Meta-data page procedure

How to make a meta-data page for an existing How To

using Ian Well's php script

• Note - these instructions makes it look harder than it is. It's actually dead easy. Most pages get built in a couple of minutes - you spend a lot more time reading the How tos and searching the wiki.

I only listed all the steps to make it clearer what we're doing. Feedback welcome.

1. Find the How to you want to add to the list.
2. Use the site search tool on a couple of the major terms in the How To, to see if it has been listed already ¹. It will usually be obvious what term(s) to use - these will end up in keywords.
3. Assuming you've decided to add this page to the how tos, go to: http://www.wellsi.com/sme/weblinks.php

• Note: In any of the text fields, be aware of WikiUrlTextWithInterCaps. Make sure there's a space in front of every capital letter, or the wiki will want to make a link out of it.

You can "delinkify" later (by putting a "squiggle" (tilde) in front) but it's easier to do it now.

1. Choose the Category from the drop-down list. All Categories may not be in here, in which case you'll need to manually edit the page later.
2. Paste the URL of the original how to you found.
3. Certification Status - leave at NC until we have a cert process.
4. License Type - leave Unknown, unless the author specifically gives a license in the howto
5. Creation Date/Last Updated - you're lucky if you find one of these - leave NA if not stated in How to.
6. Title - Paste in. This will also become the name of the link, so it can't be too long.
7. Author - real name if you can find it
8. Contributors - use the names (if any) listed in the How to.
9. Keywords - phpwiki does a full-text search, so this is somewhat redundant. List the main ones anyway.
10. SME Releases - Unless you know for a fact that a how to works on a given SME version, list only the versions the author puts in the how to. We're hoping the community will feedback more info, here.
11. Tips/Caveats - usually empty, unless the author has put it in the how to.
12. Web-Link Text - if you're working from a web link entry, you can copy it from Title to Problem, and paste it here. When you click "submit" the php script will fill in many of the above fields for you. It does a good job, but unfortunately the web links entries are not standardized so it can make mistakes. It's definitely worth checking to see how it works for you.
13. Summary Text - Usually you can paste part of the first couple sentences in here. I've been trying to make this declarative (Make your SME Server fly a kite) rather than descriptive (You want your SME Server to fly kites).
14. Click the "Submit" button. The script will create the wiki template for the meta-data page, with the items you put into the fields above filled in. At the bottom, it also creates the wiki for the feedback page.
15. In a New window, go to the Topic page where you want to put a link to the meta-data page, and click "Edit". Find a handy spot (we've been mostly spacing these out), and type '[', then paste in the Title, then type ']'. Click "Save".
16. The entry will be in the Topic Page. Click on the '?' in front, and the wiki will create the page.
17. Go back to the php script page and select the text from the /!!!title at the top to the ...ckLinks info=hits ?> near the bottom. Copy this text.
18. Delete all text in the wiki page and paste the script text in. Click "Save".
19. In the resulting page, you'll see some entries of the form ?'Title' Feedback - click on the question mark, delete the text in the new window, and paste the script text from "Give your comments on" to (comment) into the new wiki page. Click "Save"
20. Check both pages out to make sure there's no errors. Done!