Mailing List Archive: Trac: Users

"Approving" wiki changes

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

Chris.Nelson at sixnet

Nov 13, 2009, 1:25 PM

Post #1 of 9 (993 views)
Permalink

"Approving" wiki changes

We have internal processes which are documented in Microsoft Word documents and we have a metaprocess for updating them that involves reviewing and approving changes and recording a new version number in the document so that there's an audit trail. Of course Word is terrible at tracking changes.

The Trac wiki, on the other hand, is great at tracking changes (among other benefits). I'm trying to figure out how we can put some of our process documents in the wiki. I realize I can make a page read-only and that might restrict unwanted changes but my real problem is referencing the wrong version. I need to annotate the page history with notes about approvals, and highlight unapproved versions. I imagine this somewhat like the TracForm plugin. Maybe a WikiSignoff plugin that might be used like:

[[WikiSignoff(warning[,text])]] - Displays a warning if the page version being viewed is not the most recently approved version. If "text" is provided, it's used as the warning. If not, some default text is used.

[[WikiSignoff(versions)]] - Displays a table of approved versions with version number, date, and approver. (Perhaps with additional arguments to indicate which "colunns" are dispalyed the way TicketQuery does.) The version number column would be links to those versions of the page.

[[WikiSignoff(approve)]] - Is the user has WikiSignoff persmission, displays an Approve button which adds an empty update to the page history with a description of "Approved by <user>" and records that version as the most recently approved.

Does this sound useful? Is there anything like it out there?

Chris
--
Christopher Nelson, Software Engineering Manager
SIXNET - Solutions for Your Industrial Networking Challenges
331 Ushers Road, Ballston Lake, NY 12019
Tel: +1.518.877.5173, Fax: +1.518.877.8346 www.sixnet.com

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

dan.sheridan at postman

Nov 16, 2009, 4:25 AM

Post #2 of 9 (918 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

On Fri, 2009-11-13 at 16:25 -0500, Chris Nelson wrote:
> We have internal processes which are documented in Microsoft Word
> documents and we have a metaprocess for updating them that involves
> reviewing and approving changes and recording a new version number in
> the document so that there's an audit trail. Of course Word is
> terrible at tracking changes.
>
> The Trac wiki, on the other hand, is great at tracking changes (among
> other benefits). I'm trying to figure out how we can put some of our
> process documents in the wiki. I realize I can make a page read-only
> and that might restrict unwanted changes but my real problem is
> referencing the wrong version. I need to annotate the page history
> with notes about approvals, and highlight unapproved versions. I
> imagine this somewhat like the TracForm plugin. Maybe a WikiSignoff
> plugin that might be used like:...

We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:

* a page PageName contains the current approved version of a page,
with some boilerplate at the top about the publication data,
authors, etc.
* a page PageName/Draft contains the current working version of
the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
version
* when a draft is to be approved, its content is copied from
PageName/Draft to PageName, with a log message giving the
revision number of PageName/Draft that it came from

This is currently manual. The next step will be to suppress the edit
button on the approved page, and add an "approve" button to the draft
page which carries out the necessary promotion.

This approach has the advantage of making a strong distinction between
approved and non-approved versions -- it's easy to link to the latest
approved version, and the log messages make it possible to reach the
full detailed traceability, stored as the log for the draft page.

Dan.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Chris.Nelson at sixnet

Nov 16, 2009, 5:09 AM

Post #3 of 9 (919 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

Daniel Sheridan wrote:
>...
> We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
>
> * a page PageName contains the current approved version of a
> page, with some boilerplate at the top about the publication
> data, authors, etc.
> * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working version of
> the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
> version
> * when a draft is to be approved, its content is copied from
> PageName/Draft to PageName, with a log message giving the
> revision number of PageName/Draft that it came from
>
> This is currently manual. The next step will be to suppress the edit
> button on the approved page,

Can't you just make it read-only? Trac admins can still edit it.

> and add an "approve" button to the draft
> page which carries out the necessary promotion.

Yes, that would be helpful.

> This approach has the advantage of making a strong distinction between
> approved and non-approved versions

I like that.

> -- it's easy to link to the latest
> approved version, and the log messages make it possible to reach the
> full detailed traceability, stored as the log for the draft page.

Thanks for the idea. If you get the automatic promotion done, please
let me know. I'll do the same.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Chris.Nelson at sixnet

Nov 16, 2009, 7:06 AM

Post #4 of 9 (922 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

Daniel Sheridan wrote:
> ...
> We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
>
> ...
> * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working version of
> the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
> version

Am I missing? When you say "a link back to [..], do you mean that
PageName/Draft includes something like [wiki:PageName Approved version]?
Or is there a way to do relative links in the wiki?

>...

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Chris.Nelson at sixnet

Nov 16, 2009, 7:14 AM

Post #5 of 9 (919 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

Chris Nelson wrote:
> Daniel Sheridan wrote:
>> ...
>> We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
>>
>> ...
>> * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working version of
>> the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
>> version
>
> Am I missing? When you say "a link back to [..], do you mean that
> PageName/Draft includes something like [wiki:PageName Approved
> version]? Or is there a way to do relative links in the wiki?
>
>> ...

Never mind. I found it. I'd tried [.. Parent] without success but [../
parent] works.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

mark.cooke at siemens

Nov 16, 2009, 7:15 AM

Post #6 of 9 (918 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

> Daniel Sheridan wrote:
> > ...
> > We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
> >
> > ...
> > * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working
> version of
> > the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
> > version
>
> Am I missing? When you say "a link back to [..], do you mean that
> PageName/Draft includes something like [wiki:PageName
> Approved version]?
> Or is there a way to do relative links in the wiki?
>
Look in your trac documentation under
wiki/TracLinks#AdvanceduseofTracLinks (for 0.10.5 at least) there is a
description for relative links where [..] is exactly what you would hope
it would be:

../wiki/PageName/Draft [..] links to ../wiki/PageName

Plus there are other examples for e.g. sibling sub-pages

Regards etc

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

dan.sheridan at postman

Nov 16, 2009, 8:38 AM

Post #7 of 9 (920 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

On Mon, 2009-11-16 at 15:15 +0000, Cooke, Mark wrote:
> > Daniel Sheridan wrote:
> > > ...
> > > We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
> > >
> > > ...
> > > * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working
> > version of
> > > the page, with a link back to [..] for the current approved
> > > version
> >
> > Am I missing? When you say "a link back to [..], do you mean that
> > PageName/Draft includes something like [wiki:PageName
> > Approved version]?
> > Or is there a way to do relative links in the wiki?
> >
> Look in your trac documentation under
> wiki/TracLinks#AdvanceduseofTracLinks (for 0.10.5 at least) there is a
> description for relative links where [..] is exactly what you would hope
> it would be:
>
> ../wiki/PageName/Draft [..] links to ../wiki/PageName

Exactly. It means I can have two templates, one for approved pages:

= XX/n: Title =
[[PageOutline]]
'''Summary:''' Document summary

'''Authors:''' Document authors

'''Version:''' 0.1 (go to [./Draft current draft version])

'''Date:''' issued date

== Introduction ==

... and one for draft pages:

= XX/n: Title =
[[PageOutline]]
'''Summary:''' Document summary

'''Authors:''' Document authors

'''Version:''' DRAFT (go to [.. current issued version])

'''Date:''' issued date

== Introduction ==

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Chris.Nelson at sixnet

Nov 16, 2009, 8:47 AM

Post #8 of 9 (917 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

Daniel Sheridan wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-11-16 at 15:15 +0000, Cooke, Mark wrote:
>>> Daniel Sheridan wrote:
>>>> ...
>>>> We have a similar problem, which we solve as follows:
>>>>
>>>> ...
>>>> * a page PageName/Draft contains the current working version
>>>> of the page, with a link back to [..] for the current
>>>> approved version
>>>
>>> Am I missing? When you say "a link back to [..], do you mean that
>>> PageName/Draft includes something like [wiki:PageName
>>> Approved version]?
>>> Or is there a way to do relative links in the wiki?
>>>
>> Look in your trac documentation under
>> wiki/TracLinks#AdvanceduseofTracLinks (for 0.10.5 at least) there is
>> a description for relative links where [..] is exactly what you
>> would hope it would be:
>>
>> ../wiki/PageName/Draft [..] links to ../wiki/PageName
>
> Exactly. It means I can have two templates, one for approved pages:
>
> = XX/n: Title =
> [[PageOutline]]
> '''Summary:''' Document summary
>
> '''Authors:''' Document authors
>
> '''Version:''' 0.1 (go to [./Draft current draft version])

I really hate this. :-( I want

'''Version:''' [[ThisPage(rev)]]

Or something which displays the rev so I don't have to maintain it
manually!

The page template I'm working on includes:

= Revision History =

See wiki [./?action=history history].

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

ryano at physiosonics

Jan 4, 2010, 10:04 PM

Post #9 of 9 (775 views)
Permalink

Re: "Approving" wiki changes [In reply to]

Chris Nelson-10 wrote:
>
> Does this sound useful? Is there anything like it out there?
>

At my previous job, we used MediaWiki with an extension that had a review
and approval workflow. I think it was this one:
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FlaggedRevs

That doesn't help you as far as using the Trac wiki, but might give you some
ideas on how to write your plugin.

--
View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/%22Approving%22-wiki-changes-tp26343788p27024127.html
Sent from the Trac Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to trac-users [at] googlegroups
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to trac-users+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users?hl=en.

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

Interested in having your list archived? Contact Gossamer Threads