User:Teapeat/segregate-refs

Instructions on how to install and use the script are at /Short instructions.

References segregator (segregate-refs.js) is a user script originally and mostly written by PleaseStand – and modified by Teapeat, which attempts to make editing articles that have many citation templates easier. It works by moving the first non-empty occurrence of a <ref> tag to a separate text box that is below the main editing textbox. That first occurrence of the ref is replaced by a short tag as if there were an identical reference before it. It is also capable of migrating articles to the list-defined references format (LDR).

How does it work?

Segregate button

After the button is pressed, references are "segregated" into their own edit box, separate from the main editing box.

A small amount of informal testing of the MediaWiki parser allowed for writing regexes to locate and parse various elements of <ref> tags. There are two phases that the script proceeds as you edit a page with it:

Segregation. This phase is when ref tags are pulled out of the text, initiated when you click the button. Then you are free to edit the page content without the interference of lengthy citation templates. In order for this to work even with unnamed refs, the unnamed refs get a unique name: the prefix (the word "Auto" followed by two alphanumeric characters and a hyphen) plus a number specific to the unnamed ref. Don't worry about this; as long as you don't add another ref tag with the same name or mess with the autogenerated ref tag, the next phase will recognize this and strip the automatic name out.
- Please note that in many places, the script capitalizes ref tags (i.e. REF vs. ref). This is intentional and is not a bug. Rather, this quirk serves to prevent unnecessary shifting in location of the contents of the tags.
Integration. When you click a button that submits the edit form (Save, Preview, or Show Changes), the script finds all ref tags that are in the "Inline footnotes" box. Then it proceeds to substitute these ref tags in place of the first occurrences of the same-named shortened ref tags generated during segregation. Finally, your changes are sent to the Wikipedia servers as normal.

This is completely independent from the citation template syntax, as long as all footnotes are surrounded in non-nested <ref> tags in MediaWiki format.

What are its limitations?

The script uses advanced JavaScript features and has been successfully tested in Mozilla Firefox 3.6, Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome by the author with no problems found. It is only compatible with the Internet Explorer web browser using a workaround. You should use another browser that has better support for standards.

Some aspects of MediaWiki parser syntax, such as the braces tag syntax for nested refs, are not supported. If there turn out to be any severe limitations other than listed below, you should leave a message for PleaseStand. Since you are ultimately responsible for your edits, please confirm that the script doesn't break any aspect of the page you are editing by clicking Show changes before you commit your edits.

Currently there is no section editing support: this is a special case of the above limitation and would require checking all other sections for ref contents. The script is not active on these edit pages.
Some user scripts might be incompatible with the References Segregator (including User:Js/ajaxPreview.js, although I have asked for a compatibility fix so that script should be working soon). The same goes for the "live preview" feature found in "My preferences". The script is, however, written for compatibility with wikEd.
Probably the least of these issues is that refs with such insane names as __proto__ might not work correctly with the script. This is a quirk of using JavaScript objects as "associative arrays" and might eventually be fixed in a future version of the script.

How do I use it?

Installation

First of all you need to be running a standards-compliant browser. This includes the latest versions of most browsers, but not Internet Explorer (see list below).

Then copy the following code into your skin JS file:

importScript("User:PleaseStand/segregate-refs.js");

You will need to click the green button below the box every time you want to use the script.
- Then the first occurrence of each ref will appear in a new textbox below the main edit box that it disappears from. Read above for details.
To view the source code for the script (fairly well documented), please see User:PleaseStand/segregate-refs.js. This includes a brief description on how to make translation files that cause the interface to appear in a different language.
The script is licensed under the ISC license in addition to Wikipedia's copyright terms, so you are welcome to integrate the script (or parts of it) into your own Greasemonkey user scripts, for example, as long as you include the copyright and permission notice.

Supported browsers

The latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome work with no problems.

In Safari, when wikEd is used, the green "Segregate refs" button might be located strangely. This only is a cosmetic anomaly and actual functionality should not be affected.

Internet Explorer (as of version 8) will not work. Your best option right now is to switch browser to one of the other four major browsers, since IE has the worst web standards support of all the browsers.

Installing on other wikis

On a MediaWiki installation other than the English Wikipedia you will need to use this code:

// install [[Wikipedia:User:PleaseStand/References segregator]] editing tool
importScriptURI('http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=' +
'User:PleaseStand/segregate-refs.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript');

Just like the code for English Wikipedia users, this code automatically gives the latest version of the code including any updates or bug fixes. If your wiki is on a network without an Internet connection, you will need to copy the complete source code into your wiki instead.

Userbox

While its use is in no way mandatory, there is a userbox that you may place on your user page if you find References Segregator useful and would recommend it to other editors. It looks like this:

This user uses
References Segregator
to get ref tags out of the way.

To place the userbox on your user page, use the code {{User:PleaseStand/References segregator UBX}}

Development version

Until it is reasonably certain that any update to the script does not break it, any changes will be made to a separate development version. The development version be kept at User:PleaseStand/segregate-refs-dev.js.To recommend a change, please list your recommendation on the talk page for this page.

Converting footnotes to list-defined (LDR) format

This subsection describes how to permanently convert an article's footnotes to LDR format, which you must not do without proper consensus. To make this conversion, you need to add the following line above the importScript() line:

var SegregateRefsJsAllowConversion = true;

Then make sure to follow these steps. Do not forget a step or you will find yourself breaking the citations/footnotes!

Click the red "Migrate article to LDR" button. Click OK to acknowledge your understanding that consensus is required to convert citation/footnote style.
If you are converting a specially-named group (such as "nb" footnotes), enter the HTML-quoted name in the box and click OK. Otherwise, leave the box blank and click OK. Acknowledge that you know the following steps.
Find the <references/> tag and change it to:
<references> REFS HERE </references>
replacing REFS HERE with the copy-pasted code from the new, lower textbox. If the tag is {{reflist}}, change it to:
{{reflist|refs= REFS HERE }}
Of course if you are converting a special group, make sure that the group name is included.
Copy the entire wikitext of the article into a good text editor. Use the find-and-replace feature to replace each ref name in the form AutoXY-Z with a human-readable name that makes sense. Each autogenerated name should be surrounded in double quotes when you use Find/Replace, or you may screw things up.
Paste your changes back into the edit form. Click the Show Changes button and check the diff for any potential problems.
Click the Preview button. Check to make sure that there are no cite errors anywhere on the page, including in the references section. Then pick a sampling of footnote links and make sure they work.
Only then should you save your changes.

Earlier attempts

wikEd has reference/template hiding (even in the stable version), but for some tasks it can be cumbersome to use (it's necessary to switch out of ref-hiding mode to delete a reference).

dereference.js is an earlier script that I was unaware of when I originally wrote this script, but it seems to have some of the same limitations as wikEd and is no longer maintained (user is not currently active on Wikipedia).

Yet another earlier script is User:Magnus Manske/less edit clutter.js. That one has some additional features and was actually proposed as a gadget.

Any questions?

Please leave a message for me. Generally, I will respond quickly, but be patient – it might take a few days, or sometimes even longer, to get a reply.