On Mon, 11 Jun 2001, Mark Guzdial wrote:
> This is a common request:
[Headers and stuff deleted...]
> >EXAMPLE of the page:
> >--------------------
> ><h2>OBJECTIVE:</h2> <textarea rows=1 col=60>
> ><br>
> ><h2>ENVIRONMENT:</h2>
> ><textarea rows=3 cols=70>
> ><h2>TEST TOPOLOGY:</h2> +my-test-topology.jpg+
> ><h2>ENGINEERS:</h2>
> ><textarea rows=3 cols=70>
> ><h2>COMMENTS:</h2>
> ><textarea rows=10 cols=70>
We were thinking along these lines too. The Swiki is great for completely
unstructured comments, but it would be nice to provide structured pages
under some situations.
After many attempts to get the form support in the Swiki working, I
eventually gave up and wrote my own CGIs for the rare circumstances that
we really wanted structured data (i.e., student surveys).
In other situations, we eventually found that students would adopt common
social conventions and would then use cut and paste if structured
information was appropriate.
One idea that I never actually tried would be to make a custom edit page.
You wouldn't have multiple text areas, but you would encourage users to
fill in specific pieces of information. You then put your template in the
edit page text area, and they can make changes where appropriate.
Example: You could make a template like this:
<form action="<?tosave?>" method=post>
<textarea name="text" rows="20" cols="70">
<h2>Objective:</h2>
##### INSERT OBJECTIVE HERE #####
<h2>Environment:</h2>
##### INSERT ENVIRONMENT HERE #####
</textarea>
</form>
Then, when users activate this edit template, the text area will have the
right structure for the resulting pages. Users then select the line the
prompts them to insert something, remove it, and put in the appropriate
text. You would activate this page with a special edit link (perhaps call
createCaseStudy.page) which would then create new pages.
Again, I didn't try this, so I'm not sure it will work. But the approach
might be a good one. you don't get the formal structure of an HTML form,
but you might be able to create the same effect with some appropriate
template that users can fill in.
-Eric
