[TW5] Plugin Publishing

Devin Weaver

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Apr 22, 2016, 5:15:55 PM4/22/16

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My apologies if this has been asked before. How do I publish plugins?

Specifically, what kinds of preparations need to happen? Where do I upload the plugin? What format should they be in? Where is the plugin library stored? How do I submit new plugins?

Thanks.

Mat

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Apr 22, 2016, 6:34:28 PM4/22/16

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Hm, we need a good writeup on this for the docs!

I'm not fully qualified to answer your questoins because I've made very few plugins, but FWIW;

While it's not about "publishing" per se but Andreas Hahns Tinka plugin packer, might help to get some of the things right for publication. While very useful, I'd say it still needs some improvements before it is fully functional though. (In spite of the fairly recent update. I experienced this just yesterday actually.)

Upload wherever you want... but I warmly recommend TiddlySpot because everyone is familiar with it and it is a popular place. Some publish their plugins on github but it is always unclear for me (and surely others) how exactly to install it and github is a bit scary overall. Others have it in some cryptic dropbox folder that IMO feels unreliable in that the link to it could disappear from access. Also one can never guess the url for it like with TiddlySpot where it is always xxx.tiddlyspot.com

If you include a readme tiddler or maybe even an icon, make sure to title those like so

$:/...thepluginname.../readme
$:/...thepluginname.../icon

not e.g

$:/...thepluginname.../Readme
$:/...thepluginname.../README

The readme and the icon will then show in the plugin library, i.e the readme tab will be active/open by default and (which I figured out just yesterday) this is how you get an icon to show.

If you use Tinka, I also recommend mentioning the name of the plugin in the Description field because this is what is shown in big letters next to the icon in the plugin library. (e.g for the SideEditor, the description is: SideEditor - a "live" editor next to your tiddler)

Note that you don't need to package things in a plugin. You can also just have multiple separate tiddlers that people drag over one at a time (obviously you miss out on the plugin overwrite-protection then).

Also, send a ping to Erwan and you'll be included in the Community Search aggregator http://erwanm.github.io/tw-community-search/

<:-)

Devin Weaver

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Apr 22, 2016, 10:36:32 PM4/22/16

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Sorry for the confusion. You mentioned releasing on tiddlyspot. I assume this means a whole tiddlywinks with the plugin inside it. How does the plugin library know how to weed out the plugin tiddlers versus any other tiddler like a GettingStarted or tags?

For that matter how does the plugin library know about tiddlyspot and the some tiddlywikis are special plugin wikis and not someone's personal journal?

There is also reference of hosting on github or Dropbox. Is there a tiddlywiki plugin bit out there scraping the underbelly of the Internet to discover plugins?

Some how plugins has made it to the plugin library. I've searched and searched the tiddlywiki source code and still can not find where those plugins are being registered/stored.

Any ideas?

Birthe C

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Apr 23, 2016, 3:13:35 AM4/23/16

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The plugin library only shows the standard plugins, themes and language packs maintained by the core team.
As Mat explained there are many more places to find plugins and it is a lot easier when your plugin is known to Community Search.

Jed Carty and Tobias Beer created their own plugin libraries.

Birthe

Mat

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Apr 23, 2016, 3:29:11 AM4/23/16

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I hope Jeremy can answer this but just a few things; "the plugin library" is not a global thing. The official plugins are whichever Jeremy puts there. A few individuals have created their own plugin libraries - I know of Tobias, Andreas Hahn and Jed, possibly someone more. This way you can install their whole plugin library but it is pretty much dedicated to their exclusive plugins. I think the main point with a plugin library is so that the user can click "Get more plugins" to get a list of that particular library-moderators plugins.

But you don't need a plugin library to publish a plugin. As stated, you can put it anywhere. BUT there is what I call the "dispersed problem", i.e that there is no real way to ensure that the rest of the world can find your stuff. All plugins are scattered around. This is a HUGE problem. Erwans Community Search is the only real solution so far. Jeremy is attempting to keep the Community tiddler on tiddlywiki.com updated but there is of course no way one individual can do this. And the typical way to make a plugin "available" is to announce it on the boards... :-/ This is one major reason why the TWederation is very much needed. It would make aggregation and spreading of plugins simple. The first steps have been taken but it is currently a bit on a pause.