Wikivoyage:AutoWikiBrowser

AutoWikiBrowser (often abbreviated as AWB) is a semi-automated MediaWiki editor for Windows XP and later, designed to make tedious repetitive tasks quicker and easier. Using AWB requires that each change be manually reviewed before it is saved, and (if necessary) corrections be made manually, to ensure that the edit is accurate. See w:WP:AWB for a user manual and further details.

Usage

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The following steps allow use of AWB on a Windows machine. The configuration step is required in order to load rules and settings that are appropriate for Wikivoyage.

Install AWB

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  1. Download the latest version of AWB from https://sourceforge.net/projects/autowikibrowser/
  2. Unzip the downloaded file onto your machine.
  3. From the unzipped download folder, double click on the AutoWikiBrowser.exe file to execute AWB.

Configure AWB

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Configuration of AWB requires setting the software to use your login for editing and loading a set of standard AWB settings that have been customized for Wikivoyage. See w:WP:AWB for detailed documentation.

  1. Configure AWB for Wikivoyage. From the AWB interface select Options Preferences Site Project Wikivoyage.
  2. Set up your login: From the AWB interface select File Log in/Profiles Add Login. Enter your username and password so that all edits will be made under your Wikivoyage account.
  3. Load settings appropriate for Wikivoyage. This step requires downloading a settings file that has been customized for Wikivoyage, and then telling AWB to use that file.
    1. Download one of the following files (if your browser tries to open the file instead of downloading it, right click on the file name and choose "Save as"). Note that these files are hosted externally because the XML files cannot be uploaded and hosted on MediaWiki sites:
      Rule FileDescription
      wikivoyage-settings-basic.xml This file implements settings and rules customized for Wikivoyage. It does not include rules that are more likely to produce false positives, and thus is good for editors who are getting started with AWB. In addition to the standard fixes implemented by AWB, custom changes implemented by this rule set include:
      • Updating article headings to match WV:Article skeleton templates ("Getting in" --> "Get in", etc)
      • Removal of empty listing tags.
      • Converting external links to interwiki links.
      • Conversion of footnote to frontlinks (Name of Place [http://www.example.com] --> [http://www.example.com Name of Place])
      • Formatting of time values per WV:Time and date formats
      • Ensuring that listing tags are appropriate for the article section (only "eat" tags should be used in "Eat" sections, etc)
      • Formatting listing tag parameters so that they are organized in the same order as produced by the listing editor, removal of invalid empty listing parameters, and addition of missing standard listing parameters.
      • Cleanup of listing phone numbers to match WV:Phone numbers.
      • Fixes to invalid listing email and URL parameters.
      wikivoyage-settings-advanced.xml This file implements all of same rules as the wikivoyage-settings-basic.xml file, and also adds additional cleanups that are more likely to generate false positives. Use of this rules file will require more manual editing and should only be used by those who are comfortable with AWB. In addition to the basic rules, changes implemented by this rule set include:
    2. In AWB, go to File Login/Profiles.
    3. Select your Wikivoyage login (created in step #2 above) and click "Edit".
    4. Check the box for "Select default settings?" and then click browse and select the new Wikivoyage AWB settings file that you have just downloaded (step #1 above).
    5. Click "OK".
    6. AWB will now be running with settings customized for Wikivoyage, and will re-load these settings each time you login.

Run AWB

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To run AWB you must first create a list of articles to be edited. AWB will then retrieve the contents of each article and present you with a diff of proposed fixes (if any fixes need to be made).

  1. Go to the "Source" box in AWB and type in the name of the article to edit and click "+" OR generate a list of articles using the "Make list" options.
  2. Scroll across the tabs ("Options", "More", "Disambig", ...) to the "Start" tab and click the "Start" button. AWB will download the contents of the first article specified in the "Source" box, edit the article by applying all rules, and will display a diff showing any cleanups to be made.
  3. Review the diff of proposed changes. AWB makes mistakes, and it is up to you to review proposed changes and correct any errors before saving. Manual changes can be made by editing the content in the "Edit box" tab (if you click on any text in the "diff" box, the "Edit" box will automatically scroll to the location of that text) or by double-clicking on a section of the diff, which will restore that text. In addition, you can click the "Diff" button in the toolbar to refresh the diff viewer to show the AWB changes along with any updates you have made. If you need to start over from scratch, simply click "Start" again to re-run AWB on the article.
  4. After reviewing the diff click "Save" to save the changes. The changes will be saved to Wikivoyage and you will see the edit in the article's history. If you do not want to save your changes, select "Skip" to move to the next article.

See also

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