History: Preferences

See also: 
* ((Create a new preference))
* ((Code Howto: Add a preference to an admin panel))
* ((Preferences report))
* ((doc:System Configuration)) 
* ((Default Preferences to be changed)) 


! What
Dynamic preferences is a new feature of ((Tiki4)), part of the ((Workspace)) project which
* Makes it possible to have a ((Perspective)) admin interface (where each preference can be overridden per perspective 
* Makes management of current admin panels (tiki-admin.php) easier.
** With Search/filter

! About
Code name: "lesser ((magic))"

Started in [http://tikiwiki.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tikiwiki/branches/experimental/lesser-magic/|lesser-magic] branch and later added to trunk for release in Tiki 4.0  Work is started to migrate all the 1000+ preferences from the old system to the new and is, with a few exceptions, completed in ((Tiki5)).

((Magic)) didn't succeed. It was probably too ambitious because it was trying to make all preferences dynamic (that's good), but to also automagically generate all admin panels (very hard because of exceptions)

For ((Workspaces)) / ((Perspectives)), we need a way to set preferences in a workspace which are different than the global. We also want a way to provide workspace admins to set some of the prefs. But of course, not all 1000+ prefs! Only the ones that are relevant (turn wiki on/off, change theme, etc.)

So we need a dynamic admin panel per workspace. What is configurable by the workspace admin should be defined in the ((profile)) 

Normal admin panels (tiki-admin.php) will remain so UX can have full control of how things are positioned, and to hide/show features depending on another setting. However, for the settings that are defined, the html can be generated dynamically (like a Smarty plugin)



! Wishlist
* Should add SEO and merge in tiki-admin.php?page=sefurl and tiki-admin.php?page=metatags
* OSM maps and GoogleMaps in tiki-admin.php?page=maps
* A button to rebuild index (useful after an upgrade)
** Now rebuilds when unified index is rebuilt?
* Tiki8: test pref levels with current profiles
** If a profiles uses a pref, it could mean that it should be a basic pref.
* __Make prefs names as part of the index too (like feature_wiki)__
* Make some prefs that can run profiles in the background or otherwise
** later (tricky and potentially dangerous)
* {wish id=4869}
* --adding levels to each pref "Basic" "Advanced" and adding a drop-down toggle Basic, Regular and "Advanced" for tiki-admin.php-- Done in Tiki8 
** --All prefs to be evaluated and a good chunk should become advanced-- Done in Tiki8
** --tabs with no options ideally don't appear. (if hard to do, just leave it)-- done
** --if an option is not of the default value, it should be shown in basic view, even if it's advanced.-- Done in Tiki8
** in search results while in basic mode, advanced prefs can appear but should stand out (somehow)
** In the future, get community ratings to preferences from ((Connect))
* --add new param for prefs: ex.: urladmin=tiki-admin_trackers.php so when a feature is activated, we can easily find how to admin/use-- done
* "My changes" admin panel: Show me diff than default. From here, link to http://profiles.tiki.org/Save+current+configuration+as+a+profile
* If search results are filtered by tag, have a note to say so and a link (search again throughout all prefs)
* --Add a way that we can give custom feedback (ex.: "You activated forums, now click here to assign permissions to forums" or "You activated forums, now click here to create a forum.")--  This was tricky to do and this info can be useful not just after activating so we added contextual links in Tiki8.
* --Update this documentation to indicate all potential attributes of prefs (ex.: keywords is missing)-- See ((Create a new preference))
* Add a pref for demo mode
** When a Tiki would be in demo mode, a certain number of prefs would not be accessible. So we can give users tiki_p_admin...
** Maybe this should be handled by ((Configuration Management and Systems Orchestration))?
* {wish id=4742}
* bookmark prefs in a "my admin panel"
* --A list of recently modified prefs (who-when-what view on syslogs)--  Done in quick admin module

! Cleanup
* no pref modifications should be leftover in tiki-admin_include_*.php files
* Convert remaining data from [http://tikiwiki.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tikiwiki/trunk/lib/setup/prefs.php?view=log|lib/setup/prefs.php] to [http://tikiwiki.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tikiwiki/trunk/lib/prefs/|lib/prefs/]
* Review all templates/admin/*.tpl files and make sure there aren't leftovers of the old system (as of 2010-08-20, there are some)


! Alias
* (alias(Lesser Magic))
* (alias(Dynamic Preferences))
* (alias(Preference))
* (alias(Pref))
* (alias(Prefs))