Muster Wiki

• Create a record; fill in the fields

Part of Documentation

Basics

To create content in Muster Wiki, create a record, and then fill in the fields.

Note that all records are assigned a unique record number by the system. This record number appears (almost universally) somewhere close to the record title, whether in listings, or in full page display. The record number is used to assign records to folders, topics, attachments etc. See Organizing Content.

Also, when logged in, there's a one-character code beside the record number that indicates status: A=approved, D=draft, X=approval declined, R=approval requested.

Record Types

There are ten types of content records, and each type has its own list:

• website original content:
  • documents
  • blog posts
• external resources, imported to the website:
  • document files (pdf, usually)
  • widgets (embedded code like video, presentation, spreadsheet etc)
  • pictures
  • document extracts (a copy of a portion of an external document)
  • external website links
• presentation lists:
  • topics - contain any type of record except blog records (but including blog post records)
  • resource folders - contain external resource records and folder records
  • blogs - contain only blog posts

To create a record, go to the list for the record type you want to create, where you'll find an "Add a recordtype" button near the bottom of the left sidebar. (Exception: to create a blog post, go to your blog, then go to the blog postings list for that specific blog where you'll find an "Add a blog post" button in the left sidebar).

If you don't see an "Add a recordtype" button, that's because you don't have permissions to create that type of record there.

Push the "Add a recordtype" button, and that will open up a blank record. Click on "toggle input options" near the top to see all available input fields.

Input Fields

Most input fields are common to all record types, but some record types have one or more unique input fields. Use the following table as a guide. Uncommon fields are shaded.

All fields take plain readable text (or the correct datatype such as date or number) as input, except the wiki markup fields (only one of these fields per record) variously called Body (for documents, blog posts, or document extracts), Cover Page (for topics or folders), About (for blog records), or Commentary (for pictures, document files, external links, or widgets). See Mastering Muster Markup for details.

Most of the time you can create a record just by filling in the Title (since a default value - current date - is automatically added by default to the other required field, the date field).

Actions

When on a full page view of a record, various actions are made available to the user (in the form of buttons to press) as appropriate, depending on permissions and the current state of the record. Use the following table as a guide. Actions only available to administrators or moderators are shaded.

Administrators can perform any action on any record that record authors can perform. However members who are not administrators are generally limited to changing their own records (unless they are listed as collaborators of a record).

It's very common to Publish (or Request approval) after saving the final version of the record, and it's easy to forget. As a reminder, records that haven't been published have a pale pink border around them.

Comments

Creating a comment is invoked with "Leave a comment" available for most records for most logged-in members. A new comment record presents only one field for entry: the wiki markup Body field.

Edit of a comment is available by clicking on the comment icon is a list.

Moderation of comments is available in the library list of comments.

Comments, when available, appear in the Comments tab of records in display view.

Administration tabs

When admin view is invoked, several administration tabs appear. The first is the basic tag for the record being administered, including an edit option (as reviewed above). The rest begin with the Notes and Collaborators tabs. Finally, Containers and Attachments tabs are available for all record types, as well as a Contents tab for the Topic and Folder record types. These last tabs as a group allow integration of the record into the database.

See the sections below for guides on these.

Remember to save any changes in the main (first) tab before moving to any of the other tabs, to preserve your work.

Notes

There are three kinds of text notes that can be kept under the Notes tab for each record:

• Author notes - a scratchpad of notes for the author of the record, intended for the period when the record is being assembled or created, before being published
• Moderator notes - cannot be edited by the author, but are placed there by the moderator (or administrator) particularly helpful when a request to publish has been declined
• Followup notes - intended to hold notes for a record that has been published, but for which followup is required, such as after an event or deadline has occurred.

The Author and Followup Notes tabs have Closed checkboxes available. When these are unchecked the records show up in "Open Author Notes" and "Open Followup Notes" searches respectively. See Finding Content for details.

In addition, the Followup Notes tab has a date field available as a reminder of when the followup is required.

The Author notes area also has a field to allow the record Author to be changed to a different member (by the Administrator).

Show byline is duplicated and available for edit on the Author notes tab (from the main administration tab) for convenience.

Notes are not searched.

Collaborators

To add a Collaborator, enter the member's UserCode (case sensitive) in the Add collaborator field of the Collaborators tab, and click on the Add button. Collaborators have similar rights to authors, but they cannot publish or delete the record, nor add collaborators themselves.

Integrating the Record into the Website

For details about the Containers, Contents, and Attachments tabs, see Organizing Content.