.KEYWORD megawiki
.FLYINGHEAD POWER USER POWER
.TITLE MegaWiki ties your information together with cool links
.DEPT
.SUMMARY In his third article in a series on using hacks to extend the power of your Palm handheld, Contributing Editor Michael Connick will introduce you to MegaWiki, a hack that allows you to create Web-like hyperlinks between data contained in the standard Palm OS applications, as well as a large number of common third-party Palm OS applications.
.AUTHOR Michael Connick
This is the third article in a series on using hacks to extend the power of your Palm handheld. The first article (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200205/Hack001.html) discussed what hacks are and the hack management software needed to utilize them on your Palm handheld. Last month’s article (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200206/laptopHack001.html) talked about how to use LapTopHack to improve the usability of a keyboard accessory. This month’s article will introduce you to the MegaWiki hack. MegaWiki (at http://www.megawiki.com) will allow you to create Web-like hyperlinks between documents on your Palm handheld.
.H1 What is MegaWiki?
MegaWiki is a hack that allows you to create Web-like hyperlinks between data contained in the standard Palm OS applications (Memo Pad, Date Book, To Do List, and Address Book), as well as a large number of common third-party Palm OS applications. Jumping between desired items across applications is as easy as just clicking on a MegaWiki link. It creates what amounts to a miniature version of the World Wide Web inside your Palm handheld!
.H1 Why do I need MegaWiki?
MegaWiki can quickly tie together all of the information you carry in your Palm handheld. For example, you might have the name of someone in your Date Book with whom you have an appointment. If you want to find their phone number in order to confirm your appointment, you can just tap on their name, and you’ll be quickly and automatically taken to the Address Book entry for the person. Perhaps you have a Memo Pad document that refers to a meeting note you saved in another Memo. Just tap on the Memo title, and you’ll be taken right to it.
MegaWiki is a fast and simple solution that ties nearly all your Palm handheld’s databases and applications together so that you can access your data quickly and easily, no matter what application you may currently be using.
.H1 How does it work?
MegaWiki is a hack that enables Palm handheld users to hyperlink the data in the Memo Pad, Date Book, To Do List, Address Book, and other application databases. In any text field, when a user taps on a MegaWiki link, the appropriate application is launched and the item corresponding to the link is displayed. If the item doesn’t exist, it can optionally be created and displayed.
The primary form for links consists of strings (up to 100 characters long) surrounded by a pair of tag characters. These tag characters are called Super Tags. The characters used to represent tags can be specified on MegaWiki’s Basic Preference Panel. The MegaWiki Basic Preference configuration form is shown in Figure A.
.FIG A Here’s the MegaWiki Basic Preference configuration form.
Links that use only Super Tags characters will only jump to items in the Memo Pad. To jump to items in another application, an additional tag is inserted inside the leftmost Super Tag. These additional tag characters allow you to jump to items in the Date Book, To Do List, and Address Book applications. MegaWiki links can also be configured to start up any application on your Palm handheld, or even any Preference panel.
.H1 What additional functions can MegaWiki perform?
Let me now tell you a little about some of the more advanced functions available from this hack. Just remember that you can take your time mastering them.
MegaWiki can be configured to allow each application to use its own pair of tag characters, and not just Super Tags. You can also use WikiNames, which follow special formatting rules, as links to Memo Pad items that don’t require any tag characters. In addition, bookmark tags can be utilized not only to jump to a specific Memo Pad document, but also to a specified location within the document.
MegaWiki can also support links that jump to third-party Palm OS applications. There are actually two types of these links: one that jumps to an item within an application, and one that opens specific databases within an application. Support for third-party applications is provided by optional "plug-ins" that can be installed along with MegaWiki. These plug-ins are small Palm OS files that provide information needed by MegaWiki for such actions as creating a new record within the application. You only need to install the plug-ins required for those applications on your Palm handheld that you want to link to using MegaWiki. At this time 36 plug-ins are part of the MegaWiki package.
MegaWiki also supports "wildcard" linking, i.e., links containing only partial information on the linked item. The asterisk (*) character is used to find items with variations possible on the letters at the end of a word. For example, you could specify an Address Book link with "Fred*" to find items that have a first name of Fred, Frederick, or Freddy.
Finally, MegaWiki comes with a bunch of very handy desk accessories that increase the usefulness of this hack. Desk accessories are specially written Palm OS applications that can be run while a normal Palm OS application is still running. For example, the Linki desk accessory allows you to select some text and automatically turn it into any type of MegaWiki link you want.
.H1 Should I Install MegaWiki?
Based on my description alone, this hack may sound so complicated that you may feel intimidated about installing it on you Palm handheld. However, as complex and sophisticated as it may seem, it’s also very easy to use in its most basic configuration. I actually use very little of its capabilities, but I’d miss it very much if it was removed from my Palm handheld.
I mainly use the basic Memo Pad and Address Book linking functionality. This allows me to cross-reference Memos with each other, to refer to saved Memo Pad versions of important email messages, and to link to Address Book entries to allow me to quickly access phone numbers from the Memo Pad and Date Book applications. I only use one plug-in, and that’s for the peditPro program (at http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/) I use as a text editor on my Palm handheld. I’ve never even used the wildcard feature of MegaWiki. Nevertheless, I find MegaWiki to be an invaluable addition to my Palm handheld.
If the idea of having the ability to hyperlink information on your Palm handheld sounds appealing to you, don’t hesitate to give MegaWiki a chance. The best part of all is that it’s free!
.H1 Is MegaWiki reliable?
Like all other hacks, MegaWiki is no less reliable than any other third-party software you might install on your Palm handheld. I’ve had absolutely no problems with it in the many months I’ve been using this software. It has proven to be a completely solid piece of software.
.H1 How about documentation?
The documentation is quite good. There’s a Quick Start manual that will get MegaWiki quickly installed on your Palm handheld and have you using the basic functions of this hack in no time. The MegaWiki Manual provides detailed information on all of this hack’s functions and is quite well organized. Examples are a little light, but all in all, the manual is quite well written.
.H1 Conclusion
Like LapTopHack, the hack discussed last month, MegaWiki is a very sophisticated piece of software than can appear to be overwhelming to the first time user. However, like LapTopHack, it can be mastered a little bit at a time and is immediately useful even when configured with just default values.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on MegaWiki, visit http://www.megawiki.com.
For more information on peditPro, visit http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/.
For more information on LapTopHack, visit http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/.
For the article, "Hacks and the enterprise," by Michael Connick in the May 2002 issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition, visit http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200205/hack001.html.
For the article, "Drop the stylus, pick up LapTopHack," by Michael Connick in the May 2002 issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition, visit http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200206/laptophack001.html.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
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