TW for Newbies Documentation

#1

I have returned to TW to scope a project for a potential client and have realised I’ve forgotten most of my knowledge about filter expressions, especially brackets.

However, I discovered Grok Tiddlywiki. This has excellent descriptions of filter usage and what types of brackets to use, when and transclusion.

I don’t know if the wiki has been linked to for newbies but heartily recommend it. It may defer confusion! Maybe just have links to the filters and transclusions sections?

https://groktiddlywiki.com/read/

bobj

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#2

A little out of date at this point, yet I whole-heartedly second the recommendation because it’s incredibly useful none-the-less. Not sure if @sobjornstad plans to update it, but if not, maybe he wouldn’t mind if one of us created “the sequel” of sorts? (Like a guide to bridge the gap between what’s described in Grok TiddlyWiki and the most important newer useful features - functions, procedures, cascades, custom widgets, <% if %> syntax, etc. - designed to be read after Grok TiddlyWiki.)

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#3

With TiddlyWIkis approach to backwards compatibility, we can safely say that while there are plenty of new features in TiddlyWIki, nothing in Grok TiddlyWiki is likely to not still be correct. I would see value in adding a new chapter about the new features and linking the old content to extra information, rather than rewriting the existing content.

Many of the new features, whilst welcome and valuable, offer more advanced possibilities than most new users would use, with some notable exceptions where the old method was more difficult. These should definatly be updated.

#4

This is definitely important to consider. Cascades took me a long time to understand and I suspect the same would be true for most people. Still, in my opinion, custom functions, custom widgets, attribute substitution, and the substitute[] filter operator are easy enough to understand and use. In fact, I think they’re even easier to understand than many of the issues surrounding macros not being wikified and the need to use variable substitution in macros, which Grok TiddlyWiki necessarily had to treat.

I think there are quite a lot of these.

Old code working is a different thing from statements being correct. For example, the statement that field names can only contain certain characters is no longer correct. (That particular statement has already been updated in Grok TiddlyWiki.) So I think it could at least use a review.

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#5

Of course, me too, my point is it need not be too big a job to enhance it, without totally rewriting it.

#6

I am hoping to do a full update this summer!

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#7

Make sure you ask for help, if you need it. Its a lot to take in, and some of the new features don’t yet have comprehensive examples that newbies would use.

#8

Hi @sobjornstad that’s great to hear.GrokTiddlyWiki is a wonderful resource that is very much appreciated by the community.

As others have noted, there are a lot of new features to cover, and do feel free to ask any questions, and as always I’d welcome your insights for future improvements to the core.

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#9

Perhaps we can gather some useful filters to use as example snippets such as Filters — filter and list examples. I find filters to be the hardest concept in learning tiddlywiki syntax.

If only a technical person with a tiddlywiki skillset would know how to dissect the setup and create examples put forth by the creator of https://cpalists.tiddlyspot.com/ and create an explanation on all those clever methodologies that exist to setup variables, widgets, functions, and filters.

Man that would be a neat practical tutorial.

<daydreaming> the newbie </daydreaming>

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#10

@TiddlyNeo, I concur with your suggestions. Filters are the most complicated function of TW to understand and yet , as stated in numerous places, that understanding and familiarity is crucial for non trivial use of TW. As for @TW_Tones’ hint of new features, I dread to think about tackling them.

The most useful page I have got from GROK so far has been the page describing Transclusions https://groktiddlywiki.com/read/#Transclusions. Its paragraph on what each of the different brackets are used for, SHOULD be in TW’s main documentation. Why can not such simple statements, and others related to filters, be included? If I knew enough about filters and transclusions, I’d have a go but my knowledge and experience with TW is severely lacking. As for pipe (||) characters and any others I have not come across yet…

Grok’s description of the use of [[abc]] being shorthand for [title[abc]] was an amazing insight for me (https://groktiddlywiki.com/read/#Using%20Filter%20Expressions). I’ve been using filters all this time without realising it! I know, I know…I’m slow…

As for examples, I have said before that TW’s examples in its documentation are sorely lacking. I should be able to see the actual code being performed when I click on a ‘Try It’ button instead of a macro call to an example macro with parameters I don’t understand.

I’d be happy to assist as much as I can given my limited TW knowledge and lack of experience. I believe in TW, it is a simple yet profound facility. I compare it to Hypercard when it came out and made systems development available to the masses (with all its attendant issues of course).

bobj

bobj

#11

Here’s an idea for the community. :nerd_face:

Your technical contributions are lost in the conglomeration of responses within these forums; when one has a wiki “how to” question we (noobies) turn to the manuals, then the examples, when that doesn’t work you set out on a journey into an exploration of tiddlywiki homesite recommendation links, upon return and feeling overwhelmed, we turn to google, then to the ai, or you read through long treads of similar questions with hit/miss/back/forth code suggestions hoping to follow the conversation along, like a detective in one of those law and order series, in hopes of finding a functional code snippet to do that one thing you need to be able to just get on with your life; when hope seems to have forsaken you, you humbly come here and articulate your problem, you get a simple solution and life returns to normal. At least until you next question and the cycle repeats.

We could save some heart aches if we can somehow capture those answers/solutions and list them somewhere already edited; turn the answer/solution to these question/problem and produce a primer of sorts from its resolution.

Suppose we could extract the gold from all the dirt.

We can ask the people who post questions/problems for help to contribute; if they can, upon receiving an answer/solution/workaround/trick to contribute those results to a ongoing manual directory of examples. We (as help seekers) are so grateful when we achieve a solution, I would presume, we would be willing to contribute/pay back/forward with an articulated/write-up, or a summary conclusion; a grok type of explanation for either a FAQ board or an ever growing “community manual” of basic uses/setups/examples/demos, even if they pile redundant examples of similar setups; us newbies appreciate trying them all out; each entry should have

  • a precise title
  • tag functions/widgets/macro topics are involved
  • put forth a case scenario:
  • provide/explain the wiki setup
  • provide/explain the syntax
  • provide/explain the demo/sample
  • provide link back to the source (the forum)

Those that are technical/wordsmiths/teachers can edit/revise those posts to add/correct/articulate/update/make better; provide links to more relevant explanations on the topics/syntaxes.

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#12

A good idea, @TiddlyNeo, something I sort of do already with stuff I find out but not as detailed as you describe. I maintain a TW with tiddlers having snippets or descriptions that have elucidated stuff for me in the past.

I suspect most of us have something similar.

I would argue for links from these collected snippets from the TW documentation as real life examples as well.

Bobj

#13

@TiddlyNeo @Bob_Jansen
I also keep snippets of examples from this forum and other sources.
I would like to suggest that your solutions could be kept in a public TW on Tiddlyhost.
I also like Grok TW and think that reading the Section on Variables, Macros, and Transclusions is also very useful.

There are a lot of solutions already on Scripts in Tiddlywiki by @Mohammad and he also provides a Solution Plugin that could be used to emulate his site.

#14

@Sunny , I have no objection to keeping this publicly available. My only concern would be that I don’t want the snippets that I want to record overwhelmed by snippets others want to record, and by sheer number they would be. So the solution would need to provide a ‘user sensitive’ context, ie. only my snippets display. Also, my snippets should not be able to be edited as the code might be sensitive to my problem and be different in another context.

Bobj

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#15

My main point was that the Solution Plugin could be a useful tool.
I understnd your concerns though.
Maybe someone else will try and combine some of the more common solutions for a newbie TW.