[Geo4All] setup OSGeo wiki for Open Source Report Card forms (etc)

[Tom Roche]

[endnotes follow .sig]

summary: this seems straightforward (famous last words :-) so just connect the sysop(s) (i.e., the MediaWiki administrator(s) for wiki.osgeo.org[1]) with me and whoever else is interested in working on this.

details:

Suchith Anand[2]
>>> help us produce a simple webform which can be outputted to a website with search facilities etc for collating information [pertaining to Open Source Report Cards]

Tom Roche[3]
>> why not just use the OSGeo wiki[1]? MediaWiki [MW] has form extensions (used with MySQL and PostgreSQL backing DBs[, one of which you probably already run]). The wiki already supports search, and presumably is already archived

Suchith Anand[4]
> Can you please help us with this?

Sure: I should at least be able to get this started. But for full disclosure:

I haven't setup/run a MW since ~2010, but IIUC it hasn't changed fundamentally since then--even Wikipedia is, waaay down deep, just a wiki frontend with a DB backend. I dunno what Wikipedia uses backend (they've got serious load), but the rest of the MW world use vanilla MySQL or PostgreSQL. (I'm guessing OSGeo is also using one of those--or, at least, not M$ SQL or Access :-) That being said:

ISTM we wanna reuse existing facilities--the software-development version of Occam's Razor. OSGeo already has a domain, hosting, an MW (and therefore a backing DB), search, authentication, hopefully archiving (more below), all of which presumably already work. So ISTM all we need for this task is CRUD[5]: some facility(s) to

1. author form(s)--sounds like one form should do, but ICBW, and that feels like an implementation detail anyway

2. display forms

3. write form data to backing DB

4. query the DB for desired information

IIUC, there are currently 2 MW extensions for forms: Page Forms[6] and Cargo[7]. The former seems more mature, but they have the same lead, so we can ask which should work better for us. (There is a version dependency, more below.) Both rely on MW templates, which you've already used if you've ever (e.g.) added a citation to a Wikipedia article. (I have, and can say with conviction, it's easy.) Presuming that's correct (and I can check on that), ISTM/ICBW all that needs done upfront for a Q'n'D "feasibility study" is

1. Lemme know who is running wiki.osgeo.org (aka 'sysop' in MW-speak). I can contact her/him/them regarding ...

2. What version of MW is wiki.osgeo.org running? It's claiming to run SMW[8]; presuming that's true, its MW should be fairly up-to-date. (Page Forms requires MW version >= 1.21, Cargo >= 1.22.)

3. Just because I'm picky about this sort of thing (and because OP get annoyed when their data gets lost :-) I'd also ask about the OSGeo wiki's current archiving/backup/restore. (This also relates to DB schema questions below.)

4. Where/how to take further discussion, since you probably won't want implementation details (see following) on this list--at least, until it's time to announce initial functionality and a tire-kicking-kinda beta.

Then "it should be a simple matter" (:-) of installing an MW extension, {setup DB schema, write a form} to capture (e.g.)

Suchith Anand[2]
>>> * Name of Organisation
>>> * Name of Contact person
>>> * Email of contact person
>>> * Website
>>> * Country
>>> * Year
>>> * Which open source projects have your organisation contributed with details/links etc
>>> * Which open source codesprints, conferences, events have you supported this year
>>> * Plans for next year

... deciding on (at least initial) needed queries, ensure DB schema supports that too, make the form talk to the DB, do some initial implementation-group-only "sanity-check"[9] CRUD testing (and plan basic testcases), open to this group for beta testing, {fix inevitable problems, accommodate differing preferences} found by OP (who inevitably fail to understand the brilliance of one's design :-), open up to some friendly/allied orgs, deal with Real-World Users' problems/preferences ... then World Domination ...

... unless I'm missing something. Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com>

[1]: https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Main_Page
[2]: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2016-November/003291.html
[3]: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2016-November/003292.html
[4]: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2016-November/003294.html
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create,_read,_update_and_delete
[6]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Page_Forms
[7]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cargo
[8]: https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Semantic_MediaWiki
[9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanity_check