View source for How to write an article

This page describes how to write articles in this wiki, including content and style guides.

=Choosing a Topic=

You can write an article on any topic connected with OpenVMS. If you don't have ideas, browse our [[Special:WantedPages|wanted pages]] - these are pages that the existing articles have links to. A good topic is one you can write at least 500 words about.

=Starting=

If you have chosen one of the wanted pages or there is a red link to the topic of your choice elsewhere, click that link - you will be redirected to the editing area. Otherwise enter the topic of your choice into the search bar and hit enter - if there is no article with this name, there will be a red link leading you to the editing area. If there is already an article with this name, you can expand that article instead. In any case you need to be logged in to edit articles in this wiki. If you don't have login credentials, please contact training@vmssoftware.com for a registration.

=Style=

Please follow this style guide when writing your articles:

==Capitalization==
The title of the article and all of the subtitles should be capitalized: "Logical Names" is a good name, "logical names" is not.
The title of the article used in the beginning of the article also needs to be bolded:

 <big>Logical Names</big>
 '''Logical names''' are arbitrary strings...

Names of the OpenVMS utilities and files should be in uppercase: ADDUSER.COM, LGI_BRK_LIM, etc.

=Wiki Markup=

Use this quick guide below or [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting| this long guide] on the MediaWiki website.

=Bold/Italics/Underlined=
{| class="wikitable" width:"1200px;"
! scope='col'; |Effect
! scope='col'; |You enter
! scope='col'; |Result
|-
|bold
| <nowiki>
'''bold'''
 </nowiki>
|'''bold'''
|-
|italics
| <nowiki>
''italics''
 </nowiki>
|''italics''
|-
|bold and italics
| <nowiki>
'''''bold and italics'''''
 </nowiki>
|'''''bold and italics'''''
|-
|underlined
| <nowiki>
<u>underlined</u>
 </nowiki>
|<u><underlined</u>
|}

==Sections==
Use the following markup for sections:
 =Section=
 ==Subsection==
 ===Sub-subsection===

The collapsible Contents box is created automatically.

==Representing code==

To represent code, start each line with a whitespace or put it inside of a <nowiki></nowiki> tag (the tag lines should also start with a whitespace!)

 <nowiki>
$! test.com
$ write sys$output "Hello!"
 </nowiki>

==Collapsible Elements==

You can insert long command procedures without harming the structure or readability of your articles using collapsible elements:

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" data-expandtext="{{int:show}}" data-collapsetext="{{int:hide}}" style="width:800px; overflow:auto;">
Text that describes the collapsible element
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Contents of the collapsible element
</div>
</div>

To insert the element above, use the following code:
 <nowiki>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" data-expandtext="{{int:show}}" data-collapsetext="{{int:hide}}" style="width:800px; overflow:auto;">
Text that describes the collapsible element
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Contents of the collapsible element
</div>
</div>
 </nowiki>

==Tables==

[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Tables| Mediawiki manual on tables]

If you want to create a table with borders, use class="wikitable":

{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col'; | You enter
! scope='col'; | You get
|-
|
 <nowiki>
 {| class="wikitable"
 | your first column
 | your second column
 |-
 | row 1
 | row 1
 |-
 | row 2
 | row 2
 |} 
 </nowiki>
| 
{| class="wikitable"
| your first column
| your second column
|-
| row 1
| row 1
|-
| row 2
| row 2
|}
|}

If you want a table without borders, remove the class="wikitable" part.

If you want to emphasize the first row of the table (if it contains column title), use "! scope='col';" before the vertical bar in the title of each column:

{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col'; | You enter
! scope='col'; | You get
|-
|
 <nowiki>
 {| class="wikitable"
 ! scope='col'; | your first column
 ! scope='col';| your second column
 |-
 | row 1
 | row 1
 |-
 | row 2
 | row 2
 |} 
 </nowiki>
| 
{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col';| your first column
! scope='col';| your second column
|-
| row 1
| row 1
|-
| row 2
| row 2
|}
|}

If you want to merge cells, use the '''colspan''' and '''rowspan''' attributes:

{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col'; | You enter
! scope='col'; | You get
|-
|
 <nowiki>
 {| class="wikitable"
 ! scope='col'; | your first column
 ! scope='col';| your second column
 ! scope='col';| your third column
 |-
 | colspan="2;"| row 1
 | rowspan="3;"| row 1
 |-
 | row 2
 | row 2
 |} 
 </nowiki>
| 
{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col';| your first column
! scope='col';| your second column
! scope='col';| your third column
|-
| colspan="2;"| row 1
| rowspan="3;"| row 1
|-
| row 2
| row 2
|}
|}

You can change attributes of the entire table in the first row where class="wikitable" appears:

{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col'; | You enter
! scope='col'; | You get
|-
|
 <nowiki>
 {| class="wikitable" style="color:green; background-color:#ffffcc;" cellpadding="10"
 | your first column
 | your second column
 |-
 | row 1
 | row 1
 |-
 | row 2
 | row 2
 |} 
 </nowiki>
| 
{| class="wikitable" style="color:green; background-color:#ffffcc;" cellpadding="10"
| your first column
| your second column
|-
| row 1
| row 1
|-
| row 2
| row 2
|}
|}

You can also change attributes of a cell:

{| class="wikitable"
! scope='col'; | You enter
! scope='col'; | You get
|-
|
 <nowiki>
 {| class="wikitable" 
 | your first column
 | style="background-color:#ffffcc;"| your second column
 |-
 | row 1
 | row 1
 |-
 | row 2
 | row 2
 |} 
 </nowiki>
| 
{|
| your first column
| style="background-color:#ffffcc;"| your second column
|-
| row 1
| row 1
|-
| row 2
| row 2
|}
|}

The attributes that you can change include:
* '''float''':left/right and '''vertical-align''':top/bottom control where the table appears on the page (e.g. style="float:right;", style="vertical-align:bottom;")
* '''height''' controls the height of the table (e.g. style="height:50px";)
* '''width''' controls the width of the table (e.g. style="width:400px";)
* '''margin-left''' and '''margin-right''' control where the table appears on the screen (e.g. style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px;)
* '''text-align''':left/right/center controls how text is aligned (e.g. style="text-align:center;")
* '''color''' controls the color of the text (e.g. style="color:green")
* '''background-color''' controls the background color of the table (e.g. style="background-color:white;" style="background-color:#ffffcc;")
* '''font-style''' controls the font style (e.g. style="font-style:italic;")
* '''border-width''': controls border width (e.g. style="border-width:20px;")
* '''border-left/right/top/bottom''' control the border of each cell (e.g. "border-left:solid 10px black;")
* '''cellpadding''' controls how much space is left between the text and the border of the cell (e.g. cellpadding="10;")

Note that you only need to include the word "style" once: 

 style="color:green; background-color:#ffffcc;" cellpadding="10"

=Linking=

It is a good practice to point the readers to the relevant documentation using footnotes or the "See also" section. Use the following code to add links to the documentation:

{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col;" | For this document...
! scope="col;" | ...insert this code
|-
|
{{Template:DCLI}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:DCLI}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:DCLII}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:DCLII}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:SyservI}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:SyservI}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:SysmanI}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:SysmanI}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:SysmanII}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:SysmanII}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:Userman}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:Userman}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:UtilitiesI}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:UtilitiesI}}
 </nowiki>
|-
|
{{Template:UtilitiesII}}
| <nowiki>
{{Template:UtilitiesII}}
 </nowiki>
|}

For example:
 <nowiki>
=See also=
* {{Template:DCLI}}
* {{Template:SysmanI}}
 </nowiki>

=See also=
* {{Template:DCLI}}
* {{Template:SysmanI}}

=Categories=