War templates are not showing Unit properly

+3 votes
152 views

Templates for Wars do not seem to be working properly when 'unit=' is used.  When 'units=' is used, it works properly.

{{1776|unit=New York Militia|rank=Captain}}   Shows Unit(s):  with nothing listed in the box.  I have seen the same for 1812 template.  If the word 'unit' is changed to 'units', the unit is then shown properly in the box.

I just found this in another post after this was posted.- https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/783876/i-can-never-get-the-wwi-sticker-to-show-the-unit-category

"unit= must be an existing WikiTree category for that specific unit for that specific time period."  

This is NOT stated in the definition OR at least, I can't find it

WikiTree profile: Nathaniel Elmer
in The Tree House by Linda Peterson G2G6 Pilot (764k points)
edited by Linda Peterson

Now, I am really confused.  

I just realized that when we get the Data Suggestion and the profile has this 'as an example'

 {{War of 1812|2nd Regiment of York Militia, Canada}}  

from preview, The sticker is showing the information after 'served' at the top

... ... ... ... served in the 2nd Regiment of York Militia, Canada in the War of 1812
Service started: 
Unit(s): 
Service ended:

So if no parameter is named, it shows at the top after the person's name, but if we correct it to include a parameter using Unit= instead of nothing, the unit is no longer being shown.  If we put 'units=' in, then from preview,  it is shown down with the 'units' 

.. ... ... ... served in the War of 1812
Service started: 
Unit(s): 2nd Regiment of York Militia, Canada
Service ended:

We definitely need clarification about this from Ales.  I assume they don't want False suggestion status to be used so the Regiment / unit continues to appear at the top, and they would prefer Units= to be added to the sticker.

1. Only units= text will appear in the sticker box?
2. Unit= text is ONLY used to create a category for the profile?
3. False suggestion should not be used when the parameter is missing and Units= should be added to the sticker in the correct location?
For all the War veteran stickers that use the 'unit' and 'units=' parameters,(https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Stickers_for_Veterans,
1. How many 848 Suggestions have been updated with 'False Suggestion' and parameter has not been entered, probably because the profile is showing all the information from the template?
2. How many 848 Suggestions have been marked as corrected, but the profile sticker has 'Unit=' with no 'units=' so the information is no longer appearing in the sticker?

1 Answer

0 votes

Explanations:
{{1776 Do not change this.
|image=Here you can change the default image to an alternative image.
|startdate=Service start date as dd mmm yyyy.
|enddate=Service end date as dd mmm yyyy
|Branch= Here you add service branch or country.
|units=Here you can list the main units he/she served in separated by ; (semi colons). Please do not use abbreviations.
|unit=This will add the profile to the appropriate unit category. Please do not use abbreviations and no unit smaller than Regiment/Brigade. If Regiment or Brigade is not known, use a higher unit that you do know.
|rank=Enter the rank (Ex. Sergeant) here. Please do not use abbreviations like Sgt.
}}

Unit and Units mean different things in this context.

by Stu Ward G2G6 Pilot (135k points)
edited by Stu Ward
That is correct.  It states that Unit will add to the Category, but it is talking about adding things to the category for the war and only one unit can be added.  Only what is entered with 'Units' is appearing now in the Box is my concern.  I don't really care about the Categories.

The date format that you entered above is not what is on the 1776 definition, but that really doesn't matter since it prints what is entered.  

I think maybe we need clarification in the template definition that Units is what is shown in the Box on the Profile.  

If that is true, I would also wonder how many profiles have one of these War templates with 'Unit' and not 'Units' entered, meaning that NO units will be appearing in the War box on the profile.  

We have lots of 848 Data suggestions because the word 'unit' is not in the template, so we go in and add 'unit=' in front of the unit that was entered and it still is not being shown in the box where it has 'unit(s)'.  I suspect there could be quite a few profiles that have been updated as stated and do not have anything showing in the box in the profile.  I just went back and changed many of the profiles to 'units=' that I had just updated with the 'Unit=' when I realized it wasn't being shown.
I added unit= and it added something to units= on Captain Elmer's page. I see both in the box.

Natalie, you added 'units=' with something.  As I said above, that is what seems to be needed to have the 'Units' state something in the box.  The problem is that when 'Unit=' is entered with 'Units=' not being entered, the unit information is not seen in the War box on the profile.  

I restored the profile so it has only the 'Unit= ' for this discussion.

Kind of wish you hadn't restored it so I could see what it looked like after Natalie changed it :( (understand why you did...just saying)
If you look at change log, Natalie had added the units=, nothing to unit=.  Adding units= will add that info into the block, as I originally said.  You can copy/paste what is there into any profile to play with it, or do it on that profile without saving it,  adding the units= with text, just use the preview to see the result.
Hadn't thought of that, thank you Linda :)
You cannot see the categories added in a preview, but you can see the sticker.
My question is only about how the sticker looks, not the categories that it could be added into.  The Units= does NOT add to the categories because it is free text, only the Unit= attempts to, per the description in the Help system. For multiple Units, you have to add the other categories manually, as stated.

I thought maybe it (the unit= parameter) was not supposed to show the unit in the sticker box, but to add it as a category instead of displaying it in the box. (Based on the example on the page: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:1776).

Someone from templates project would need to look the coding (I know only the very basics) and explain why it displays in this manner. It looks like the Great War template is the same way.

That template description is discussing adding the category and unfortunately does not state anything about what is shown in the sticker, which is what I asked about.  

The Data Suggestion gives an error 848 Use of Unnamed Parameters when the 'parameter' is not named in the sticker, ie Unit / Units.  The problem exists in all of the War / veteran templates that use Unit and Units.  ie {{1776|PENNSYLVANIA}}  

I think the Template description 'probably' need to clarify that 'units=' free form text will appear in the template box on the profile and 'unit=' is used to link the profile to that 'one' unit that is entered.  Unfortunately, it does not state that. 

Using the branch parameter, it says 'The parameter |branch= displays on the sticker '.  

The issue comes up when there is a 'unit=' and no 'units=' parameter in the sticker because no unit is being shown in the sticker. The example on the page shows both unit and units parameters being used and it does show the 'units=' information.

This is what I am trying to get clarified and / or have the help pages be clarified:

1. 'units=' will be shown in the sticker and is NOT used to create category additions for the profile for that sticker

2. 'unit=' will NOT be shown in the sticker and is used to create the initial category for the profile for that sticker

Then this is something you should address by contacting the Templates project or Military and War. The clarification text you have just created would be good to add to the individual template pages. I'll make sure that Steven Harris sees this post.

The unnamed parameters error is quite pervasive and includes more than just the unit= and units= parameters, but those are often the worst offenders.

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