Setting up this wiki

To start the wiki we have a description of how this wiki was created.

Wikis are amazingly useful tools, where one can store information and files, collaborate on content, manage users, and track all edits. The format is well understood and wikis can serve as content providers to other systems, acting as a general purpose database.

They are very quick to install, and you can be up and running in under an hour for free, with lots of online tutorials.

The wiki runs on a Google Compute virtual machine running Debian 10. It is possible to set one up for free in a matter of minutes.

We followed these instructions to install the wiki onto the VM... https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Running_MediaWiki_on_Debian_or_Ubuntu with the following notes:

• We installed all the extra software as listed
• We installed it directly into /var/www/html/mediawiki rather than use a link as described. The instructions said to put it into the web directory so we did and it works without the linking problems outlined.
• We have an edited Apache site file already with SSL details etc, including proxies. We have linked the root / of hw7.ddns.net to /mediawiki so it goes straight in. Note that Node-RED is also installed on this server and will be used to deliver live content via iframes.
• When creating MySQL, ignore line about 'On Raspbian', but follow the rest.
• Go for a lot of extensions. They can always be turned off, but are a bit of a pain to install at first. They include better editors and the the extra flourishes you see on wiki sites.
  

Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.

MediaWiki:Sidebar

Getting started

• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list
• Localise MediaWiki for your language
• Learn how to combat spam on your wiki

For Consideration

User Access to Pages

Intended for management wikis rather than public wikis, to control which pages users have access to via page categories.

• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Restrict_access_by_category_and_group
• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AccessControl

Adding Pages from Node-RED

It is possible to automatically generate standardised pages based on data received, for example to create a summary page for each device on a network.

• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:REST_API/Reference
• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:OAuth

Node-RED Customisation

node-red-contrib-heatweb

server.js

• In /dashboard, if svg file starts /images then load from wiki directory

 app.get('/dashboard/:dashboard', (req, res) => {

        var section_dashboard = "";

        if (req.query["svg"]) {

            var svgf = req.query["svg"];

            var svgfile = htmlDirectory + req.query["svg"] ;
            if (svgf.substr(0,7)=="/images") { svgfile = "/var/www/html/mediawiki" + req.query["svg"] ; }

To Do

• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Shariff