How To...Create A Template: Difference between revisions

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Welcome to this "how to create a template" guide. Disclaimer, I'm no expert myself and I'm writing this guide as much as anything to serve as a point of reference for myself when editing templates. The aim is the guide will be as foolproof as possible, for my own benefit and for anyone else who can make use of it.
{{tocright}}
Welcome to this "how to create a template" guide. Disclaimer, I'm a humble hobbyist Wiki editor, with zero formal training in coding. The information I provide in the guide has been learned from trial and error, internet research and from the many discussions I've had with other members of the Horizon Wiki community. I plan to continue adding to the guide as I learn more, so please check back from time to time if there is nothing of use to you right now. I appreciate advice and anyone who is willing to proof-read this guide; feel free to reach out to me on the Wiki discord @pendulum/spiffly with any feedback.


== The Basics ==
== The Basics ==
There are many uses for templates but in their simplest form is simply a page that an editor has created, that can be called upon on other pages. You could create a template to call upon:
There are many uses for templates but in their simplest form, they are simply a page that an editor has created that can then be called upon on other pages. The name for this process is '''"Transclusion"'''.
* An image
* Text
* A pre-made table


For example, if I created the template called "Template:Animals" and added the text "Welcome to this page, all about", I could then call this template on pages names "Dog", "Cat" etc. To call the template, I would simply write the following:
You could create a template to:
* Show an image
* Add text
* Provide a pre-made table
* Categorise a page
* Be used in conjunction with other Wiki features eg. dpl tables.
* There are simply too many use cases to list them all.
<br>
If I create a template called "Template:Animals" and add the text "Welcome to this page, all about" to the page, I can then call this template (and text) on any page I choose, eg. "Dog", "Cat" etc. To call the template, I would simply write the following:
<pre>{{Animals}}</pre>
<pre>{{Animals}}</pre>
I could then add the name of each animal after the template call. So on the dog page, I would write the following code:
<br>
<pre>{{Animals}} Dogs</pre>
I can then add the name of each animal after the template call. So on the dog page, I can write:
Which would then show on the page as:
<pre>{{Animals}} Dogs!</pre>
<pre>Welcome to this page, all about Dogs</pre>
<br>
 
Which will then appear on the page as:
<pre>Welcome to this page, all about Dogs!</pre>
<br>
== Parameters ==
== Parameters ==
Parameters can be used to allow an editor to eaisly add information to a page, which will then be displayed in a pre-determined way. The name "Infobox" is commonly used to describe this and it's more easily described with examples.
Parameters can be used to allow an editor to eaisly add information to a page, which will then be displayed in a pre-determined way. The name "Infobox" is commonly used to describe this and it's more easily described with examples.
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<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
'''The code'''
<pre>{| width="50% border="1px #aaa solid";
<pre>{| width="50% border="1px #aaa solid";
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
Line 28: Line 37:
|}</pre></div>
|}</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
'''The table it creates'''
{| width="100% border="1px #aaa solid";
{| width="100% border="1px #aaa solid";
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
Line 46: Line 56:
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
'''How to use the template'''
<pre>{{Animals
<pre>{{Animals
| type = Rabbit
| type = Rabbit
}}</pre></div>
}}</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
<div class="flex-container-item-2">
'''What it returns'''
{| width="100% border="1px #aaa solid";
{| width="100% border="1px #aaa solid";
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
Line 64: Line 76:
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
'''The code'''
<pre><h2> Animals </h2>
<pre><h2> Animals </h2>
A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.
A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.
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* {{{5}}}</pre></div>
* {{{5}}}</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
'''Calling the template'''
<pre>{{Animals|Cat|Dog|Rabbit|Goldfish|Hamster}}</pre></div>
<pre>{{Animals|Cat|Dog|Rabbit|Goldfish|Hamster}}</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
'''How it appears...'''
<h2> Animals </h2>
<h2> Animals </h2>
A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.
A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.
Line 82: Line 97:
* Hamster
* Hamster
</div></div>
</div></div>
<br>
I have created a list for this example. I can use the template to format the list however I wish and that formatting will apply every time the template is used.
=== Further Examples ===
This template will be called {{Items}} and will demonstrate various ways that we can use a template to easily create a page.
<div class="flex-container">
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
'''The code'''
<pre>[[File:{{{1}}}|300px|left]]
<h2>Description<h2>
{{{2}}}
<h2> How to Obtain <h2>
* {{{3}}}
<h2> Sale Price <h2>
''{{{4}}}g'''
[[Category:Items]]
</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
<pre>{{Items|A simple bronze axe, found across Vana'Diel.
</pre></div>
<div class="flex-container-item-3">
</div></div>
This example is still a work in progress.

Revision as of 15:08, 23 January 2024

Welcome to this "how to create a template" guide. Disclaimer, I'm a humble hobbyist Wiki editor, with zero formal training in coding. The information I provide in the guide has been learned from trial and error, internet research and from the many discussions I've had with other members of the Horizon Wiki community. I plan to continue adding to the guide as I learn more, so please check back from time to time if there is nothing of use to you right now. I appreciate advice and anyone who is willing to proof-read this guide; feel free to reach out to me on the Wiki discord @pendulum/spiffly with any feedback.

The Basics

There are many uses for templates but in their simplest form, they are simply a page that an editor has created that can then be called upon on other pages. The name for this process is "Transclusion".

You could create a template to:

  • Show an image
  • Add text
  • Provide a pre-made table
  • Categorise a page
  • Be used in conjunction with other Wiki features eg. dpl tables.
  • There are simply too many use cases to list them all.


If I create a template called "Template:Animals" and add the text "Welcome to this page, all about" to the page, I can then call this template (and text) on any page I choose, eg. "Dog", "Cat" etc. To call the template, I would simply write the following:

{{Animals}}


I can then add the name of each animal after the template call. So on the dog page, I can write:

{{Animals}} Dogs!


Which will then appear on the page as:

Welcome to this page, all about Dogs!


Parameters

Parameters can be used to allow an editor to eaisly add information to a page, which will then be displayed in a pre-determined way. The name "Infobox" is commonly used to describe this and it's more easily described with examples.

First of all the template needs some code so it knows how to display the information an editor will provide. I will use a simple table in my examples. On the left is my table code and on the right is the simple table it produces.

The code

{| width="50% border="1px #aaa solid";
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" colspan="2"| Animals
|-
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" width="50%" | Type
| style="border:1px #aaa solid" width="50%" | 
|}

The table it creates

Animals
Type

Pre-Defined

Now that I have my table, it's time to add a parameter. Looking at the table, we need to add the "type" parameter, which will fill the empty table cell, adjacent to type. To create a parameter, we simply surround text with 3 curly brackets, like so:

{{{type}}}

Whatever text we surround is the parameter name and is our pre-defined parameter. Essentially this means that we have named it and thus must use that name if we wish to use it. However first of all, we need to add this parameter to our table.

|-
! style="border:1px #aaa solid" width="50%" | Type
| style="border:1px #aaa solid" width="50%" | {{{type}}}

We can now use the template and the pre-defined parameter. In the example below is how to use the template and it's filled parameter, followed by what it outputs.

How to use the template

{{Animals
| type = Rabbit
}}

What it returns

Animals
Type Rabbit

Undefined Parameter

An undefined parameter is one that we haven't named. On our template page we simply surround the number 1 with 3 curly brackets, to create it. If we wish to have a second, we would then surround the number 2 with th brackets. So on and so forth for as many parameters as is necessary.

In our example below: we have our code, how we would call the template finally how it will appear. We will be sticking with the template name of "Animals".

The code

<h2> Animals </h2>
A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.
* {{{1}}}
* {{{2}}}
* {{{3}}}
* {{{4}}}
* {{{5}}}

Calling the template

{{Animals|Cat|Dog|Rabbit|Goldfish|Hamster}}

How it appears...

Animals

A list on animals that are commonly kept as pets.

  • Cat
  • Dog
  • Rabbit
  • Goldfish
  • Hamster


I have created a list for this example. I can use the template to format the list however I wish and that formatting will apply every time the template is used.

Further Examples

This template will be called Template:Items and will demonstrate various ways that we can use a template to easily create a page.

The code

[[File:{{{1}}}|300px|left]]
<h2>Description<h2>
{{{2}}}
<h2> How to Obtain <h2>
* {{{3}}}

<h2> Sale Price <h2>
''{{{4}}}g'''

[[Category:Items]]
{{Items|A simple bronze axe, found across Vana'Diel.

This example is still a work in progress.