Template:Class mask/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Class mask. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on 339,000+ pages, or roughly 1% of all 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.

This template is designed for use in WikiProject banners, and provides an easy way to construct a bespoke class mask. The class parameter must be passed to the template as the first unnamed parameter.

The template provides the default class masks for WikiProject's quality scales, and is also used by the majority of projects which use a custom class mask. It can be used in two different ways:

• with |QUALITY_SCALE=subpage and placed on the /class subpage of the WikiProject's banner template. In this case, specific guidance on how the template works with the chosen parameters is displayed on this page.
• with |QUALITY_SCALE=inline and placed directly inside the class parameter.

When used on a /class subpage (e.g. with |QUALITY_SCALE=subpage) the template should be called in the following way:

{{class mask<noinclude>/templatepage</noinclude>|{{{class|}}}
 |topic=
 |optional parameters
}}

This allows the /templatepage to be displayed which provides useful documentation and category prompts on the subpage.

• the topic parameter defines the main naming scheme of the assessment categories used by the project and is used to check the existence of the categories that are required. For example, if your project uses categories such as Category:B-Class mathematics articles, etc. then set |topic=mathematics.
  • if the template uses taskforces, parameters topic1, topic2, topic3, topic4 and topic5 can be used to check for the necessary categories.

Neither of the above are required for the |QUALITY_SCALE=inline version.

When used "inline" (e.g. with |QUALITY_SCALE=inline), the call to /templatepage and the topic parameters are not required, and the template should be called in the following way:

{{class mask |{{{class|}}} |optional parameters }}

Bear in mind that if the banner uses any hooks (e.g. the taskforce hook), you will need to set the options each time class is used. Therefore, the subpage method may be more useful in these cases.

• |FQS= – if set to yes, switches on seven additional classes: Category; Disambig; Draft; File; Portal; Project; and Template (FQS stands for Full Quality Scale). Individual classes may then be switched off as desired using the following seven parameters:
• |category=
• |disambig=
• |draft=
• |file=
• |portal=
• |project=
• |template= – when |FQS=yes is present, setting one or more of these seven to no will switch off that class; when |FQS=yes is absent, setting one or more to yes will switch on that class.
• |fa=
• |fl=
• |a=
• |ga=
• |b=
• |c=
• |start=
• |stub=
• |list= – if one or more of these nine is set to no, the class will be switched off. The default is yes regardless of the |FQS= setting.
• |book=
• |fm=
• |redirect= – if one or more of these three is set to yes, the class will be switched on. The default is no regardless of the |FQS= setting.
• |forceNA= - if set to yes, will automatically classify pages tagged as |class=NA depending on the namespace of the page. The default setting is no.
• |b1=, |b2=, |b3=, |b4=, |b5=, |b6= - if the B-class checklist is used, these parameters must be passed through.

Add a class in lowercase as the name of a parameter followed by the value "yes". For example,

|redirect=yes

would add the Redirect-class. This is the simplest way of adding a class but has the following two limitations:

• The name of the class must have an initial capital letter and all following letters in lowercase. In other words, the capitalisation must be of the form Xxxxxx.
• It is not possible to use this method to add a shortcut or alternative alias for a different class, for example "Cur" for Current-class.

If either of these are required, the uppercase parameter syntax must be used (see below).

If |FQS=yes is used, then a value of "no" may be used to switch off that individual class. Thus, on a /class subpage:

{{class mask<noinclude>/templatepage</noinclude>|{{{class|}}}
 |topic=physics
 |FQS=yes
 |portal=no
}}

would support six of the seven additional classes listed above and would not support Portal-class.

Add a class in uppercase as the name of a parameter followed by the exact name of the class (including the required case) as the value of the parameter. For example,

|SL=SL

would add SL-class and

|CHEESECAKE=CheeseCake

would add CheeseCake-class.

You can use this method to add a shortcut or alias for a class. For example,

|bplus = yes
|B+ = Bplus

would have the effect that an input of either B+ or Bplus would result in Bplus-class.

The following code is placed in the banner template:

|QUALITY_SCALE=subpage
 |class={{{class|}}}

and on the /class subpage (for example Template:WikiProject Zimbabwe uses the subpage Template:WikiProject Zimbabwe/class), the following code is used:

{{class mask<noinclude>/templatepage</noinclude>|{{{class|}}}
 |topic=Zimbabwe
 |FQS=yes
 |redirect=yes
}}

In this case all six of the "extended" quality classes are used, plus the additional Redirect-class. Because the |topic= parameter is set, specific documentation will be displayed on the /class subpage.

The following code is placed in the banner template:

|QUALITY_SCALE = inline
 |class={{class mask |{{{class|}}} |FQS=yes |redirect=yes |fm=yes}}

Now the extended quality classes are used, plus the additional Redirect and FM classes.

• /b - the mask for B-checklist parameters
• /sandbox - the template sandbox, used for experimentation
• /templatepage - the documentation that is displayed on /class subpages
  • /templatepage/row - used by /templatepage
• /doc - the documentation you are reading now
  • /doc/custom - for information on building your own class mask

• This shows all /class subpages which use this template.