Using an existing TW file to start a new one

[Ittay Dror]

So I have a TiddlyWiki file with tons of tiddlers, plugins and customizations. I want to start a new one and retain the plugins and customizations, but not the tiddlers. How can I do that? 

[PMario]

Hi,

On Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 4:13:06 PM UTC+2, Ittay Dror wrote:

So I have a TiddlyWiki file with tons of tiddlers, plugins and customizations. I want to start a new one and retain the plugins and customizations, but not the tiddlers. How can I do that? 

How did you do your "customizations" ... Are this settings in the control-panel or eg: ViewTemplate ... ?

You could use my bundler-plugin, to specify all tiddlers, that you want to save. see: https://wikilabs.github.io/editions/bundler/#%24%3A%2Fplugins%2Fwikilabs%2Fbundler:%24%3A%2Fplugins%2Fwikilabs%2Fbundler%20tiddlerlist-plus-plugin.bundle

tiddlerlist-plus-plugin.bundle ... Is just a list of tiddlers.

In the right sidebar, there is also a "filtered bundles", that you can enable.

eg: https://wikilabs.github.io/editions/bundler/#export-this-to-get-it-all.bundle

have fun!

mario

[Ittay Dror]

I want to retain no tiddlers, just plugins and settings

[PMario]

On Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 4:26:03 PM UTC+2, Ittay Dror wrote:

I want to retain no tiddlers, just plugins and settings

I know. But most settings are tiddlers too!. That's why I wanted to know, if your settings are ControlPanel only?

-m

[Ittay Dror]

I don't know. I've been customizing it over the years whenever I had a need ( getting a plugin or copy&paste from somewhere).  Isn't there a way to just delete the "normal" tiddlers?

[TonyM]

Ittay,

This could be difficult because you are doing it in retrospect, had you planned to identify the difference between the system and the content from the beginning it would be simpler. I would have no problem with my wikis because I take steps to keep content separate from solutions using naming standards, bundles of tiddlers etc...

• Someone with a lot of experience in tiddlywiki could do a quick job of some of this by identifying macro and template tags, overwritten shadow tiddlers so if you are prepared to share your wiki, they could help get you started (Contact me privately if you want me to have a look, I will respect your privacy, I am a registered business, and well known here) No charge to community members unless it needs too many hours.
• However If you start with a new empty file (then install the bundler plugin with the import bundle activated) , drag the plugins over save and reload and make a copy of this and start to locate some of your customisations and replicate them on the new site it may not take as long as you think. 
• The Bunddler plugin will keep a record of the tiddlers you import.
• If you make copies of your wiki as you try something new if it breaks just go back to the previous version.
• You could use the filter [!is[system]] to list all non system tiddlers and start to make inroads as to what you need to remove.
  
• In the end you have have your own tiddlywiki edition "template" without content you could use for making new Wikis.

This will be a learning process for you as you revisit old customisations but it will give you the opportunity to review them, understand them better and tweek them. The fact is new features and plugins often make customising easier than before so you may find it quicker than you think. I would try and understand what you do rather than just move everything, as tempting as it may be.

Just writing a list of the features you want to keep or see in your new wiki would be a great start because you can ask for help here.

Regards

Tony

[TonyM]

Post script

You could also delete any particularly private info in a copy of your wiki before sending it someone.

Regards

Tony

[Jon]

Hi Tony,

I'm wanting to do the same as the original questioner.

Could you give me a few pointers on your naming standards?

Regards

Jon

[TonyM]

Jon,

That is a little question with a big answer.

Here is a quick response. 

• If I create tiddlers that are code, rather than content I try and keep them as system tiddlers, using $:/ as the prefix, even $:/PSaT/ which is my Business initials. So when I want to extract data I just need to export regular tiddler and [!is[system]]
• With my code tiddlers I make bundles with the bundle plugin and export them as json files, often using [prefix[$:/PSaT/solutionsname]]
• But I also have data tiddlers such as $:/data/datadictionarytiddler and I make a bundle for them as well.
• As I develop my wiki I use these prefixes to organise tiddlers, and when that is not practical I use a bundle to include any tiddler I want.
• The key is to never loose information as you design or enter data, capture the relationships between tiddlers even if this is simply by setting some naming standards.

However the most practical approach is ensure you manage various tiddler types so you can easily create a bundle of them. For example since the type field is already in use, I use the an object-type field. When I create tiddlers of different types, often from a custom new tiddler button, I always set this object-type field. for example (Written in field operator /value format you can use in filters)

• object-type[person]
• object-type[note]
• object-type[project]
• object-type[task]

However you can already use the built in type field to identify images, text etc...

Correct use of tags also helps so I can also list all tiddlers with the prefix[$:/PSaT/]] and that have the tag $:/tags/Stylesheet or $:/tags/Macro

Regards

Tony

[Jon]

Thanks, Tony. Very helpful.

Regards

Jon

[TonyM]

Jon

glad I can help

Post script. You can then use the following filter to export all tiddlers with a field object-type of anything including blank.

"[all[]has:field[object-type]]"

Tony

[Jon]

Excellent, thanks again.

Regards

Jon

[Stef Schulte]

Hi,

On Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 4:13:06 PM UTC+2, Ittay Dror wrote:

So I have a TiddlyWiki file with tons of tiddlers, plugins and customizations. I want to start a new one and retain the plugins and customizations, but not the tiddlers. How can I do that?

Naive question, maybe (and I realize that the thread is quite old) - but isn't it often sufficient to copy the TiddlyWiki to a new file, select "All tiddlers except system tiddlers" in "Advanced Search"/"Filter" and then hit the "Delete" button in order to remove all regular (=non-system) tiddlers? This is what I often do, and it usually yields a TiddlyWiki with all plugins and most customizations still in place.

Might be easier to do it this way and simply add manually whatever is missing later on.

Cheers,

Stef

[David Gifford]

Go to advanced search.

Use the filter there to find tiddlers [is[system]].

Export as a json file.

Drag that json file into an empty TiddlyWiki and import.

You should have all the system tiddlers but none of the content (non-system) tiddlers.