Re: [Semediawiki-user] [SF] Curious about VisualEditor and TemplateData

[Chris K. <no...@gm...>]

Thanks Yaron for the information and the history. That's really
interesting. We're heavy SMW users where I work and are looking at
implementing VisualEditor in a future update. A 'marriage' of the two would
be blissful for some of my non-wikitext loving co-workers. :)


Yours,
Chris Koerner
clkoerner.com


On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Yaron Koren <ya...@wi...> wrote:

> Hi Chris,
>
> Well, I suppose I'm one of the folks working on Semantic Forms, so:
>
> I'm certainly aware of TemplateData. For those who don't know, it's an
> extension that lets you specify information about a template's parameters,
> so that VisualEditor can (in theory) use that to make it easier to edit
> template calls, using (I think) popup forms. I don't believe VisualEditor
> has the capability to edit template calls yet, though I could be wrong
> about that.
>
> Obviously, any system that lets you edit template calls will have overlaps
> with Semantic Forms, but I think there are big differences - the biggest
> being that Semantic Forms enforces a certain structure for a page, whereas
> VisualEditor simply makes it easier to apply whatever structure you want to
> a page.
>
> VisualEditor could be used within Semantic Forms textareas - and yes, I do
> want to add support for that eventually - which could set up a nice general
> rule of thumb: SF for infobox-style templates, usually at the top, and
> VisualEditor for inline templates - such as for citations and other
> text-specific tags.
>
> Still, the TemplateData extension could in theory be used by Semantic
> Forms to know more about the templates it deals with. I don't think this
> would be hugely useful, because TD only supplies a pretty limited set of
> information - there are currently only two data types, for instance:
> "string" and "number" - but in theory it could be done. The better solution
> for that kind of thing, in my opinion, is the Page Schemas extension -
> which actually lets you create forms based on a set of such specifications:
>
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Page_Schemas
>
> Interesting fact, by the way: before there was TemplateData there was
> TemplateInfo, an extension I created for the Wikimedia Foundation back in
> 2010 (they hired me based on my SF experience) that had the same purpose as
> TemplateData does now:
>
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TemplateInfo
>
> The only major difference, as far as I can tell, is that TD uses JSON
> whereas TI uses XML. I don't know why they created a new extension instead
> of just modifying TemplateInfo.
>
> Then, when I designed Page Schemas the next year, I used some of the
> knowledge gained during the creation of TemplateInfo. So you can think of
> TD and PS as siblings, to some extent.
>
> -Yaron
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 11:09 AM, Chris Koerner <no...@gm...> wrote:
>
>> I was reading up on VisualEditor and it's approach to editing
>> template-driven content. I was curious as to what the folks working on
>> Semantic Forms (and by association Semantic MediaWiki) think about this
>> model.
>>
>> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:TemplateData
>>
>> I know it's been asked before, but are there still plans to include
>> support
>> for VisualEditor in future Semantic Form releases?
>>
>> Yours,
>> Chris Koerner
>> clkoerner.com
>>
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