User talk:Erasculio/Skill table

I will forget this if I don't write it down, so:

• The include command summons the template (the skill infobox, in this case), and each parameter is set after a : (so, for example, include = {User:Erasculio/Skill infobox}:name:description is calling the parameter "name" and the parameter "description" from the infobox). Other places sets the parameters between two commas (,), calling the template multiple times (for example, {User:Erasculio/Skill infobox}:name, {User:Erasculio/Skill infobox}:description). Those syntaxes should be the same, but for some odd reason only the former is working for me.
• The table command is more limited than the "free for all" command of "mode = userformat", but it's easier to deal with. It mostly deals with the mess that would require some secseparators commands, but more importantly, it finally allows me to locate the summoned parameters (more on this below).
• The style command has multiple parts, each set apart from the one after it through commas:
  • The first part decides the layout for the entire table. Things like the table borders and so on go there (currently through the style command).
  • The second part automatically summons the name of each article summoned by the DPL for the first column of the table. Since I don't want that, I'm supressing this feature by using just a minus sign there (that's what the ",-," means).
  • From the third part until the end, each section is a column header. So things like the title "Description" go there, together with the formatting required for the headers, and similar things such as column width. The formatting section is kept apart from the title of the header itself through a ¦ symbol (so a given part would read, style="border: 1px solid #FFF;"¦Description; that claims the border will have one pixel, and that the header will have a Description title).
• The tablerow commands sets the design of the table rows other than the header (which was designed through the previous command). It has one entry for each column, which means one entry for each entry in the include command (with the example above, using the "name" and "description" parameters, I would be aiming at two columns, so tablerow would need two entries). The great advantage of the table command is that it sets the included DPL parameter in place of %% symbols (using the same example, if the first tablerow entry had [[%%]], it would add the names of the the articles as links), so it's possible to actually manipulate the DPL entries. For example, right now I'm using the "name" parameter to create the skill icons, by using at tablerow the code [[File:%%.jpg]]

Erasculio 00:10, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

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You can use it to hide that sort of comment or notation on the page where it's visible with the code and it matters without having to put it on the talk page. Anything between those marks can be used to make the internet ignore they exist... That includes for mediawiki formatting and other internet coding (or coding related). That way, you can put something like "this trait line spans all of the major and all of the minor traits combined" right next to a trait name so you know how to change it as traits are added/removed. Just a note cos I remember you saying you don't know wiki code very well, so not sure if you knew about that =) ~~ Kiomadoushi 00:20, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure Erasculio knows that... IMO, he is one of the better wiki coders here. (Btw, because I don't know why I didn't say it earlier, welcome back Eras.) Aqua (T|C) 16:59, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip, Kio, that will be helpful. And Aqua, thanks for the compliment and for the welcome : ) But truth be told, I know next to nothing about coding. The few things I can do are out of trial and error, after seeing something slightly similar to what I'm trying to achieve. I'm 100% sure you are a far better coder than me, together with a lot of talented people we have around here. Erasculio 22:59, 8 July 2011 (UTC)