wikishia:Script Installer
 | This script is currently in beta, and it only works in Mozilla Firefox at the moment, and possibly Google Chrome (other browsers will be supported in the future). We welcome new beta testers, but be warned that the script is not yet recommended for general usage. If you install this script, then please post any bugs, problems, or suggestions with the script on the talk page.
|
Script Installer (source code) is a tool that makes it easy to install any Wikipedia script or stylesheet. After installing Script Installer, go to any documentation or script page and click on the "Install this script" link to install the script. The best way to learn more about this script is to install it, by following the instructions below. See the images in the Gallery section as well, to better understand how this script works.
Ultimately, this script will allow users to browse a Script Library to find and install scripts. In addition, even configuration settings for scripts will not require that the user edit the skin.js page; rather, the Script Installer will guide them through a process in which they choose what settings they'd like for a specific script, then save them, all within a nicely formatted dialog box.
How to demo
Want to demo this tool before installing it? Copy and paste the following code into your browser's address bar, and then hit Enter, to enable the tool for just this page that you're currently reading:
javascript:importScript('User:Gary/script installer.js'); scriptInstaller();
How to install
To install this tool, simply go to your vector.js / monobook.js, edit the page, and add the following line to it:
importScript('User:Gary/script installer.js'); // [[User:Gary/script installer.js]]
After that, you'll never need to edit your vector.js / monobook.js page again! Ultimately, it's best if this tool becomes a gadget so that a user just needs to enable it for it to work, so that they don't even have to edit their skin.js, ever.
How to use
At the moment, you need to actively seek out the scripts that you wish to install, the same way as you did before (Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts is a good place to start; however, we plan on eventually replacing it with the Wikipedia:Script Library, where scripts will appear in categories for users to install). When you are on a script page, or its related documentation page, an "Install this script?" box will appear at the top of the page, allowing you to install the script with just one click. To see which scripts you currently have installed, click on "Script Library" in the Toolbox on the left-hand side of the page. Help in the form of question marks, like so: (?), appear throughout the script. Click on these to learn more about the related item.
In the future, the Script Library will not only list what scripts you currently have installed, but it will also suggest new scripts for you to install.
Gallery
-
Script documentation page
-
Script Library
-
Script page
-
Skin page
-
Toolbox
Goals
Some of the goals of this tool are to:
- Make it easier for users to install scripts that help make their work on Wikipedia easier to perform.
- Make it easier to find scripts, which will be sorted in categories and sorted by popularity so that the most useful scripts appear first.
- Make it easier for new scripts to find users who are interested in it.
Features
- This list is incomplete.
- Scripts in a user's skin.js are clickable, to make it easier to go to those scripts and install them for yourself.
Future development
Since the script is still in beta, new features are being added to it every day. New planned features include:
- This list is incomplete
- Cached data so that the script does not have to connect to the API every time it needs information.
- This feature is already implemented in the tool, but not yet enabled.
- A setup guide for users new to the script
- A public library of suggested scripts for users to install.
- API hooks for other developers to build installable modules on top of Script Installer.
- A standard installation procedure for scripts that need settings set.
For developers
- Script verification
- Verified scripts are scripts that have been verified and are considered to meet a certain level of quality. To discuss the script verification process, please post on the respective talk page.
- For documentation pages
- If you are a script developer, and have scripts with documentation pages, then add the {{Script data}} template to the documentation page so that the Install Box appears at the top of the page.
- Installation instructions for your scripts
- For installation instructions, it is recommended that the format importScript('User:Gary/script installer.js'); // [[User:Gary/script installer.js]] be used, so that a link back to the script exists which can therefore be used to track the number of installations for your scripts.
- Script metadata
- Metadata can be added to your scripts to add more information than what is provided by Script Installer. At the moment, @name and @description are supported. (Example: @name My Script's Name)
