User:ColinGreenstreet/Issue log

Issue Log and Open Questions

Issue Log

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Item 1.Duplicate sections inserted every time Form is saved

The Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner seems to insert an extra section every time a page created using the Template and associated Form is saved

- Is there a glitch or have I coded the Form incorrectly?
- The form should create three sections, which are optional for filling out. The sections are (1) Biographical synthesis (2) Evidence from High Court of Admiralty (2) Comment on sources
- NB: The extra inserted section on saving is ONLY the Comment on sources section, and the extra insertion only happens if that section contains no text after the Form creating the Semantic biography has been saved for the first time

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Item 2. Form filled out in popout mode won't save though logged in

I have filled out a form in popup mode Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner to create a new semantic biography, which I accessed via the Create/Edit button I have put on the front page of the wiki.

The button contains popup instructions:

{{#forminput:form=SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner|size=50|default value=|placeholder=Type name of an Admiralty Court deponent|button text=Create or edit a MarineLives biography|popup}}

When I try to save the form it won't save, although all the mandatory fields were filled out.

I have re-keyed in the data to the same form accessed through http://www.marinelives.org/wiki/Special:Forms

and I have been able to save this form and data perfectly well.

The saved page is here: http://www.marinelives.org/wiki/Edward_Odling

Am I doing something wrong, or is there a problem in saving data from a popup Form?

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Item 3. Uploading an image file from a Form

I am trying to add capability to my Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner and Template:SemBioLongInfoBoxThree similar to the upload image capability Rowan Beenje, the designer of the MarineLives SMW built into the Form:Page we use to create standard High Court of Admiralty deposition pages, which contain both transcriptions and a single image. The image in our standard pages has the Property:Transcription image

The relevant MediaWiki manual page seems to be: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Semantic_Forms/Input_types#Uploading_files

I have created a new Property called "Has signoff image" which is intended to be used for thumbnail size images of signatures or markes taken from the bottom of depositions using the Microsoft snipping tool to create an image.

I want to make these thumbnail images uploadable through the Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner and to make them displayable in the InfoBox which this Form produces.

I have given the Property "Has signoff image" the data type "Has type:Page", though perhaps it should be "Has type:Text". There isn't an option "Has type:Image"

The code I have added to the Template:SemBioLongInfoBoxThree

! Has signoff image
| [[Has signoff image::{{{Has signoff image|}}}]]
|-

The Template is now called out as:

{{SemBioLongInfoBoxThree
|Person=
|Title=
|First name=
|Middle name(s)=
|Last name=
|Occupation=
|Training=
|Had apprentice(s)=
|Citizen=
|Literacy=
|Has signoff text=
|Has signoff image=
|Language skills=
|Birth street=
|Birth parish=
|Birth town=
|Birth county=
|Birth province=
|Birth country=
|Res street=
|Res parish=
|Res town=
|Res county=
|Res province=
|Res country=
|Birth year=
|Marriage year=
|Death year=
|Probate date=
|Deposition date(s)=
|Act book start page(s)=
|Deposition start page(s)=
|Personal Answer start page(s)=
|Chancery start page(s)=
|Letter start page(s)=
|Miscellaneous start page(s)=
}}

The code I have added to the Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner is:

! Has signoff image
| {{{field|Has signoff image|size=100|default filename=|uploadable|image preview}}}
|-

This should specify an upload box (and does), and should also display a thumbnail image (I believe) in the Form, when the image is successfully uploaded.

The Data type of "Has signoff image" is Text (because I can't see an "Image" data type)

The relevant bit of the Form now looks like:

Extract from Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner showing Upload file button and text box

When I click on Upload file I get the following box:

Upload box accessed from Form

I select a file and add the following data, with the name of the file set to default

File selected with upload file button

I click on Upload File and the URL goes to: http://www.marinelives.org/wiki/Special:UploadWindow, but otherwise the screen is blank and appears to be frozen.

When I go back to the main Template in edit mode the file appears not to have loaded.

For the text in the Form against the Field "Has signoff image" I have typed "Henry Betts signoff image, HCA 13/72 f.30v Annotate", which I assume will display at the footer of the thumnail once I can get the image to display properly?

However, when I try again from the Form to upload the same image I get the following screen

Image uploaded but doesn't display as thumbnail in Form nor in final page

But, I am not getting a thumbnail preview of the image in the Form under the "Has signoff image field" which is what the SMW instruction say I should (See: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Semantic_Forms/Input_types#Uploading_files).

So I have gone ahead and saved the form.

The image does not appear in the Henry Betts biography, but and in Browse page screen for Henry Betts I get "Has signoff image Henry Betts signoff image, HCA 13/72 f.30v Annotate +"

What am I doing wrong?

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Open Questions

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Item 1. Use of Templates and Forms

Is my use of Templates and Forms correct?

- In the case of the SemOccupation Form and Template and I have added a second Template to both the first Form and Template. The second Template is Template:CreateBio and codes for a float box with a purple header bar on the left hand side below the output of the Inline Query, which is the main component of the Template:SemOccupation. I added the second Template to the Form:SemOccupation.
- Is it correct to call the Template:CreateBio a Sub Template, or is that something else?
- The reason for including the second Template is for efficiency of revising the float box content, since the float box will be used on circa 100 Semantic Occupations
- Would it have been better to leave the second Template out of the first Template and simply have the second Template selected through the Form:SemOccupation?
-- I have actually included the following code in the Form:SemOccupation, but I don't think it is correct, and I think it duplicates me pasting the Template:CreateBio into Template:SemOccupation?

{{{for template|CreateBio}}}
{| class="formtable"
|)
{{{end template}}}

Template:SemBioLongInfoBoxThree defines category: Form3withbanner semantic biography
Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner

Template:SemParish defines category: Semantic parish
Form:SemParish

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Item 2. How deal with some structural issues to do with Property naming and definition in a particular Template and Form?

How handle Mariner occupations?
- Sometimes stated in upfront deposition summary that deponent is a Mariner, but sometimes stated in text
- Many mariners are just described as Mariners, but some have additional roles stated in upfront deposition summary, e.g. Master, Boatswain, Carpenter's Mate
- I have created a second Property called "Mariner occupation"
- How make filling out "Mariner occupation" conditional on ticking a box, or filling out, "Mariner" OR "Sailor"?

Template:SemOccupation defines category: Semantic occupation
Form:SemOccupation

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Item 3. Red links

How direct red links of certain types to certain types of Form to create new pages?

- I am keen to stop volunteers having the option of creating a new page without a Form
- I am keen to direct volunteers to using the right Form to create a new Semantic biography (or, just possibly, another type of page)

e.g. links which are Property type "Is apprentice of", "Spouse of"?

e.g. Both red links in free text in a semantic biography page and red links in the semantic biography InfoBox?

I have tried inserting the following code into Template:XXX:

! Is apprentice of
| [[Is apprentice of::{{#formredlink:target={{{Is apprentice of|}}}|form=SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner|new window}}]]
|-

I have then entered the name David Keate into the Form for Richard Keate in the entry box for "Is apprentice of".

David Keate displays correctly as a red link, however, I get a warning triangle by the name Keate in the Richard Keate page, which when I hover over it says "David Keate" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. Nevertheless, when I click on the David Keate red link a new page correctly opens as a Form to create the page David Keate.:

Create SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner: David Keate

What am I doing wrong?

I was struggling with this too and I found this page while looking for examples. I've now found an answer that works but it seems like an awkward fudge and I'm surprised there isn't an easier way of doing it. The parser function #formredlink automatically creates a vanilla wikilink so you don't have to add square brackets, but there's no obvious way of making this link into a semantic property so you have to use the #set parser function to set the property separately. The way to do it in your example would be:

! Is apprentice of
| {{#formredlink:target={{{Is apprentice of|}}}|form=SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner|new window}}
{{#set:Is apprentice of={{{Is apprentice of|}}} }}
|-

--GavinRobinson (talk) 11:23, May 21, 2018 (UTC)

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Item 4. Edit with Form

How shut off the Edit source code option so that a volunteer or a user with a certain user status can only see the Edit with Form option for pages created with a specifc Form?

- Can another group of users be specified so that they can see the source code opetion (s.g. systems ops/administrators?

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Item 5. Review the developing semantic structure of the wiki

Role of semantic biography pages?

Role of semantic geography pages?

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Item 6. Skype contact buttons

Is there a way to add a Skype contact button to a MarineLives wiki page?

- Either to show a Skype address, or to originate a call?

See: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA99/how-do-i-add-contact-me-buttons-and-skype-uri-links-to-my-website-or-app

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Item 7. Suppressing blanks in an InfoBox

How do I code to suppress the blanks in rows in the Semantic biography InfoBox for which there are no data?

- I haven't decided whether it is best to show blanks or not, but want to know technically how I would do that

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Item 8. Collapsible/Expandible sections in an InfoBox

How would I create collapsible/expandible sections in my InfoBox in the Semantic biography pages?

- This would be an alternative to suppressing the blanks in rows for which there is no data

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Item 9. ShowFactBox Magic word often does not work

In a good number of pages the ShowFactBox magic word does not generate a semantic FactBox at the bottom of a page

- The magic word __SHOWFACTBOX__ is included in the various Tenmplates I have used to create new pages
- There seems no good reason why it works on same pages and not others

e.g. It doesn't on most of the Semantic biography pages, e.g. Samuell Haughton, but the semantic properties are there and can be seen in the Samuell Haughton example Special Browse for Samuell Haughton
e.g. It does work in the Semantic parish pages, for example Saint Dunstans in the East

You can see the __SHOWFACTBOX__ code at the bottom of the Template:SemBioLongInfoBoxThree

...
! Has source comment completed
| [[Has source comment completed::{{{Has source comment completed|}}}]] 
|-
|}
__NOEDITSECTION__
__SHOWFACTBOX__

[[Category:Semantic biography]]
[[Category:Form3withbanner semantic biography]]
</includeonly>

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Item 10. Sub queries

I am struggling to understand how to write and use a subquery

- I want to be able to combine queried data from our two main types of semantic page (1) Transcription pages (Category:Page) and (2) Semantic biography pages (Catgeory:Semantic biography
- The sort of queries I have in mind are:

e.g. Show me the all the start pages of depositions for people with semantic biographies of a particular type, and show me for those people the deposition start pages and when they were first transcribed! (Property:First transcribed)
e.g. Show me the all the start pages of depositions for people with semantic biographies of a particular type, and show me for those people the deposition start pages and the text of the transcription (Property:Transcription)

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Item 11. InfoBox row not appearing in bold

One row in my InfoBox on Semantic biography pages is not appearing in bold

- I created a new Property:Has opening text and gave it "Has type" Text
- I added the new Property to the Template:Floatboxsembiolong defines category: Semantic biography
- I added the new Property etc. to the Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner

s far as I can see everything is correct, but when I look at the InfoBox in any Semantic biography, after refreshing the page, the row label is NOT bold

What am I doing wrong?
RESOLVED - I deleted the new material from the Template and the Form, saved, then added it back in again and saved, and now the row is in bold!

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Item 12. Workaround for sorting deposition by deposition page numbers

Is there a workaround to get deposition page names to sort by the number correctly?

e.g.. HCA 13/70 f.30v Annotate coming before HCA 13/70 f.252r Annotate, not after it?

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Item 13. Linking two fields for later querying

Is it possible to link two fields for use in queries?

- I want to create multiple rows for residential address.

e.g. the following properties

Res. parish 1, Res parish 2, Res parish 3

and to associate a date with each item when the person was known to be resident there

e.g. Res 1 - 1652; Res 2 1658; Res 3 Res 1662

Is it possible to make that associateion, and if so how would I do that?

What I DON't want to do is to have a Property:Res1 1652 and a separate property Res2 1658

I want to then be able to do queries like:

- Show me all the residential addresses for this type of person

- Show me the residential addresses and the dates associated with those addressesz (in separate sortable columns, but in same row)

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Item 14. Assigning multiple properties to the same value entered via a Form in InfoBox

Is it possible to assign multiple properties to the same value in a Form?

- I want to assign double tag the deposition start pages in the Info Box in the Semantic biography pages as

[[Page::Dep start:: VALUE]]

e.g. [[Page::Dep start::HCA 13/62 f.12r Annotate]]
I think this will then allow me to conduct searches of both Pages and Semantic biographies

e.g. Show me all the transcribers of transcription pages which are classified as "Dep start"?

e.g. show me all the "Transcription text" Property fields for people for whom semantic biographies exist of a particular occupation, or location?

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Item 15. Text divider in Info box

Have I correctly coded to insert colour text divider in InfoBox on Semantic biography pages?

Is there a way to include an option in the Form when filled out to specify the colour of that text divider so that it can be varied between page, but using the same Template and Form?

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Item 16. Sections vs Sections as Properties

Should the Sections in my Semantic biographies better be treated as Property fields with Has type=Text?

This is how Rowan Beentje has coded the Transcription, People, Places, Material..sections of the standard MarineLives transcription page

This would enable (say) the text of the section "Biographical synthesis" to be displayed in a search result

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Item 17. Modifiable Semantic parish template

How would I modify the Template:SemParish so that it can become more generic?

- Currently the SemParish Template contains the hardwired text:

'''This page summarises data in the MarineLives wiki regarding the parish of {{PAGENAME}}.'''

The parish of {{PAGENAME}} is located in [[Located in::London]].

This means that I can only use it for parishes and only use it for parishes in London

To make the Template more versitile I would be able to input via the related Form the [[Located in::ADD PLACE]]

- Do I need a separate Template, say Template:AddLocatedIn, which I would incorporate into the Form:SemParish?

This Template would look something like

<include only>
'''This page summarises data in the MarineLives wiki regarding the parish of {{PAGENAME}}.'''

The parish of {{PAGENAME}} is located in [[Located in::ADD TOWN]].
</include only>

MY SOLUTION - Comments would be appreciated, since the solution, though it works, may not be "best practice". Also I think I should probably create a generic Geography Template in which the creator of a new page types in whether the place is a parish, a town, a county, or a country. The problem with having a generic geography template and form is that there can only be one query for all levels of geography.

I have come up with the following solution, creating two new templates: Template:AddLocatedIn and Template:SemParishQueryOnly and one new form Form:SemParishNonLondon

The first Template has the code:

<includeonly>
'''This page summarises data in the MarineLives wiki regarding the parish of {{PAGENAME}}.'''

The parish of {{PAGENAME}} is located in [[Located in::{{{Located in|}}}]]. {{Invert-property|Located in|Location of}} [[Category:Semantic parish]] __SHOWFACTBOX__
</includeonly>

I had to put the Invert-property Template, and the Category and ShowFactBox inormation on the same line, because otherwise it messes up the spacing in the final page

The second Template has the code:

<includeonly>{{#ask: [[Category:Semantic biography]] [[Res parish::{{PAGENAME}}]]
 |mainlabel=Full name
 |?Title
 |?Firstname
 |?Lastname
 |?Suffix
 |?Birth year
 |?Death year
 |?Birth place
 |?Res parish
 |?Res town
 |?Res county
 |?Occupation
 |?Training
 |?Citizen
 |?Has literacy
 |intro=This table aggregates data from all semantic biographies in the MarineLives wiki relating to the parish of {{PAGENAME}}
 |sort=Lastname
 |order=ascending
 |default=Currently there are no semantic biographies for the parish of {{PAGENAME}}
}}
[[Category:Semantic parish]]
</includeonly>

I created a new Form called Form:SemParishNonLondon

The code for this form is:

<includeonly>
<div id="wikiPreview" style="display: none; padding-bottom: 25px; margin-bottom: 25px; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAAAAA;"></div>
{{{for template|AddLocatedIn}}}
{| class="formtable"
! Located in
|{{{field|Located in|mandatory|size=100|input type=text|placeholder=Enter name of next higher up place in which subject place is located}}}
|-
|}
{{{end template}}}
{{{for template|SemParishQueryOnly}}}
{| class="formtable"
|}
{{{end template}}}

'''Free text:'''

{{{standard input|free text|rows=10}}}


{{{standard input|summary}}}

{{{standard input|minor edit}}} {{{standard input|watch}}}

{{{standard input|save}}} {{{standard input|preview}}} {{{standard input|changes}}} {{{standard input|cancel}}}
</includeonly>

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Item 18. Multiple-instance templates

Is this how I would allow a user to add rows to the inputs into the Form:SemBioLongInfoBoxThreeWithBanner?

- For example, if I want to allow a user to add a second residential parish?

See templates

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Item 19. Defining a Property for Keywords

Could we define a [[Property:Keywords]] and constrain the Keywords that can be input to a pre-created glossary?

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Suggested Systems Improvements

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Item 1. Adding Semantic Drill Down and Semantic Maps Extensions

Extensions

I have been reading up on various SMW extensions, and looking at examples of their implementation on other SMWs.

The two extensions which would have the biggest impact on improving the user experience of the MarineLives wiki would be

(1) Semantic Drill Down [1]

(2) Semantic Maps [2] (which I believe also requires the MediaWiki Maps extension as well: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Maps

Drill Down will be a very powerful way of using filters to navigate through the 3000 + semantic biographies which I am suggesting we plan to have on the wiki by March 2017 and the 10,000 transcription pages (with related images) we already have.

An example of Drilldown applied to European Public Sector projects can be seen here: http://www.epsa-projects.eu/index.php?title=Special:BrowseData/Projects. The EPSA drill down analyses 825 projects with 7 filters (1) Award year (2) Award category (3) Award type (4) Sector (5)Type of activity (6) Level of Government(7) Country.

We could do something similar to drill down through 3000+ semantic biographies filtered by:

(1) Occupation (2) Geography (3) Age.

We could also drill down through the volume type and number and page hierachies, using filters such as Record type (Depositions, Personal Answers, Act Books, Miscellaneous, Letters, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Will), Volume number, Year and month of record creation...)

Semantic Maps would be a powerful way to find and display data, and could be used as a way of displaying drill down data. I believe the current versions are Maps 3.5 and Semantic Maps 3.3 [3]. A lot of our data have strong geographical patterns, so mapping is an obvious functionality.

I have begun to assemble basic geographical coordinate information which I would like to be able to include in (1) Queries (2) Display of query results as soon as possible

See: Category:Semantic parish , which includes a table showing London parish geo-coordinates

Semantic Results Formats Extension is also worth looking at

- See: https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Filtered_format

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