RealmBox Project/Planning

Terminology

• Realmbox

  A "realmbox" is the aggregate grouping of all the various components that comprise one implementation of the template.

• Block

  A block is an individual component, many of which join together to form a complete realmbox. Each block will carry a specific piece of information, such as the ruler name and title, or the capital city.

Common Parameters

The following parameters need to be shared across many different blocks of the realmbox. They should be kept to a minimum, as a new page will most likely need to be created for each one. Users should be able to override the colors in each block separately, if desired. Defaults should be provided for each parameter so meaningful output is provided even the user doesn't implement it properly. Defaults *may* not be possible, though. I have to think on that.

Required

Although not strictly required, these should be customized by the user to provide a personalized look.

• Realm color

  The color to use as a highlight background for key block, such as realm name, etc. Default: White

• Title color

  The color of text that will appear in blocks that use the realm color. Default: Black

Optional

These parameters will normally be left empty for most implementations. They are provided for those who wish to get more creative.

• Border color

  This will be the color used for the border lines of the realmbox. Default: Black

• Background color

  The overall background color of the realmbox. Default: White

• Text color

  The color of the normal text in the realmbox. Default: Black

Blocks

The following blocks should be available:

• Top Block

  This is the opening block of the realmbox. It will contain the opening table elements of the realmbox, plus some extra CSS elements. It is a required block. I still need to experiment and investigate what types of things should be in this one.

• Title Block

  A title block is a single column block that will occupy the full width of the realmbox. It will use the "realm color" and "title color". It will have the following mandatory parameters:

• Text

  This is the text that will appear in the block.

• IG Realm Map Block

  For the display of the realm map created by the game. Requires two parameters:

• Realm Number

  1 for Perdan, 3 for Sirion, etc... You get this by viewing the Details link from the Realm list.

• World Number

  1 for East Island, 2 for Atamara, etc....

• Wiki Image Block

  A generic block used to display any wiki image. This can be used to display a coat of arms, a flag, a non-game generated map, or anything else. Requires one parameter:

• Image name

  The name of the image to be displayed. Do not include the "Image:" portion.

• Single Column Block

  A single block that occupies the entire width of the realmbox column. Basically the same as the Title Block except it defaults to the "background color" and "text color". Requires the following parameter:

• Text

  The text to appear in the box.

• Double Column Block

  A two column block. The left column normally holds some category (Ruler, Capital, etc.) and the right column holds a value (ruler's name, population figure, etc.) Requires the following parameters:

• Left

  The text in the left column. Should be bold. Maybe default to bold, and allow an override?

• Right

  The text in the right column. Should be normal text.

• Bottom Block

  This will be the closing block that ends the realmbox table. It is a required block. It accepts takes no parameters.

Note: Comments can be placed inside any block by using a parameter name that is not used by that block. For this reason the parameter name of "Comment" is reserved for use by the template users. It should not be included in the design of any block.

Implementation

The realmbox will be implemented using a table created with wiki table syntax. The inspiration for this comes from Template:Userboxtop and Template:Userboxbottom. The idea is to put the opening part of the table markup in the RBTop template, each row in a separate RBBlock template, and then put the table closing line in the RBBottom template. When the user places the templates on the page in the proper order, they are replaced with the wiki code, and then assembled into a complete table byt the wiki parser.

Code Division

Each block will need to contain the wiki table markup for it's own row, starting with the opening tag for the row, but not the closing tag. For example:

• RBTop opens the table:

{| border="1"

• RBDouble adds a row:

|-
| {{{Left}}} || {{{Right}}}

• RBSingle adds another row:

|- 
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | {{{Text}}}

• RBBottom close the table with:

|}

When all four templates are called in a row, they come together as a complete table:

{| border="1"
|-
| {{{Left}}} || {{{Right}}}
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | {{{Text}}}
|}

Which renders as:

{{{Left}}}	{{{Right}}}
{{{Text}}}

Sample Concept Code

The following is how a basic realmbox would look when a user implements it on their page. It looks nearly the same as one fo the standard, customized infoboxes in general use now. To make it simpler to use, we could provide various sample boxes that people could copy/paste and just fill in the blanks. Anyone wanted to get more involved could easily do so by mixing and matching their own blocks.

{{RBTop}}
{{RBTitle
|text = Keplerstan}}
{{RBImage
|Comment = Our flag
|File = Keplerflag.png}}
{{RBImage
|Comment = beloved ruler
|File = KingKepler.png}}
{{RBMap
|Realm = 1
|Island = 1}}
{{RBTitle
|Text = The Council}}
{{RBSingle
|background color = #CCCCCC
|Comment = the King gets a special colored background
|Text = King {{Kepler Family\Kepler|Kepler Kepler}}}}
{{RBSingle
|background color = #CCCCCC
|Text = Judge Joe<br>General Tom<br>Banker Tim}}
{{RBTitle
|Text = The Realm}}
{{RBDouble
|Left = Capital<br>Population<br>Duchies<br>Regions<br>
|Text = {{Reglink|ZZ|Keplerstani}}<br>123,456<br>2<br>10}}
{{RBBottom}}