On Feb 7, 2013, at 7:42 PM, Jeremie BOUSQUET <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi devs,
I wonder how the "flavor" and "workspace template" concepts would work together ? For example, if I would like to create "community" workspaces would I: A - use a standard XE workspace template, then upgrade it with a "community" flavor extensions ? B - upgrade a standard XE to a "community" flavor, export it as a workspace template and use that
In the future when you create a wiki through the Wiki Manager UI you will have the ability to choose a flavor. The same could be done for the Workspace UI.
I think B is better, because it allows to add some UI to "glue" flavor extensions together the way you like. For example, if I have a MailArchive and a NewsLetter extensions, maybe I would like to add some scripts to generate newsletters for the community, using mailing-lists defined in MailArchive, even if both extensions have no dependencies together.
IMO this just means creating a community extension and have the community flavor depends on that extension in addition to all the other extensions making the community flavor. Thanks -Vincent
But then, maybe I would just like to add those UI pages directly in my flavor extension, and so make it merely a xar extension with many dependencies... In that case, I would'nt even need a workspace template - only C - choose a flavor when creating my workspace. In that case also, a"flavor" would really be a logical type of extension, and not just a type of packaging of extension.
Of course, I could also decide to create UI extensions out of these "glue" pages, with the risk of increasing number of "small & dumb" extensions, and of having to solve potentially complex compatibility issues through long dependency graphs...
Only throwing some ideas, but maybe I'm off topic...
Br, Jeremie Le 7 févr. 2013 17:39, "Eduard Moraru" <[email protected]> a écrit :
On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 6:31 PM, Vincent Massol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Caty,
On Feb 7, 2013, at 5:08 PM, "Ecaterina Moraru (Valica)" < [email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
XWiki Flavors are a set of predefined extensions having a specific use case in mind. XWiki Flavors can be considered specializations of XWiki instances suited for different purposes like public websites, intranets, content sharing, project management, community status, business intelligence, etc.
Scenario: You want to install XWiki. The installer will propose different 'flavors' and will install automatically all required extensions. This way you will have a product close to your initial needs. You can later refine it by installing / uninstalling other extensions.
So when I first thought about the process of installing a Flavor I imagined that I could customize what I wanted from the Flavor and select just the things I need. Actually for me Flavors were like categories with subcategories, and more of a classification system, than a packaging one.
http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/Flavours/custom...
Also another difference in my vision is that I had a Base Package that contains the common denominator for all Flavors. The Base Package should contain basic mechanics for managing content and users. Selecting no flavor will still result in having basic wiki features (page creation, attachments, history, users, etc.).
After some discussions with Eduard I understood that Flavors could be defined as extensions and they could contain just a list of dependencies on other extensions. The Extension Manager will install the 'exact' list it gets from the definition without the ability to exclude some dependencies.
Indeed.
I've watched the 'recent' mails about XWiki Flavors [1] [2] [3] [4] and for me the conclusion is clear: we will never agree on what starting features are the best and that will solve everybody's problems. But that is ok and normal and the strength of XWiki is it's extensibility.
So the next idea was to have a Flavor Creator that will allow users to create their own collections of extensions. This collection should be then published to extensions.xwiki.org and could appear in the installer list as suggestions.
Some thoughts:
* Yes, the idea is that anyone can contribute a flavor on xwiki.org, since it's an extension like any other (it would just have a new type, called "flavor" since we don't have this ATM). The DW will list all flavors it can find from e.x.o. This is where we need some ways to bring the best flavors to the top. My idea was to add ratings to the Repository app for that
I agree with this. IMO, we should bring back the idea of extension types (including this new "flavour" type) and, as you`ve mentioned, add things like ratings.
Also, this should be reflected in the EM UI to allow a user to do browsing (by extension types) and not only searching (which is a bit intimidating to new users).
Thanks, Eduard
* Also, in the DW the user should be allowed to not install any flavor so that he can then install extensions one by one if he so wishes
* Re the base package there's no need to have one since extensions declare their require dependencies
http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/Flavours/flavor...
If Application Within Minutes let's you create your own applications, the Flavor Creator would let you make packages of extensions for a specific purpose. This way we strengthen XWiki's extensibility and we let the users take the power and customize the solutions that are perfect for them.
Sounds good.
Thanks -Vincent
Just some ideas.
Thanks, Caty
[1] [Idea]"Community" flavor http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/2e3fdm3hfuh54vpr [2] [Idea] XWiki Project Development Flavor http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/334vzyytfvlppmri [3] Idea collection minimal xwiki configuration http://markmail.org/thread/abma4pzuq2ooy6as [4] [UserStory] Wiki Archetypes http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/jp35ackl2puuscjv