OpenWetWare:Software/User management

This page discusses OpenWetWare's User management software.

NEW UMS Features
Version 0.4 (Sep. 28, 2007)

The OpenWetWare User Management System (UMS) is the tool used to review new applications for membership to OpenWetWare. Please Note: this tool is only accessible to OpenWetWare administrators.

We have done a good deal of work on it of late. A lot of the work will not be visible to members of the OpenWetWare community at large, but it will make management of the system simpler for administrators.

Among the features added to UMS include the following:


 * All interaction with MediaWiki now uses the internal API rather than accessing the SQL database directly.
 * History page has been added listing all applications and their disposition
 * Changing settings no longer is a 'popup'. It now uses the same style as the other pages.
 * Affiliation, reason for joining, and referral are stored inside the MediaWiki directory for users.

New Member "User:" Page Generation

One significant feature that has been added that will be visible to all new members involves how their "User:" page is created. Currently, a new member, fresh from being approved, is sent an email message that tells them about the User: page. However, upon clicking on the link, the fledgling OpenWetWare member is confronted with a blank page and a brand new text editor to master.

The new UMS feature allows for a single 'master' file to serve as the content that all new users will see when they start connect to their User page.

The content used to seed the User page for each member is stored as any other OpenWetWare page. This is the page where the definition can be found here: UserPageDefaultContentText and UserTalkPageDefaultContentText

The contents of this page will be placed in the new user's User: page. Since this is a standard MediaWiki page, any macros or WikiText markup used in the page will be copied to the new User: page.

In addition to this, all of the information entered when the member's application was completed is also available to populate this page. Unlike standard wiki variables, this information is converted only once: when the new page is created.

Here are the variables that are available:


 * UMS_USER: Username
 * UMS_EMAIL: Email Address
 * UMS_AFFILIATION: User's affiliation (lab, university, or anything the member entered when they applied)
 * UMS_REASON: Reason whey they joined OpenWetWare
 * UMS_REFERRAL: Where they heard about OpenWetWare

The page is currently "one size fits all": the same page is used for all new members. Once the page has been created, any changes to the master file will not modify existing pages but instead become the new basis for creating all new pages.

There currently is no set policy for editing UserPageDefaultContentText or UserTalkPageDefaultContentText. This may change over time.

Updates
Version 0.3 (Apr. 29, 2006) Changes Summary - Download


 * Reject and Approve boxes should be radio buttons
 * Automatically select templates based on action
 * Plain-text email
 * Logo link
 * Email a copy of registration to admin
 * Show/Hide all
 * Added "ums_" table prefix

Version 0.4 (August 11, 2007) Proposed Changes by Bill Flanagan


 * Use MediaWiki User object to manage the creation and checking of new OpenWetWare Members
 * Modify the way default User Preference options are set up while creating new OpenWetWare Members
 * Investigate how the configuration of the User: page can be modified by OWW administrators
 * Move all SQL database access for OWW applicants, email templates, and config parameters to use MediaWiki database handlers.
 * Eliminate all SQL calls from the UMS code. Use a common library for this and all User object access.
 * Move UMS toward becoming a MediaWiki Extension.
 * Investigate how creating a new User: page can be created along with the creation of a new member.
 * Investigate how the configuration of the User: page can be modified by OWW administrators
 * No/(at least) limited modification of the current UMS UI process.
 * Demo of new UI will be available on Monday (August 13, 2007).

(Please help me prioritize the existing feature requests which have not been previously completed. The above features are the only ones I have on my list at the moment. [User:Bill Flanagan|Bill])