Help:Templates: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:55, 21 December 2023

“Awa! I’m not ready yet!”
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This page is one of the Public Domain Help Pages, which can be freely copied into fresh wiki installations and/or distributed with MediaWiki software; see Help:Contents for an overview of all pages.

If you have standard texts you want to include on several pages, the MediaWiki template feature comes into play (like the tag above which is included in the pages of the Help namespace).

Creating a template

Template names are prefixed with codeTemplate:/code, you create them like any other wiki page.

Using a template

Templates are wiki pages which can be used in other pages in three ways:

{{Navbox}} includes the current content of the page [[Template:Navbox]].
{{subst:Navbox}} inserts the content of the page [[Template:Navbox]] when you save your text.
{{msgnw:Navbox}} includes the template in raw wiki syntax, like <nowiki> does.

Using parameters in templates

Template with numbered parameters
'''A little thank you...'''<br> <small>for {{{1}}}.<br> hugs, {{{2}}}</small>
You type	You get
`{{Thankyou\|all\|~~~~}}`	A little thank you... for {{{reason}}}. hugs, {{{signature}}}
with named parameters
'''A little thank you...'''<br> <small>for {{{reason}}}.<br> hugs, {{{signature}}}</small>
You type	You get
{{Thankyou \|reason=all \|signature=~~~~}}	A little thank you... for all. hugs, Kiso

You can define parameters in templates either numbered as {{{1}}} or named {{{param}}}.

Example: you want a little thank you note you can put other users on their talk page with a reason and your signature. In the Template:Thankyou you enter your text.

When using the template on a page, you fill in the parameter values, separated by a pipe char (|): {{Thankyou|all|~~~~}} or - if you have used named parameters {{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=~~~~}}. The advantage of using named parameters in your template is that they are flexible in order. It also makes the template easier to understand if you have many parameters. If you want to change the order of numbered parameters, you have to mention them explicitly: {{Thankyou|2=~~~~|1=all}}.

Control template inclusion

You can control template inclusion by the use of noinclude and includeonly tags.

Anything between noinclude and /noinclude will be processed and displayed only when the page is being viewed directly, not included.

Possible applications are:

Categorising templates
Interlanguage links to similar templates in other languages
Explanatory text about how to use the template

The converse is includeonly. Text between includeonly and /includeonly will be processed and displayed only when the page is being included. The obvious application is to add all pages containing a given template to a category.

Note that the usual update problems apply -- if you change the categories inside a template, the categories of the referring pages won't be updated until those pages are edited.

Making templates useful

For templates to be effective users need to find them and be able to use them. Wiki are not user friendly when it comes to finding, using and working with templates. A simple technique is to have a usage on the template page. For example div style=display:table; width:auto;pre

Usage

Allows to establish a link to a subject: {{NameOfTemplate|Term1+Term2+Term3}}

The user can simply copy and paste the template to establish a new page that is similar to other pages. The example demonstrated is trival true, however a working example that demonstrates how templates can be used in complex situations to save time, accuracy and help categories pages on specialty topics more easily. see working example here

Also creating a Category:Template on your wiki to put your templates together may also be useful for editors along with links to this page will greatly improve productivity. example wiki category page

External links

MetaWiki: Help:Template

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Construction}}
 {{PD Help Page}}
 If you have standard texts you want to include on several pages, the MediaWiki template feature comes into play (like the tag above which is included in the pages of the Help namespace).
@@ Line 7: / Line 8: @@
 ==Using a template==
 Templates are wiki pages which can be used in other pages in three ways:
-:codenowiki{{Name}}/nowiki/code includes the current content of the page nowiki[[Template:Name]]/nowiki.
+* <code><nowiki>{{Navbox}}</nowiki></code> includes the current content of the page <nowiki>[[Template:Navbox]]</nowiki>.
-:codenowiki{{subst:Name}}/nowiki/code inserts the content of the page nowiki[[Template:Name]]/nowiki when you save your text.
+* <code><nowiki>{{subst:Navbox}}</nowiki></code> inserts the content of the page <nowiki>[[Template:Navbox]]</nowiki> when you save your text.
-:codenowiki{{msgnw:Name}}/nowiki/code includes the template in raw wiki syntax, like codenowikilt;nowikigt;/nowiki/code does
+* <code><nowiki>{{msgnw:Navbox}}</nowiki></code> includes the template in raw wiki syntax, like <nowiki><nowiki></nowiki> does.
 ==Using parameters in templates==
-div style=float:right
+<div style=float:right>
 {| {{Prettytable}}
 |-
@@ Line 18: / Line 19: @@
 |-
 | colspan=2 |
-prenowiki
+<pre><nowiki>
-'''A little thank you...'''br
+'''A little thank you...'''<br>
-smallfor {{{1}}}.br
+<small>for {{{1}}}.<br>
-hugs, {{{2}}}/small
+hugs, {{{2}}}</small>
-/nowiki/pre
+</nowiki></pre>
 |-
 |{{Hl2}}|'''You type'''
 |{{Hl2}}|'''You get'''
 |-
-|codenowiki{{Thankyou|all|~~~}}/nowiki/code
+|<code><nowiki>{{Thankyou|all|~~~~}}</nowiki></code>
 |
 {{Thankyou|all|[[User:Someuser|Someuser]]}}
@@ Line 34: / Line 35: @@
 |-
 | colspan=2 |
-prenowiki
+<pre><nowiki>
-'''A little thank you...'''br
+'''A little thank you...'''<br>
-smallfor {{{reason}}}.br
+<small>for {{{reason}}}.<br>
-hugs, {{{signature}}}/small
+hugs, {{{signature}}}</small>
-/nowiki/pre
+</nowiki></pre>
 |-
 |{{Hl2}}|'''You type'''
 |{{Hl2}}|'''You get'''
 |-
-|prenowiki{{Thankyou
+|<pre><nowiki>{{Thankyou
 |reason=all
-|signature=~~~}}/nowiki/pre
+|signature=~~~~}}</nowiki></pre>
 |
-{{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=[[User:Someuser|Someuser]]}}
+{{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=[[User:Kiso|Kiso]]}}
 |}
-/div
+</div>
-You can define parameters in templates either numbered as codenowiki{{{1}}}/nowiki/code or named codenowiki{{{param}}}/nowiki/code.
+You can define parameters in templates either numbered as <code><nowiki>{{{1}}}</nowiki></code> or named <code><nowiki>{{{param}}}</nowiki></code>.
 '''Example:''' you want a little thank you note you can put other users on their talk page with a reason and your signature. In the [[Template:Thankyou]] you enter your text.
-When using the template on a page, you fill in the parameter values, separated by a pipe char (|): codenowiki{{Thankyou|all|~~~}}/nowiki/code or - if you have used named parameters   codenowiki{{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=~~~}}/nowiki/code. The advantage of using named parameters in your template is that they are flexible in order. It also makes the template easier to understand if you have many parameters. If you want to change the order of numbered parameters, you have to mention them explicitly: codenowiki{{Thankyou|2=~~~|1=all}}/nowiki/code.
+When using the template on a page, you fill in the parameter values, separated by a pipe char (|): <code><nowiki>{{Thankyou|all|~~~~}}</nowiki></code> or - if you have used named parameters   <code><nowiki>{{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=~~~~}}</nowiki></code>. The advantage of using named parameters in your template is that they are flexible in order. It also makes the template easier to understand if you have many parameters. If you want to change the order of numbered parameters, you have to mention them explicitly: <code><nowiki>{{Thankyou|2=~~~~|1=all}}</nowiki></code>.
 ==Control template inclusion==
-You can control template inclusion by the use of codenowikinoinclude/nowiki/code and
+You can control template inclusion by the use of <code><nowiki>noinclude</nowiki></code> and
-codenowikiincludeonly/nowiki/code tags.
+<code><nowiki>includeonly</nowiki></code> tags.
-Anything between codenowikinoinclude/nowiki/code and codenowiki/noinclude/nowiki/code will be processed and
+Anything between <code><nowiki>noinclude</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>/noinclude</nowiki></code> will be processed and
 displayed only when the page is being viewed directly, not included.
@@ Line 68: / Line 69: @@
 * Explanatory text about how to use the template
-The converse is codenowikiincludeonly/nowiki/code. Text between codenowikiincludeonly/nowiki/code and
+The converse is <code><nowiki>includeonly</nowiki></code>. Text between <code><nowiki>includeonly</nowiki></code> and
-codenowiki/includeonly/nowiki/code will be processed and displayed only when the page is
+<code><nowiki>/includeonly</nowiki></code> will be processed and displayed only when the page is
 being included. The obvious application is to add all pages containing a given template to a category.
@@ Line 81: / Line 82: @@
 ==Usage==
 Allows to establish a link to a subject:
-{{NameOfTemplate|Term1+Term2+Term3}}
+<nowiki>{{NameOfTemplate|Term1+Term2+Term3}}</nowiki>
-/pre/div
 The user can simply copy and paste the template to establish a new page that is similar to other pages. The example demonstrated is trival true, however a working example that demonstrates how templates can be used in complex situations to save time, accuracy and help categories pages on specialty topics more easily. see working example [http://www.clickwiki.info/index.php/Template:Object here]
 Also creating a Category:Template on your wiki to put your templates together may also be useful for editors along with links to this page will greatly improve productivity. [http://www.clickwiki.info/index.php/Category:Template example wiki category page]
 ==See Also==
 ;Template uses
@@ Line 92: / Line 93: @@
 ==External links==
 {{meta|Help:Template}}
-/pre/div
 [[Category:Help|Templates]]
-{{Languages|Help:Templates}}