#WMhack - #Wikidata and #Lua to the rescue

When you want to know if all the articles on a specific subject have been written, you need something that actually helps. Wikidata helps because it knows about subjects and knows if there is an article in a language.

The Lua code shown below is "trivially easy" to create ... when you know Wikidata and Lua. For me it is a life saver; it allows me to build a list and use it on any Wikipedia.

It shows the Wikidata label used in the local language and, it shows if there is an article in the local Wikipedia. Really powerful stuff if you need this functionality.



The next challenge is to create the Lua module on every Wikipedia..
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Lua template wanted for use of #Wikidata in #Wikipedia

Denny said some magical words to me;

• you can convert a list of Wikipedia wiki links to links to Wikidata using Lua. 
• you can check if there is an article on THIS Wikipedia
• you will show the Wikidata data when there is no article

He even said that it is not hard to do and provided this as a pointer.

I am preparing a Wikidata workshop and I would be REALLY pleased when this list was available doing all the song and dance mentioned above. There are so many other lists that could benefit from this as well. 

I am convinced that such functionality will motivate people to write stubs and articles on subjects that are important to them. I am also convinced that it is a powerful incentive to create data that accomplishes things like this.

Thanks,

     GerardM

#Localisation for #LUA scripts?

In order to improve the scripting in MediaWiki, it will become possible to add LUA code. Many of the existing templates are not really examples of readability or performance and, in addition to this many templates have been copied to many other wikis.

Changing these templates, making them useful in other languages is quite a job.and it requires knowledge of the scripting language(s) involved and obviously the language the script(s) that need supporting.

At translatewiki.net a request has been made to use messages for templates that are used on many projects. Templates like "done", "not done", "support", "oppose" and "neutral"are the ones suggested. It is one of those suggestions that gets a lot of sympathy from the translatewiki community.

Localising the messages and getting them to every project is a problem we have a solution for. Making sure that templates exist and remain on the latest version will need some thought. With the introduction of LUA imminent, this is an opportune moment to give the distribution of templates some thought.

Doing this by hand is already hard if not impossible. With Wikipedia going strongly towards 300 projects, it would be great when the support in the many languages of our communities can already start in the Incubator.
Thanks,
     GerardM