TNG Integration

This page should be complete by end of week July 14th

Overview

This wiki provides additional background on people and places associated with the McFadyen and Parker genealogy research found at genealogy.mcfadyen.ca It has been categorized into two separate sections: People, and Places.

The Genealogical information is managed through a MySql database and includes management for Births, Deaths, Marriages, Photos, Histories, and their relationships. The Genealogy software package is called The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding © 2001-2006, created by Darrin Lythgoe, Sandy, Utah. (TNG) For more information on this package, follow the link in the previous line of text.

Although the TNG software does not come preconfigured to work specifically with MediaWiki, only a few modifications to the base TNG software are required to achieve a moderate wiki integration. This page includes the information neccessary to make those changes.

Resulting TNG features

1. Within the person pages, an icon ( ) to the right of people's names will be displayed each time a wiki page is found to match the individual's name
2. If the TNG user is logged in as "admin" then a grayed icon ( ) to the right of all possible wiki link points will be displayed
3. Within the person pages, all "places" are examined for string matches to the wiki database. If the start of the place string, up to the first comma matches a wiki page, then that portion of the place string is changed into a link to the applicable wiki page
   • Examples of this may be found on the page: Example Page. Check the place "Tiverton" next to "Died" and the wiki link icon next to a couple of the names.
   • The appearance of the icon or place link is automatic if there is a corresponding wiki page.
4. It is also possible to include links in the notes for pictures and histories, however this is a strictly manual entry (using standard html href=.... language) as in this example - check the History line at the bottom, there is an embedded link.

Mediawiki extensions

Although links to the TNG generated pages can be created using standard wiki html links, a small extension to the MediaWiki language makes this a little easier. A "person" tag was created with the following syntax: <person i=XXX>Description</person> . The TNG person IDs may be determined by examination of the TNG person pages, or hovering you mouse over any TNG person link and monitoring the browser status line.

Requirements

1. A working TNG installation - see The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding
2. A working Mediawiki installation - see MediaWiki Download
3. A backup of your TNG files
4. A backup of your MediaWiki files

TNG Mods

!CAUTION! This zip contains a modified personlib.php file from TNG version 5.1.4
If you have made any custom modifications, do NOT copy this to your TNG directory, you will lose any customizations to your personlib.php file.

• A zip containing
  • doc.gif - probably already contained in your TNG directory
  • new_doc.gif - the grayed down icon for administrators ( move to your base TNG directory )
  • link_wiki.php - the wiki link function for use in personlib.php
  • personlib.php - 4 sections modified (this is a modified TNG 5.1.4 file)

• IF you are running v5.1.4 and you have NOT made any changes to personlib.php then

1. backup your existing TNG v5.1.4 personlib.php file
2. download this zip (Media:Wiki_Package.zip)
3. unzip it, examine the contents
4. modify the 4 variables at the top of the link_wiki.php file to match your wiki setup
5. copy each of the four files to your base TNG directory
   • if you are logged in as admin, you should now see grayed icons next to the names
   • follow one of these links and you should end up at your wiki, create page option

• IF you are NOT running v5.1.4 or you HAVE made changes to personlib.php then, you are on your own, however, the modifications are reasonably straight forward. If you are not completely comfortable doing this sort of update, then try upgrading to TNG v5.1.4 first. If you are still intent on trying it, here's my best guess:

1. backup your existing TNG personlib.php file
2. download this zip (Media:Wiki_Package.zip)
3. unzip it, examine the contents
4. modify the 4 variables at the top of the link_wiki.php file to match your wiki setup
5. compare the new personlib.php and your existing personlib.php
   • modify the 4 appropriate sections of code in your copy of personlib.php, each is marked with a reference to the wiki integration modification
   • if you are logged in as admin, you should now see grayed icons next to the names
   • follow one of these links and you should end up at your wiki, create page option

Wiki Language extension

Wiki notes on Customization