Okay, I'll admit up front that this idea isn't directly related to
Wikipedia, but I've got this really potentially cool idea, and I'd need
some pointers from you guys to get it working.
In a nutshell, my idea is this: Use FileMaker Pro Developer (probably
version 7 when it comes out in a few months) to create a read-only
offline browser for my Memory Alpha wiki content.
Here's how I was thinking of setting it up: it would use either a
regular database dump, or more likely a customized dump containing only
the necessary tables. In addition, I would probably only include the
current versions of all the articles (although I can definitely
understand why others would want to have past versions as well). Since
rendering the HTML would probably be a bit tricky, it'd be best to just
serve the text straight-up and display the links in a side table, sorta
like how Slashdot displays external links in its articles.
I've had a fair amount of experience working with FileMaker over the
past decade or so -- I first started using it when I was about twelve
or thirteen (making my own personal Trek database with FMP 2.1!). I've
kept up somewhat over the years, although I've never gotten into the
really in-depth tricks and tools, I definitely know my way around (or
can figure out what I need). My problem, *IF* I'm going to try this
project, is that I'm less familiar with the structure of the MediaWiki
database and what kind of information I'll need to relate where in
order to keep everything functioning properly.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how this could be done? Or should I
forget the whole idea? ;-)
Of course, if any one with Wikipedia *is* interested in using this kind
of browser, I'm definitely willing to help out there. I'm just
assuming that that's not the case because FMP is an expensive program
and probably isn't viable for the kind of free software means that
Wikipedia uses. But that's just my assumption.
Thanks,
Dan Carlson