XCOM EU Properties lists for eAP_?, eCP_?, and eWP_?

[JDDysart]

Re: "Version" section - in this case I was asking about XCOM:EU 2012 vs XCOM:EW 2013 vs <whatever>LongWar? should there be a section in the include-me templates for which of these versions may (or may not) apply?

 

Re: "When to create an include-me" template - I created those three ( EArmorProperty , ECharacterProperty and EWeaponProperty ) include-me templates, first because I wanted two of them in my article and secondly because those two and the third could be used in the EProperties article, which in turn could be cascaded into the DGC.ini article. <-- FYI on my reasoning. And yes, I do agree that certain articles shouldn't be include-me templates; an example (more-or-less) on point - the DGC.ini article shouldn't be an include-me template - as it should be a collection of include-me templates (because just about everything in it is subject to being used in other articles, BUT not collectively included in any one thereof!).

 

Yes! Now that I've got past my forum paste-ing issues - I can use the link-tool! And thanks -Dubious- for your tips on how to use the link-tool :smile:

 

Re: Category:XCOM Templates "notice box" - first time past I was reading too fast and thought "All sub-category pages should always include Category:XCOM as the parent umbrella for all wiki articles related to the game." meant to include the "Category:XCOM on EVERY wiki page? on the second read I caught the "All sub-category pages" qualifier? Not a clue on how to improve on what you have!

 

Re: Sub-Category automatic inclusions - you say: "Pages that include templates will automatically appear listed in this sub-category, even though they do not explicitly have that sub-category added."? How ever the pages that I put the "template include syntax" on are not currently being shown on the sub-category XCOM Templates page? and I have not yet figured out how to get the MediaWiki Help on Templates method of referencing (URL referencing? - the NOT include-it method of referencing) such templates to work? may have to fall back on the standard reference method of [[Template:XGTactialGameCoreData.EArmorPropety - XCOM:EU 2012 | EArmorProperty]]?

 

Side Note - I did notice that when editing a section with a {{template-name}} link in it, that there is an automatically generated local reference at the bottom of the preview page; but I haven't seen these automatically generated local references showing up on the full "saved" article page?

 

Re: this discussion's purpose (restricting thereto) - I meant keep the eAP, eCP, eWP related info here (including whatever wiki work relates to them) while separating out info for my Armor Initialization mod to the other discussion/thread (Dubious, you have posted there too - so you should know which one that is).

 

I think I may need a day or so to let my thoughts percolate a wee bit? :wink:

[dubiousintent]

Re: "Version" section - Oh, I misunderstood the purpose. We tack "- XCOM:EU 2012" on the end of articles so it's clear they belong to that game release (as opposed to XCOM2, which hadn't even been whispered about at the time of that decision; we just anticipated the possibility). As EW is considered a "DLC expansion" of EU, we adopted the convention of adding a notation, or making a separate section, where appropriate to cover specifics related to any DLC rather than changing the filename suffix. Bits of information regarding how "Long War" might differ are relatively few in the general game articles, but would be treated similarly. Mostly though, LW (and other overhaul mods) get their own page. Extending that to templates would seem to be a bit trickier. Is there a way to have different "includeonly" tagged sections in the parent 'include template' tied to some additional identifier or tag, so they are selectively included or excluded? [Edit: Yes, the use of 'parameters' in the 'include' syntax "allow the template to produce different contents or have different behaviors." See Mediawiki 'Help:Templates', especially 'named parameters' which would be my preference for implementation. Also 'Control template inclusion' concerning 'categorization'.]

Re: "When to create an include-me" template - We are in agreement.

And you are welcome to the help on the forum link-tool.

Re: Category:XCOM Templates "notice box" - Actually, your first reading was correct and I have removed the "sub-category" caveat in the description. (Thanks for bringing it to my attention.) Originally I had taken the approach of "categories - Table of Contents/Chapters", but they aren't really designed to work that way and the community asked me to have all the articles available in an umbrella category (i.e. "XCOM"), so the Categories became "filters" to facilitate finding concept related articles. I need to go back over all the category descriptions to add that "Category:XCOM umbrella" information. (There have been so few people actually doing their own HTML coding it hasn't been an issue previously as I would add it if necessary when I reviewed the pages for format consistency.)

Re: Sub-Category automatic inclusions - I'm wondering if there has been an update to the extension since my initial use of 'include templates', or if it is due to the format of the "include template" page you are using? If you will take a look at the "Template:Patches" page, you will see the entirety of that page is the text that gets "included". There is no "mod template structure" such as you used for the "Template:XGTacticalGameCoreData.EArmorProperty" page, with a ToC or "Overview" section. That "EArmorProperty" page doesn't seem to use the "includeonly" syntax (at least now), so I expected the entire page to get "included". However, the only article using that page as an "include template" I can tell from the page itself appears to be "Armor Initialization Modding" (why I like to see that information included on the template page), where it appears only the "Details" section was "included". And the "Armor Initialization Modding" page, as you say, does not appear automatically in the "Category:Templates". So there is something about that format the "automated" categorizing is handling differently. (Multiple sections versus a single section, perhaps?) Or something else going on. The automatic "implicit inclusion" statement holds true for the pages with 'single section include templates' I created.

AND now I can't find where you used the "includeonly" tag, so I will have to experiment to see it's impact. This seems to be related to your "side-note" about "automatically generated local reference at the bottom of the preview page". There are definite differences to what you see in edit mode (including "preview") and final posted pages. I can't see where an "include template" syntax is used except in edit mode, for instance. Again, part of the "black box" background processing we have to discover for ourselves.

 

Edit: Re: Mediawiki 'Help:Templates'. Note that different 'transclusion' rules apply to the tags 'includeonly' and 'onlyinclude'. This is only mentioned in a pair of small paragraphs under 'Control template inclusion' on that page. I'll leave it up to you to experiment with them, but do let me know the results. Probably need to put something about it in the "Help:Editing" article.]

Re: this discussion's purpose (restricting thereto) - Ah. I thought you were referring to splitting out the wiki coding discussion into it's own thread. Yes, I am familiar with the "Armor Initialization mod" thread. I just respond to questions in the thread they are raised in, so it doesn't matter to me where you ask the question.

Take your time. You are assimilating quite a bit between the code-diving, UEE, pseudo-code, wiki HTML, and writing up articles.

-Dubious- [Edits with research results.]

Edited October 20, 2016 by dubiousintent

[JDDysart]

Quick note on Templates and 'Transclusion':

 

I haven't attempted the 'includeonly' (yet?); the Mediawiki Help on this seems to indicate that you can have multiple 'includeonly' sections(?) in an article? (but if an 'onlyinclude' is present - all 'includeonly' sections must be inside the 'onlyinclude' - to be included?)

 

As what I wanted to include was all in one clump (without any exclusions), the 'onlyinclude' worked just fine for me! EDIT: Also was good for excluding the Category tags at the bottom of the article, without disrupting the functioning thereof ;)

 

As to parameter passing - (again) according to the Mediawiki help (on templates) the "Template" page defines the parameter names (or other param-IDs) and then where to put the info passed to it on each parameter name? Which to me sounds more geared to filling in a form than controlling what part of an article gets included? unless one is passing the "part of an article" into the template on a parameter - and then the template, with said parameter properly placed, gets included at the call location that passed said parameter to the Template? IMO - not what you are looking to do. Might play with this to verify that this is the way it works; with this understanding of what one should actually expect to get.

 

Re: Parameter IDs - sounds like these follow the old macro rules of being either positional (by number? which must be in the expected sequence) or named (by keyword? which can then be given in any order). And I read somewhere that like macro parameters - these can have default values (preset on the "Template" page).

Edited October 21, 2016 by JDDysart

[dubiousintent]

I'm afraid I only used the simplest form of transclusion. So some experimentation is in order. I'm thinking of putting my earlier templates into a more structured format, but waiting to see what you discover. (My current focus is on another game at the moment.) "Breaking" the automatic inclusion of files with 'include' calls into "Category:Templates" is something I can live with, as long as the template itself documents where it is used/called.

 

Re: parameter passing - as far as I can see, "form filling" is indeed what the use of an 'include template' is performing. That is the essential use of an 'include file'. The 'include template' file uses 'named parameters' to "label" different sections (i.e. "field values") of the template, while the "form" article passes the desired parameter name from the "field" location when calling the 'include template'. That you are pulling a table or code from a particular named parameter in the template is not materially different to the functionality.

 

Re: parameter IDs - that "macro" simile is what occurred to me as well.

 

But remember that the Nexus wiki is an "instance" of Mediawiki, and actual implementation can vary. Core functionality depends upon the version they are using, and extensions implemented. I haven't found a way to determine either version or extensions in use so far.

 

-Dubious-

Edited October 21, 2016 by dubiousintent