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[This idea is still under development, but comments are welcome on XmlRpcToWikiDiscussion.]

Exposes an API via XmlRpc on a wiki to allow programatic inspection, retrieval, and modification of its contents. For initial discussions, see [JSPwiki]'s progress on its [interface].

Implementations

Wiki:JspWiki XmlRpc interface - http://www.ecyrd.com/JSPWiki/Wiki.jsp?page=WikiRPCInterface
Experiments in cross-wiki XmlRpcToWiki implementation - http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/XmlRpcToWiki

Uses

The original idea of Wiki:InterWiki as a network of interlinked distributed WikiServers
Conversion / synch between wikis, perhaps one personal and one public
Provide an abstract interface for a WikiBrowser or lightweight PDA-based WikiClient
Content harvesting by robot, for preparation in book form, summarization, etc.
Enables more WikiAsPim, e.g. by writing some command-line tools to interact with the data in my personal wiki's pages and other software ...
I'm thinking of using this for automatic content entry. In particular, in a script to dump source code files into a Wiki. --MossCollum
Writing an Emacs client that would also be server agnostic. Would allow browsing and editing with TheOneTrueEditor?
I wrote an email to wiki gateway that would have been easier using this. -- Ry4anBrase

Why?

Explicit API beats messing with forms and textareas (See: EmacsWiki:WikiRemote)
XmlRpc is language-neutral, a WikiClient could access any WikiServer regardless of implementation
Can serve the purpose of a WikiWikiTransportProtocol
XmlRpc can be used pretty much anywhere a CGI script can be used

Why not?

Implicit API of forms and textareas might be just fine. (See: EmacsWiki:WikiRemote)
WebDav already covers much of this functionality
TextFormattingRules vary between implementations, between installations (see TextWiki)
There is no agreed upon WikiInterchangeFormat to render any wiki's raw content intelligible outside the originating wiki
WikiNames vary between wikis
Lowered cost of entry for automated wiki vandalism.