Template:Documentation

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This template is used on approximately 146,000 pages.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Shortcut

{{docTemplate:Doc}}

This template uses Lua:

Module:Documentation

The {{documentation}} template is used to contain the documented information and instructions of a certain template, usually from a /doc subpage. It can also be configured to load the content from other pages or be directly fed by text.

For detailed instructions on how and when to use this template, see Wikipedia:Template documentation (shortcut: WP:TDOC).

This template has two parts: the big "documentation box" with the documentation inside alongside a toolbar (the [view][edit][history][purge] links), and the smaller "link box" that shows metadata about the documentation alongside the sandbox and testcases links.

Use of this template allows templates to be protected, where necessary, while allowing anyone to edit the documentation and categories.

General syntax

Normally, the template is used without parameters and is placed inside <noinclude>...</noinclude> at the bottom of the template page (see § Placement and tags for more information):

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>
{{Documentation}}
<!-- Add categories to the /doc subpage and add interwikis to Wikidata -->
</noinclude>

Transcluding a different page

To transclude a different page other than the /doc subpage, simply provide |1= like this:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>
{{Documentation|Template:Other page/doc}}
</noinclude>

Note that when loading the documentation from a page other than the local /doc subpage, it becomes tricky to handle the categories.

Using the `|content=` parameter

The documentation can also be fed directly as text, by using the |content= parameter:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>
{{Documentation
 | content =
<!-- template documentation -->
}}</noinclude>

When using this parameter, the toolbar will not show. Note that the /doc subpage in the link box will still show up if it exists.

Also note that when |1= and |content= is specified, |content= takes precedence and always shows in the documentation box.

Advanced syntax

Customizing the heading

The heading in the documentation box changes depending on namespace. See the below list for the default text in each namespace:

Template namespace: Template documentation
Module namespace: Module documentation
Other namespaces: Documentation

To customize the heading, simply set the parameter |heading= to anything you like, for example |heading=Infobox documentation.

Note that if the heading parameter is empty but defined (like |heading=) the heading alongside the toolbar will not show.

The |heading-style= parameter can be fed optional CSS values, like |heading-style=font-size:150%;color:red;. Not that you should omit quotation marks " " and add the ending semicolon ;.

Customizing the link box

To customize the link box, set |link box= to something else, like |link box=The above documentation is automatically generated from Template:Foo.

To hide the link box, simply set |link box= to off.

Testing

You can simulate the output for a given page by using the |page= parameter. For example, if you use the code |page=Template:Edit protected, the template will behave exactly as if it were on the page Template:Edit protected, including showing the documentation from Template:Edit protected/doc, linking to Template:Edit protected/sandbox, etc. This parameter is useful for testing and is used extensively on the module testcases page.

Placement and tags

This code should be added at the bottom of the template code page, with no space before <noinclude> (which causes extra whitespace to show on pages where the template is transcluded):

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>
{{Documentation}}
<!-- Add categories to the /doc subpage and add interwikis to Wikidata -->
</noinclude>

To automatically insert the above text, you can also use the substitution code shortcut {{subst:doc-code}}:

<!--Last line of your template code-->{{subst:doc-code}}

Categories and interwikis

Depending on where to the documentation is placed, it may be tricky to handle the categories and interwikis. See Wikipedia:Template documentation § Categories and interwiki links for information about adding these.

Technical details

Automatic functions

If the documentation page does not exist, the toolbar is replaced with a [create][purge] link. The [create] link automatically creates the page with preloaded text with the basic documentation syntax. Preload text is also used for the /sandbox and /testcases [create] links.

The preload page for the /doc [create] link is Template:Documentation/preload. The preload pages for the /sandbox and /testcases links are Template:Documentation/preload-sandbox and Template:Documentation/preload-testcases. The preload page for the /sandbox [mirror] link is Template:Documentation/mirror.

This template also automatically adds {{pp-template}} to a protected template page. When this template is on a /sandbox subpage, it also adds the {{Template sandbox notice}} template.

Link box features

Depending on the namespace, the link box may have less features, or may not show up at all. The following table shows this:

Namespace	Behavior
Template	Full behavior
Module	Full behavior, with the addition of a "create documentation" link when the page does not exist
User	Full behavior
Other namespaces	Hidden, unless `\|1=` is specified (which will show "The above documentation is transcluded from `{{{1}}}`")

Alongside that, if |1= or |content= is specified, the "Add categories to the /doc subpage" text will not show.

Subject namespaces vs. talk namespaces

This template is usually placed in the subject namespace. But in some cases this template needs to be on the Talk namespace:

In the MediaWiki namespace, since <noinclude> often does not work in system messages, and since the MediaWiki namespace needs to be kept clean for performance reasons.

When placed on talk pages, this template usually is placed near the top of the page and without <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags.

The /doc, /sandbox and /testcases pages should normally be in the subject namespace, except in the namespaces that do not have the MediaWiki subpage feature enabled: Main, File, and MediaWiki. (Categories can have subpages, but documentation is created in the Category talk namespace to prevent creating empty categories. There are also a whole bunch of other technical reasons why the /doc page must be stored under the talk page for those (but only those) namespaces.

This template automatically points its [create] links for the /doc, /sandbox and /testcases to the right namespace.

Color scheme

Wikipedia background colors for {{documentation}} (Help:Using colors)
	RGB	HSV	General usage	Note
A	`#ECFCF4`	150°, 6%, 99%	Sample	Current documentation background
B	`#00FF80`	Hue=150° (41.7%; 106/255dec) 100%, 100%	Basic hue	What we'd call the color

1	`#A3BFB1`	150°, 15%, 75%	Header border only
2	`#CEF2E0`	150°, 15%, 95%	Main border; header background
3	`#E6FFF2`	150°, 10%, 100%	2nd header, accent colour
4	`#F5FFFA`	150°, 4%, 100%	Main background	So saturation in A is a bit off

Colors for documentation navbox

As a suggestion, here are colors for a navbox intended for documentation pages only. They follow the shading of regular blue navbox colors:

| titlestyle = background:#ccffe5;color:inherit;
| basestyle  = background:#ddffee;color:inherit;
<!-- basestyle= sets groupstyle, abovestyle, belowstyle together -->

For subgroups, in child navboxes:

{{Navbox|child
| groupstyle = background:#e6fff2;color:inherit;
...

Example:{{Periodic table templates overview}}

Full syntax

{{Documentation}}

or

{{Documentation
 | [path to documentation page]
}}

{{Documentation
 | content =
}}

or

{{Documentation
| [path to documentation page]
| heading-style = 
| heading = 
| link box = 
}}

or 

{{Documentation
| [path to documentation page]
| content = 
| heading-style = 
| heading = 
| link box = 
| page =
}}