View source for Stiles Wiki:TemplateData

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{{hatnote|For additional technical information, see [[mw:Help:TemplateData]] and [[mw:Extension:TemplateData]].}}
{{Short description|Information page on the use of TemplateData on Wikipedia}}
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== What is TemplateData? ==
TemplateData is the standardized description of a template, used by the default [[Wikipedia:VisualEditor|VisualEditor]], the optional [[mw:2017 wikitext editor|2017 wikitext editor]] and other tools to improve the template-editing experience for the user. Both VisualEditor and the 2017 wikitext editor include a wizard to edit templates, but for the wizard to be most useful, it needs to present specific information to the user about each template, such as a short description of the template's purpose and its parameters. This information is codified formally (by any wiki editor) using TemplateData.

=== Editing without TemplateData ===
Without TemplateData, each parameter needs to be added manually when inserting a new template.

[[File:VisualEditor - Template without TemplateData.png|frameless|500px]]

No information is provided about what the value of the parameter should be.

[[File:VisualEditor - Template without TemplateData2.png|frameless|500px]]

=== Editing with TemplateData ===
With TemplateData, a list of supported parameters (and their description) is provided for the template.

[[File:VisualEditor - Template with TemplateData1.png|frameless|500px]]

TemplateData provides context for each parameter, and makes it much easier for users to modify templates.

[[File:VisualEditor - Template with TemplateData2.png|frameless|500px]]

== Adding TemplateData ==
Anyone can help by adding TemplateData to templates (particularly high-profile ones, such as [[WP:INFOBOX|infoboxes]]) so that they are easier to edit in VisualEditor. The following is a minimal example, placed on a template's documentation page:

<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript">
<templatedata>{
  "description": "insert description here",
  "params": {
    "first parameter": {
      "label": "x",
      "description": "x",
      "type": "string",
      "default": "default value",
      "required": false
    }
  }
}</templatedata>
</syntaxhighlight>

You can also add or edit TemplateData using a [[GUI]], by pressing the following button which appears at the top of the edit page: <span class="oo-ui-widget oo-ui-widget-enabled oo-ui-buttonElement oo-ui-buttonElement-framed oo-ui-labelElement oo-ui-buttonWidget" style="display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;margin-right: 0.5em;"><span class="oo-ui-buttonElement-button" style="color: #757575;border: solid 1px #cdcdcd;margin: 0.1em 0;padding: 0.2em 0.8em;border-radius: 2px;transition: background 0.1s ease-in-out,color 0.1s ease-in-out,box-shadow 0.1s ease-in-out;font-weight: bold;display: inline-block;vertical-align: top;text-align: center;cursor: pointer;"><span class="oo-ui-labelElement-label" style="line-height: 1.9em;">Manage TemplateData</span></span></span>

The '''[[Wikipedia:VisualEditor/TemplateData tutorial|TemplateData tutorial]]''' explains in detail how to add TemplateData information to a template.

==Used templates==
{{Main|Wikipedia:TemplateData/Used templates}} 

==See also==
*[[Wikipedia:VisualEditor/TemplateData/List]] A list of all pages with TemplateData


[[Category:TemplateData| ]]
[[Category:VisualEditor]]
[[Category:Wikipedia template help]]