Damien Williams's blog

Recently, the folks over at KTPlugins.com released the KTPlugins Plugin Framework, a new plugin that enhances the existing plugin framework. While this plugin does not add additional functionality,  it offers developers tools to build better and more advanced plugins for KnowledgeTree.

The plugin already sports a nifty feature called Advanced Triggers,  which allows developers to intercept execution and processing before the page is rendered. Another feature being planned is automated checking for new versions of existing plugins based on the framework. 

Excited to learn more, I asked Aart-Jan Boor of the KTPlugins team,  a few questions about this project and how this will be of value to developers and in turn, benefit the KnowledgeTree community.

DW: Why the need for a new framework?
AB: The KT Plugin Framework is pretty nice. I think its best features are that it enables developers to build plugins without modifying any KnowledgeTree source code and that it has some very accessible APIs to develop standard plugins like dashlets, pages, folder/document actions etc. When building more advanced plugins though, we wanted to make more precise modifications to the interface and some KnowledgeTree functionality. The current framework doesn't offer this kind of advanced functionality, like adding additional information to the document details page, for example.

From time to time, we feature a KnowledgeTree Community project to acknowledge the outstanding contributions made by members of the KnowledgeTree community.

The following featured project is our one of our most popular, and for good reason! The View All Online (VAO) KnowledgeTree plugin allows users to view and edit documents from within the web interface and has garnered more than 8,175 downloads since its first release. I chatted to Rene Kanzler about the project and his thoughts on community development.

Briefly, describe this project and what it entails?

The VAO KnowledgeTree plugin allows users to view and edit OpenOffice.org documents and Microsoft Office documents from within the browser, without the need for users to install any additional software. The most recent VAO plugin is the Amazon S3 storage manager - VAOS3. This plugin allows you to store or backup your documents in Amazon's S3 Cloud.

Document preview functionality using VAO

What inspired you to create this project?

We need the ability to edit our documents everywhere, on any kind of computer. This is exactly what this plugin allows you to do. All you need is an internet-connected machine and you're able to access your documents from anywhere (office, home, hotspot, cybercafe...). The system platform does not matter - you can use Windows, Linux, Mac OS X or a smartphone!

A while ago, we gave you a sneak preview of KnowledgeTree Explorer CP, the next generation of our KnowledgeTree Explorer desktop tool. Now you get the chance to see it in action!


We've prepared a quick video demonstrating its platform independence, powerful desktop integration, intuitive interface and more.

We're always striving to make things easier and more accessible for the KnowledgeTree community and we've got some great initiatives and plans in store for you. I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of the exciting developments ahead.

Within the next few weeks, KnowledgeTree.org will be home to a new reorganized wiki that will be the main focus for all things community (you might have already noticed a few minor structural changes to our websites to accommodate this). Here, you'll find a single point of access to a wider variety of relevant resources, tools, FAQs and other vital information.

We really value your feedback and we've already received excellent ideas on how we can improve our products on our forums, Twitter and Facebook. Now, we need your help and recommendations on how we can serve you better. Be on the lookout for an anonymous survey where we’ll ask your opinion on issues that affect the KnowledgeTree community. Now is your chance to be heard and there will also be great prizes offered to a few lucky survey respondents.

These are just a few of the great initiatives coming down the road. Watch this space as we keep you posted on more community-related news and updates.

It's always great to see new and exciting projects being actively developed by the KnowledgeTree community. This month, we'll be featuring the KTGPLClient by Jeremy Smith.

Briefly, could you describe this project and what it entails?
The KTGNUClient project is a desktop scanning tool for Windows that is designed to allow scanning of multi-page documents, which can be used to upload documents to KnowledgeTree from within a single application.

What inspired you to create this project?
I found that using the built in Microsoft "Scanner and Camera Wizard" tool for multi-page documents was tedious and painful.

What business problems were you looking at solving specifically with this project?
I was hoping to solve critical business issues of saving valuable time and maintaining consistent document formats in the repository.

KnowledgeTree is pleased to announce the release of KnowledgeTree 3.7 Community Edition (Release Candidate).

New features and enhancements in the Community Edition include:

• Deployment on Zend Server for enhanced performance
• Document thumbnail preview functionality
• Support for Microsoft Windows 2008 Server, along with IIS 6 and 7
• RPM and DEB packages for Ubuntu and Red Hat Linux
• Additions to the types of document properties provided out of the box
• Support for open standards, including CMIS and OpenSearch
• Setup Wizards that assist you during all phases of installing, configuring and upgrading KnowledgeTree
• Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese translations

For more information on the release, please view the release notes.

Download KnowledgeTree version 3.7 Community Edition now!

New to KnowledgeTree? Well, we've put together a brief and informative video to help you get the most out of your KnowledgeTree experience. In this video, I'll walk you through some of KnowledgeTree's key features: working with documents in KnowledgeTree, using workflows, collaborating with team members and many more.

View the video below or have a look at our resources page for more great videos!

The KnowledgeTree community is extremely fortunate to have members who are actively involved in developing and supporting open source software.

For this month's featured KnowledgeTree community project, we'll be showcasing the "Wemag Online Document Viewer" plugin by Aart-Jan Boor from Wemag Consulting.

DW: Briefly, describe this project and what it entails?

This KnowledgeTree plugin allows users to view the content of documents without downloading the document or having any special software installed on their computer.

DW: What inspired you to create this project?

Often you simply want to view a document quickly and this is exactly what this plugin allows you to do. We just wanted to support the KnowledgeTree community by adding even more functionality to the KnowledgeTree application.

DW: What business problems were you looking at solving specifically with this project?

The software has not been developed to solve a specific business problem but it is useful in many business situations. For example, if you need your users to be able to read documents on PC’s without relying on Microsoft Office software, you can use this plugin to view the documents.

The next release of KnowledgeTree is in the pipeline. During our planning we took a moment to think about what we could do for our customers that would make their lives easier. We realized that the one thing KnowledgeTree could do better was to provide better document previewing functionality. The only available option was to use the inline viewer, however, this only supports a small set of document types. With this in mind we set about adding two new features.

The first feature creates a thumbnail of the first page of the document. The thumbnail is displayed in the left panel of the document view page, in addition a thumbnail column can be added to the browse view for easy scanning of documents and images. Clicking on the thumbnail produces the second feature (also available as a document action), a flash-based preview of the full document. Full navigation around the document is provided, zooming is enabled and the document can be full-screened for easier viewing. If the document is an image then it will display in a modal window.

The new flash-based preview allows the full document to be previewed online without needing to download it. It will be available in the KnowledgeTree 3.7 release.

Once again, it's time to showcase yet another awesome KnowledgeTree Community Project! Every couple of months, a KnowledgeTree community project will be featured to acknowledge the outstanding contributions made by members of the KnowledgeTree community.