Documentation

The TopicType is the root of the type system of the WikiWorbench. Every WikiTopic has got one or more TopicTypes. TopicTypes often correlate with DataForms, where a type indicates the properties and use of the form being attached to a topic. However, there are also TopicTypes that only serve more as an additional marker to a generic DataForm being used in different applications.

TopicTypes are able overcome Foswiki's limitation to only allow one form to be attached to a topic. If you'd like to attach a second form to a topic, create a new DataForm that mixes two others and indicate this by merging the resulting TopicType properties. This procedure is the recommended way to derive new TopicTypes from existing ones building on top of them, e.g. by augmenting a CategorizedTopic with additional formfields.

TopicTypes have a special property that you might use to indicate a special way of derivation by means of inheritance. There is no real inheritance in Foswiki but the way of thinking when dealing with objects and types can be clarified this way.

When you start writing a WikiApplication, first think of the data objects you will need and create TopicTypes for each. You can double-mark a TopicType being a DataForm implementation in many cases, but you can also create a separate DataForm topic being distinct from the TopicType topic.

The TopicType topic is the factory to create new TopicTypes as well.

Topics of type 'TopicType'

TopicType form

Name:	Type:	Size:	Values:	Description:	Attributes:
TopicType	checkbox	4	TopicType, DataForm, DocuTopic, ApplicationTopic	Document type
TopicTitle	text	75		title
Inheritance	checkbox	4	none, ApplicationLicense, ApplicationTopic, DataForm, DataFormAttribute, DocuTopic, TopicFunction, TopicStub, TopicTemplate, TopicType, TopicView, WebTool, WikiApplication, WikiTopic	TopicType whose properties are implemented here too (see java's interfaces)
Summary	text	75		Short description of the role of this topic	c
WikiApplication	wikiapp	1		Application this topic belongs to