RevCommentPlugin

This plugin allows to enter a short summary of changes made to a topic for a new revision. This summary can be displayed e.g. in a history page of the topic or on the WebChanges page of a web. Changes may also be marked as "minor" by using the "Quiet save" button.

Since in Foswiki it is possible to make several changes within the edit lock time (normally 60 minutes) which are accumulated in only one new revision, it is also possible to have several comments for one revision.

Furthermore, adding or updating an attachment may also trigger an automatic comment for the current revision. This behaviour can be switched on or off with the help of the preference variable ATTACHMENT_COMMENTS (see below).

Syntax Rules

Showing existing comments

• %REVCOMMENT{parameters}%
• Parameters:
  

Name	Description	Default
web	Web where topic exists	current web
topic	Name of topic	current topic
rev	Revision	latest revision
delimiter	Delimiter between 2 comments for the same revision	</li><li>
pre	Text before the first comment	<ul><li>
post	Text after the last comment	</li></ul>
minor	Text to print for a minor change	(minor)

(The text for the pre and post parameters will only be printed if the list of comments is not empty.)

• For your convenience, you can use [] instead of {} and '' instead of " inside other parameters.

Entering new comments

• Add a text input field named comment to the edit and preview templates. (See e.g. the attached templates for the pattern and classic skin)

Examples

• %REVCOMMENT% shows the comments for the current revision.
• Using the attached WebChangesWC (see below), the list of previously updated topics of a web may look like this:

• Example WebChanges:
  

---

• If you have also the HistoryPlugin installed, the history of a topic may look like this:

• Example History:
  

Plugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, i.e. %INTERWIKIPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%

• One line description, is shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Allows a short summary of changes to be entered for a new revision.

• Debug plugin: (See output in data/debug.txt)
  • Set DEBUG = 0

• List also new or updated attachments:
  • Set ATTACHMENT_COMMENTS = 1

• Store comments as RCS log message (not recommended yet)
  • Set USE_RCS = 0

Plugin Installation Instructions

Note: You do not need to install anything on the browser to use this plugin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the plugin on the server where Foswiki is running.

• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip RevCommentPlugin.zip in your Foswiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/System/RevCommentPlugin.txt	Plugin topic
  data/System/RevCommentPlugin.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  lib/Foswiki/Plugins/RevCommentPlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module
  data/System/WebChangesWC.txt	Replacement for WebChanges.txt, see below
  data/System/RevComment.txt	Help text

• Visit configure in your Foswiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.

• Test if the installation was successful:
  • Here should be the comment of this topic: %REVCOMMENT%
  • Look at the recent changes to the System web: WebChangesWC
  • If you have also the HistoryPlugin installed, look at the history of this document: http://foswiki.org/bin/oops/Extensions/RevCommentPlugin?template=oopshistory
  • Edit this page and enter a new comment: http://foswiki.org/bin/edit/Extensions/RevCommentPlugin

• This distribution contains a topic which can replace an existing one. This file has a WC ("with comments") in the name. You should backup your old file and rename this file:
• data/System/WebChangesWC.txt --> data/System/WebChanges.txt
• If HistoryPlugin is installed, the template oopshistory.tmpl from this plugin is automatically expanded with revision comments once this plugin is installed
• If you are using other skins than the pattern or classical skin, you have to enter a textfield to templates/edit.skin.tmpl and templates/preview.skin.tmpl : Enter the line <input class="foswikiEditComment" type="text" size="%EDITBOXWIDTH%" style="%EDITBOXSTYLE%" name="comment"> to the template, between the <form> and </form> tags.

Plugin Info

Plugin Author:	Foswiki:Main.KennethLavrsen & Foswiki:Main.SteffenPoulsen
Copyright ©:	2006, JChristophFuchs and Steffen Poulsen; 2008 Kenneth Lavrsen and Foswiki Contributors
License:	GPL (GNU General Public License)
Plugin Version:	22 Jan 2009
Change History:
22 Jan 2009:	Kenneth Lavrsen - Added the two example images as attachments to the topic so they also get uploaded to foswiki.org. No need to upgrade from 08 Dec 2008 version if you already installed that.
08 Dec 2008:	Kenneth Lavrsen: Changed the author to myself. JChristophFuchs is the original author but announced in 2006 that he no longer maintains this plugin. So now I officially take the task as maintainer. Plugin is changed to Foswiki namespace and tested and works under Foswiki 1.0.0. Policy is now feel free to modify but please do not break compatibility.
14 Apr 2006:	<noautolink> added to default pre/post rendering output of REVCOMMENT tag
14 Apr 2006:	Minor update for Dakar 4.0.2
22 Apr 2005:	Initial version
Dependency:	$Foswiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.024
CPAN Dependencies:	none
Other Dependencies:	none
Perl Version:	5.008
Plugin Home:	http://foswiki.org/Extensions/RevCommentPlugin
Feedback:	http://foswiki.org/Extensions/RevCommentPluginDev

Related Topics: DefaultPreferences, SitePreferences, Plugins