WikiMonitor

WikiMonitor BETA
Author:	Daniel Cannon
Latest release:	Version 0.0.7 / 16 May 2007
First release:	Version 0.0.6 / 22 April 2007
OS:	Windows 98 or above
Platform:	VB6 / Java / DCOM
License:	GPL (some components*)
Website:	amidaniel.com

WikiMonitor is a software project currently under development by Daniel Cannon that seeks to provide a multipurpose Wiki browser that is both fully multilingual and interwiki-compatible.

Overview

WikiMonitor began as a countervandalism tool--its original intention was to form a hybrid of the VandalProof application and the VP2 client application. In some sense WikiMonitor is still a countervandalism application in that it contains almost all of the countervandalism tools of VandalProof, such as non-admin rollback, user and article white and blacklists, etc., yet its concept has expanded far beyond simple vandalism patrol. WikiMonitor was instead constructed as a (pseudo) plug-and-play application providing a vast multitude of tools, covering a broad spectrum of applications ranging from countervandalism to general editing to user-interaction, and allowing additional tools to be developed as individual ActiveX components and to be added into the core software almost effortlessly.

At present time, WikiMonitor consists of a fully functional web browser that makes use of Firefox-styled tabbed browsing (although it is not built using any Mozilla components), a lightweight IRC client designed specifically for use by the common Wikimedia editor, and advanced user and article list controls (including the ability to blacklist and whitelist 0-32 bit ranges of ip addresses). The main component of the application, and also the component from which the application gets its name, is its RC monitor--it allows users to easily create unique "channels," which update in real time to display all edits or logged actions committed to the Wiki that meet the criteria of the channel. Each channel is extremely customizable; you could, for instance, easily configure a channel to display only edits made to pages in the (main) and Talk: namespaces, to specify that edits by anonymous users be highlighted in green, and to have all Image uploads be displayed in the channel and highlighted in blue. A channel can also be configured to display changes made to articles on your watchlist in real time and also to update with the the contributions of a specific user (or a 0-32 bit range of ip addresses) in real time.

The main goal of this project, however, is not only to make these tools available but to make them available to any user on any foundation Wiki. All system messages displayed in the application, from menu items to popup dialogs can be quite easily edited by the user, and this will hopefully enable bilingual users to quickly and effortlessly translate the interface of the software such that speakers of every language can use it. The software can be used with any Wikimedia Foundation wiki without any complicated reconfiguration on the behalf of the user--he simply has to input a different language code and Wiki type. The pull-down menus and rollback buttons are also fully customizable, which allows users to predefine, for instance, which warning templates to use when reverting edits on enwiki and to use a different set of warnings on dewikiversity.

Unlike its predecessors, WikiMonitor will also be open-sourced, although possibly not GPLed due to licensing problems with Microsoft components that have not yet been clarified. While this open-source mentality is much more compatible with the "free" nature of Wikimedia, it will also hopefully allow it to live on and grow independent of its original creator.

Download

To download and install the software, please visit http://amidaniel.com/pub/WikiMonitor ^{[dead link]} and follow the instructions there.

Licenses

GPL Components

The following components are released under the GNU General Public License:

WikiMon.exe
- The actual application itself. Truly nothing more than a wrapper for all other components.
WikiMonProfile.dll
- Containing Profile.cls. Maintains almost all the data used by WikiMonitor, including localization settings, system messages, user and article lists, custom channels, and custom menu items / buttons.
VpTools.dll
- Pretty much everything VP can do, this dll can do. Provides a multitude of Wiki-related functions, such as the ability to POST and GET most MediaWiki forms. This includes the ability to semiautomatically revert edits, post messages, block users, delete pages, etc.
RcMon.ocx
- Maintains connections with RC feed channels on IRC, parses RC-related information, and, through interfacing with WikiMonProfile instances, displays this information in lists.
WikiMonClient.ocx
- WikiMonitor's IRC client plug-in.

Above mentioned components and all versions thereof are licensed as follows:

Copyright (C), Daniel Cannon. 2006, 2007.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Rights Reserved

AmiLWHashMap.dll
- Includes a light-weight version of HashMap, StateStream, IComparable, and IHashable.

Above mentioned component(s) are licensed as follows:

Microsoft EULA

The following components distributed along with the WikiMonitor application are licensed under respective Microsoft End-User License agreements:

asycfilt.dll
COMCAT.DLL
mscomctl.ocx
msvbvm60.dll
oleaut32.dll
olepro32.dll
SYSINFO.OCX
TABCTL32.OCX
VB6STKIT.DLL
WINNET.DLL
msxml.dll
MSWINSCK.OCX
richtx32.ocx

Each of the above components is licensed for distribution only by holders of distribution licenses (among whom is Daniel Cannon, the distributor of this software). For more information on the Microsoft EULA and how it pertains to these components, please visit Microsoft.com.

Getting the sources

Source code for WikiMonitor is available on the amidaniel.com svn repository. You can check out the sources using svn co https://amidaniel.com/svnroot/trunk/WikiMonitor^{[dead link]} or download a tarball through ViewVC. If you make changes to the code (bugfixes, etc.), please send patches to AmiDaniel so that they can be added to the repository. Commit access to the repository will also be given to just about any competent, trustworthy developer--please don't hesitate to ask.