Maple feature request: Wiki-like automated hyperlinking

Maple and Maple Reader
Post Reply
marbux
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:55 pm

Maple feature request: Wiki-like automated hyperlinking

Post by marbux »

For some time, I've been searching for a Wiki application that I could run on my local machine, as opposed to on the web. Those that I've found have not been acceptable; either they lack key features or they pose a maintenance nightmare because I don't want to have to learn how to maintain PHP, etc. I realize that Maple was not designed as a Wiki, but it seems to come closest to what I was looking for, but for one key feature, and am wondering if you might consider adding it to your list for a future Maple release?

That feature is automatated hyperlinking within the Maple tree. So for example, if I have a node named "U.S. v. Microsoft" where I collect various materials, notes, imported copies of court rulings, URLs, etc. about that case, in all text under other nodes the text would automatically hyperlink to the "U.S. v. Microsoft" node whenever I use the string, "U.S. v. Microsoft" in the text and surround it with an appropriate set of markup tags. (Query whether tags would be necessary?)

As another example, I find it a real time-saver to collect definitions (along with citations to where the definition was drawn from) as I do my legal research and writing. If I have a node named Definitions with subnodes titled as the defined terms, I would love to be able to automate hyperlinking to a given definition subnode from text being drafted in yet another node, e.g., a legal brief or an article. That would immediately tell me whether I already have a definition for the term, or need to look it up.

You might take a look at WikiMedia's article on creating internal hyperlinks for some ideas and thoughts on related problem solving, such as "stub" articles. It's at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Link. That's the Wiki software used by Wikipedia.

(A Maple substitute might be to extend the Global search function to allow global searching and replacing a given text string with a cross-referencing hyperlink. But I would much prefer an automated solution.)

Bells and whistles might include:

-- What links to this node? Automated creation of "see also" linkbacks that display links to other nodes linked to the active node, with an option to omit them from a given page. That lets you quickly locate other nodes where you've discussed the same concept or one similar to the one you're working with. Perhaps this might be implemented as a style that could be included or excluded by default, depending on the choice in the parent node?

-- Exclude node and its subnodes from automated (a) hyperlinking or (b) linkbacks. Some folks might prefer that a "personal" node (or others) not be automatically hyperlinked from other nodes.

-- "Export hyperlinked nodes?" option on the export subnode feature.

-- The ability for a subnode to inherit relevant settings from a parent node would be a big plus.

Thank you in advance for considering this feature request.
marbux
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:55 pm

Did you miss this?

Post by marbux »

Is this going to be answered, or is silence the answer?
User avatar
support
Site Admin
Posts: 389
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:59 am

Post by support »

Unfortunately, we do not plan to add these features in the nearest future.
marbux
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:55 pm

Re: feature request

Post by marbux »

Thank you for the reply, Denis.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 25 guests