1. How to add a wizard at WizardForge?

1.1. Define a new wizard

The first thing you need to do is register yourself at WizardForge.

Once you are logged in, the main menu contains some extra menu items, one of them is My Wizards. After selecting this menu item, you can add a wizard by clicking the icon at the top of the (empty) table and by completing the form with the following fields:

• Category: select an appropriate category for your wizard. Suggestions for new categories can be mailed to [contact (at) wizardforge (dot) org].
• Name: choose an appropriate name for your wizard. It needs to be unique within its category.
• Description: this is the description visible to the users, so pay some attention to it.
• Open Source: you can deselect this option if you don't want the public to see your wizard code.
• Development URL: if you develop your wizard on some collaboration platform, you can specify its url here.
• Hide Results: by default all execution results of wizards are public. If you do not want that, you can contact WizardForge at [contact (at) wizardforge (dot) org] to keep the results private (at the cost of 50 Euro).
• Wizard Presentation Options:
• Automatic Save: when selected the wizard will automatically save the result of the wizard execution after its execution (without explicit 'save' step).
• Allow Multiple Saves per Run: when selected a user will be able to save the result of a wizard execution again after jumping to a previous state.
• Grouping: this determines how many fields are shown together in a single user interaction.
• * Label: these are the labels present on the wizard buttons. It can be useful to change these if your target group speaks a specific language.

Hit the save button and your wizard will be added to the table. Click on the icon to see the details of the wizard. There are 5 tabs:

• General: the information you just provided.
• Versions: here you can define a new version.
• Presentations: here you can define a custom presentation.
• Executions: an overview of all runs/executions of this wizard.
• Messages: an overview of all forum and private messages belonging to this wizard.

1.2. Define a new version

Under the Versions tab you can add a new version by clicking the icon at the top of the (empty) table and by completing the form with the following fields:

• Description: a description of this specific version. It will be visible to the user.
• Show Built-in presentations: wizard4j provides a number of built-in presentations to present the result of a wizard execution. Deselect this option if you don't want to offer the user the possibility to apply these built-in presentations to the result (it is only meaningful if you have added a custom presentation to this wizard, cfr. define a custom presentation).
• Code: the actual flowchart code can be uploaded OR copy/pasted in the text field. The provided code will be validated at submission.

1.3. Define a custom presentation

The wizard4j project offers the possibility to apply custom presentations/templates to the result of a wizard execution. For some wizard applications this is really needed (e.g. Software Configuration), for others not (e.g. Questionnaires can just use one of the built-in presentations to present the results).

Adding a custom presentation consists of 2 steps: defining the presentation and adding a version. Under the Presentations tab you can add a new custom presentation by clicking the icon at the top of the (empty) presentations table and by completing the form with the following fields:

• Name: a name for this presentation. It must be unique within this wizard.
• Mime-Type: the mime-type to use when displaying this presentation. Suggestions for additional mime-types can be mailed to [contact (at) wizardforge (dot) org].
• Filename: filename used when the presentation is downloaded.
• Description: a description of this presentation. It will be visible to the user.

Next one can add a version to this presentation by clicking the icon at the top of the (empty) presentation versions table and by completing the form with the following fields:

• Presentation: the presentation where this version belongs to.
• Type: the template engine that will be used, currently Velocity and Freemarker are supported.
• Description: a description of this presentation version. It will be visible to the user.
• Code: the actual code of the presentation/template can be uploaded OR copy/pasted in the text field.

Which presentation versions are visible to which wizard version can be specified in both the wizard version and presentation version form.

1.4. Publishing

Once you have completed the above process, the wizard is only visible to you. You can test and edit your wizard (version) and possibly presentation (version) until you are confident they are ready for the public, in which case you need to publish them. The statistics and ratings are not stored during the test and edit phase. Once a wizard or presentation version is published, its code can not be edited anymore.

A wizard can have multiple versions. So if you discover a bug or you want to extend/enhance your wizard version after it has been published, you can add a new version (the version number will be increased automatically). Once you are happy with the new version you can publish it and possibly deactivate the earlier versions (up to you to decide).

A side-effect of adding a wizard is that you are automatically subscribed to the forum and private messages of this wizard. If you don't like that, you can change your subscriptions in My Subscriptions.

2. How to write the code?

We start with describing the general method which requires that the creator is able to write/understand xml. Next we discuss tools that generate wizard code, not requiring any xml skills.

2.1. Wizard/flowchart code

A WizardForge wizard is written in the flowchart xml language defined in the wizard4j project. So you can type the wizard code in the (xml-)editor of your choice. Consult the wizard4j site for a language reference and examples.

2.2. Presentation code

Follow the guidelines at the website of the template engine of your choice, either Velocity or Freemarker.

2.3. Code generation

2.3.1. Graphical with Dia

The wizard4j project provides a graphical approach which allows you to 'draw a wizard' and the wizard xml code can be generated from this drawing. For more information see wizard4j dia section.

2.3.2. Meta Wizard

There are a number of Meta Wizards that produce wizard code themselves. Check them out and follow the guidelines inside the Meta Wizard.

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