Feature Proposals

See ReleaseProcess.

New feature proposals will by nature be for the first Foswiki release.

When you add a proposal you must create a new topic describing your proposal. You can use the form below.

For the community to accept a proposal you must propose something that you are prepared to implement yourself or by an already committed developer.

The 14-day clock does not start until

• There is a committed developer
• The date of commitment field has a date (so the application below can show it)

You are welcome to propose enhancements without a committed developer but then the community is only able to discuss the feature, not to accept it. But you may be lucky that a developer picks up the idea and decides to commit himself to implementing it.

• To track the last changed proposal topics with committed developer visit ChangedFeatureProposals
• To track the last changed proposal topics without a committed developer visit ChangedFeatureProposalsUncommitted

Submit Proposal

Submit new feature request

Please start a new topic for each feature request.

• Please scan over the existing feature requests to see if it has been requested already.
• NOTE: you might want to make yourself familiar with our Acceptance/Rejection Process of new features.
• If you are including code to implement features, thanks for contributing to Foswiki's development! Please see the PatchGuidelines to make your patch easier to apply.

Page name:		Example: SupportMySQL (use a WikiWord)
Page title:		Example: It would be really neat if you could store content in MySQL
Motivation:		Reasons why this feature is needed, and why it is suitable for adding to the next release of Foswiki
Description:		Enter a relatively short summary of the request
	Your request is submitted after you Create, Preview and Save the page.

Proposals

New Feature Proposals

Proposals that have a committed owner (the ones without a committed developer are not covered by the formal release process and 14-days rule.

Note that the 14-days rule clock start ticking when a proposal has a committed developer and it stops when anyone that are registered as a user on Foswiki.org raises any concern.

Proposals where 14-day rule applies

Topic	Summary	Committed	Developer	Concern
ExpertOptionForCookieDomainRealm	Make the login managers cookie (domain) realm configurable.	14 Jan 2010 26 days ago	OliverKrueger
HereDocumentSyntaxForMacros	here-document syntax for macros	24 Jan 2010 16 days ago	MichaelTempest
MoveLogsToWorking	Move logs to 'working'	5 Feb 2010 4 days ago	CrawfordCurrie

Proposals with concern raised (14 day rule does not apply)

Topic	Summary	Committed	Developer	Concern
AddAltParamToICON	Add an alt parameter to ICON	17 Dec 2009 54 days ago	CrawfordCurrie	KennethLavrsen
AddFilterPlugin	FilterPlugin is such a useful thing, it should be part of the default package	-1 days ago	CrawfordCurrie	KennethLavrsen, SvenDowideit
AddPARENTWEBMacro	Add PARENTWEB Macro	23 Nov 2009 78 days ago	RafaelAlvarez	KennethLavrsen
CleanUpTopicParentage	Clean up the parentage of topics shipped with Foswiki	7 Nov 2009 94 days ago	PaulHarvey	MichaelDaum
DeprecateContextlessURLConstructs	Deprecate Contextless URL Constructs	16 Nov 2008 450 days ago	SvenDowideit?	CrawfordCurrie?
DeprecateInitUserHandler	Deprecate the initUserHandler plugin interface	19 Aug 2009 174 days ago	MichaelTempest	KennethLavrsen
EscapeQuotesOptionInICON	Escape quotes option in ICON	6 Jan 2010 34 days ago	KennethLavrsen	CrawfordCurrie, MichaelDaum
HowToDeleteUserAccount	User interface to delete accounts from TopicUserMapping	19 Feb 2009 355 days ago	SvenDowideit?	KennethLavrsen
ImprovePageLoadTime	Improve Page Load Time	4 Feb 2010 5 days ago	MichaelDaum	CrawfordCurrie, ArthurClemens
ListFormatViewAndEditTemplate	List Format View And Edit Template	05 Nov 2009 96 days ago	SvenDowideit?	CrawfordCurrie, KennethLavrsen
MakeSEARCHResultPartitioningByWebOptional	SEARCH rendering is always partitioned by web	8 Nov 2009 93 days ago	SvenDowideit?	KennethLavrsen, CrawfordCurrie
RecursiveTMPLDefinitions	Enhance TMPL:DEF to allow recursive definition of template elements.	24 Jan 2010 16 days ago	SvenDowideit, ChunHuang	CrawfordCurrie
RemoveHardcodedCssClassNames	Remove hardcoded CSS class names	23 Apr 2009 292 days ago	StephaneLenclud	MichaelDaum, CrawfordCurrie, SvenDowideit?
ReplaceFoswikiTimeModule	Extract Foswiki::Time for CPAN	12 Oct 2009 120 days ago	AndrewJones	KennethLavrsen
UpgradeSafeCustomisationsOfSystemTopics	Allow users to customise System topics (such as WebSearch) in an upgrade safe way	-1 days ago	AndrewJones	KennethLavrsen, MichaelDaum

Feature Proposals under Investigation

Proposals that are under investigation and don't yet fulfil the basic criteria in the release process mainly

• Proposals must have a developer that commits to drive the feature to completion (there is no demand on how soon)
• Proposals must have a date of commitment (to start the 14-day clock)

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item
AccessControlQuery	It should be easier to get a definitive overview of the Access Controls present on a given topic.
AddFurtherControlsOnSudo	Enhancements to sudo login to improve security	Tasks.Item1551
AddHeaderShiftParameterToINCLUDE	Add a headershift parameter to adjusted included header levels
AddOrRelationToFORMFIELD	Add "OR" relation to macro FORMFIELD
AddTimeFeaturesToAttachmentLinks	Add date formatting tokens to attachment links	Tasks.Item5935
AddWikiSnapshots	Add snapshot functionality, mading it possible to browse topics history consistently	Tasks.Item6090
AllowWebUsersTrashAccess	It would be really neat if users who belong to a web have the authority to move topics from a web to trash.
AvoidShootingSelfInFoot	Prevent Accidental Lockout of Topics
BetterPluginPackageDiagnostics	It is helpful to upgraders to know which package Foswiki uses for each plugin
BlurAuthCookieName	Blur auth-Cookie-Name with random string on installation
CategorizeExtensionsInFindExtensions	Group extensions by some indication of code quality
CertificatedStatisticsUpdate	Add certificated statistics update script
ChangeLoginName	Users should be able to change their login name
CleanerConfigurePluginsPane	The bin/configure Plugins pane should be more compacted and sorted by enabled state
ConfigureGuessedDirectoriesOnWin32	Foswiki guesses the paths and complains about backslashes on Win32
ConfigureScript	Configure Extension autoinstaller should remove be able to uninstall
ContentAccessSyntax	Discussions on accessing TopicObjectModel from TML
CronWizardFunctionalityInEachRelavantPlugin	Better Crontab documentation in each plugin
DataFormFieldVisibleIfNotEmpty	Introduce new attribute for data field to allow hiding empty fields
DeKiAlikeWYSIWYG	DeKi-alike WYSIWYG
EasierNestedSearch	Reduce $dollar
EditChapterPluginChildSections	EditChapter should always show body of a chapter, not just a title.
EncryptDataInTopics	It would be great if users could add personal data to topics, viewed by their own only
ExportTableToCsv	Ability to export Foswiki table to cvs format
ExtendedVariableHandling	Extended handling of variables to improve wiki database use
FeatureRequestTopicTemplate
FixDelete	Fix brain-dead delete
FoswikiBookProposal	A community-written book
FoswikiOrgShouldUseSSL	foswiki.org should implement SSL
GeneralisedCHARTdefinition
ImproveAttachmentHandling
ImproveSearchResultsList	Improve the readability of search results
ImprovedRESTSupport	Enhanced REST Support
InlineTopicContentAsMeta	Inline topic content should be addressable as metadata
InterfacingWithValidationMethods	Strikeone and friends need a cleaner API	Tasks.Item8323
LargeSiteAclPerformance	ACL Performance At large Sites
MailerContribShouldOptionallyExcludeCertainAuthors	MailerContrib should not notify on changes by certain authors (incl. $MYSELF)
MakeWEBFORMSMoreUsable	WEBFORMS is a PITA
MergeWYSIWYGEditors	Integrate improvements from Rich Text Editor from VM in Standard (CVS)	Tasks.Item1600
NewLayoutForMoreScreen
OfficeConnector	Provide an Office Connector like in Confluence
OneTimeNotification	One Time Notification for Topic Creation
OpenLinkInNewWndow	I want to enforce the opening of an new browser window
OptionToAddServerTimeToEmailHeaders	Would be nice to have an option to have foswiki send email with local timezone headers instead of gmt
OptionToAvoidFlattenedSummaryInFormattedSearch	Option to avoid completely flattening text in FormattedSearch? 's $summary(nnn)
RcsLite
RegistrationI18N	Changing the registration form for use in I18N
RemoveSearchDefaultType	Get rid of SEARCHDEFAULTTTYPE
RenameFormField	Form fields need a mechanism to rename
ResourceBookingPlugin	A plugin for booking/scheduling resources
SMIMESupportInMail
SearchBySection	SEARCH should be able to search in a specified section
SearchNeedsAltParameter	SEARCH needs an alt parameter in case of zero results
SimpleVarInclude	Additional section include ability
SmiliesPluginPictures	It would be nice if a SmiliesPlugin picture could come from other sources but the SmiliesPlugin topic
SupportDITA	It would be really neat if Foswiki could fully support DITA publishing
SupportDeferredExecution	Support deferred execution or rendering of complex topics
SupportHorizontalMenusThroughRenderListPlugin	Define a horizontal menu with alt and title tags using a bulleted list
SupportSynchroEdit	It would be really neat to be able to edit pages synchronously, seeing edits by others in real time
SupportXMLGeneration	Support an XML schema for webs/topics
SyntaxHighlightingEditor	Syntax Highlighting Editor
TopicDisplayName
TopicObjectModel	Topic Object Model (TOM)
UseSyntaxToChangeEvaluationOrder	Use a different assignment operator to delay macro evaluation inside parameters
UseUTF8
VarFORMFIELDMissingThirdDefaultParameter	VarFORMFIELD is missing a default parameter option when the field is not instantiated in the topic	Tasks.Item1722
ViewfileHttpRangeHeader	Viewfile could usefully support the Http GET "Range" header
WysiwygFormFields	Making Formfields WYSIWYG capable	Tasks.Item8032

Feature Proposals Ready For Release Meeting

A Feature proposal is ready for release meeting per release process when

• Proposals that have a committed developer willing to drive the proposal to implementation. There is no requirement how soon and a developer is later allowed to uncommit if it later turns out that he does not have the time.
• Proposals have had at least one concern raised by any person with access to this wiki
• The community has had enough time to end the discussion, but could not reach full consensus
• It is normally a Customer Advocate that decides that a feature is ready for a release meeting.

Note that the 14-days rule clock stop ticking when anyone that are registered as a user on twiki.org raises any concern and it does not ever start again! Then acceptance is either by consensus or by release meeting decision.

Topic	Summary	Committed	Developer	Concern
EnableDisplayOfFilesInFormattedSearch	Add something like $attachment to the format params in %SEARCH{}%	22 Jan 2009 383 days ago	SvenDowideit?	KennethLavrsen

Accepted Feature Proposals

Proposals that have a committed owner and have been accepted according to the release process

Accepted proposals waiting to be implemented

Topic	Summary	Developer	Reason	Release
AddEXPANDMacro	EXPAND macro will enable cross-topic macro expansion	CrawfordCurrie	ConsensusReached
AddFamFamFamContribToCore	Add FamFamFamContrib? to the Core	SvenDowideit	ConsensusReached
AddUserToGroupsOnRegistration	Add User To Groups On Registration	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
CaseInsensitiveUserMapping	Ignore differences in case between registration and login	SvenDowideit	ConsensusReached
CentralizeAndHideAdminInstructions	Add administrative instructions for TWikiRegistration tailoring	LynnwoodBrown	ConsensusReached
CleanUpNewUserTemplate	Clean Up NewUserTemplate	MichaelDaum	AcceptedBy14DayRule
CleanUpWebPreferences	Clean up WebPreferences	MichaelDaum	ConsensusReached
DelegateMoreProcessingToSearchAlgorithm	Delegate More Processing To SearchAlgorithm?	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
DeprecateAfterAttachmentSaveHandler	Deprecate afterAttachmentSaveHandler	MichaelDaum	AcceptedBy14DayRule
DisableWikiWordsWithNumbers	Provide option to disable numbers in WikiWords?	KennethLavrsen	AcceptedBy14DayRule	MajorRelease
ExcelImportExportPluginNoFormsFeature	It would be an improvement if the ExcelImportExportPlugin handles excel tables without having a foswiki form defined	SvenHess	ConsensusReached
ExtractAndCentralizeFormattingRefactor	Refactor format rendering to use FoswikiIterators (adds paging, consistency and speed)	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
FSAPluginHooks	Plugin hooks to take advantage of Foswiki Stand Alone	GilmarSantosJr	ConsensusReached
FallBackToTopicWhenTrailingSpaceAndNoSuchSubweb	Fallback To Topic When URL has Trailing Space And No Subweb exists but topic does	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
FoswikiCache	A pluggable caching service and built-in HTML page cache	MichaelDaum	ConsensusReached
IntroduceForceDefaultUrlHostToggle	Sometimes its necessary to force the hostname set in {DefaultUrlHost}.	OliverKrueger	ConsensusReached
MakingVarVARTopicCapable	%VAR should be able to return variables at the topic level, not only at the web level.	MartinCleaver	AcceptedByReleaseMeeting	MajorRelease
ModPerlStartupScript	Distribute mod_perl_startup.pl suggested by ApacheConfigGenerator? to improve efficiency	JoshuaCharlesCampbell SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule	MajorRelease
MoreAttractiveForm	Render form with more attraive appearance	ArthurClemens	ConsensusReached
MoveToJQuery	Enhance PatternSkin to use jQuery	MichaelDaum, ArthurClemens	AcceptedByReleaseMeeting
MultiStoreRefactor	Refactor the Store to allow multiple plugable backends	SvenDowideit	ConsensusReached
ParameterizedGroupsMacro	Add format and other stuff to the GROUPS macro	CrawfordCurrie	AcceptedBy14DayRule
ParamsInSquabs	Allow params in a squab view [[Page?p=data]]	CrawfordCurrie	AcceptedBy14DayRule
PluggableAccessControlImplementation	Pluggable Access Control Implementation	RafaelAlvarez	AcceptedBy14DayRule	MajorRelease
ResultSets	Result Sets to abstract search results, lists, and GROUP definition	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
SearchResultsPagination	Search results pagination	ArthurClemens (spec), SvenDowideit (code)	AcceptedByReleaseMeeting
SettingAndGettingVariablesUsingMacros	Setting And Getting Variables Using Macros	MichaelDaum	AcceptedBy14DayRule
ShipCompareRevisionsAddOnWithFoswiki01x01	Ship CompareRevisionsAddOn with Foswiki 1.1	WillNorris	ConsensusReached
ShipHistoryPluginWithFoswiki01x01	Ship HistoryPlugin with Foswiki 1.1	WillNorris	ConsensusReached
ShipSubscribePluginWithFoswiki01x01	Ship the SubscribePlugin? with Foswiki 1.1	WillNorris	AcceptedBy14DayRule
ShorterUrlSupport	Support in TWiki.pm for Shorter URLs, ommiting HomeWeb? and WebHome	ColasNahaboo	AcceptedBy14DayRule
SimplifySEARCHParameters	Simply SEARCH parameters	SvenDowideit	AcceptedBy14DayRule
SummaryBasedOnSearchTerms	Make topic summary optionally based on search terms	ArthurClemens	AcceptedBy14DayRule
SupportBlockquoteAndIndenting	Support <blockquote> and paragraph indenting in TinyMCEPlugin	PaulHarvey	AcceptedBy14DayRule
SupportLineThroughFormatTag	Support underline and line-through text decorations	PaulHarvey	AcceptedBy14DayRule
TocFailsForIdenticalHeadingNames	Headings with same text generate same anchor, and TOC doesn't work	HaraldJoerg?	AcceptedByReleaseMeeting	MajorRelease
TopicCaseSensitivity	URL's that have correct spelling, irrespective of case will goto that topic.	SvenDowideit	AcceptedByReleaseMeeting	MajorRelease
TopicMovedMessageTooVisible	Topic moved message at the bottom of normal view is too visible. Move to diff page	LynnwoodBrown	ConsensusReached
UseVariableForSignature	Make the signature format a variable	ArthurClemens	None

Accepted proposals in progress of implementation

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item	Developer	Release
EnginesAsContribs	TWiki Engines distributed as Contribs		GilmarSantosJr	MajorRelease

Completed Feature Proposals

Proposals that have been completed following the release process

Completed Proposals (Merged to core or to default plugin)

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item	Developer	Release
AddAngleBracketsToFormatTokens	Add Angle Brackets (< and >) to format tokens	Tasks.Item1710	KennethLavrsen
AddAutoViewTemplatePlugintoFoswiki	AutoViewTemplatePlugin standardises the name of the skin page used for showing a topic with a form. We should merge it to core and install on FW.org	Tasks.Item2216	OliverKrueger
AddDataToRegistrationHandler	Add the registration data to the parameters of the registrationHandler	before foswiki and Task.Item2170	SvenDowideit
AddFinishHandler	Add a finishHandler() for plugins	Tasks.Item1328	CrawfordCurrie
AddFooterParameterToSEARCH	Add footer parameter to SEARCH to match the header	Item886	KennethLavrsen
AddNumberOfTopicsToFormattedSearch	Add number of topics to formatted search		KennethLavrsen
CloneTopicLinkUnderMore	Clone topic feature in More screen	http://foswiki.org/Tasks/Item1873	MartinCleaver
ControlOverVariableExpansion	Control over Variable Expansion		PeterThoeny?
DebugPreferenceSettings	Add simple debugging feature for macro values	Tasks.Item1523	CrawfordCurrie
DeprecateAllowInlineScript	Deprecate {AllowInlineScript} option in configure	Tasks.Item2305 Tasks.2429?	CrawfordCurrie
DoWeNeedToShipClassicSkin	remove Classic skin, its 10 years old and no-one loves it.	Tasks.Item5000	ArthurClemens
ExtraResponseHeaderFields	Adding the script and uri to the header on a reponse help a lot when using asyncron ajax calls		EugenMayer
FoswikiStandAloneFeature
ImproveAttachmentToTrashFlow	Improve attachment-to-Trash flow
ProcessAddToHeadAdds	Process addToHEAD adds		ArthurClemens
RedesignManagingWebs	Redesign ManagingWebs	Tasks.Item310
RemoveClassicSkin	Let us remove Classic Skin		ArthurClemens
RenamingAttachments	Allow Renaming of Attachments
SaferURLPARAMasDefault	Safer URLPARAM as default	Tasks.Item375	KennethLavrsen
SpreadSheetPluginFourNewFunctions	New $EMPTY(), $LEFTSTRING(), $RIGHTSTRING(), SUBSTRING() functions to SpreadSheetPlugin		KennethLavrsen
TestLighttpdWebserver	a simple lighttpd configuration and laucher script for testing/development purposes		AntonioTerceiro, GilmarSantosJr
ThinPrefsProposal	Thin Prefs Mechanism	Tasks.Item1541	GilmarSantosJr

Proposals that were implemented as non-default Plugin

(these may be rejected proposals where the developer decided to implement the feature as plugin or other extension instead)

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item	Developer	Release
AddMetaSetActionToEditAndSave	Set any addressable topic element from save		SvenDowideit
GroupPermissionsForFilterPlugin	Extend FilterPlugin with group permissions
ParameterizedVariables	Discussion on implementing parameterized variables		SvenDowideit
SupportPermanentLinks	It would be nice if Foswiki provided invariant links, that work even if a topic is moved or renamed.		OliverKrueger

Rejected Feature Proposals

Proposals that have been rejected following the release process

Proposals that have been rejected can be put back in UnderInvestigation if a committed developer alters the proposal or the mood has changed in the community.

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item	Developer	Reason
AddSearchResultsPaginationToRelease01x00	add search results paging capabilities to Foswiki 1.0.x		WillNorris	None
AllowSectionalEditingAtTwikiDotOrg	Allow Sectional Editing At Community Website		RafaelAlvarez	None
AllowUnauthenticatedRESTHandlers	Some plugins would like REST handlers that do not require authentication.			None
CacheGetSkinCalculation	Introduce+Foswiki-%3E%7Bskin%7D		EugenMayer	None
PreInstallNatEditContrib	Make NatEditContrib? a default extension starting from 4.2			NoCommittedDeveloper?
PreloadContribs	Support loading handlers from contribs			None
RulebasedViewTemplates	Add a rule-based strategy to AutoViewTemplatePlugin to derive an edit/view template		MichaelDaum	RejectedByCommunityVote?

Parked Feature Proposals

Proposals that have been parked because they failed to fullfill the basic criteria in the release process mainly

• Proposals must have a developer that commits to drive the feature to completion (there is not demand on how soon).

Proposals may also be parked after acceptance because the developer realise that he cannot find time to implement the feature. Someone else are then welcome to pick it up.

Topic	Summary	Tasks Item	Developer	Reason
AccessRightsChange	Change Access control to avoid build in security issues			None
AddContainsComparitorForQuerySearch	Provide a new comparitor to aid queries against fields which contain list data			None
ChangeImageLinkBehaviour	A link that looks like an image should not become an inline image			NoCommittedDeveloper
MoveMultipleAttachmentsAtOnce	Move Multiple Attachments At Once			NoCommittedDeveloper
TinyMCEPluginShouldBeMoreModular	Directory re-structure to separate upstream files AND make it easy to enable/develop TMCE plugins	Tasks.Item2297	PaulHarvey	None