SubWiki

Subwiki has two different understandings:

Zwiki: A Zwiki folder instance located within an existing Zwiki folder.

Most non-Zwiki's: A page which is "nested" under a current page. The page name is preceded with a "/", and referenced as ParentPage/SubPage.

A general definition is "A SubWiki is a (almost) complete wikiweb in a wikiweb."

When dealing with SubWiki-s the following questions arise: How to achieve distinct WikiNamespaces in wikis, handle SubWiki(s) (creation, deletion), moving pages from or to SubWiki-s, WikiAcquisition and more.

(Not to be confused with the SubWiki wiki which is a wiki using a SubVersion? data store. http://subwiki.tigris.org/ )

See also:

• WikiAcquisition - The basics.
  • AcquisitionProblems - Fundamental Issues of WikiAcquisition and SubWiki.
• FolderishZwiki - Combining the advantages of the flat namespace with the hierarchical namespace
• FreeHosting - Multiple distinct wikis, hosted side-by-side on the same server. - Sharing content possible.
• ZwikiAdministrationGuide? - A complete administration guide, chapter about subfolder use, still growing.
• SubWikiExamples - three examples for SubWiki usage.
• SubWikiDiscussion - Share your thoughts here!
• SubWikiLinking - Everything about linking from and to SubWiki pages, RemoteWikiLinks
  • SubWikiLinksTest - Test your SubWiki WikiLinks?? with this page. (same as SubWiki:SubWikiLinking)
• http://zwiki.org/subwiki is a sub-wiki you can play with.

RemoteWikiURL: http://zwiki.org/subwiki/

Terminology:

• ChildWiki? = SubWiki
• ParentWiki = Zwiki folder above the SubWiki
• SiblingWiki? = PeerWiki - a Wiki on the same level ON THE SAME SERVER. (Not to be confused with SisterWikis?.)

Pages seperated by / are not treated specially here: ZWiki/Sandbox. Not even in a FreeformLink: [ZWiki/SandBox]?

The start: Create a SubWiki resp. a SubFolder? of WikiPages?

From WikiAcquisition: define a subfolder within your wiki folder and start a sub-wiki there. - OpenQuestion?: Is this the only way to do it? - This is number 2 below, right?

How to setup a SubWiki:

1. Create a new (sub) Zwiki in an existing one (parent).
2. Add a page describing the new one in the parent wiki, including a RemoteWikiLink? for namespace referencing.
3. Use the ZMI to move any necessary pages from the parent to sub wiki. (Necessary when moving a large topic into a SubWiki)
4. Update all SubTopics? and BackLinks.
5. Clear and re-find all the Zwiki Pages in the subwiki's Catalog

SubWiki use cases

• SubWikiExampleOne: Use a single multi-level wiki to provide simple tools to allow user-developers to have a simple tool to create their website, and optionally allow some or all visitors to add to or comment on the pages. (...)
• SubWikiExampleTwo: MultiUserWikiManagement? - A main PublicWiki? where interested users may start their own subwikis to enjoy a seperated namespace but can easily refer(link) from the subwiki to the parent wiki and vice versa. ( my interest --FloK)
• SubWikiExampleThree?: ProjectManagement? - Several projects maintain there distinct topic sites but need also a pool of shared pages (inheritated, administrative) pages (ie.HelpPage etc.) and pages for other shared (sub-)resources ie. hardware. (as in FolderishZwiki)
  • Combo of (2) and (3): Using wikiwebs for project documentation lead to the idea of integrating all project wikis in a superwiki, which some time might turn out to be a kind of wikistyle intranet with personal wikis for the employees. [by BeWo (?)]?

Using simple folders

If you plan to use folders in your Zwiki, there are a few extra steps you'll need to take care of.

1. After creating each folder or sub-folder, copy the SearchPage? into it, otherwise page creation inside the folder won't work properly
   
   For example:
   
   http://www.foobar.com/SearchPage (this exists by default)
   http://www.foobar.com/foldera/SearchPage (you need to manually copy SearchPage to here)
   http://www.foobar.com/folderb/SearchPage (you need to manually copy SearchPage to here)
   http://www.foobar.com/folderc/SearchPage (you need to manually copy SearchPage to here)
   
   
2. If you don't want to inherit the standard_wiki_header and standard_wiki_footer files from a parent folder (and thereby retain the look of the page above), you'll need to add versions of them specific to each folder or sub-folder
   
   For example:
   
   http://www.foobar.com/foldera/standard_wiki_header
   http://www.foobar.com/foldera/standard_wiki_footer
   http://www.foobar.com/folderb/standard_wiki_header
   http://www.foobar.com/folderb/standard_wiki_footer
   http://www.foobar.com/folderc/standard_wiki_header
   http://www.foobar.com/folderc/standard_wiki_footer

WikiAcquisition

When referencing a page in the parent wiki from a subwiki you must use the canonical wiki name (or pageId) If the id is not CamelCase, you'll need to surround it in brackets. This is bug #??? ToDo?: Add or reference IssueTracker

Currently see also:

• WikiAcquisition - Introduction and overview
  • AcquisitionProblems - Fundamental Issues of WikiAcquisition and SubWiki.
• WikiTransclusion, IncludeOrTransclude

Moving and copying pages from and to SubWikis?

Currently (0.13) this has to be done by CutAndPaste? or via the ZMI. It is a wishlist feature to have an additional footer to manage PageMigration? (PagePromotion?). See also the comments on SubWikiDiscussion: DeanGoodmanson, 2002/12/13 17:03 GMT (via web); FlorianKonnertz, 2002/12/16 11:31 GMT (via web)

ZwikiIssueTracker usage

Nesting ZwikiIssueTracker's may not be a good idea, due to Issue numbering schemes. It stills needs to be tested.

You cannot copy the IssueTracker and FilterIssue? page to a SubWiki: The former needs the ZCatalog and the latter shows the issues of the ParentWiki.

Solution (?): Install a ZCatalog first

ZCatalog usage

• ZCatalog use: Is it necessary to use a seperate Catalog in each SubWiki? Yes. Note: When finding all Zwiki Pages in a Catalog, all sub-folders will be searched!! Use some odd security flag to get around this.
• Is it possible just to copy the ParentWiki's catalog to the SubWiki? Apparently not, still all ParentWiki's pages get indexed.
• You will likely have to Clear and Re-find the items in your SubWiki Catalog

StandardPages? usage

Acquisition of StandardPages? is recommended. Currently see howto in DTMLCookbook.

Suggestions:

• AllRecentChanges? - See all RC in all SubWiki-s
• AllSubWikiPages? - Listing of AllPages in all SubWiki-s
• SubWikiIndex? - Listing all SubWikis? on the FrontPage reps. TableOfContents? (manually?) and their number of pages etc.

General questions /ideas

• Would it be possible to tie the settings in UserOptions? to the current wiki folder, so a user could have in the parent wiki different bookmarks than in a child wiki and a different setting for Show Hierarchy? - Does this make sense?
• An example report for some of the issues above is here: NooWiki:SubWiki
• How to distinguish mails to a SubWiki from mails to the parent wiki?
  • add mail_subject_prefix folder properties
• DNSRedirect? problems (Example: see DTMLCookbook)
• Renaming pages in ParentWiki: Are links in SubWikis changed?
• Renaming pages in the SubWiki fails; why? - See IssueNo? -
• Permissions to add(create) resp. delete a SubWiki. Allow users to do so? This sounds like real WikiSpirit? :-) !
• Mounting :-) existing (root) wikis as SubWikis? in other wikis. How to choose the SubWikiMountPoints?? (hehe;-) - How to deal with WikiNamespaces growing together?
• When deleting pages in SubWiki they're still visible in ZMI, [recycle_bin]? does not work. recycle_bin folder's need to be created in each subwiki manually. (Note: Check to see if this is done on zwiki creation (preferred for subwiki use..) or first delete.)