A marriage made in the clipboard or maybe a macro or plugin

[Craig in Calgary]

I am working a project for my Instructional Media course at university
on TiddlyWiki. In fact, I have arranged for three different course
projects to have a TiddlyWiki components to them. For weeks I have
been researching TiddlyWikis and accumulating a lot of notes on use,
plugins, adaptations, etc. One of my deliverables will be a TiddlyWiki
Tutorial. Does the world need another one when so many excellent
resources already exist? Yes. Why? Because this will not be a typical
"I'll put what others have said in my own words" rehash built on the
shoulders of TiddlyWiki giants who have gone before me. My intention
is to create a type of TiddlyWiki mash-up: use a TiddlyWiki to pull
real-time content (tiddlers) from other TiddlyWikis (with appropriate
permissions and citations).

One of the speed bumps I have run into is extracting overview
information from TiddlyWikis, e.g. name, last modified date, how many
tiddlers, etc. I am a big fan of Saq Imtiaz's TiddlyInfo bookmarklet
(http://lewcid.org/tiddlywiki-bookmarklets/) as well as TiddlySnip
(http://tiddlysnip.com) and have used them to help with my note
taking. However, what I envision for the Tutorial is the ability to
query a TiddlyWiki and grab the "latest and greatest" details from it
in real-time. The problem is I do not understand javascript well
enough or have the time right now to learn it well enough to craft the
macro or plugin myself.

Here's what I see when I close my eyes:
* A new tiddler type, e.g. TiddlyWikiQuery, similar to
http://www.tiddlytools.com/#BlankBookmark
* Similar in behavior to http://www.tiddlytools.com/#MiniBrowserPlugin,
I would have a tiddler for each TiddlyWiki I am pointing out. When the
tiddler is opened the user will see:
** a thumbnail preview image of the default homepage that, when
selected, opens a popup enlarged image - this is the one aspect of
static content I don't know how to avoid
** my notes on the TiddlyWiki, also static content, but my TiddlyWiki
has to have *some* content from me
** a hyperlink to open the TiddlyWiki in a separate window/tab
** a hyperlink to open the TiddlyWiki within the tiddler
** a "Show Details" link or button - visible if the details were not
already present - would run this theoretical macro or plugin, query
the TiddlyWiki, and render the results within the tiddler (similar to
http://plugins.tiddlywiki.org/plugins/151/SnapshotPlugin/) - this
would be like running http://www.tiddlytools.com/#ShowDocumentInfo
against a TiddlyWiki that doesn't contain it
** a "Refresh Details" link or button - visible if details are present
- would execute the query again
** a "Remove Details" link or button - visible if details are present
- would remove the query results from the tiddler

If I can expand on what TiddlyInfo extracts, in addition to the core
version number, last modified date, last modifed tiddler, and a list
of all systemConfig tiddlers, I would like to also include:
* the URL
* SiteTitle
* SiteSubTitle
* Additional systemConfig tiddler information (and extension of
http://www.tiddlytools.com/#ShowAllPermalinks or http://www.tiddlytools.com/#PluginInfo):
** Version or Revision
** Last modified date
** Source (maintaining the hyperlink)
** Documentation (maintaining the hyperlink)
** Author

I've begun to make some connections and associations between
particular TiddlyWikis and between the implementation of particular
plugins across various TiddlyWikis. This level of abstraction should
allow me to connect those notes intelligently.

At the next stage of development it would be useful to create a
ForEachTiddlyWikiPlugin or macro, similar to the ForEachTiddlerPlugin:
* get all details, refresh all details, remove all details - for all
TiddlyWikiQuery-type tiddlers
* which TiddlyWikis load a specified plugin or macro and what version
of the plugin or macro does the TiddlyWiki have
* group TiddlyWikis by author
* sort TiddlyWikis by last modified date
* etc.

Whew! I'll stop brainstorming for now.

All comments, suggestions, critiques, etc. are welcome.

Thank you.

[Eric Shulman]

> ** a "Show Details" link or button - visible if the details were not
> already present - would run this theoretical macro or plugin, query

> the TiddlyWiki, and render the results within the tiddler (similar tohttp://plugins.tiddlywiki.org/plugins/151/SnapshotPlugin/) - this
> would be like runninghttp://www.tiddlytools.com/#ShowDocumentInfo

> against a TiddlyWiki that doesn't contain it

See http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#ShowPlugins

The command link provided by this tiddler is an *instant
bookmarklet*.... simply drag it to the FireFox toolbar and you can use
it to get info about *any* TW document, without having to install
anything in those documents.

When clicked, the link automatically generates a tabular "report" into
a shadow tiddler and then displays that shadow tiddler so you can view
the report.

enjoy,
-e

[Alex Hough]

>One of my deliverables will be a TiddlyWiki Tutorial.

I think  this is a great idea.

My personal view  is something that ties the learning the way tiddlywiki works and communicates why things are like they are is much needed.
For example as a non techie person I am starting to pick up stuff but still lack the full picture. It is very hard to communicate stuff to us non-computer educated people, but tiddlywiki's strength is that it offers a learning route into programing.

I am not sure of the value of more collections of plugins.

Alex

2009/10/21 Craig in Calgary <craig.p...@gmail.com>

--
http://www.multiurl.com/g/64

[Craig in Calgary]

On Oct 21, 1:00 pm, Alex Hough <r.a.ho...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >One of my deliverables will be a TiddlyWiki Tutorial.
>
> I think  this is a great idea.
>
> My personal view  is something that ties the learning the way tiddlywiki
> works and communicates why things are like they are is much needed.
> For example as a non techie person I am starting to pick up stuff but still
> lack the full picture. It is very hard to communicate stuff to us
> non-computer educated people, but tiddlywiki's strength is that it offers a
> learning route into programing.
>
> I am not sure of the value of more collections of plugins.
>
> Alex

Alex,

You are exactly correct. As a technical communicator, my goal is
always to facilitate the message moving from sender to receiver with
clarity and as little interference as possible. This TiddlyWiki
Tutorial will be a sort of "chicken and egg" conundrum of its own: a
TiddlyWiki that explains how to peruse, use, abuse, and confuse
TiddlyWikis. There will be content geared toward the ultra non-
technical user as well as every shade of computer literate user right
through to the brainiacs (hopefully).

My intention isn't to just create another adaptation for the sake of
having one out there. My goal is a deliverable that will demonstrate
quality instructional presentation.

Thank you for your feedback.

[Alex Hough]

I'm looking forward to it.

Alex

2009/10/21 Craig in Calgary <craig.p...@gmail.com>

--
http://www.multiurl.com/g/64

[PMario]

Hi,
It looks like a lot of work you have already done.
May be you have some good sugestions (see "sugest repository" button)
for the tiddly hub project at http://plugins.tiddlywiki.org/plugins/

I found it some weeks ago and it is the first source where I start to
search, if I need something new.

regards Mario