Module:Check for unknown parameters/doc

This module may be appended to a template to check for uses of unknown parameters.

Usage

Basic usage

{{#invoke:check for unknown parameters|check
|unknown=[[Category:Some tracking category]]
|arg1|arg2|...|argN}}

or to sort the entries in the tracking category by parameter with a preview error message

{{#invoke:check for unknown parameters|check
|unknown=[[Category:Some tracking category|_VALUE_]]
|preview=unknown parameter "_VALUE_"
|arg1|arg2|...|argN}}

or for an explicit red error message

{{#invoke:check for unknown parameters|check
|unknown=<span class="error">Sorry, I don't recognize _VALUE_</span>
|arg1|arg2|...|argN}}

Here, arg1, arg2, ..., argN, are the known parameters. Any parameter which is used, but not on this list, will cause the module to return whatever is passed with the unknown parameter. The _VALUE_ keyword, if used, will be changed to the name of the parameter. This is useful for either sorting the entries in a tracking category, or for provide more explicit information.

By default, the module makes no distinction between a defined-but-blank parameter and a non-blank parameter. To only track non-blank parameters use |ignoreblank=1.

By default, the module ignores blank positional parameters. To include blank positional parameters in the tracking use |showblankpositional=1.

Include reason

Unless there's a very good reason not to, the parameter |reason should always be supported. This is used as a de facto standard, across all templates, as a way to include an explanatory note (e.g., why the template was placed, in any case in which that isn't obvious) without affecting the displayed output in any way (usually). If you do not include |reason among permissible values, then this module with throw a bogus error when people include a |reason=. A few templates (e.g. {{Rm}}) directly implement a |reason= parameter that actually does something, but it most cases it is a pseudo-parameter that does not actually appear in the template code, and is used in lieu of messy HTML comments.

Lua patterns

This module supports Lua patterns (similar to regular expressions), which are useful when there are many known parameters which use a systematic pattern. For example, template:infobox3cols uses

| regexp1 = header[%d][%d]*
| regexp2 = label[%d][%d]*
| regexp3 = data[%d][%d]*[abc]?
| regexp4 = class[%d][%d]*[abc]?
| regexp5 = rowclass[%d][%d]*
| regexp6 = rowstyle[%d][%d]*
| regexp7 = rowcellstyle[%d][%d]*

to match all parameters of the form headerNUM, labelNUM, dataNUM, dataNUMa, dataNUMb, dataNUMc, ..., rowcellstyleNUM, where NUM is a string of digits.

Example

{{Infobox
| above = {{{name|}}}

| label1 = Height
| data1 = {{{height|}}}

| label2 = Weight
| data2 = {{{weight|}}}

| label3 = Website
| data3 = {{{website|}}}
}}<!-- 
  end infobox, start tracking
-->{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check
| unknown = [[Category:Some tracking category|_VALUE_]]
| preview = unknown parameter "_VALUE_"
| name
| height | weight
| website
}}

Templates invoking this module

The following is a list of some of the templates which invoke this module, with the associated category for each.

For a more up-to-date list, search for the "check for unknown parameters" within the template namespace.

See also

• module:TemplatePar (originally from dewiki)
• Template:Parameters and Module:Parameters – generates a list of parameter names for a given template
• he:Module:ParamValidator - parameter validation system on hewiki, relies on TemplateData. some of the things checked are:
  • use of undeclared parameters, parameters marked in templatedata "deprecated"
  • mistyped (mainly, params declared in templatedata as "number" receiving non-numerical value)
  • missing parameters marked in TemplateData as "required"
  • understands aliases, and warns when more than one alias of a parameter is used
  • quite a lot more