Wikipedia talk:Infobox/Specification
Wikipedia's Infobox Class Specification
This is a suggested software specification, if you are unfamiliar with PHP/SQL or software programming feel free to ignore this page.
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BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES
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See also: Infobox Class Implementation.
Suggested approaches[edit]
SQL tables[edit]
Here's a suggested definition of how an article's SQL table should be in order to handle Infoboxes. The new rows are the infobox and infoboxType rows.
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Explanation:
infobox— stores the HTML context of the infobox- should be set to NULL if no Infobox is defined
infoboxType— stores the infobox's type- the infobox's type will be used to determine which Taxobox PHP Class will be used to print the article's infobox
- should be set to a type or to NULL
- a standard Infobox template stylesheet should be specified in the standard skin or on each custom skin in the case that an infobox with an unknown type is displayed
PHP definitions[edit]
Here is a suggested PHP base class specification for the Infobox standard. All other infobox types would extend from this class. In other words, plants' infobox would be defined as something like:
class PlantInfobox extends Infobox {
/* blahblah */
}
For an in-depth explanation see Infobox Class Implementation.
class Infobox extends Article {
var userPreference;
/* stores the user's preference regarding if infoboxes should be displayed */
/* var type is BOOLEAN: */
/* TRUE if the option is set to SHOW INFOBOXES */
/* FALSE if the option is set to DO NOT SHOW INFOBOXES */
var $context;
/* stores the infobox's context */
var $type;
/* stores the infobox's type */
var $tempContext;
/* used when the user is editing the infobox */
/* stores the temporary context of the infobox (ie: the preview context) */
function getContext ( /*void*/ ) {
GET article's infobox context
/* in other words: */
/* (1) retreive the article's infobox context from the SQL */
/* article's table */
/* NOTE: be meticulous, excessive calls to SQL can be harmful */
/* (2) assign the retreived information to $context */
}
function getType ( /*void*/ ) {
GET article's infobox type
/* in other words: */
/* (1) retreive the article's infobox type from the SQL
/* article's table */
/* NOTE: be meticulous, excessive calls to SQL can be harmful */
/* (2) assign the retreived information to $type */
}
function getUserPreference ( /*void*/ ) {
IF user is loggued in THEN
GET user's infobox display preference
/* in other words: */
/* (1) retreive the user's preference from the SQL users' */
/* preferences table */
/* NOTE: be meticulous, excessive calls to SQL can be */
/* harmful */
/* (2) assign the retreived information to $userPreference */
}
/* Constructor */
function Infobox ( /*void*/ ) {
IF this article exists THEN
GET article's infobox context /* $this->getContext(); */
GET article's infobox type /* $this->getType(); */
GET user's preference /* $this->getUserPreference(); */
/* NOTE: the constructor is not used to create new infoboxes. */
/* an article must exist before the user is allowed to create */
/* its infobox. read this discussion page for an explanation of */
/* the consequences that arise by this approach. */
}
function setContext ( $infoboxHTML = "NULL" ) {
SET the article's infobox context to the $infoboxHTML provided
/* no matter if it is empty/NULL or whatever */
/* if the input is NULL, empty or "" then the context must be set to */
/* "" */
}
function setType ( $infoboxType = "NULL" ) {
SET the article's infobox type to the $infoboxType provided
/* no matter if it is empty/NULL or whatever */
/* if the input is NULL, empty or "" then the type must be set to "" */
}
function save ( $infoboxHTML = "NULL", $infoboxType = "NULL" ) {
SET $context to $infoboxHTML /* setContext( $infoboxHTML ); */
SET $type to $infoboxType /* setType( $infoboxHTML ); */
SET the article's infobox and infoboxType row to the $context and $type
respectively
/* Read this discussion page for an explanation of the consequences */
/* that arise by this approach. */
/* NOTE: if $context is equal to "" then the row must be set to NULL */
/* if $type is equal to "" then the row must be set to NULL */
}
function setTempContext ( $tempHTML = "NULL" ) {
SET $tempContext to the temporary HTML provided
/* no matter if it is empty/NULL or whatever */
/* if the input is NULL then tempContext must be set to "" */
}
/* variant function name of setTempContext() */
function setPreview ( $tempHTML = "NULL" ) {
SET $tempContext to the temporary HTML provided
/* ie: setTempContext( $tempHTML ); */
}
function printTempContext ( /*void*/ ) {
PRINT $tempContext
/* ie: print $this->$tempContext; */
/* this implementation provides 1 function for displaying the preview */
/* context in both HTML format and inside a textbox: */
/* */
/* --> for displaying a preview HTML, the developer would call */
/* printTempContext() in the HTML code */
/* */
/* --> for displaying a preview HTML code, the developer would call */
/* printTempContext() inside the textarea preview */
/* ie: <textarea><? printTempContext(); ?></textarea> */
}
function print ( /*void*/ ) {
IF $userPreference is set to TRUE THEN
/* ie: user wants infoboxes to be printed */
/* displaying the EDIT link for infoboxes */
IF the user invoking the article has the
"Enable section editing via [edit] links" preference set to
true THEN
DISPLAY an [edit infobox] link
/* displaying the infobox finally */
DISPLAY the infobox
/* > this display should include the div HTML tags and $context */
/* printed inside them */
/* > the div HTML tag should include a stylesheet id parameter */
/* > the id should be the stylesheet id used for infoboxes */
/* which is retreived from another file */
/* for example: " id=\"#$infobox_id\"\n" */
/* could result in id="#infobox_US_Presidents" */
/* > this implementation allows each skin to have an appropiate */
/* infobox stylesheet definition. as a rule, all skins */
/* should inherit the standard skin in the case that the */
/* custom skin doesn't have a stylesheet definition for */
/* infoboxes */
ELSE no else should be defined
/* if $userPreference is set to FALSE then nothing should be */
/* done/printed */
}
}
Other aproaches[edit]
Infoboxes SQL tables for each type of infobox?[edit]
We could have different SQL tables for infoboxes. That way, each infobox's information is stored separately. Allowing us to give a different Edit-GUI for each type of infoboxes.
Suggested main SQL table:
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Where infoboxType points to the infobox's type SQL table
Example of an infobox's type SQL table:
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Cons: nasty SQL configuration because of the enormous size of tables (one for each type), more server load.
Pros: user-friendliness (each edit environment is different for each type of infobox), separation of infoboxes from articles' context. Although it is more server load, only 1 enormous SQL query is needed to retrieve all the article's information (including the main context and the infobox).
--Maio 21:47, Feb 7, 2004 (UTC)
Discussion[edit]
Please locate all discussion below this category. If you are posting a new message remember to subject it by typing ===Subject===.