Sub-reference support in VE
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Description

T100645 proposes a way to make it easier for readers and editors to understand the sources used in articles by creating a way to refer to different pages of the same work when adding references to an article. The implementation of the above will affect the experience of contributors editing using the VisualEditor. This task is about defining what the experience for contributors editing in VE will need to be before the first version of the new sub-referencing feature is deployed. (This project is somewhat unique in so far it introduces new functionality by way of new wikitext syntax which cannot be "rolled back" thus the need for the above "Requirements" to be met before anything is deployed.)

Requirements

Work with references unchanged:
- [A user can create, edit and delete a reference that can be reused i.e. name a reference and edit its name.]
- A user can create, edit and delete a child reference i.e. reuse a reference.
Differentiation between reference and extensions:
- As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, it should be clear you are editing a reference that has a relationship to other reference(s)
- As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, it should be clear to you what reference said sub-reference relates to.
- As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, you should not be able to accidentally "orphan" sub-references by deleting their parent reference
- As someone editing in VE, you should not be able to mistakenly break/delete parent references by attempting to edit the contents of a sub-reference or change their group
Display sub-references as in frontend:
- An article's sub-references should appear to VE users the same way they appear to users viewing that article's sub-references in read mode.

Incremental implementation

Display sub-reference in relation to parent (similar to frontend) in VE: T247921: Ensure subreferences displayed in VE are visually consistent with read mode
Display full reference in popup dialog in VE (see also T239228: Make the ReferencePreviews feature compatible with sub-references (Cite Extends))
Add info about related references in edit dialog: T247924: Display notice that a parent reference has subreferences in VE pop up and T247922: Display parent references of subreferences in the VE pop up and wizard
Display sub-reference in relation to parent (similar to frontend) in re-use dialog
UX needed: Add options to create new sub-references in VE (edit dialog, re-use dialog)
UX needed: Find solution for deletion of parents (display warning, forbid deleting, move to reflist, etc.) See T247925: Find solution to avoid "orphaning" a subreference when a parent reference is deleted in VE.
UX needed: Find solution for group handling (can sub-references have groups independent of parent? How to handle changes?) See also T247929: Find solution to avoid mistakenly breaking link between parent and subreference in VE.

Related Objects
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Status	Subtype	Assigned	Task
Open		None	T245299 Sub-reference support in VE
Open		None	T247921 Ensure subreferences displayed in VE are visually consistent with read mode
Open		None	T368264 Support editing a subreference from the VE reflist
Resolved		None	T369613 Need an internal version of `convertNumber` to produce numbers in the content language
Resolved		None	T371032 Edge case: Fix subref numbering when subref appears before its parent and before other top-level refs
Resolved		None	T247922 Display parent references of subreferences in the VE pop up and wizard
Open	BUG REPORT	None	T369801 VE doesn't show parent reference on a subreference that is a reuse by name
Open		awight	T370883 Investigation: Parsoid support for subrefs
Open		None	T247924 Display notice that a parent reference has subreferences in VE pop up
Open		None	T247925 Find solution to avoid "orphaning" a subreference when a parent reference is deleted in VE
Open		None	T372372 Investigate how many reflists are produced by templates
Resolved		None	T372871 Continue to render subrefs in VE as such when parent is (temporarily) missing
Duplicate		None	T372428 Orphaned sub-references should be presented as in reading mode
Resolved		Tobi_WMDE_SW	T373854 [Tests] Create QUnit tests that cover MWGroupReferences
Open		None	T247929 Find solution to avoid mistakenly breaking link between parent and subreference in VE
Open		None	T370870 Prevent changing ref group for parent and sub refs
Resolved		awight	T334072 Investigation "extends attribute": Review VE gaps in implementation and resulting problems

Event Timeline

ppelberg created this task.Feb 14 2020, 8:15 PM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptFeb 14 2020, 8:15 PM

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Feb 14 2020, 8:16 PM

ppelberg edited projects, added Editing-team; removed Editing-team (Q3 2019-2020 Kanban Board).Feb 14 2020, 8:22 PM

ppelberg edited projects, added Editing-team (Tracking); removed Editing-team.

ppelberg moved this task from Backlog to Dependent on others on the Editing-team (Tracking) board.

Adding Editing Design so @iamjessklein can review ahead of tomorrow's meeting.

ppelberg assigned this task to • iamjessklein.Feb 26 2020, 5:36 PM

ppelberg set Due Date to Feb 27 2020, 1:00 AM.

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Feb 26 2020, 11:38 PM

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Feb 27 2020, 4:23 PM

Update: 3-March

Below are notes and actions items from our 27-February meeting with WMDE.

I am removing the "⚠️ Please note: the requirements in this section are not finalized." disclaimer from the "Requirements" section of the task description considering we (WMDE Editing) finalized these requirements when we met last week.

"Requirements" discussion notes

WMDE and Editing agreed the requirements listed in the task description will be met before the sub-references feature is rolled out on any production wikis (approx. timing: mid-April) with one exception (see below).
While WMDE and Editing agree with this requirement – As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, you should not be able to accidentally "orphan" sub-references by deleting their parent reference – we did not determine an approach for the initial user experience we think will fulfill this requirement.

Next steps as it relates to "Requirements"

WMDE to explore and share potential user experiences for fulfilling the requirement mentioned in the discussion notes above: As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, you should not be able to accidentally "orphan" sub-references by deleting their parent reference
- One idea that was discussed: show a hint in the reference pop-up that alerts contributors that other (read: sub-references) depend on the reference (read: parent reference) they are editing.

ppelberg removed • iamjessklein as the assignee of this task.Mar 4 2020, 2:44 AM

ppelberg removed a project: Editing Design.

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)

ppelberg added subscribers: thiemowmde, Lena_WMDE.

ppelberg assigned this task to Lena_WMDE.Mar 4 2020, 3:15 PM

hey – @Lena_WMDE, I'm boldly assigning this task over to you based on the outcomes of our meeting last week (see below).

Although, if you did not expect this, please let me know and we can figure who this task's proper owner is for now.

In T245299#5939925, @ppelberg wrote:

Update: 3-March

Next steps as it relates to "Requirements"

WMDE to explore and share potential user experiences for fulfilling the requirement mentioned in the discussion notes above: As someone editing a sub-reference in VE, you should not be able to accidentally "orphan" sub-references by deleting their parent reference

One idea that was discussed: show a hint in the reference pop-up that alerts contributors that other (read: sub-references) depend on the reference (read: parent reference) they are editing.

Lena_WMDE added a project: Cite-Extends.Mar 11 2020, 12:48 PM

Lena_WMDE moved this task from Backlog to Default version backlog on the Cite-Extends board.Mar 18 2020, 7:36 AM

Lena_WMDE added a subtask: T247921: Ensure subreferences displayed in VE are visually consistent with read mode.Mar 18 2020, 8:02 AM

Lena_WMDE added a subtask: T247922: Display parent references of subreferences in the VE pop up and wizard.Mar 18 2020, 8:12 AM

Lena_WMDE added a subtask: T247924: Display notice that a parent reference has subreferences in VE pop up.Mar 18 2020, 8:22 AM

Lena_WMDE added a subtask: T247925: Find solution to avoid "orphaning" a subreference when a parent reference is deleted in VE.Mar 18 2020, 8:31 AM

Lena_WMDE added a subtask: T247929: Find solution to avoid mistakenly breaking link between parent and subreference in VE.Mar 18 2020, 8:49 AM

Dzahn mentioned this in T249807: Weekly phabricator-reports mail: List open tasks with a Due Date in the past.Apr 10 2020, 1:08 PM

@ppelberg, @Lena_WMDE: The Due Date set for this open task is three months ago. Can you please either update or reset the Due Date (by clicking Edit Task), or set the status of this task to resolved in case this task is done? Thanks!

In T245299#6181053, @Aklapper wrote:

@ppelberg, @Lena_WMDE: The Due Date set for this open task is three months ago. Can you please either update or reset the Due Date (by clicking Edit Task), or set the status of this task to resolved in case this task is done? Thanks!