How do I view the WikiTree markup code without having to edit a profile?

+4 votes
357 views
I find myself keep taking an existing profile that I manage into edit mode, so I can copy and paste some 'standard' markup into a newly created profile. How can I view the markup of any page on WikiTree without having the edit rights to the page? I shouldn't need to risk making any unanticipated changes to an Open profile, just to copy some markup (or other boilerplate) text! I also don't understand why there doesn't appear to be an edit cancel button.
in WikiTree Tech by Stephen Adey G2G6 Mach 2 (26.7k points)
I have sometimes wanted to do this when someone is asking for formatting help on a profile that is not open. So I can't go into edit mode to see their markup. So it would be nice to be able to have a read-only view of the markup for a Public but not Open bio. I can see that this is probably not a high priority to implement though.
If you have the wiki markup language, and you can see which elements have been used on the profile's public view, then it should be easy enough to duplicate it for yourself.  It may take a little more work than just copying and pasting, but it's doable.
It is difficult to know whether such a feature would be hard to achieve, and thus very unlikely to be created with the resources available to the WikiTree Team. Unfortunately, I don't think volunteers can help in the effort, because the platform is closed source. I must check the WikiTree API, to see whether it makes the underlying text of the pages available.
Melanie, I need to spend some time investigating what I can view. At least in theory, most pages of a Wiki should be editable (and thus viewable) at the underlying markup level!
Melanie, I think that you have to edit the page to see which markup has been used and how. It is counterintuitive to have to edit a page to inspect the underlying coding. All Internet browsers have a mode where you can inspect the HTML code and make local changes that don’t propagate to anyone else.

If I see a biography that has certain items in bold text, I do not need to edit the profile to know it was done (or should have been) using '''words here'''.

If I see on the profile view that certain text is rendered in italics, I do not need to edit the profile to know that it was done (or should have been) using ''text here''.

If I see on profile view that statements are followed by a superscript number, I do not have to edit the profile to know <ref>tags</ref> were used to create "inline" citations of sources.

If I see on profile view that a link is rendered to directive words (example Wikipedia's main page), I can presume, without editing the profile, that it was done (or should have been) using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia's main page].

I can also presume internal links to other Wikitree profiles were done using the correct [[WT-ID#|name]] square brackets.

If I see an image embedded in the biography, I can presume the correct {{curly braces}} or [[square brackets]] coding was used.

I do not need to edit a profile to see these things.

But Melanie that's because with your experience you are already familiar with the markup procedures. Someone who is not—and that still applies to many of us for unusual techniques—benefits by being able to look at the original text. Steve may be overstating the inconvenience of entering edit mode for a look and then leaving again without making changes. But it would occasionally be useful to have an independent way of getting a read-only view, for example so as to provide advice when someone else has editing locked by an open draft.
There are example profiles to view.

There are "how to" messages left on the profiles of newbies by our Greeters.

One can lead a horse to water . . .
Melanie, Oh to have your wisdom and knowledge. I have never used some of those markups!
They are there in the edit mode of any profile, except the image examples - which are on the image page (the {{curly braces}} code, anyway).  

It gives you instant level 3 header, bold, italic, link to another Wikitree profile (you would need the WT-ID#), and external links.  (Also add categories, and surround the citation with <ref>tags</ref>.)

The rest can be easily found by doing as I did -- editing any example profile, or any profile that had a certain "look" I wanted to emulate.

I learnt by trial and error how to add the label parameter to images -- because I did not find the help file that mentioned label until long after I had started using it.

I learnt a lot more by trial and error, by copying what I found in existing profiles - in edit mode - because I did not know about the help files.  Now I know the help files exist and all that markup language can be found in those, without the need to edit profiles to see.

2 Answers

+4 votes
 
Best answer

Edited to put the answer first:

There is a getBio example that will do roughly what you want. It allows you to enter a profile key and retrieve the biography in Wiki format. The downside is that it may not work for private profiles.

Scroll down to the JSON output for a formatted version.

It is essentially using the getBio API call:

https://api.wikitree.com/api.php?action=getBio&key=Ashley-1966

where it replaces the key part on the end with the profile in question.

by Chris Willoughby G2G6 Mach 2 (22.9k points)
selected by Stephen Adey
Thanks Chris, another thing to add to my pile of things to investigate when I have the time!
Chris, I finally got to look at the result and I don't think that it works on private profiles, as I have to be logged in to see my profile. In addition, it is just returning the stored text stream, very interesting but not quite what I wanted. I think that as a minimum it would need to be pretty printed to be useable.
Hi Steve,

Did you try https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/wikitree-api-examples/getBio/javascript.html

Or the underlying API call?

The result from the API call would need to be pretty printed, the link above provided both the text stream and a formatted version.

You are correct though, you need to log in to see private profiles.

Chris, can you please give me a URL that would allow me to login and retrieve my private Bio. All I get when I use your link, and change the profile id to Adey-272 is: 

WikiTree API Error:Permission denied

+3 votes

Steve, I'm pretty sure you have WikiTree BEE installed.  On each profile there are extra BEE buttons.  One, two, or three of those (depending on the profile) take you to Profile Overview.  This displays an overview of a bunch of profiles, and each one has its bio and sources (in both HTML and wikitext) in little pop up windows.  I hope that helps.

Edited to add: And on the edit page with the BEE, there's a dropdown box below the toolbar.  Put any ID in that (there's an 'Other' option at the bottom) and it should get the sources from that profile and put them on the right.  It will also get the whole bio, which you can see by clicking the 'BIO' button that will appear.  See here for more details.

Edited again to add:  Sorry, I didn't see that part about your computer not working well, so maybe you can't use the BEE.  But you can still use Profile Overview.  Take a look and see what you think.

[Fixed a typo.]

by Ian Beacall G2G6 Pilot (296k points)
edited by Ian Beacall
Ian, I don’t believe BEE can run in a browser on an iPad, or have I got that wrong?
You're right, Steve.  See my second edit above.
Ian, you will have to be a bit more explicit about where to find it. The profile pages are so cluttered that, if I haven’t used something before, it has to jump out at me and say I am here!

If you're not using the BEE, you won't see the BEE links on the profiles.  But I did post a link to Profile Overview in my answer above.  (If you are using the BEE, the Profile Overview buttons/links are the green arrows in the image you can see here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_BEE#Links_to_WikiTree_apps .) 

Ian, if I understand things correctly, for my iPad no part of your extensions work and there is no way that they ever could.
Steve, Profile Overview is not an extension. It's an app on the WikiTree app server and it will work fine on your iPad.

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