UseMod Wiki: WikiSuggestions/Attachments

Attachments / Upload

A facility for attachments (via HTTP file-upload) would be great. Also a bundle of "starter files" for a new Wiki -- with standard intro files -- would help. --GordonMohr

: I'm starting to reconsider attachments. I'm not sure they're appropriate for public wikis (like this one and MeatBall), but they could be very useful for more private sites. In the beginning, I'll probably just have a site-wide upload feature, possibly with a simple syntax for referring to uploaded files (like attach:myfile.doc).

: A starting file bundle is a great idea. Do you have a nice bundle I could use? :-) More seriously, I'm hoping to include such a bundle someday, but I haven't gotten around to gathering such pages. --CliffordAdams

: How about creating a set of pages here, or in a small separate wiki ?

: Then this set of starting pages will eventually evolve...

: It is important for these pages to show all the options for links and

 text-formatting that are supported and enabled here in usemodwiki.

: Other wikis might have other options active, so simply collecting some of

 their TextFormatting-pages won't be enough.  --HaJoGurt

: If these 2 features are there, count me in! I would recomment attachments per page though. --ErikVanOosten

: Attachments are huge for me. I use BinkleyWiki? for my RPG campaign, and I have several players requesting to upload maps, character drawings, etc. --BrianOxley

: I would like to add my vote for attachments. --DaveRaftery

My suggestion for uploaded files (except graphics) is to add a line to the "intermap" file on your local server like:

File http://myserver.com/files/attachdir

...which points to the local file directory. Then you could just type File:myfile.doc to link to that file. (For graphics displayed on a page you'll need to use the full URL. When I add attachments I'll allow attachments to be used as images.) --CliffordAdams

I used this suggestion from Cliff, and made the file directory on the server accessible to all the Windows users via Samba. If they want to embed a graphic or a file reference, they copy the file to the Samba file service, then reference it using the InterWiki format. The shared directory is wide-open to the world. From a security point of view, this ain't too hot, but it works OK in our development environment. The security issue has little to do with wiki, however, and I'm sure I could tighten things up using any number of other mechanisms if I cared to. -- DanMuller

Why not leave attachment handling to specialized web-based file managers such as Drall (http://www.edlund.org/hacks/drall/)? Just set it up and keep a link on hand at the bottom of edit pages.

I've been using a "docs" pointer in my intermap as suggested by Cliff for an intranet wiki for pointing to uploaded files. For uploading, I use a Perl script with a simple forms interface rather than FTP (my users are not adept at configuring FTP connections), so I can control uploads. JerryMuelver

I have been checking Wiki clones, and found the File Upload and Image features of the Twiki useful, but the Twiki looks too complex for the average user. I am looking for ways to make my daughter's school web site easier for the use

of kids and theachers, and the ability to upload and show an image would be great.

I think the upload facility could be turned On or Off.... Anibal Rojas

We have used a program called [Database Manager] which is really mis-named, it is an excellent file manager that works better than Drall on Windows 2000 systems. I simply linked to it from the UserGotoBar (which is a great feature for easily extending UseMod - I've linked a perl Calendar and CVS from the toolbar with graphical icons). It allows users on our intranet to easily upload, download, edit and delete files from the upload folder. I edited the InterWiki map file as mentioned above to make files easily available from within the pages of the wiki. -- EdGray

As a quick solution to the desire for uploaded files (effectively to provide a way to put some read only content on the wiki), I have a small (not quite so small now!) CGI script on a UseModWiki site that I am maintaining (see Wiki:TridentPloughsharesWiki). The script can be downloaded from the following page (the second page below includes some discussion about it, and the third page includes more technical notes):

I have an entry in my intermap file called Uploads that points to the directory

http://www.andrewgray.uklinux.net/tpwiki/uploads/ for easy accessing of uploaded files from wiki pages. The UserGotoBar on the tpwiki site includes a link direct to the upload.cgi script.

Feedback and comments welcome (or just download and use it if you want) ... -- AndrewGray

I would just like to see an upload option for straight Wikitext, rather than having to edit in the annoying box, so that I can edit in my favourite editor, spell check etc and then put it back. Its a lot nicer than cut and paste ... Is this possible without JavaScript? -- MikeHudson?

I am dreaming of a similar file upload feature: A link to a external file (e.g. a pdf elsewere) is written in the page with a special marker (e.g. [mirror: http://server/file.pdf]). After submitting the page, wiki will try to get the file, cache it locally and shows 2 links: one to the original url and one to the locally cached file (or maybe only the link to the cache). Extending this for mirroring html-files and there contents would be another great feature. The behaviour for images included in the wiki page could be similar. After submitting the page the script will download and cache the image and then always shows the cached image. This will prevent broken wikis because of death external links. However it would be a very complex thing (How to update files?, How to delete files no longer used? How deep mirroring html-files?...). Anybody here knows of a similar implementation in wikis? -- MatthiasWeingart

Over at the UnrealWiki (a public one), we're providing an [image uploading facility]. It's technically limited to image files of certain specifications (max file and pixel size and a given set of image file formats). People can upload a new image to replace an existing one, but old revisions are kept and can be viewed (and restored). The uploaded images can only be accessed via a wrapper script that prevents remote linking by doing a referrer check; and UnrealWiki's Wiki markup provides a convenient (?) means to use those images in Wiki pages. --MichaelBuschbeck

Doing the multiple-revision thing is a nice feature to extend to file uploads. OpenWiki does this well. --RobertMarsanyi?

My two euros/100 .

I use a patched version of Usemod Wiki named CmicWiki?, see PatchedScripts, (thx CliffordAdams). I did add a perl module from Andrew Gray which usage is simple. The user mut be authentified "à la wiki" whit an ID and a password. Then he could upload an image file (limited size and type, of course). The image could then be displayed in the CmicWiki? proper, see PatchedScripts, with a simple syntax (@m@image.jpg). As for documents, I have made a full set of docs for French users & admins. Why not take a look at http://CmicWiki.freesurf.fr , a living implementation.

--CmicWiki? aka Michel Marcon