Databases and Data Forms On Wikidot
Helmut_pdorf 12 Jul 2010 06:08
I created (as a showcase ) a little database using the new data-forms technic on our Community-playground - site with 2 tables: database-db3-country. database-db4-town to demonstrate the new possibilities now - using the
- help:autonumbering-of-pages feature for unique "primary keys per row's of the 2 categories (" db3country:", " db4town:");
- db3country:_template]] for showing and creating records over prepared newpage modules in the country table - using data-forms
- db4town:_template]] for showing and creating records in the town table using data-forms
- " the pagepath concept" for both table-records to have "outer join" links in the pages/records one to each other.
Every visitor is invited to test , create new entries and evaluate the Database!
I am awaiting your Comments!
(here or on the "Community-playground" - with the discuss Buttons
regards
Helmut
May I lead your eyes to this blog-entry?
Have a look!
Not yet written is the howto : "use data-forms" and the impact of the new coming/existing API with datbases..
Best regards
Helmut
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
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Now it is a real database. This is a good showcase of data forms. Well done!
But the database doesn't belong here on the community — the community is a helpdesk. You need to create a project wiki site for itself, and discuss it on the project forums.
A database is something that I'm sure some people may be looking for when they approach the community, so why not create a community “how to create a database” in the community howtos instead. That way it can be a part of the community site, in a clutter-free, non-tangible way.
That is true , but not all the truth.. the community is a wiki for all registered users of wikidot to "collaborate" in creataing intelligent articles - showing the advantages of wikidot.
This has nothing to do with a project - but it is to big for a "howto:use a database on wikidot":
I do not argument if this is the right place for "colloaboration" - this is a "community" site and we invite here all registered wikidot members to invest here time and place articles for demonstrfating what is possible for other (potential) wikidot users.
Where should any showcase be stored if not on the community site - were first visitors land and should read all what is possible first ( in showccases)? The statistical figures say - every first visitor is gone with the second link. They will never find in this time the projects site or all the other sites which are notso easy to find anymore ( even by me).
I do not understand why you do not want any longer other contributions here on the community and wish these work moved to sites which cannot be found at the first contact (by tags )
I do not need to create a project far away of our community - I have never done it and will never do it in the future. Projects have nothing to do with first visitors on wikidot & their community.
I mean: finished and working projets should be positioned here as "showcases" and demonstrate the goodies of wikidot.
another way is not possible?
You are stopping every conttribution on this site with such sentences..
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
im deutschen » Wikidot Handbuch ?
Well in that case, I might “help out” the community by adding a few contributions of my own. I think I might:
Do you not see why this is a bad bad bad idea to STORE projects on the community website?
It clutters the site with non-related projects.
If I integrated all of those “helpful systems” on the community site, we would have hundreds of extra pages for people to look through. Aren't these extra pages going to confuse new users when they browse through the community site? This is why we have a “1 site per project” philosophy, AKA the “Hammer Pattern”. If somebody is looking for a calendar, we just respond to them with a link to the calendar website; the calendar website demonstrates the calendar, and provides instructions on how to create it.
There is nothing wrong with advertising these projects on the community, or creating a howto for them. But the projects themselves need to be stored elsewhere from the community.
The Community site is just that, a community. I don't view it as just a helpdesk and it is a site which is visited far more than the other, more esoteric, sites like Projects. The community site is whatever the community wants it to be, so Helmuti is quite within his rights to put the info about the database work he has been doing here if he wants to share that with the community. It might not be ready for a howto yet, but that doesn't mean it can't be shared here. I look forward to having a good look at this later today as the work he has done with dataforms, pagepaths, ListPages, backlinks and childpages etc mirrors what I have been doing on a couple of my sites.
Rob Elliott - Strathpeffer, Scotland - Wikidot first line support & community admin team.
Yes, he is within his rights to post info on his database project. And he has posted info on his database project, right here, in the form of a blog post. I have no objections.
But look where he has STORED his bulky database — on the community. And this is what I was referring to. It does not belong here.
That is exact the question -James!
Why should an (hopefully useful) info for a visitor be stored on a different site?
Only because Pieter has started this spread over with a lot of littel sites?
This is useful in a workgroup or for a specific creative team - they find all related infos and documents on special project related sites.
But for newcomers this is really confusing if they want to know what wikidot is able to do!
I in my oppinion think it was a big mistake to store your applikations on different sites - far away from the commuinity - they can only be found by links or tips.
I was always woundering why you do not create here in the community some pages - showing exact these advantages. Today they are never found by first visitors. Sometimes I ´cannot find them.
There is all over a thinking about Web design - "Never let the visitors think" - means let them nt search too long what they need to know.
If we hide all the goodies on different places - hard to find and always needs tips in postings - a newcomer will never see these issues at his beginnings and will surf away..
And as Rob says - the community was and is a storage of infos some contributors has written. If you do not like it on this place - sorry, but I think you are alone with your oppinion here.
This is a wiki.
Not a book with a lector who decides what is shown and what not.
I see the community site as a collection of "all possible information" about wikidot and its advantages.
What a big chance is lost !
I really ask you why you do not copy/create all these missing (working and finished) "showcases" here for people who are exact searching for this possibilities.
This is a community - you and all others have the rights to do it!
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
im deutschen » Wikidot Handbuch ?
I happen to agree with James - but hear me out.
When someone uses the search feature, they want to see relevant pages that they can read, that relate to the problem they are searching for answers to. They do not need nor want to see back-end pages that contain CSS, JavaScript, or Wikidot syntax that makes no sense when it's taken out of scope.
People need to see a project as being a separate entity. If back-end pages appear in search results users will be confused by that. There's a reason why a robots.txt file exists on most web sites on the Internet - it is used to define which pages people should not see in search results.
As this file is not directly editable on Wikidot, we must instead try to keep pages like that to a minimum on the community. Instead, we should create a page (or a few pages) that describe the project and how it works. The actual live example should be hosted elsewhere — and linked to regularly on those pages that are on the community site.
This way:
~ Leiger - Wikidot Community Admin - Volunteer
Wikidot: Official Documentation | Wikidot Discord server | NEW: Wikiroo, backup tool (in development)
I also happen to agree with James; from an engineering perspective the split method is generally more organized if used correctly.
Projects are entities that are different from the typical Wikidot how to or tip. They are actual applications built with Wikidot syntax that accomplish a certain task, is normally customizable, and can be used by multiple people. Most how tos or tips usually involve little snippets of code that can actually be learned.
However, projects do need to be on the community site for quick and easy navigation for beginners. When I searched "calendar", there was nothing related to the calendar application listed.
So to make the system work,
Timothy Foster - @tfAuroratide
Auroratide.com - Go here if you're nerdy like me
I agree. The key, in my opinion, is to be able to find something via a search. I have often been frustrated trying to find something because I couldn't remember where I saw it. If each "project" had a how-to page, then a search should return some relevant results. Once we get to the "home" page of the project, it really doesn't matter where the rest of the information is located as long as proper links are in place.
It also makes some sense to have large projects located elsewhere if any CSS customization is involved. It would be easier to manage on a site outside the the community.
-Ed
Community Admin
How about we add these pages to a new 'project' category, dedicated to user-built Wikidot solutions that surpass the need for a simple "how to" page.
Then we can collect all of these projects on a 'project:_start' page.
~ Leiger - Wikidot Community Admin - Volunteer
Wikidot: Official Documentation | Wikidot Discord server | NEW: Wikiroo, backup tool (in development)
That seems a sensible approach.
Rob Elliott - Strathpeffer, Scotland - Wikidot first line support & community admin team.
That is a big misunderstanding: I asked my friends and coleguas to have a visit on wikidot - it was surprising for me - they do not use the searchfunction - to much to do!
They want to read what is possible ( the main window is good enough for an overview ) - and than they clicked:
The rest?
( It was frustrating )
Perhaps You will calculate - there are some % missing… they asked me - where are the demonstrations what is possible in one overview.
I sent them to the "showcases"…. and these infos were gone… there is nothing !
The left wikidot - because they could not find what they are searching only by clicking on links.
They do not want to enter something - or LEAVE the site to another foreign unknown special site.
Thea are normal users who can read blogs, newspapers ans want to build their own family-diary or photo-album or such "private" storages withoiut a special programmable provider.
They are lost on the community site.
Edit:
I forgot- they are not interested in projects - for the first visitors this is an "internal" of wikidot or of a little special group of users..
I mean: we need
I mean - the leading thru the site has to follow a learning curve - calculating what the visitors are knowing from wikidot and we can show them on the different level.
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
im deutschen » Wikidot Handbuch ?
A long time ago, James suggested to make a site that showed everything wikidot can do. http://projects.wikidot.com/thread:60. I thought at the time that that would be a good idea. Now I am a bit frustrated… wikidot shows many marvelous possibilities however many of them "unfinished". And I am a bit sad that development goes so slow.
So for now, I am not upset with Helmuti using this site to explain a project. He uses categories that are not used by other pages… on the other hand could he also use the sandbox… those pages will also exist there for ever.
I think this is a long discussion for … what really? Helmuti using system-recourses? Helmuti cluttering the categories? Helmuti having to defend the fact that he tries to teach wikidot to others… What is the importance of this thread?
Question is… should this discussion be in the category of blog or should it move to the forum?
A - S I M P L E - P L A N by ARTiZEN a startingpoint for simple wikidot solutions.
I think this thread is great for two reasons:
~ Leiger - Wikidot Community Admin - Volunteer
Wikidot: Official Documentation | Wikidot Discord server | NEW: Wikiroo, backup tool (in development)
I agree with you on the fact that this thread should be on the community-site. But this thread should be about databases and forms. Let's open a thread on the community-site forum about what can and can't be discussed on the community-site.
Some of you guy's raised the issue that this page with all his back-ends should not be here because of bad search results… I wonder if somebody who is looking for info on dataforms and databases will be happy to find this info.
So what I am saying is… I don't really mind this creative chaos but if somebody is pointing a finger… (s)he should be consequent and look at her/his own activities.
BTW demo.wikidot.com is a good place to store demo's. James is the admin, but the site is not open to edits, JAMES!
A - S I M P L E - P L A N by ARTiZEN a startingpoint for simple wikidot solutions.
Whoops!
The site is a simple template at the moment… how shall we structure it?
It's on an “Open Membership” policy now, so you can simply join and edit away… thanks for pointing that out!
on Community-playground for demonstration and explaination and to hold this site more clean from showcases and demonstrations.
Every visitor can test (create new entries, EDIT them) and evaluate & comment the database!
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
im deutschen » Wikidot Handbuch ?