Agency toolbox

Wiki and web

A wiki is a web publication edited collectively by a community. The most well-known wiki is Wikipedia, but there are a lot more. A wiki website is powered by a wiki software. At Agency, we use the software MediaWiki.

A wiki structure uses categories and pages. The name of a page can be used as a tag, meaning we can link pages by writing the page name on another page. This is what is called "hyperlink".

Before this wiki, there were different website experiments. The more developed one is https://agentive.org/m/.

The domain agentive.org is hosted by all2all, a free and open-source independent web host.

Webmin

Webmin is a web-based management interface. To edit the LocalSetting.php file, go to 'file manager' > 'public' > 'mw' > 'LocalSetting.php'. The file is on the second page.

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a free administration tool written in PHP for MySQL. We use it to manage our databases.

Versions

To see the current versions used for this wiki, go to Special:Version.

Upgrades

We just migrated our website to a more recent server, and we can now run more recent versions of PHP. We are now using more recent versions of the extensions (PageForm, Cargo, ...). We followed the upgrading guide, and upgraded through the web browser.

Back-ups

Ideally, we should have a maintenance service making back-ups every day or so, but for now we have to do it manually. There are 3 back-ups to do.

• In Webmin : 'file manager' > 'public' > 'mw' > 'images'.
• In Webmin : 'file manager' > 'public' > 'mw' > 'LocalSetting.php' (the file is on the second page)
• In phpMyAdmin : go to the database folder, then 'exporter' > 'personnalisée' > 'format SQL' > 'tables : all mw tables' > 'options de création : ajouter une instruction CREATE (...) + ajouter une instruction DROPTABLE' > 'ok'

Main categories

The wiki is divided in multiple categories. The main ones are :

• assembly - the assemblies organized by Agency ;
• jurisprudence - the jurisprudences linked to things ;
• library document - the documents of the library ;
• people - authors, assembly participants, ... ;
• questions - questions raised by the things, the library and the assemblies ;
• things - the boundary-things.

To have a deeper understanding of what these different categories mean for Agency, see our glossary.

To have a look at all the categories, see the special page categories, and the wiki structure below.

Wiki structure

On this day (24/07/25) the structure of the wiki is as follow:

It has four main different components:

• forms (in green);
• categories (in blue);
• templates (in yellow);
• tables (in pink).

Each form populates a template, whose data is stored in one or more tables. Each category is defined by a template.

To manage the tables, we are using the Cargo extension, see Help about Cargo and Working with MediaWiki chapter 16 : Cargo and Semantic MediaWiki.

To manage the forms, we are using the PageForm extension, see Help about PageForm and Working with MediaWiki chapter 17 : Page Forms.

Tables

On this day (24/07/25) the structure of the tables is as follow:

Visualisations

Map

Status of the library inventory

We roughly estimated that the library contains 4,000 documents.

Each shelf of the library received a number. The shelves in green have been encoded, the orange one is the one we are currently working on.

Status on 24/07/25 : 500 encoded documents

Boxes

An inventory of the boxes that are on the shelves has been started, but is not finished. Status on 05/12/25 :

Wiki basics [tbc]

How to write text in Wikitext

This is a summary based on the Help about Wikitext page.

Bold and italic

you write	renders as
To ''italicize text'', put two consecutive apostrophes on each side of it. Note that these must be straight apostrophes; curly apostrophes (‘ and ’) will not work.	To italicize text, put two consecutive apostrophes on each side of it. Note that these must be straight apostrophes; curly apostrophes (‘ and ’) will not work.
Three apostrophes each side will '''bold the text'''.	Three apostrophes each side will bold the text.
Five consecutive apostrophes on each side (two for italics plus three for bold) produces '''''bold italics'''''.	Five consecutive apostrophes on each side (two for italics plus three for bold) produces bold italics.
'''''Italic and bold formatting''''' works correctly only within a single line.	Italic and bold formatting works correctly only within a single line.

Line breaks

you write	renders as
A single newline here has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.	A single newline here has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
I can also use a tag, like this <br> to break the line.	I can also use a tag, like this to break the line.

Highlighting text

you write	renders as
I'm setting the background to a specific color, here #FAFAD2 which is a light yellow, and putting my word inside <span> tags, <span style="background:#FAFAD2">just like this.</span>	I'm setting the background to a specific color, here #FAFAD2 which is a light yellow, and putting my word inside <span> tags, just like this.

Headings

you write	renders as
= Heading 1 =
== Heading 2 ==
=== Heading 3 ===
==== Heading 4 ====
===== Heading 5 =====
====== Heading 6 ======

Quotes

you write	renders as
Normal text <blockquote> The '''blockquote''' tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. </blockquote> Normal text	Normal text The blockquote tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. Normal text

Links

you write	renders as
I'm reading an interesting [[book]].	I'm reading an interesting book.
The target is different than the pagename, so I put the text I'd like to use after a pipe, like this : the library is full of [[book|books]].	The target is different than the pagename, so I put the text I'd like to use after a pipe, like this : the library is full of books.
I want to link to the [[:Category:Assembly]]. Don't forget the ':' before 'Category', otherwise you're putting the page in this category instead of making a hyperlink.	I want to link to the Category:Assembly. Don't forget the ':' before 'Category', otherwise you're putting the page in this category instead of making a hyperlink.
I don't want the 'Category:' showing when I refer to the category [[:Category:Assembly|]], so I'm adding a pipe.	I don't want the 'Category:' showing when I refer to the category Assembly, so I'm adding a pipe.
I don't want to talk about [[:Category:Assembly|]], but about [[:Category:Assembly|assemblies]] so I put the text I'd like to use after a pipe.	I don't want to talk about Assembly, but about assemblies so I put the text I'd like to use after a pipe.

Lists

you write	renders as
* Item1 * Item2 * Item3 * Item4 ** Sub-item 4 a) *** Sub-item 4 a) 1. **** Sub-item 4 a) 1. i) **** Sub-item 4 a) 1. ii) ** Sub-item 4 b) * Item5	Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 Sub-item 4 a) Sub-item 4 a) 1. Sub-item 4 a) 1. i) Sub-item 4 a) 1. ii) Sub-item 4 b) Item5
# Item1 # Item2 # Item3 # Item4 ## Sub-item 1 ### Sub-sub-item #### Sub-sub-sub-item ## Sub-item 2 # Item5	Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 Sub-item 1 Sub-sub-item Sub-sub-sub-item Sub-item 2 Item5

Comments in the code

you write	renders as
<!--This is a comment-->
Here is me writing a text and then here<!--This is a comment--> I'm adding a comment in the wikitext, but you can't see it.	Here is me writing a text and then here I'm adding a comment in the wikitext, but you can't see it.

Escaping wikitext

you write	renders as
I want to write text as it shows in wikitext. For example, I want to explain how to write in bold, but if I use those symbols, it shows in bold. So I put my text inside nowiki tags, <nowiki>'''like this'''</nowiki>.	I want to write text as it shows in wikitext. For example, I want to explain how to write in bold, but if I use those symbols, it shows in bold. So I put my text inside nowiki tags, '''like this'''.

Colors

you write	renders as
Change the text color using this: <span style="color:#009999">This sentence has a cyan-colored text...</span>	This sentence has a cyan-colored text.
Change the background color using this: <span style="background:#00FF00">This sentence has a lime-colored background.</span>	This sentence has a lime-colored background.
Adjust both the text and background colors using this: <span style="color:#FFFFFF; background:#FF69B4">This sentence has white-colored text and a Hot Pink-colored background.</span>	This sentence has white-colored text and a Hot Pink-colored background.

The following sixteen named colors are defined by the HTML 4.01 specification:

Color	Hexadecimal	Color	Hexadecimal
black	#000000	silver	#c0c0c0
gray	#808080	white	#ffffff
maroon	#800000	red	#ff0000
purple	#800080	fuchsia	#ff00ff
green	#008000	lime	#00ff00
olive	#808000	yellow	#ffff00
navy	#000080	blue	#0000ff
teal	#008080	aqua	#00ffff

Tables

See Help: Advanced table features.
Zebra table : class="wikitable zebra"

Cite

To cite a reference, simply put it between <ref> tags, and add <references /> where you want your list of references to show.

How to edit a page

To edit a page, click on the 'edit' button on the top right.
If a page uses a form, it will open the editable form.
On those pages, using the 'edit source' button is not recommended because it doesn't show the form, only the raw code, which is harder to apprehend and an error is more likely to occur.

How to create a new template/table/category/form/query

coming soon...

Tips and tricks

Cargo queries

See Extension:Cargo/Common_problems

If the "where" clause contains something like _pageName = '{{PAGENAME}}', the query will break for pages that contain a single quote/apostrophe (') in their name. There are a few potential fixes for this: the easiest is to change the query to _pageID = {{PAGEID}}, which should always work. Another option is to change it to _pageName='{{#replace:{{PAGENAME}}|'|\'}}'. (You could also consider replacing the single quotes around {{PAGENAME}} with double quotes, but single quotes are generally preferred for SQL literals, plus this formulation will itself break if the page name contains double quotes.)

Didn't find what you were looking for?

You can always go to Help about MediaWiki.
There are also interesting informations on this blog, and For help about the database, go to Help about Cargo and Working with MediaWiki - Chapter 16 Cargo and Semantic MediaWiki.
Interesting informations can also be found on the dragon mania legend wiki. For help about the forms, go to Help about PageForm. Also, please feel free to edit our toolbox ! This is meant to be our collective way of finding solutions and help each other in this wiki adventure.

Known bugs

This wiki is a work in progress, so there's some things we still need to work around.
You will find current issues we're encountering on the page Known bugs.

FAQ

If you have any questions, please refer to our FAQ and edit it if needed.

Other interesting tools

Manual:FAQ
ISO 639 languages codes
editing the sidebar: Manual:Interface/Sidebar, Manual:Hook/SidebarBeforeOutput
Manual:Interface/IDs and classes
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility