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Web Instructions

Get set...
Create a New Topic
- The Page Controls
- Deleting Topics
HyperLinks
Attaching Images to Topics
TWiki Variables
- Using Predefined Variables
  - The Table of Contents Variable
- Understanding Web Preferences and Setting Preference Variables
  - Frequently Used Preference Variables
Creating a Calendar
- Calendar Event Syntax
- Create a Calendar
Access Control
- Controlling access to a Topic
- Managing Groups
  - More on Authentication and Access Control

Class example topics TWikiGuest has created:

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TWikiGuest

NEW - 24 Sep 2007 - 20:15

Get set...

Open two browser windows, so that you can follow these steps in one window, while trying things out in the other. Or if your browser supports tabbed browsing, you can right click on the links and choose Open Link in New Tab.

TWiki Overview

In TWiki terminology your website is called a web.

Each web has hyperlinked topics, displayed as pages in your browser.
The home page in each web is the WebHome topic.
To browse a TWiki web, just click on any highlighted link. These links are called WikiWords and comprise two or more words with initial capitals, run together.
Follow the WikiWord link now and learn what it is.
TWiki lets you find information fast. Each web is searchable.
Enter a search string (TWiki supports RegularExpressions) in the search box found in the sidebar of your web.
TWiki makes adding and editing text simple (How simple? Click on the Edit link at the top or bottom of the page...)
Many of the wonderful features of TWiki are made possible through InstalledPlugins.

TextFormattingRules, TextFormattingFAQ, TWikiShorthand, UserDocumentationCategory

"TWiki" stands for...

Wiki wiki which means "quick" in Hawaiian. The shuttle at Honolulu Airport is called the wiki wiki bus, which is where the original Wiki web got its name.

TWiki is short for TakeFive Wiki, the name of the company where its founder Peter Thoeny worked. (It was later discovered that Twiki is also the name of an AI robot that co-starred in the Buck Rogers movie and TV series from 1979.)

Login

You must be logged in to edit content and create new pages. The login link is located at the top of the sidebar on each page.

To login you need to have a TWiki account.

Go to the TWikiRegistration page to create your TWiki account, if you don't already have one. Fill in a couple of lines and you're set!

Before You Create a New Topic/Page

To create a new topic you must first think of a topic name.

In the wiki world, a topic is a single page of your web.

Remember that you will be using WikiWords often. A WikiWord consists of two or more words with initial capitals, run together. Once you have decided on a topic name, it's time to actually create the topic.

Create a New Topic

Try creating a new topic now.

You can also create a new topic by entering a new WikiWord into the text of an existing topic.

Add the WikiWord.
Save the topic. The name appears highlighted, with a linked question mark at the end. This means that the topic doesn't exist yet.
Click on the question mark. Now you're in edit mode of the new topic.
Type some text.
Save the topic.

Try it now by editing the topic you just created.

From any topic in your web, to create a new topic, simply click on the "Create New Topic" link in the sidebar. Fill the form in with the WikiWord you have chosen for your new topic. Set a parent topic for the new topics you create. This establishes the hierarchy of pages within your site. If you forget to set a topic parent you can do so at any time through the More link at the bottom of each page.

The Page Controls

The control strip at the bottom of the page has a collection of action links. These

Edit - add to or edit the topic (discussed later)
Raw View - show the source text without editing the topic
Attach - attach files to a topic (discussed later)
Backlinks - find out what other topics link to this topic (reverse link)
Printable - goes to a stripped down version of the page, good for printing
History - topics are under revision control - History shows you the complete change history of the topic, for example, who changed what and when
r3 > r2 > r1 - view a previous version of the topic or the difference between two versions
More - additional controls, such as rename/move, delete, version control and setting the topic's parent.

Deleting Topics

In the grey action bar at the bottom of each page you will find a more topic actions link. Clicking on this link gives you access to a multitude of functions for each page (topic).

The first link you will see is the link to delete the topic. You will always want to use the delete link that deletes references in all public webs.

HyperLinks

Being able to create links without any special formatting is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords and inline URLs.

Please review TextFormattingRules for a full explanation of linking.

Internal HyperLinks

GoodStyle is a WikiWord that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current web.
NotExistingYet^? is a topic waiting to be written. Create the topic by clicking on the ?. (Try clicking, but then, Cancel - creating the topic would wreck this example!)

External HyperLinks

For external site links, you can type URLs directly into the text - http://etcete.ra/... - it'll be clear to anyone where they're headed on click.
http://..., https://..., ftp://..., gopher://..., news://..., file://..., telnet://... and mailto:...@... are linked automatically.
E-mail addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

Non - WikiWord Hyperlinks

[[Square bracket rules]] let you easily create non-WikiWord links.
- You can also write [[http://yahoo.com][ Yahoo home page]] as an easier way of doing external links with descriptive text for the link, such as Yahoo home page.

Attaching Images to Topics

Image names cannot begin with a number.

Click the Attach Link at the bottom of the data page in the grey box. There may also be an attach button located in the top bar of each topic when you are logged in.
On the resulting Attach page use the browse button to locate the image on your computer.
Include in the Comment field a title or description for your image.
Next click the Upload file button at the bottom of the page.

Repeat this procedure for each image.

Click on the manage link found in the attachment table to change the properties of images once they have been attached to a page.

Presenting Images in Topics

Once your images are attached to a topic, you can use the ImagePlugin to control the display of the image on the page.

The basic syntax is

%IMAGE{name_of_image}%

Try creating a new topic and attaching an image now.

Image Galleries

Image galleries can be created by using the

%IMAGEGALLERY%

tag in any topic.

For all the details on image galleries please review Image Gallery.

Adjusting the Image Sequence in Image Galleries

By default the image gallery will display images in the order that they where uploaded. This determines their natural order. When you want to change this order you can prefix the comment of the attachment with a sequence number. For example: given a picture whose comment is My old bike, that should be put at position 12 in your image gallery; change the comment to 12 - My old bike. This will put the image at the desired position. Sequence numbers don't necessarily need to be unique, that is if there's another picture with a comment like 12 - My new bike then the natural order of both is relevant.

Adding/Changing Image Titles

If you want to change the title or description of an image or if you did not add a picture title in the comment field when you uploaded and attached an image, you will need to add it through the image manage utility.

From the page where the images have been attached, click on the red dot next to the image you would like to manage.
Change the title/description in the comment field.
Click the Change properties only button to save your changes.

For images not aggregated into a gallery you will need to use the manage link found in the attachments table to change the properties of attached images.

TWiki Documentation Graphics and File type icons

This is the TWiki icon library. The graphics can be used in topics and by web applications.

Usage

There are several ways to put an icon in a topic.

Shorthand notation: %ICON{help}% results in:
- Note that ICON{} assumes an image of 16 x 16 pixels.

Really shorthand notation: in WebPreferences you can set a variable to an ICON, for example:
* Set H = %ICON{help}%

Now you can use the icon by writing %H%.

Many of the more commonly used Documentation Graphics already have a really shorthand notation set for them. The table on TWikiDocGraphics presents these notations.

There are other approaches as well:
- In any topic, write %PUBURL%/%TWIKIWEB%/TWikiDocGraphics/help.gif to show the icon.
You are not restricted to use the TWikiDocGraphics topic - in a similar way you can show attached images by replacing TWikiDocGraphics with the topic name where your image is attached.

To create an icon within a link, write: [[WebHome][%ICON{home}%]] to get:

The SmiliesPlugin, using a different short hand than %VARIABLES%, may be worth checking out for extended use. And smilies can be a lot of fun. smile cool! wink

TWiki Variables

The Image tag you just used to add an image to a page is a TWiki variable. TWikiVariables are text strings of the form - %VARIABLE% or %VARIABLE{ parameter="value" }% - that expand into content whenever a topic is rendered for viewing. There are two types of variables:

Preference variables: Can be defined and changed by the user
Predefined variables: Defined by the TWiki system or by Plugins (for example, the SpreadSheetPlugin introduces a %CALC{}% variable)

Using Predefined Variables

To use a variable type its name. For example,

type %T% to get (a preferences variable)
type %TOPIC% to get WebInstructions (a predefined variable)
type %DATE% to get 12 Oct 2008 (a predefined variable)

Note:

To leave a variable unexpanded, precede it with an exclamation point, e.g. type !%TOPIC% to get %TOPIC%
- You can also type <nop> within a variable to prevent expansion.
Variables are expanded relative to the topic they are used in, not the topic they are defined in.

Take the time to thoroughly read through ALL preference variables. If you actively configure your site, review variables periodically. They cover a wide range of functions, and it can be easy to miss the one perfect variable for something you have in mind. For example, see %INCLUDINGTOPIC%, %INCLUDE%, and the mighty %SEARCH%.

Try using some variables now!

The Table of Contents Variable

You can create a table of contents in any topic with the %TOC% variable. The headings in the topic are used to generate the table of contents.

Headings in WikiSyntax ("---++ text") and HTML ("<h2>text</h2>") are taken into account.

Any heading text after "!!" is excluded from the TOC; for example, write "---+!! text" if you do not want to list a header in the TOC

Syntax: %TOC{"SomeTopic" ...}%

Supported parameters:

Parameter:	Description:	Default:
`"TopicName"`	topic name	Current topic
`web="Name"`	Name of web	Current web
`depth="2"`	Limit depth of headings shown in TOC	6
`title="Some text"`	Title to appear at top of TOC	none

Example: %TOC{depth="2"}%
Example: %TOC{"TWikiDocumentation" web="TWiki" title="Contents:"}%
Hint: TOC will generate links to the headings, so when a reader clicks on a heading it will jump straight where that heading is anchored in the text. If you have two headings with exactly the same text, then their anchors will also be identical and they won't be able to jump to them. To make the anchors unique, you can add an invisible HTML comment to the text of the heading. This will be hidden in normal view, but will force the anchors to be different. For example, ---+ Heading .

Understanding Web Preferences and Setting Preference Variables

Unlike predefined variables, preference variables can be defined by the user in various places.

You can set variables in all the following places:

user level in individual user topics in Main web
web level in WebPreferences of each web
topic level in topics in webs

Settings at higher-numbered levels override settings of the same variable at lower numbered levels. The syntax for setting Variables is the same anywhere in TWiki (on its own TWiki bullet line, including nested bullets):
[multiple of 3 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [space] value

Examples:

Set VARIABLENAME = value

Set VARIABLENAME = value

Spaces between the = sign and the value will be ignored. You can split a value over several lines by indenting following lines with spaces - as long as you don't try to use * as the first character on the following line.

Example:

   * Set VARIABLENAME = value starts here
     and continues here

Whatever you include in your Variable will be expanded on display, exactly as if it had been entered directly.

Example: Create a custom logo variable

To place a logo anywhere in a web by typing %MYLOGO%, define the Variable on the web's WebPreferences topic, and upload a logo file, ex: mylogo.gif. You can upload by attaching the file to WebPreferences, or, to avoid clutter, to any other topic in the same web, e.g. LogoTopic. Sample variable setting in WebPreferences:

Set MYLOGO = %PUBURL%/%WEB%/LogoTopic/mylogo.gif

You can also set preferences variables on a topic by clicking the link Edit topic preference settings under More topic actions. Preferences set in this manner are not visible in the topic text, but take effect nevertheless.

Frequently Used Preference Variables

The following preference variables are frequently used. They are defined in TWikiPreferences#Miscellaneous_Settings^?:

%BR% - line break
%BULLET% - bullet sign
%BB% - line break and bullet combined
%BB2% - indented line break and bullet
%RED% text %ENDCOLOR% - colored text (also %YELLOW%, %ORANGE%, %PINK%, %PURPLE%, %TEAL%, %NAVY%, %BLUE%, %AQUA%, %LIME%, %GREEN%, %OLIVE%, %MAROON%, %BROWN%, %BLACK%, %GRAY%, %SILVER%, %WHITE%)
%H% - Help icon
%I% - Idea icon
%M% - Moved to icon
%N% - New icon
%P% - Refactor icon
%Q% - Question icon
%S% - Pick icon
%T% - Tip icon
%U% - Updated icon
%X% - Alert icon
%Y% - Done icon

There are additional useful preferences variables defined in TWikiPreferences^?, in Main.TWikiPreferences, and in WebPreferences.

Creating a Calendar

The CalendarPlugin makes creating calendars as easy as including

%CALENDAR%

Sample syntax for calling 3 calendars.

%CALENDAR{
months="3" 
width="100%" 
cellalignment="left" 
vcellalignment="top" 
headercontentcolor="white" 
headercolor="darkolivegreen" 
showweekdayheaders="1" 
weekdayheadercolor="tan" 
weekendheadercolor="tan" 
weekendcolor="beige" 
todaycolor="#ffffcc" 
weekstartsonmonday="1"
}%

Events are added by following the above code with a bulleted list of events.

Calendar Event Syntax

%FLIP% Events are defined by bullets with the following syntax:

Event type	Syntax	Example
Single:	`* dd MMM yyyy - description`	09 Dec 2002 - Expo
Interval:	`* dd MMM yyyy - dd MMM yyyy - description`	02 Feb 2002 - 04 Feb 2002 - Vacation
Yearly:	`* dd MMM - description`	05 Jun - Every 5th of June
	`* w DDD MMM - description`	2 Tue Mar - Every 2nd Tuesday of March
	`* L DDD MMM - description`	L Mon May - The last Monday of May
	`* A dd MMM yyyy - description`	A 20 Jul 1969 - First moon landing This style will mark anniversaries of an event that occurred on the given date. The description will have " (x)" appended to it, where "x" indicates how many years since the occurrence of the first date. The first date is not annotated.
Monthly:	`* w DDD - description`	1 Fri - Every 1st Friday of the month
	`* L DDD - description`	L Mon - The last Monday of each month
	`* dd - description`	14 - The 14th of every month
Weekly:	`* E DDD - description`	E Wed - Every Wednesday
	`* E DDD dd MMM yyyy - description`	E Wed 27 Jan 2005 - Every Wednesday Starting 27 Jan 2005
	`* E DDD dd MMM yyyy - dd MMM yyyy - description`	E Wed 1 Jan 2005 - 27 Jan 2005 - Every Wednesday from 1 Jan 2005 through 27 Jan 2005 (inclusive)
Periodic:	`* En dd MMM yyyy - description`	E3 02 Dec 2002 - Every three days starting 02 Dec 2002
Periodic:	`* En dd MMM yyyy - dd MMM yyyy - description`	E3 12 Apr 2005 - 31 Dec 2005 - Every three days from 12 Apr 2005 through 31 Dec 2005 (inclusive)
Exception:	Insert the following between the above syntax and the description: `X { dd MMM yyyy, dd MMM yyyy - dd MMM yyyy }`	1 Fri X { 01 Dec 2002, 06 Dec 2002 - 14 Dec 2002 } - Every first Friday except on the 01 Dec 2002 and between 06 Dec 2002 and 14 Dec 2002

%FLOP%

Create a Calendar

Try creating a calendar now in a new topic.

Access Control

Please see the updated TWikiAccessControl#Controlling_access_to_a_Web and TWikiAccessControl#Controlling_access_to_a_Topic

Restricting read and write access to topics and webs, by Users and groups

You can define who is allowed to read or write to a web or a topic.

Restricting VIEW blocks viewing and searching of content.
Restricting CHANGE blocks creating new topics, changing topics or attaching files.
Restricting RENAME controls who is allowed to rename, move or delete a topic.

To rename, move or delete a topic, the user also also needs VIEW and CHANGE permission. They also need CHANGE access to change references in any referring topics (though the rename can proceed without this access), and CHANGE access to the target topic.

Controlling access to a Topic

You can define these settings in each topic, by editing the Topic Preference Settings:
- Set DENYTOPICVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
- Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
- Set DENYTOPICCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
- Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
- Set DENYTOPICRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >
- Set ALLOWTOPICRENAME = < comma-delimited list of Users and Groups >

To add/edit these settings for any topic, click on More Topic Actions > Edit Settings.

Managing Groups

Access control is based on the familiar concept of TWikiUsers and TWikiGroups. Users are defined by their WikiNames. They can then be organized in unlimited combinations by inclusion in one or more user Groups. For convenience, Groups can also be included in other Groups.

Further information on Managing Groups.