PreferencesPlugin

Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a TWikiForms. However, the edit fields are inlined in the text, similar to how tables are edited in TWiki:Plugins/EditTablePlugin.

Insert the %EDITPREFERENCES% variable (see below) anywhere in your topic. It will be replaced by a button that allows editing each preference in its predefined input format (or a text box, when no format is defined for this preference).

In edit mode, the edit button is replaced by Save and Cancel buttons, with their obvious meanings.

Syntax Rules

• %EDITPREFERENCES{ " topic " }%
  • topic references a TWikiForm defining the format of the edit fields for preferences. It may be prefixed by a web.
  • If a preference setting is not mentioned in the form referenced by topic, a text input box of the specified length is provided.
  • Otherwise, the input can be through textareas, select, radio, checkbox, date, or text, as provided by TWikiForms.
• %EDITPREFERENCES%
  • Edit existing preferences in the topic using a simple text field.

Examples

• %EDITPREFERENCES%
• %EDITPREFERENCES{ "%SYSTEMWEB%.TWikiPreferencesForm" }%

Plugin Settings

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form

Plugin Installation Instructions

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

• If you have TWiki 4.1 or later, you can install from the configure interface (Go to Plugins->Find More Extensions)
  • The webserver user has to have permission to write to all areas of your installation for this to work.
• If you have a permanent connection to the internet, you are recommended to use the automatic installer script
  • Just download the PreferencesPlugin_installer perl script and run it.
• Notes:
  • The installer script will:
    • Automatically resolve dependencies,
    • Copy files into the right places in your local install (even if you have renamed data directories),
    • check in new versions of any installed files that have existing RCS histories files in your existing install (such as topics).
    • If the $TWIKI_PACKAGES environment variable is set to point to a directory, the installer will try to get archives from there. Otherwise it will try to download from twiki.org or cpan.org, as appropriate.
    • (Developers only: the script will look for twikiplugins/PreferencesPlugin/PreferencesPlugin.tgz before downloading from TWiki.org)
  • If you don't have a permanent connection, you can still use the automatic installer, by downloading all required TWiki archives to a local directory.
    • Point the environment variable $TWIKI_PACKAGES to this directory, and the installer script will look there first for required TWiki packages.
      • $TWIKI_PACKAGES is actually a path; you can list several directories separated by :
    • If you are behind a firewall that blocks access to CPAN, you can pre-install the required CPAN libraries, as described at http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/HowToInstallCpanModules
• If you don't want to use the installer script, or have problems on your platform (e.g. you don't have Perl 5.8), then you can still install manually:
  1. Download and unpack one of the .zip or .tgz archives to a temporary directory.
  2. Manually copy the contents across to the relevant places in your TWiki installation.
  3. 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)
  4. Manually edit LocalSite.cfg to set any configuration variables.
  5. Run configure and enable the module, if it is a plugin.
  6. Repeat from step 1 for any missing dependencies.

Note if you are installing this extension in TWiki version < 4.2, please add these definitions to your Main.WebPreferences, if they are not already there:

• Set SYSTEMWEB = %TWIKIWEB%
• Set USERSWEB = %MAINWEB%

• If the installation was successful, an edit button should appear below:

Plugin Info

Related Topics: TWikiPreferences, TWikiForms