ThinkFree API

[Petrus4]

Will the possibility to edit documents and then save them back into the wiki be available via the ThinkFree API? I see the editing API is in private beta.

Will this be something that is open source?

Is there a way to turn off the preview of documents link? I am worried that my users will start editing a document and then become really frustrated when they can't save the document, since this is not really clear with the thinkfree viewer (you can make changes, but you cannot save the changes) They will then loose all their work.

[royk]

That feature is something ThinkFree would have to support - saving is not supported through their Viewer API (which is what we use).

You can override which documents get preview by modifying the $wgWriteViewer, $wgCalcViewer, and $wgShowViewer arrays.

As always, it's not suggested you do the modifications in DefaultSettings.php, but to add new lines into LocalSettings.php (to make upgrades easier in the future):

$wgWriteViewer = array();
$wgCalcViewer = array();
$wgShowViewer  = array();

[SteveB]

We're working with ThinkFree to make it possible to save documents back after editing, but we don't have a timetable for it.

[Petrus4]

ok great thanks Steve and Roy!

[angus]

What about the ability to hide the editing toolbars from the thinkfree preview window? That would also avoid the confusion and would actually be something I'd be interested in controlling via the service.

[SteveB]

I asked them the same thing. I don't know why, but they don't offer that option.

[deetz]

Has the time line on when Thinkfree might be able to save files gotten any closer now since September? Looking at the viewer and how smooth things are once it's loaded it seems like it would be a very nice way to manage and update documents.

Short of that what currently steps do folks recommend to collaborate on documents with Deki Wiki.

From my limited exposure it seems the best way would be to tell users to always save say a .doc file somewhere on disk, make whatever changes then reupload the file using the desktop connector or webpage?

Like others I just want to avoid users making changes and saving files to a temp folder instead of to the wiki.

[royk]

You'll need to talk directly to the ThinkFree team about that functionality - we're not actively pursuing it.

[angus]

I think a better approach is to improve the process for importing current word and excel documents into wiki pages, and/or use ZoHo or Google for document collaboration. Much better use of resources.

[jwoodford]

In your reviews of the thinkfree api, did you ever find a a way to pull back the address from the think free editor where the document was last save? What I'm thinking of doing is replacing the viewer.php with a plugin to their editor, then call back the file location to push into the deki api to update the link.