Transclusion
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Transclusion is generally the inclusion of the content of a document into another document by reference. In a wiki context, it is the use of the template functionality of MediaWiki to include the same content in multiple documents without having to edit those documents separately.
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How transclusion works[edit source]
To transclude any source page (within a single MediaWiki project, such as Wikipedia) within another target page, include the following code: {{SOMEPAGE}}
Whenever the target page A is rendered, the entire content of the source page B (in this case, SOMEPAGE), will be rendered at the location where the transclusion tag was placed.
For example, you might decide to place a welcome message on every newcomer's talk page. Transclusion creates a "live" link between the template-page and the target-page(s) upon which the message should appear. When the template is edited, all the target-pages are edited too.
You might also decide to create a (template) page with your mailing address and include that template on not only your page, but all your friends' pages as well. When you move your television and couch to another apartment, you can change your address template, and that new information will automatically update on all your friends' pages.
Etymology[edit source]
Ted Nelson coined the term "transclusion", as well as "hypertext" and "hypermedia", in his 1982 book Literary Machines.
Partial transclusion[edit source]
By using "noinclude", "onlyinclude" and "includeonly" markup, it is possible to transclude part of a page rather than all of it. Such partial transclusions can also be achieved by transcluding from other pages such as subpages. It is often desirable not to transclude some information, such as template documentation and categories.
Transclusion markup[edit source]
- noinclude. The markup
<noinclude>...</noinclude>means that the text between the tags will not be transcluded onto another page and will appear only on the page itself. This is useful for template documentation and categories. - includeonly. The markup
<includeonly>...</includeonly>means that the text between the tags will only be used when the page is transcluded onto another page, and will not appear on the page itself. This can be useful, for example, for adding categories to pages transcluding a template, without adding the template itself to these categories. - onlyinclude. The markup
<onlyinclude>...</onlyinclude>indicates that only text surrounded by "onlyinclude" markup should be transcluded onto another page, but will appear on the page itself if not accompanied by "includeonly" tags as well. This is the most subtle of the partial transclusion tags because it often overrules the others. If there is at least one pair of "onlyinclude" tags on a page, then whenever this page is transcluded, it is only the material within the "onlyinclude" tags which gets transcluded. There can be several such sections, and within each such section, some material might be further excluded by "noinclude" tags, and might also be surrounded by "includeonly" tags so that it does not appear on the original page itself. But material outside the "onlyinclude" tags will be ignored when the page is transcluded onto another page. This can be useful, for example, to repeat a small part of one page on a second one: just surround the small part by onlyinclude tags, and transclude it onto the second page. Note that unlike<noinclude>and<includeonly>,<onlyinclude>will take precedence over enclosing<nowiki>tags. In other words,<nowiki>produces only "My content" when transcluded.<onlyinclude>My content</onlyinclude></nowiki>
Subpages[edit source]
You can cut and paste the text to be transcluded into a subpage, then use the name of the subpage in the transclusion template. This approach can be used only where subpages are enabled; for example, on the English Wikipedia, subpages can be used only from User, Talk or Wikipedia pages; currently, subpages cannot be created from main article pages.
Example: you want to discuss the deletion and redirecting of Pussycat to Cat. First, create the subpage Talk:Pussycat/Let's delete Pussycat!, write your comment into it, then transclude it in Talk:Pussycat and Talk:Cat using the template {{Talk:Pussycat/Let's delete Pussycat!}}. Comments posted in either talk page will be shown in both.
Special pages[edit source]
Some pages on Special:Specialpages can be transcluded, such as Special:AllPages, Special:PrefixIndex, Special:NewFiles, Special:NewPages, Special:RecentChanges and Special:RecentChangesLinked.
Sample: {{Special:Newpages/3}} gives 3 new pages.
URL parameters can be given like template parameters, e. g. {{Special:RecentChanges|namespace=10|limit=5}}.
Alternatives to transclusion by template[edit source]
Occasionally you may want to use a template, but for one reason or another may not want to use transclusion. The automatic one-time copying of a template's code/text to the location of a template tag is called Template substitution or subclusion (substitution + transclusion). To subclude a template's code/text, the template tag is modified from the standard transclusion tag to a substitution tag, simply by adding subst:, creating a tag with the form: {{subst:template name}}.
Labeled Section Transclusion[edit source]
An extension called Labeled Section Transclusion enables marked sections of text to be transcluded. An extension with a somewhat similar function is PageVariableExtension.
Semantic MediaWiki[edit source]
The Semantic MediaWiki extension uses inline queries to query and display semantic data. There are currently two ways to perform transclusion or something similar:
- Transclusion proper. The display format "embedded" ensures that selected pages (mainspace articles, templates, etc.) are transcluded. As with templates, sections placed between noinclude tags will be omitted.
- Selected passages in a page can be assigned a property of type 'Text'. These selections can be requested by running an inline query for this type of property.
See inline queries for further information.
[edit source]
- Wikipedia:MediaWiki namespace
- m:Help:Variable
- w:Wikipedia talk:Template namespace#transcluding prose
Templates[edit source]
See also[edit source]
- Request for template transclusion from Commons (interwiki templates, etc.)
- w:Wikipedia:Substitution (the opposite of transclusion)
- Extension:Labeled Section Transclusion
