Template:C-SPAN/doc

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

This template is used on approximately 13,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This template allows linking to the C-SPAN link appropriate for many biographies. This will aid in the maintenance and standardization of these external links.

Usage

This template should not be substituted.

{{C-SPAN}}

Fields

The only field is the C-SPAN identifier. If it is not provided, then the first value from Wikidata will be used. If the Wikidata item does not have any C-SPAN person ID (P2190) data, or there is no Wikidata item for the article, then a link will not display.

Field	Data	Result	URL source
1	C-SPAN id	Appearances on	https://www.c-span.org/person/?{{{1}}}

Example

URLs

https://www.c-span.org/person/?48924 (suggested URL format) does not require "/JonStewart" when used
https://www.c-span.org/person/?jonstewart (deprecated URL format)
https://www.c-spanvideo.org/jonstewart (deprecated URL format)

Usages

{{C-SPAN|48924}} – suggested use.

{{C-SPAN}} – alternative use, only if P2190 exists on Wikidata for the page. If no Wikidata value is present, the page is added to Category:C-SPAN template failing to display.

{{C-SPAN|jonstewart}} – deprecated use.

Results

Appearances on C-SPAN – Example using Numeric ID for "jonstewart" from https://www.c-span.org/person/?48924/JonStewart
Appearances on C-SPAN – A warning is issued on preview, and the link may break if the string changes on C-SPAN; the article is added to the maintenance category Category:Pages using non-numeric C-SPAN identifiers

Notes

The C-SPAN template now supports a numeric ID for persons and is backward compatible with existing string use. It is suggested to use the numeric ID rather than the text based naming convention due to variations for the name and breaking of links when the string changes.
The text ID traditionally has been in the format of concatenation of first name with last name appears to be most common, a middle name, middle initial, or alternate name may be a component of the id used for C-SPAN appearances. This approach is not recommended as the string may change and break the link.
Also, not all political figures have appeared on C-SPAN.