Template:Documentation/doc

This is the {{documentation}} template.

For most of the instructions about how and when to use this template, see Wikipedia:Template documentation.

This template displays a documentation box like you are seeing now, and automatically loads the content from a /doc subpage. It can also load the content from other places if instructed to.

This template is intended for documenting templates and other pages which are transcluded onto other pages. It can be used in template space and most other namespaces.

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

Usage

Normally this template is used without any parameters and placed at the bottom of the template or page being documented, in a <noinclude> section. Like this:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>

{{documentation}}
<!-- Add categories and interwikis to the /doc subpage, not here! -->
</noinclude>

Then this template automatically loads the content from the /doc subpage of the template it is used on.

This template can be told to load the content from any other page. Like this:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>

{{documentation|Template:Other page/doc}}
</noinclude>

Note that when loading the documentation from another page than the local /doc page it becomes tricky to handle the categories and interwiki links.

The content can also be fed directly as text. Like this:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>

{{documentation
| content = Some documentation text.
}}
</noinclude>

When the content parameter is used the doc box normally doesn't get the [edit] [purge] links in the top right corner, and no link to a /doc page is shown in the link box below the doc box.

But parameter 1 and the content parameter can also be combined, like this:

<!--Last line of your template code--><noinclude>

{{documentation
| 1 = Template:Any page/doc
| content = {{Template:Any page/doc|parameters}}
}}
</noinclude>

Then the pagename fed as parameter 1 is used for the [edit] [purge] links and for the /doc link in the link box below the doc box. But the content parameter is used for the content shown in the doc box. The above code means that the content is transcluded as "{{Template:Any page/doc|parameters}}". In this example a parameter is also fed to the /doc page being loaded.

Best practice

The code should be added at the bottom of the template code, with no extra space before "<noinclude>" (which would cause extra space on pages where the template is used).

Categories and interwiki links that apply to the template itself should be added to the /doc subpage, inside <includeonly></includeonly> tags. For more complex cases, see Wikipedia:Template documentation#Categories and interwiki links.

If the documentation page contains <includeonly> or <noinclude> tags as part of the visible documentation text, replace the "<" with "<".

The heading

When in Template space this template shows this heading:

Template documentation

In most other namespaces, such as "Wikipedia:", it shows this heading:

Documentation

But when on File (image) pages it shows this heading:

Summary

The heading parameter can be used to set the heading to something else. Like this:

{{documentation| heading = Infobox documentation }}

If the heading parameter is empty but defined, no heading is shown and no [edit] [purge] links are shown. Like this:

{{documentation| heading = }}

Automatic functions

If the documentation page doesn't exist, the [create]] link includes a preload parameter so that clicking it will pre-fill the edit form with the basic documentation page format.

When this template is on a protected template page it now automatically adds {{pp-template}} which shows the grey or red padlock in the top right corner. So no need to manually add Template:Tlf to templates that use {{documentation}}.

When this template is on a /sandbox subpage it automatically adds the {{template sandbox notice}}.