Help talk:Automating the work list on composer pages

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Improvements to SortWorks function

Thank you for allowing multiple categories to be included. Is there a limit to how many categories can be included? Also, is there a way to exclude a category (for example, if I want to include Sacred music, but not Contrafacta)?
I have built several Composer pages using a dpl script that shows the year of publication (for example, William Billings, Daniel Read, Oliver Holden, Jacob French). Are you going to ask me to use SortWorks instead? If so, I would like to rearrange these pages by year. Thanks again — Barry Johnston (talk) 19:28, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

There is no limit to the number of categories that can be included (i.e., the limit is extremely large with respect to any practical usage).
The SortWorks function was originally conceived for composer pages that are simple enough, and that represent the large majority of the composer pages on ChoralWiki. With respect to DPL or other forms of work list automation, SortWorks has the advantage that it is less demanding in terms of server resources. This does not imply that SortWorks must be mandatorily used on all composer pages: if a small fraction of composer pages is automated using DPL or other forms of automation, the overall impact in terms of usage of server resources is small, and therefore the overall system efficiency remains good. Nevertheless, if you think that extending SortWorks with the possibility to exclude specific categories is best from a usability perspective, this can be certainly done. Max a.k.a. Choralia (talk) 06:01, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
Max, I've been using the new version on several of the bigger composer pages and it works very well, giving a much tidier feel to the page and, I suspect, making the page much less daunting to those new to the site. There have been one or two occasions where having the ability to exclude would have been useful, as Barry suggests, so if it can be done without a great effort, it would be a useful addition.Jamesgibb (talk) 10:14, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
James, as you and Claude have already converted to SortWorks some 2,000 composer pages, your opinion is by far the most significant. The function to exclude subcategories is now available, you have just to add a "!" character before the name of the category to be excluded. Nested usage is not supported, though. Max a.k.a. Choralia (talk) 10:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
I've tried it our on my composer page, (to avoid treading on any toes!) and it worked perfectly - not a surprise. I've now used it in earnest on the Charles Wood page, to ensure that a secular carol didn't have duplicate entries, but appeared only under Carols and not under Secular music. Very useful. Thanks, Max.Jamesgibb (talk) 15:08, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Sort key?

Thanks for pointing me here, James! I'm mildly dismayed that a recent edit made the Sweelinck Genevan Psalter section sort rather worse than before; I also note that Francesco_Soriano#Magnificats works around this by renaming the work pages. But is it really OK for to make titles fit SortWorks by adding stuff that conveys no additional info to a human reader? How does a work page editor know what the implications might be for composer pages, and maybe someday text pages, publication pages…. Richard Mix (talk) 20:36, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

I've added a remark on the help page about controlling the sort order using the standard MediaWiki functions. Max a.k.a. Choralia (talk) 12:33, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Composers with no works

Can #SortWorks: display the boilerplate text of Template:NoWorks when there is no other output? I noticed at Samuel Besler that NoWorks seems to override #SortWorks: Matthaeus Passion (Samuel Besler) only appeared immediately after I removed Template:NoWorks. Richard Mix (talk) 22:27, 17 August 2019 (UTC)

There are currently 59 composers using NoWorks; of them, eight have one work. On several that I checked, link to the work is shown on the composer's page, followed by the message from NoWorks. At least in those I checked, no override; not sure what happened with Samuel Besler? I will correct the others. But Richard is right, this should be automatic. — Barry Johnston (talk) 04:26, 18 August 2019 (UTC)
SortWorks only activates on pages that belong to the Composer category. For example, if it is added to the page of an unhosted composer, it is not activated at all because Composers and Composers (unhosted) are different categories (that is a little bit odd, as an unhosted composer should be also classified as a composer, IMO). When SortWorks is activated, the text displayed in the case no works exist is governed by this page. Choralia (talk) 14:10, 21 August 2019 (UTC)