Windows Developer Power Tools

13.4 Collaborating Online with FlexWiki

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I (James) made sure to ride the WikiWiki bus at the Honolulu Airport, just because I knew it was the namesake of the Wiki application. Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the Wiki, used the term because in Hawaiian, Wiki means “quick,” and a Wiki is a quick and easy way to collaboratively build a web site by giving everyone who visits the site the ability to edit its content. The ability of multiple people to edit and add pages on the server makes Wikis ideal for:

• Building application documentation

• Collecting developer best practices

• Keeping track of outstanding tasks or “virtual whiteboarding”

• Creating knowledge bases or FAQs

FlexWiki is a Wiki application using ASP.NET written by David Orstein. It is simple to download, it doesn’t require a database, and it’s easy to get up and running.

FlexWiki at a Glance
Tool	FlexWiki
Version covered	1.8.0.1716
Home page	http://www.flexwiki.com
Power Tools page	http://www.windevpowertools.com/tools/123
Summary	Easy to set up and use Wiki software to bring your team together
License type	Shared Source License
Online resources	FAQ, mailing lists, bug tracker, and (surprise!) a Wiki
Related tools in this book	Community Server, Subtext, skmFAQs, FitNesse

Getting Started

Since FlexWiki is an ASP.NET application, you will need to install it on a central server that all your users can access. Download the binaries ...