TWiki
Overview
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
-based structured wiki application, typically used to run a collaboration platform
Collaboration platform
An emerging category of computer software, collaboration platforms are unified electronic platforms that support synchronous and asynchronous communication through a variety of devices and channels....
, knowledge
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
or document management system
Document management system
A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
, a knowledge base
Knowledge base
A knowledge base is a special kind of database for knowledge management. A Knowledge Base provides a means for information to be collected, organised, shared, searched and utilised.-Types:...
, or team portal. Users can create wiki applications using the TWiki Markup Language, and developers can extend its functionality with plugins.
The TWiki project was founded by Peter Thoeny
Peter Thoeny
Peter Thoeny is the founder of the project TWiki , and is leading the project since 1998. In 2007 he co-founded TWIKI.NET together with Rod_Beckstrom, a company that provides collaborative solutions and commercial support around TWiki.He is the co-author of the book Wikis for Dummies ISBN...
in 1998 as an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
wiki-based application platform. In October 2008, the company TWiki.net, created by Thoeny, assumed full control over the TWiki project while nearly all of the remainder of the developer community forked off the Foswiki project.
- Revision control - complete audit trailAudit trailAudit trail is a sequence of steps supported by proof documenting the real processing of a transaction flow through an organization, a process or a system.....
, also for meta data such as attachments and access control settings - Fine-grained access control - restrict read/write/rename on site level, web level, page level based on user groups
- Extensible TWiki markup languageMarkup languageA markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...
- TinyMCETinyMCETinyMCE, also known as the Tiny Moxiecode Content Editor, is a platform-independent web-based JavaScript/HTML WYSIWYG editor control, released as open source software under the LGPL by Moxiecode Systems AB. It has the ability to convert HTML textarea fields or other HTML elements to editor instances...
based WYSIWYGWYSIWYGWYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...
editor - Dynamic content generation with TWiki variables
- Forms and reporting - capture structured content, report on it with searches embedded in pages
- Built in database - users can create wiki applications using the TWiki Markup Language
- Skinnable user interface
- RSSRSS-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
/AtomAtomThe atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
feeds and e-mail notification - Over 400 Extensions and 200 Plugins
TWiki has a plugin API that has spawned over 400 extensions to link into database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s, create chart
Chart
A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart"...
s, tags
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
, sort tables, write spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
s, create image gallery and slideshow
Slideshow
A slide show is a display of a series of chosen information or pictures, done for artistic or instructional purposes. Slide shows are conducted by a presenter using an apparatus, such as a carousel slide projector, an overhead projector or in more recent years, a computer running presentation...
s, make drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s, write blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s, plot graphs
Graph (data structure)
In computer science, a graph is an abstract data structure that is meant to implement the graph and hypergraph concepts from mathematics.A graph data structure consists of a finite set of ordered pairs, called edges or arcs, of certain entities called nodes or vertices...
, interface to many different authentication
Authentication
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
schemes, track Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming
Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
projects and so on.
TWiki as a structured wiki provides database-like manipulation of fields stored on pages, and offers a SQL-like query language to embed reports in wiki pages.
Wiki applications are also called situational application
Situational application
In computing, a situational application is "good enough" software created for a narrow group of users with a unique set of needs. The application typically has a short life span, and is often created within the group where it is used, sometimes by the users themselves...
s because they are created ad-hoc by the users for very specific needs.
