User:YBG/Living officeholders row/doc

Note This describes a userspace draft intended to be implemented as {{Living officeholders row}} and subtemplates. I am no longer working on this version, instead I'm working on an alternative implementation, see {{User:YBG/Living officeholders}}, intended to be implemented as {{Living officeholders}}

Usage

{{ Living officeholders row | Job=<job> | fmt=<fmt> | evt1=<evt1> | evt2=<evt2> | <#1> | <#2> | ... | <#10> }}

where

• |job= specifies the office to facilitate looking up the correct data.

  = us-p, usvp for rows in tables in the articles about the Living presidents and vice presidents of the United States.

  = aupm, sepm, nzpm, ukpm (not yet implemented) for the Living prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the UK.

• |fmt=: specifies the date format
• |evt1=: positive (negative) number for an accession (death) at the start of the period
• |evt2=: positive (negative) number for an accession (death) at the end of the period (optional, defaults to today)
• |ev1a=, |ev2a=: (optional) positive number for the mid-term accession following death of an officeholder
• |span=: (optional) text to override the calculated time span; used for the first of the two July 4, 1826 deaths
• |1=, |2=, ... |10=: optionally signed numbers representing officeholders alive during the period

Overview of pages

The pages involved in this system include:

1. The generic template and subtemplates (update when changing format):

   {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}}

   {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/box}}

   {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/plusminus}}

2. The office-specific data template (update when officeholder data changes):

   {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/us-p}}

   {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/usvp}}

3. The article space pages (update when officeholder data changes):

   Living presidents of the United States

   Living vice presidents of the United States

Maintenance

Here are general instructions for each anticipated type of maintenance activity:

1. A Living officeholder (#N) dies
   • Modify {{.../<office>}} by adding the death date and description
   • Modify [[Living <officeholder>s]] by adding |evt2=-N to the last row and then appending a new row with |evt1=-N
2. A new officeholder (#N) assumes office
   • Modify {{.../<office>}} by adding a new block for the new officeholder
   • Modify [[Living <officeholder>s]] by adding |evt2=+N to the last row and then appending a new row with |evt1=+N
3. Expand the system for a new type of officeholder
   • Create {{.../<office>}} for the new office with name and event information for all officeholders
   • Modify {{.../testcases}} by adding a new section to display all of the data for the new office type.
   • Create or modify the page in article space [[Living <officeholder>s]] for the new office with general information plus the header, footer and one call to {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}} for each chronological period
4. Modify the format of all templates
   • Modify {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}}, and and test it by previewing {{.../testcases}}
   • Modify [[Living <officeholder>s]] headers and footers if necessary
5. Modify the colors or style of the officeholder boxes
   • Modify {{.../box}} and test it by previewing {{.../testcases}}
6. Implement an idiosyncratic format for some but not all offices
   • Create a new {{User:YBG/Living officeholders rowN}} that generates the desired format
   • Add test case(s) to {{.../testcases#Row}} and modify {{User:YBG/Living officeholders rowN}} until it works OK
   • Modify [[Living <officeholder>s]] by (a) adjusting the headers and footers and (b) calling the new {{User:YBG/Living officeholders rowN}}

Structure

This system of subtemplates includes:

• {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}} - the main template, formats a single row in the table.

  Called from article space with multiple parameters (explained above)

  Calls {{<office>}}, {{.../box}}, {{.../plusminus}}

• {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/box}} - Displays a colored box that links to an article on an officeholder

  Called by {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}} and (for headers and footers) from article space

  • |1= the ordinal number of the officeholder (optionally signed)
  • |2= the code that specifies the office

  Calls {{<office>}}

• {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/us-p}}
{{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/usvp}} - specifies the office-specific data, provides data for use by other templates

  Called by {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}} and {{.../box}} to retrieve office-specific data.

  • |1= positive (negative) officeholder number for accession (death) info; either is OK for name
  • |2= date/descr date/description of the event, name for the officeholder's name (i.e., WP article title)

  Calls no other templates in this system

• {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/plusminus}} - Provides +/− signs consistently formatted based on the sign of the parameter

  Called by {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row}} and (for headers and footers) from article space

  • |1= optionally signed ordinal number of the officeholder

  Calls no other templates in this system

• {{User:YBG/Living officeholders row/testcases}} - designed to test all (sub)templates in this system

  Called by no other templates in this system

  Calls no other templates in this system