[TW5] Tinka Plugin Packer 0.2.0-beta release

[Andreas Hahn]

Hi,

just a heads up for everyone interested:

I just released a beta version with many new features which hopefully
make plugin creation both even more simple and more comfortable. Since
this is a beta release, please do not hesitate to report bugs/typos and
the likes. It is also recomended to now get the plugin via the plugin
library, rather via the wiki.
As usual, you can find the plugin site at
http://twguides.org/tinka.html, the library version is at
http://library.twguides.org/.

Changes include:

* Added Help-Tab capabilities to quickly navigate between plugin tiddlers.
* Moved Create-Plugin wizard to its own tab.
* Redid Create-Plugin UI to be easier and more accessible.
* Backups can now also be downloaded/exported.
* Added more documentation.

Thank you for testing Tinka and giving me feedback!

/Andreas

[Tobias Beer]

Hi Andreas,

I really like this.

If I see it right, it can also be used to ad-hoc create what I once called swarms.

Thinking along those lines, as a tool to package more "ad-hoc" collections rather than full blown plugins, it would be nice if Tinka would allow to ...

1. declare a given collection as some kind of ad-hoc "swarm" or whatever the term, so that one would see that it ain't quite a "plugin" in a "software development" sense
   
2. be able to "unpack" such a "package", i.e. to elevate the tiddlers from being shadows to being imported
3. not being restricted to the path "$:/plugins/", because that's frankly not what any ad-hoc collection strives to be

Also, can you perhaps rename the controlpanel tab to just Tinka?

Those who (will) use it know what it is

and for those who don't it suffices

to click a thus much shorter tab.

If the concept of more loosely defined collections of tiddlers catches on, I think it would be good if you would rename those occurences of "plugin" to "package", e.g. "package name"... one type of which would be a "plugin", another a "theme" ...and then, well, whatever the term is for content-stuff. I wouldn't call that "plugin", is all I'm saying.

Best wishes,

— tb

[Andreas Hahn]

Hi Tobias,

thanks for your feedback. I am not sure that it would make a good ad-hoc creator, since Tinka is kinda desgined to specifically get all the nice things that plugins offer. Of course it does not prevent one from creating content-"plugins" (or swarms), but having version control and the tiddlers being shadows are central to plugins. For your "swarms" it would not be needed in the first place, so a much simpler and easier sharing mechanism can be devised for that.

Also, can you perhaps rename the controlpanel tab to just Tinka? Those who (will) use it know what it is and for those who don't it suffices to click a thus much shorter tab.

Yes, that is actually a very good suggestion, I did not think of that. Thanks !

/Andreas

[Tobias Beer]

Hi Andreas,

 

For your "swarms" it would not be needed in the first place, so a much simpler and easier sharing mechanism can be devised for that.

Nay worries, just an idea. Actually, for sharing, turning a bunch of tiddlers into an ad-hoc plugin ...well, that's how that could work, package and ready for distribution ...only just unpacking added on top of packaging, et voila. A swarm of tiddlers becoming permanent residents in your wiki, even just partially.

Best wishes, Tobias.

[Eric Shulman]

On Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 12:07:31 PM UTC-7, Tobias Beer wrote:

Nay worries, just an idea. Actually, for sharing, turning a bunch of tiddlers into an ad-hoc plugin ...well, that's how that could work, package and ready for distribution ...only just unpacking added on top of packaging, et voila. A swarm of tiddlers becoming permanent residents in your wiki, even just partially.

For simple "swarms" of regular tiddlers, I like to export a .json file from the Advanced Search > Filter tab.  Then, importing into another TW document is as easy as drag-and-drop.

-e

[Tobias Beer]

Hi Eric,
 

For simple "swarms" of regular tiddlers, I like to export a .json file from the Advanced Search > Filter tab.  Then, importing into another TW document is as easy as drag-and-drop.

Come to think of it, they would meaningfully be more ad-hoc packages indeed, rather than pre-build collections. Pre-defined yes, but not (necessarily) pre-built. So, the solution for anyone wishing to share more losely defined packages of stuff, it would mean to provide the appropriate filter and an easy way for other's to export those contents from the source.

@Andreas, I hope this ain't going too much off-topic.

Best wishes,

— tb 

[Mat]

As I've said before; I consider Tinka to be super important because it is a piece of key infrastructure as it simplifies for other people to make contributions and further improve TW. For instance, I would not have been able to create my plugins without this.

@Andreas - thank you for continuous work on Tinka!

I have not tried out the new version yet, but am looking at the demo. I like it a lot that you've made the meta-info fields easier to understand.

Can I ask, is there a github where to post issues? I feel thinks on the boards are very easily lost.

BTW, in your post here, you write:

 

the library version is at
http://library.twguides.org/.

This link gives a page stating "This is the TWGuides plugin library. It is not intended to be opened directly in the browser."  - I'd say it is better to link to:

http://twguides.org/pluginLibrary.html#

Also, it would be good to get a little more info before installing a "plugin library" - is it only to access things from TWguides? Does it add an extra Ctrlpanel tab? Does it extend the functionality of the standard plugin library?

Thank you!

<:-)

[Tobias Beer]

Hi Mat,

Get a little more info before installing a "plugin library"

Needs to be on TiddlyWiki.com. Also, it's not "installing" anyhting but more like registering.

Is it only to access things from TWguides?

If not, that would be a problem.
 

Does it add an extra Ctrlpanel tab?

Why would it?
 

Does it extend the functionality of the standard plugin library?

It makes use of the same principle and thus extends the mechanism of importing plugins ...with an alternative source.

Best wishes,

— tb

[Jeremy Ruston]

Hi Andreas

Great stuff. I'm impressed that you've created your own plugin library, too.

Best wishes

Jeremy.

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[Andreas Hahn]

Hi Mat,

thanks for your feedback, I am also almost positive that you will like the Help Tab when navigating between plugin tiddlers ;).
Currently there is no github, therefore the only place to post issues is on the Tinka page itself down in the comments and here on the mailing list. I might create a github soon, since I also want to create a github for the plugin library itself (and those will have to be linked up).

What you say is true, I did originally link the main page of the plugin library, as it is a) the actual library and b) it also contains the installation instructions. But you are right, that the other link might be more helpful to people.
Also it does not do anything except add "http://library.twguides.org" as another source for plugins when using the plugin library mechanism, it will be just below ... or above the normal standard library in the menu. I will add a short description (with some screenshots maybe) to the site. Thanks!

/Andreas

[Andreas Hahn]

Am 26.09.2015 um 18:37 schrieb Jeremy Ruston:
> Hi Andreas
>
> Great stuff. I'm impressed that you've created your own plugin
> library, too.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Jeremy.
>

Thanks Jeremy, I do have to say that I really really like the browser
message mechanism and creating my own plugin library was actually
extremely simple.
It also opens up a few nice possibilites for people (and hereby I mean
developers who can use that mechanism for private things). Thanks for that!

/Andreas

P.S.: Obviously I was heavily guided by your pluginlibrary plugin, so
that helped.

[Mat]

@Tobias

Thanks for your replies to my questions above. Here is my point that kind of addresses your questions to my questions:

Presumably, the point in offering a plugin library is that it is somehow different from the standard version (or?) so I figure any such differences warrant a note. Even so if the single distinction is that it is offered solely as a channel to that particular developers creations, because it is not obvious that this is what a plugin library is - and definitely not that it only is this. (...if that in deed is what it only is. Is it?)

Part of the problem is that I have not yet studied how the/a plugin library works (I should as it is supposedly an important ingredient for TWederation). But, of course, we can't expect a user to know what a plugin library is, how it works, and how installing one affects your TW. I agree the general info on this should be in the twcom docs.

<:-)

[Tobias Beer]

Hi Andreas,

It would be nice to hve a check-uncheck-all checkbox to select tiddlers matching a filter,

rather than having to check each one individually.

In terms of safely ad-hoc packaging entire wikis, this may be interesting...

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tiddlywiki/BMS-2aZPDno/YcjzcOS1BgAJ

Best wishes,

— tb

[Greg Davis]

Hi,

What ever happened to Tinka? I was searching to see if there had been any updates. Did it move or is gone like  http://twguides.org  appears to be gone?

[Andreas Hahn]

Hi Greg,

due to me not having the time and money to properly maintain the site anymore, I had to close it down about half a year ago. Tinka 0.2.0 is still the latest update and as far as I am concerned, it is pretty much "feature complete" when it comes to plugin creation in the browser.

/Andreas

Am 15.10.2016 um 04:05 schrieb Greg Davis:

[Jed Carty]

Do you have a copy of the site that I could host on ooktech.com? We could have it up for archive purposes or so that we can pull out content to integrate into one of the other reference sites.

[Greg Davis]

Hi Andreas,

Sorry to hear that. Can understand, "real life" distracted me from some of the TW that I had been working and lost track of what was happening with TW. Just starting to get back into experimenting.

Going back through backups and the last version can find was 0.1.0. Any chance you have a TW on Tiddlyspot where your last version could be imported from or could you attach a JSON or TID file here?

Would be sad to see your great contribution disappear.

Best Wishes,

Greg

[Thomas Elmiger]

Hi

I just realized that I left the most recent version (0.2.0) of Tinka in my plugin wiki here: http://tid.li/tw5/plugins.html#%24%3A%2FControlPanel

Have fun and let us know what you packed!
Thomas

[Greg Davis]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks! I don't know how soon I will be packing something. Though I might do my customized version of Ton's Top Left Menu, I used a JSON back when I first created it, but did try a plugin version made with Tinka. Reminds me, probably should put some of the things I had on Dropbox up on Tiddlyspot, then go back to old posts and put in a new link. (Just found out how to do Tiddlyspot.)

I used my version of Left Menu recently to help a friend put together a tutorial for the portable versons of Blender 3D and MakeHuman. http://portable3d.tiddlyspot.com It is large due to embedded images for off-line use. But that should be a different thread.

That was what got me thinking about TW.

Again, thanks for the link to Tinka.
Greg