Question

I'm in the process of evaluating TWiki for a project I'm involved in, and hit a troublesome snag.

Once this project is completed, we expect that there will be several thousand users, and the project is not destinated for use on an intranet.

The requirement for Wikinames/login names to use the FirstLast format becomes problematic, as there are many common first/last name combos (I see a dozen James Clarke's in our membership roster, along with John Smith's, etc).

How do I go about allowing users to register with custom wikinames, or to use login names that are not wikinames?

(It looks like I downloaded the Feb 2003 release when I first installed in late August, if this is easier to handle in the Sep 2004 release then I can upgrade)

Environment

-- AdamPhelps - 04 Oct 2004

Good question!

-- MartinCleaver - 04 Oct 2004

Answer

TWiki.org has now 11K users, and there are some cases of name duplication. Recommend your user to add the middle name in case the FirstLastname is already taken. Alternatively append a sequential number. You might be able to automate this with some SpreadSheetPlugin magic that generates the next available number (see Sandbox.ChangeRequest)

You can document the policy in the registration page.

-- PeterThoeny - 05 Oct 2004

Adam - I'm doing a RegisterCgiScriptRewrite: if you are building stuff please let me know so that I can incorporate any changes into the codebase. I might have capacity to incorporate specific features as well.

-- MartinCleaver - 07 Oct 2004

At the moment I'm not particularly interested in doing much development, I'm just assessing the options available, of which twiki seems to be the closest to meeting my needs. If I could disconnect the user's name from their login name, twiki would pretty much suit my needs as is. What was the logic for requiring this real name->login name mapping rather than the usual self-assigned login name?

-- AdamPhelps - 08 Oct 2004

At work we have over 1000 users, authenticated against the global directory. The mapping is needed to get the autolinking of the signatures. For example, if user jsmith is not registered he still can edit content, but his signature will be Main.jsmith (not linking to his user home page). After he registers his signature becomes JohnSmith (=Main.JohnSmith in the source)

-- PeterThoeny - 08 Oct 2004

As part of the RegisterCgiScriptRewrite I am making it so that people can use an arbitrary string to log in with: as many people have a difficulty appreciating the CapNess of their WikiNames, and others have impossibly long names that even they don't want to type every time they log in.

I daresay that once I've released it you will be able to adapt it for your needs.

-- MartinCleaver - 11 Oct 2004