When developing a web application, the traditional way is to develop the application from scratch using a general purpose language such as PHP, Grails, Play, Java/JSP, etc. This presentation will show that a next generation wiki (examples based on XWiki: http://xwiki.org) can be used as a web development platform to develop applications on top of it, providing a strong infrastructure scaffolding to building web applications. The advantages are similar to those of using an application sever. However whereas an application server offers technical services only, a wiki platform offers higher level services such as content management, rendering, storage, WYSIWYGeditor, user management, and a lot more. Not only are these services offered, you can develop using them in your traditional IDE or in the runtime, directly in wiki pages. This allows developing web applications extremely quickly, collaboratively and with a fast turnaround time, which is perfect for adhoc web application development.

1. XWiki
A web development runtime platform based
on the wiki paradigm
Vincent Massol, February 2014

2. Agenda
• Developing on XWiki
• A runtime platform
• Usages
• QA

3. Developing on XWiki
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

4. Metadata!
Demo
• Ability to associate arbitrary
data to any wiki page
• 1: Create metadata definition in a wiki
page (a.k.a xclass)
• 2: Use it in wiki pages (a.k.a xobjects)
• 3: Use scripting in wiki pages to access it
• Allows application development
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

5. Skinning & Theming
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

6. Skin Extensions
CSS
JS
== Grease Monkey
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

7. Scripting in Pages (1/2)
{{groovy}}
import groovy.json.*
!
def url = "https://api.github.com/users/xwiki/repos".toURL().text
def root = new JsonSlurper().parseText(url)
!
println "|=Project|=Description|=Use Wiki?|=Use Issues?"
root.each() { repo ->
println "|[[${repo.name}>>http://github.com/xwiki/$
{repo.name}]]|${repo.description}|${repo.has_wiki}|$
{repo.has_issues}"
}
{{/groovy}}
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

8. Scripting in Pages (2/2)
{{velocity}}
#set ($xwql = "where doc.content like '%welcome%'")
#foreach ($item in $services.query.xwql($xwql).execute())
#if ($request.confirm == "1")
#set ($itemDoc = $xwiki.getDocument($item))
$itemDoc.setContent($itemDoc.getContent().replaceAll(
"welcome", "bienvenue"))
$itemDoc.save("Replaced bienvenue")
* [[$item>>$item]] replaced!
#else
* [[$item>>$item]]
#end
#end
!
[[Replace "welcome" by "bienvenue">>?confirm=1]]
{{/velocity}}
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

9. Components in Java
@Role!
public interface Macro!
{!
List<Block> execute();!
}
@Component!
@Named("message")!
@Singleton!
public class MessageMacro implements Macro!
{!
@Inject!
private Execution execution;!
!
!
@Inject!
@Named("box")!
private Macro boxMacro;!
public List<Block> execute()!
{!
...!
}!
}
META-INF/components.txt
org.xwiki.rendering.internal.macro.message.MessageMacro
+ Wiki Components!
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

10. Extensions
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

11. A runtime platform
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

12. Building an Application
Runtime
Traditional way
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

13. Building an Application
Runtime
Runtime
XWiki way - Morphing!
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

14. XWiki Platform
... for developing (collaborative) web applications
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

15. Usages
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

16. Multiple Usages
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

17. http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Screenshots
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

18. Long tail of Apps
Excel of the
Web
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

19. Pros
• Iterative, Need-based development
• Continuous Delivery
• Work collaboratively on creating applications
• Designers can style while devs create logic
• Works from day one, immediate feedbacks
• Open source and community-based
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

20. Q&A
Me
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012

21. Vincent Massol
vincent@xwiki.com
skype: vmassol
http://about.me/vmassol
!
http://xwiki.org
http://xwiki.com
Copyright (c) Vincent Massol - 2012