Wiki

Attention

This service is deprecated and might not be available on your installation of Tuleap. It is highly recommended to use the Mediawiki plugin instead.

Tuleap offers a Wiki service to each project. The wiki available in Tuleap is based on a popular wiki tool called phpWiki.

Wiki Overview

Wiki Definition

A Wiki is a website that allows anyone to easily add content or to edit the content that is already in place.

A wiki enables documents to be written collectively in a simple markup language using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a “wiki page,” while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is called “the wiki.”. Tuleap offers an intermediate representation called a “Wiki Document”: it is a wiki page that is directly accessible from the project wiki main page.

A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. There is no review or approval process before modifications are accepted, and Tuleap wikis are open to all Tuleap registered users.

Wiki Page Formatting

In Tuleap wikis, there are three representations for each page: the HTML code, the web page resulting from rendering that code by a web browser, and the user-editable source code, from which the server produces the HTML. The latter format, known as “wikitext”, is written in a simplified markup language.

The reasoning behind this design is that HTML, with its large library of nested tags, is too complicated to allow fast-paced editing, and distracts from the actual content of the pages. It is also viewed as beneficial that users cannot use all the functionality that HTML allows, such as JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets, because of the consistency in look and feel that is thereby enforced, and for security reasons.

Linking and Creating Pages

Wikis are a true hypertext medium, with non-linear navigational structures. Each page typically contains a large number of links to other pages. Links are automatically created using a specific syntax, the so-called “link pattern.”

Tuleap wikis use CamelCase as a link pattern, produced by capitalizing words in a phrase and removing the spaces between them (the word “CamelCase” is itself an example of CamelCase). The term CamelCase comes from the uppercase “bumps” in the middle of the compound word, suggesting the bumps of a camel.

Tuleap wikis also allow other ways of creating wiki links by putting anything into square brackets. This allows the creation of page titles containing blank characters.

New pages in a wiki are created simply by creating the appropriate links on a topically related page. If the link does not exist, it is emphasized as a “new” link. Following that link opens an edit window, which then allows the user to enter the text for the new page. This mechanism ensures that so-called “orphan” pages (which have no links pointing to them) are rarely created.

Important

Please note that if you need to make a reference to a wikipage of another project and if the name of this wiki page is in CamelCase style, contains spaces or special characters, you will have to use the direct link, instead of the usual syntax.

Example : Use “[https://tuleap.example.com/wiki/index.php?group_id=N&pagename=WiKiPageName]” instead of “wiki #N:WikiPageName”

Searching

Tuleap wikis offer a title search, as well as a full text search.

Tuleap Wikis

Tuleap wikis are project-specific. So two different projects may use the same page names without conflict.

Wiki Creation

The wiki has to be initialized by a project administrator before use: simply click on the “Wiki” link in the service bar, select the wiki language, press ‘Create’, and wait for the creation process to complete.

Please note that the language of the wiki is initialized once and for all: it cannot be changed later, and it is viewed in the selected language, whatever the user preferences.

The wiki creation phase creates a default set of useful wiki pages: a welcome page, a sandbox to play with, the PhpWiki documentation, etc.

Wiki Permissions

By default, Tuleap wikis are viewable and editable by any Tuleap registered user.

While this is usually the best policy, some wikis should not be public. For those cases, Tuleap offers a permission mechanism based on user groups, as for file releases (see User Groups and Package Modification). Permissions may be set at the wiki level, and apply to all pages, or at the page level, so that only selected pages are protected.

Examples of Wiki Usage

Project Wikis hosted on Tuleap may typically be used for many different purposes. The following examples are just suggestions:

Meeting minutes: wikis are very convenient places to hold meeting minutes. Simply type the meeting name as a wiki link, click on this new link and type the minutes. Additionally, anybody can edit and correct the content later.
Project Calendar: Tuleap wiki pages may include a shared calendar, that every team member can access and edit (see the CalendarPlugin page).
Documentation: a wiki is a convenient way of providing project documentation (user guide, administration guide, FAQ, etc.). This documentation can be updated at any time by any team member, partners or even customers if they have been granted proper access permissions.