21 May
2013
21 May
'13
11:56 p.m.
On 05/21/2013 05:22 PM, Beebe, Mary J wrote:
Xwiki developers,
Our company develops wikis. We set up the core wiki, and then write extensions to add
specific tools depending on the subject of the wiki . All of our wikis have been
developed with the MediaWiki platform, which is written in PHP and prefers the mySQL
database. We need to convert over to a Java and Oracle solution; XWiki is a contender
for us.
To help us decide on xWiki, Do you mind answering a few questions for us such as the
following?
1. One advantage of wikis for us is the revision history, fast creation of content,
media uploads, and the user management. Are these things solved well with xwiki?
Yes, see [1-4].
2. We need to add some custom tables to the wiki
database and then save to those tables from a page form. Is that possible?
Well, XWiki's main feature is that it allows to create applications
around structured data. So it does allow creating custom forms, and the
data entered through those forms will be stored in the database.
However, by default XWiki maps this custom data to predefined tables,
offering powerful APIs for accessing it [5], several ways to query it
[6], and even an easy-to-use application wizard [7]. You might be
interested in [8] as well.
But it is possible to use your own custom tables, although not quite as
easy as using XWiki's data model.
One way is to continue to use Hibernate and add new types of entities,
like [9] is doing.
Another way is to bypass the XWiki storage completely and use SQL/JDBC
directly from a Java component. This requires the most amount of extra work.
3. We need to develop forms for particular
categories. The fields within the forms will be saved to your tables and our custom
tables. Is this possible?
See the answer for 2. In short, yes, but with some custom code.
4. It looks like xWiki has components. We are
just starting to experiment with your components. Are they helpful with your product?
Of course. We're trying to move as much code as possible from the
monolithic old core to clean, modular components.
Perhaps what's more interesting for you is a special kind of components,
ScriptService [10]
5. Do you have hooks in the code or other
possibilities to extend code without changing it?
What kind of code? There are many kinds of extensions that XWiki
supports, from replaceable Java components to JS/CSS skin extensions and
UI extension points.
6. Is it possible to change core code?
Yes. Since XWiki is open source, you can fork it on GitHub and build
your own patched jars.
Also, since several parts of XWiki are implemented as components, they
can be replaced with your own version of those components.
User mark up differences between your xWiki and
mediaWiki is not a big factor for us.
Thanks,
Mary
[1] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Features/VersionControl
[2] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Features/PageEditing
[3] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Features/Attachments
[4] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Features/UsersAndGroupsManagement
[5] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/DevGuide/
[6] http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Extension/Query+Module
[7]
http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Extension/App+Within+Minutes+Applicat…
[8] http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Features/Forms
[9] http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Extension/Activity+Stream+Plugin
[10] http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/Extension/Script+Module
--
Sergiu Dumitriu
http://purl.org/net/sergiu