Magnus Manske <magnus.manske(a)web.de> wrote:
Someone (was it me?) once proposed this two-step
plan:
1. Take meta info out of the text on save and store it in special db
fields, then paste it back at the end of the page on the next edit.
2. Once this works, split the edit box in two - one for article, one for
meta data.
Acceptance is everything here :-)
That actually sounds very sensible - it allows for a fair bit of
robustness testing on the conversion process. It might even be
possible to leave the inline-syntax-extractor enabled to give users a
warning if they enter metadata in the wrong box, but act on it anyway
(as though it had been entered in the other box in the first place).
On a very minor note, if it did get implemented, it might be best to
label it something less intimidating than "metadata", especially given
the existing uses of "meta" within Wikimedia projects.
How about editing like
"...?title=xyz&action=edit&mode=bot"? That could
remove the framework, and return a blank page with either "OK" or
"EDIT_CONFLICT" after saving, thus letting the bot know what happened.
That sounds good (plus "NO_PERMISSION" for 'protected' pages, etc). I
guess the main thing that would need thinking about for such an
interface is the *submission* part of the process - it could work
essentially as now, but I wander if it couldn't be simplified. The
actual HTTP POST is probably simple enough, but then you've got to
handle cookies for authentication, and there are 'hidden' fields to do
with edit conflicts that need retaining and sending back. From a bot's
point of view, it would be best if these were all rolled into one
framework (some kind of XML?) so that the whole thing could be dumped
back as one big POSTDATA field. I think cookies in particular seem an
unnecessary overhead for a single-purpose bot, although I don't know
how easily general authentication can be seperated from
cookie-specific code as the software stands.
I'll shut
up now.
No, please, by all means, stay with it :-)
Well, one of these days, I'll stop dreaming and submit a
properly-written patch. Mañana, mañana...
--
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]