[Trac] Trac tags users?

[Muness Alrubaie]

Alec,

Nice.  Looks like you've patched the ListTags macro.  Care to share it?  ;)

Yeah, unfortunately a preview causes the tags to get updated.  In fact
even a view is doing that, but I figured the db overhead was worth it
- the operation was cheap, and initially, I didn't expect the
implementation to really be used much; I intended it as a proof of
concept, but it worked well enough that I never bothered redoing it.

Is there a way for a macro to tell if it is being called under a view,
preview or save operation.   If so, that'd be the best way to fix the
issue you're highlighting, Alec, and give a way to enhance performance
(especially if I make a new implementation as suggested below).

Here's the idea I've been thinking of instead of using a table to
store tags, use del.icio.us as the persistence engine for tags. 
(Maybe go ahead and cahce the tags locally in the tags table, but
that'd just be for optimization/reliability purposes, e.g. when
del.icio.us is down).  Immediate benefits:
* share tags via del.icio.us
* view/manage tags via things like del.icio.us director.

Those two alone are compelling to me.  However, I think with a little
more thereafter, it'd be a way more powerful concept.  For example,
the way the dynamic content generation works with the tags for trac is
sweet - looks like you're using this feature throughout trac-hacks. 
Now expand that idea such that content generation isn't limited to
links to other wiki entries, but to URLs in general.

i.e.  http://trac-hacks.swapoff.org/wiki/DebianBtsMacro is tagged
"beta macro tiago trunk".  Using del.icio.us, I envision tagging any
old URL.  If it happens to start with
http://trac-hacks.swapoff.org/wiki/ , then the macro will be smart
enough to know that is actually the wiki entry at the url.  But if it
doesn't, it can treat it instead as a url and just list it that way
instead.  With a little more smarts, it could do even more - e.g. if
something is tagged image, inline it, instead of just making a link.

Conversely, your del.icio.us tags can then also provide a description
to what they are by extracting the content from the self-named wiki
entry at the wiki (perhaps via a greasemonkey script).

To sum up, I think this is simple, provides a nice separation of UIs
such that content is handled via the wiki and tagging is handled via
del.icio.us.  Each one's UI is really simple and good at what it does.
 The current implementation hacks something onto Trac which it was
never intended to do.  Also, with the flexibility of a general purpose
tagging system providing all the tagging work, I think there will be
all sort of emergent remixing abilities that may enhance trac and
del.icio.us for those of us who use both a lot.

What do you think?  Would this be useful?  Or am I missing something
painfully obvious?  Any and all input is much appreciated.

Also, any implementation suggestions?  Does the new plug-in stuff come
up at all? (at first glance, methinks not...)

Muness

On 8/24/05, Alec Thomas <trac-list at swapoff.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 24, 2005 at 04:49:15PM -0400, Muness Alrubaie wrote:
> > BTW, you say the "This Tag functionality is great".  Have you been
> > using it?  I am just curious, because like I said, I am thinking of
> > adding some major feature enhancements and was hoping to talk to some
> > other users to bounce some ideas off them.
> 
> Hi Muness,
> 
> I am using tags extensively on http://trac-hacks.swapoff.org. It makes
> life a lot easier for classifying the various "hacks". It uses some
> custom macros to utilise the tags more effectively for that environment,
> but it is all pretty much stock underneath.
> 
> The only real issue I've seen is that the tags get applied to the page
> during preview, which may not be desirable.
> 
> Regards,
> Alec
> 
> --
> Evolution: Taking care of those too stupid to take care of themselves.
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