TWiki Release 5.0.0 (Helsinki), 2010-05-29

Introduction

TWiki-5.0.0 released on 2010-05-29 is a major release introducing usability enhancements, feature enhancements, and adds extensions to strengthen TWiki as an enterprise collaboration platform.

It is highly recommended to upgrade to TWiki-5.0.0. Users will find this release much more stable and secure in daily use.

New Features Highlights

• Security Enhancements
  • Configure script requires authentication to reduce exposure of internal system settings.
  • The twiki root directory is no longer HTML doc enabled, reducing the odds of exposing data due to webserver misconfiguration.
• Usability Enhancements
  • New TopMenuSkin with pulldown menus for better usability and corporate/modern look&feel.
  • Attach multiple files at once, useful when attaching many files.
  • Pre-installed TagMePlugin, useful to tag topics to quickly access content in a large TWiki.
  • Upgraded TinyMCEPlugin to latest TinyMCE 3.2.4.1 for better WYSIWYG editing experience.
• TWiki Application Platform Enhancements
  • Pre-installed JQueryPlugin, adding a lightweight cross-browser JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML.
  • Improvements to ENCODE, IF, URLPARAM, WEB and WEBLIST variables.
• Search Enhancements
  • Query syntax with array size, useful to query TWiki forms and attachments.
  • Query syntax can be used in format parameter of search, giving more control over formatting.
• Miscellaneous Feature Enhancements
  • Adding 51 new TWikiDocGraphics icons, and 11 updated icons.
  • The TWiki doc graphics library is now aware of image size and is cached for speed.
• Plugin Enhancements
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Improvements to $TIME() and $NOP() functions.
  • HeadlinesPlugin: New touch parameter in HEADLINES variable to alert users via e-mail notification of news updates
  • API: New TWiki::Func::buildWikiWord function

See the full list of new features and bug fixes further below.

Pre-installed Extensions

TWiki-5.0.0 ships with:

• Plugins: CommentPlugin, EditTablePlugin, EmptyPlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, SpreadSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TagMePlugin, TWikiNetSkinPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WysiwygPlugin
• Contribs: BehaviourContrib, JSCalendarContrib, MailerContrib, TipsContrib, TWikiUserMappingContrib, TwistyContrib
• Skins: ClassicSkin, PatternSkin, TopMenuSkin, TWikiNetSkin,

Note: JQueryPlugin, TagMePlugin and TopMenuSkin are new in TWiki-5.0.0.

Deprecation Notices

• From TWiki 5.0 on, the ClassicSkin is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.

• From TWiki 4.2 on, the %MAINWEB% and %TWIKIWEB% variables have been deprecated. For compatibility reasons they are unlikely to ever be removed completely, but you should use the %USERSWEB% and %SYSTEMWEB% variables instead.

• From TWiki 4.2 on, functions TWiki::Func::getOopsUrl and TWiki::Func::permissionsSet have been declared deprecated. There is no plan to remove them yet.

• From TWiki 4.0 on, the syntax "* Set DENYTOPICVIEW = " (nothing) in a topic means deny noone. Even if ALLOWTOPICVIEW is set to people or group setting DENYTOPICCHANGE to nothing means allow anyone. You have to remove the DENYTOPICVIEW or comment it out to have the ALLOWTOPICVIEW working. The reason for this behavior is that it enables limiting access to an entire web by setting a blank DENYTOPICVIEW setting. Same rule applies for DENYTOPICCHANGE and DENYTOPICRENAME. The rule does not apply for access rights defined for webs. Ie. "*Set DENYWEBCHANGE = " does not allow anyone to edit topics in the web. There has been strong oppinions against the syntax "* Set DENYTOPICXXXX = " meaning giving all access. So please be warned that we will change the syntax to a more transparent and logical syntax in future but we will ensure that it is still possible to secure a web and open up individual topics in future also.

Notes for TWiki Administrators and Wiki Champions

Upgrade From Earlier Releases

Follow the TWikiUpgradeGuide to install TWiki and migrate data from your existing TWiki.

The new TopMenuSkin adds pulldown menus for better usability and corporate/modern look&feel. This skin is based on the PatternSkin, which used the WebLeftBar in each web for navigation. The TopMenuSkin has a new WebTopBar that defines the menu structure in each web. A default menu is shown in case WebTopBar is missing, so you do not need to add a WebTopBar topic to all your existing webs. See TopMenuSkin#WebSpecific instructions in case you need a customized menu structure in a web.

TWiki-5.0.0 Major Release - Details

TWiki-5.0.0 was built from SVN http://svn.twiki.org/svn/twiki/branches/TWikiRelease05x00 revision r18860 (2010-05-29)

Enhancements

Fixes

Related Topic: TWikiHistory, TWikiInstallationGuide, TWikiUpgradeGuide