: checking 28500 topics (many with attachments) takes around 2-3 minutes on my test system, with no plugins that have an beforeSave or afterSave handler registered.

Triggering an Attachment Update

As this is a REST handler based plugin, you can trigger it to run from a suitably authenticated URL (it will only update topics your user as permission to edit) - for example, to update the Sandbox web

• https://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/rest/UpdateAttachmentsPlugin/update?topic=Sandbox.WebHome

Or using a cronjob - make sure the cronjob is running as the same user as TWiki's web access is

• ./rest UpdateAttachmentsPlugin.update topic Sandbox.WebHome

Note: If you get a 500 or premature end of script error, chances are your current user does not have permission to change the web or topics.

Settings

These settings are in the configure web interface in the Update Attachments Plugin section of configure.

• $TWiki::cfg{Plugins}{UpdateAttachmentsPlugin}{AttachAsUser} - defaults to the unknown user. To reset the attributed user for attachments that already exist, touch the files in the attachment directory.
• $TWiki::cfg{Plugins}{UpdateAttachmentsPlugin}{RemoveMissing} - will remove attachment references in a topic that no longer exist
• $TWiki::cfg{Plugins}{UpdateAttachmentsPlugin}{UseDangerousNoHandlersSave} - use with extreme caution, if you understand what the results of a no_handler save are, and if you are able to recover your TWiki if it fails.
• $TWiki::cfg{Plugins}{UpdateAttachmentsPlugin}{Debug} - to see what topics are updated (edit LocalSite.cfg by hand to add this setting).

It is recommended to disable $TWiki::cfg{AutoAttachPubFiles}.

Installation Instructions

This plugin may not function correctly if $TWiki::cfg{AutoAttachPubFiles} is on, predominantly on the WebHome and WebPreferences topics.

You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server where TWiki is running.

Like many other TWiki extensions, this module is shipped with a fully automatic installer script written using the BuildContrib.

• If you have TWiki 4.2 or later, you can install from the configure interface (Go to Plugins->Find More Extensions)
  • See the installation supplement on TWiki.org for more information.
• If you have any problems, then you can still install manually from the command-line:
  1. Download one of the .zip or .tgz archives
  2. Unpack the archive in the root directory of your TWiki installation.
  3. Run the installer script ( perl <module>_installer )
  4. Run configure and enable the module, if it is a plugin.
  5. Repeat for any missing dependencies.
• If you are still having problems, then instead of running the installer script:
  1. Make sure that the file permissions allow the webserver user to access all files.
  2. Check in any installed files that have existing ,v files in your existing install (take care not to lock the files when you check in)
  3. Manually edit LocalSite.cfg to set any configuration variables.

Plugin Info

Plugin Author:	TWiki:Main.SvenDowideit - http://distributedINFORMATION.com
Copyright:	© 2007 SvenDowideit@distributedINFORMATIONPLEASENOSPAM.com; © 2007-2011 TWiki:TWiki.TWikiContributor
License:	GPL (Gnu General Public License)
Plugin Version:	21289 (2011-05-14)
Change History:
2011-05-14:	TWikibug:Item6701: Small fix in Config.spec -- TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny
2010-05-04:	TWikibug:Item6433: Doc improvements; replacing TWIKIWEB with SYSTEMWEB
Dec 2007:	add AttachAsUser
Nov 2007:	initial release
Dependencies:	None
Plugin Home:	http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/UpdateAttachmentsPlugin
Feedback:	http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/UpdateAttachmentsPluginDev
Appraisal:	http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/UpdateAttachmentsPluginAppraisal

Related Topics: TWikiPlugins, DeveloperDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory, TWikiPreferences