Template:Flagg/doc

( flag g eneral) is a flag template with variable output format. Using Lua instead of the standard mechanism, it allows overriding the image name and link target, and works even if a country data template for an entity does not exist (without using any expensive functions).

The template is not intended to fully supersede any specific flag templates it can simulate (see below), but can be useful for formats for which no template exists, or if its additional options are needed. It can also be used to reduce post-expand include size of pages with lots of templates.

Parameters
Aliases (alternatives) for each parameter or value are given in square brackets.

Format (first unnamed parameter)
The first parameter is an alphabetic code specifying the output format. The first letter concerns the image, the second the separator, and the third the country name. The parameter is fully case-insensitive.

If any position in the parameter value is missing or has a character not corresponding to an option below, the options marked as default will be used; e.g. a first parameter equal to,   or   will be read as.

First letter: Image

Second letter: Separator

Third letter: Name

Some additional options can be enabled by appending the following letters to the three-letter code in any order:

Entity (second unnamed parameter)
The second parameter is the country or entity name. The template attempts to read the flag and link data from "Template:Country data country"; if that does not exist, the same parameter will be used as default country link and no automatic image will be displayed. The parameter also defines the default displayed country name, if the e option above is not used.

Image parameters

 * variant [third unnamed parameter]
 * Specifies a variant flag image, as defined and documented in each entity's data template. For example, uses the "naval" variant of Template:Country data Germany.


 * image
 * Custom image name, with or without the "File:" namespace prefix. Can be used if the wanted image is not available as variant for the entity (you can alternatively request it be added at the respective data template's talk page), or if no data template exists. Set to "none" ["blank", empty string] to use an unlinked transparent image (functionally identical to the x format).


 * size [sz]
 * Sets the image size; default is 23&times;15 pixels (larger for some entities). You can use an explicit size in pixels (e.g. 30x20px; the "px" suffix is optional) or one of the relative sizes "xs" (half the default dimensions), "s", "m", "l" and "xl" (twice the default size).


 * border
 * By default, the flag icon includes a border, except if it is disabled in the entity's country data template. border can be set to "yes" ["y", "1"] to force a border when excluded by default, or "no" ["n", "0", empty string] to prevent one.


 * align [al]
 * Set to "left" ["l"], "center" ["centre", "c", "middle", "m"] or "right" ["r"] to set the alignment of the image for the span box (s) and table cell (t) formats. For t, the default is center; for s, it is right-aligned if r is set, else left-aligned.


 * width [w]
 * Sets the width of the span box surrounding the image for the span box (s) format, in pixels, without the "px" suffix. The default is calculated by Module:Flaglist and depends on the image size.


 * alt
 * Sets alt text and mouseover text for the flag image, if it is for information rather than just decoration. If the wanted text is equal to the entity name, use the a option described above.


 * ilink
 * Overrides the link target of the image (only use if none of the image formats above allow linking to the desired page).


 * no
 * Displays a red link to the missing country data template instead of a placeholder image. If set to, no text will be displayed alongside the red link. Defaults to "yes" (no red link displayed).


 * category name
 * Adds the page to category name if the image if the country data is missing.

Text and link parameters

 * name
 * Changes the displayed country name. Note that with the f format, this includes the prefix and/or suffix.


 * clink [link]
 * Overwrites the link to the country article; this is also used to construct the prefix/suffix link for the f, p and b options.


 * pref, suff, plink
 * pref and suff set the prefix and suffix to use for the prefix/suffix links (format letters f, p and b). The default, if neither is specified, is "Flag of" as prefix (cf. flagof) and no suffix. plink can be used to override the combined link.


 * the
 * Set to "yes" ["y", "1"] to include the article "the" before the country name in the prefix/suffix links. Example: . Use pthe if the link needs "the" but the name doesn't, and nthe if the name needs it but the link doesn't.


 * section
 * Links to a section of the linked article without displaying the section name. If both a country link and a prefix/suffix link are used, use csection for a section of the country article, and psection for a section of the prefixed/suffixed article.


 * altvar [avar], age
 * Enables using one of a set of standard suffixes for linking to sports teams and militaries. The altvar and suffix data is loaded from Module:Flagg/Altvar data. The possible parameter values are the base names of the corresponding specialized templates; alias values from full sports names exist (see examples below and data page). For some entities this also changes the image to a variant specific to a sport or military branch; for example, uses the IRFU flag to represent the Irish rugby union team. For youth teams in some sports (see the data page), the age limit must be additionally set using age.


 * nalign [nal]
 * Sets the alignment of the text in table cell format (t). The default is left; the possible values are the same as for align.


 * preftext
 * Adds a text-only prefix that is not included in the link. This text is not affected by any option other than b for blanking text if no flag found. It will be separated from the link text by  unless the x or n separator options are specified (in which case it will use nothing or a line break, respectively).


 * text
 * Overrides the entire text; only use when necessary for any nonstandard formats. Alternatively, you can set the third letter of the format parameter to x (no text) and add custom text outside the template.


 * y
 * Overrides attempts to use the corresponding template, which is useful when the corresponding data template doesn't exist.


 * pref2, suff2, plink2, psection2
 * If the f extra is specified, and the prefix/suffixed article name being linked to doesn't exist, then use these parameters as an alternate prefix/suffix, and check if it exists as well. (If it still doesn't exist, then fall back to the non-prefixed/suffixed page as normal). This may be expensive, and the number of time it can be used on single page is limited.

Examples
Formats:
 * (default format)
 * (default format)
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;

Table format & alignment:

Standard image & name parameters:
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;

Links and altvars:

Non-existing data template:

Adding links to specialized country, state, etc. articles. With asterisk

 * See also: Help:Table#Adding links to specialized country, state, etc. articles. With asterisk. Section below copied from there. Please update here as changes are made there.

For example:
 * List of U.S. states and territories by incarceration and correctional supervision rate
 * List of countries by incarceration rate

Once you have a table with flaglist, and/or other flag template such as flag, it is easy to convert the links to specialized links. So instead of Oklahoma you would have Incarceration in Oklahoma, or if that article does not exist, then Crime in Oklahoma.

This works with full country or US state names. Also with abbreviated (3-letter) country names, and abbreviated (2-letter) US state names.

Use a global find-and-replace as previously described, but without regular expressions. Replace:


 * or

with

The bar after flag or flaglist is necessary to avoid problems in case you have to replace 2 flag templates.

The flagg template looks for the articles. If it finds one of the two choices it adds the link and an asterisk after the location name. If it does not find either article, it just adds the standard link.

Substitute your preferred topics in the pref= and pref2= spots.

usually left aligns the text of that column (due to the "t" at the end of the code). For some unknown reason that is not always true. In that case each cell in that column will need  in it. Or use the whole column code described here: and here: Table alignment. See example table.

Washington, D.C. - Have to force the full name to be shown:

This particular use of flagg parameters is expensive and can only be used on a few hundred links per article. Every time the article is saved it occurs, even for null edits. So only one big country table per article. Other country tables in the same article should use standard links.

In List of countries by incarceration rate the flagg template creates a link to Incarceration in United States. That link is a redirect to Incarceration in the United States. Add "the" as necessary to create redirect pages. Admins will delete redirects that are not linked from within Wikipedia. So if you need to create redirects be sure to use them right away in an article table. Or keep them in a sandbox that the admins can see until you use them in an article table. See examples. See list.

Flagg removes the names of the countries behind territories, subnational areas, etc.. This makes for more compact tables. Other flag templates (such as flaglist) do not do that. But that template can not create specialized country links.

See Global Search at Toolforge. Search for "{{flagg|us*eft" - in quotes. To get transclusion count and list of articles.

The flagg template does not work if colspan is used before the country/state name. {{tl|flag+link}} works. See: Template talk:Flagg. See section farther down for {{tl|flag+link}} info:.

Comparison with other templates
These "specialized" templates predate Flagg, and while most do not have options for custom links and images, they are probably faster because they only do two transclusions without invoking Lua.

Sports/military templates
The football templates are used as examples here; other sports that have separate templates work correspondingly.