Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser

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AutoWikiBrowser - 4.3.2.0

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General information about AutoWikiBrowser and directions for installation.

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Request approval to be added to the CheckPage to use AutoWikiBrowser.

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Discuss the application and ask questions.

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Report bugs in the application.

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Request new features to be implemented into AWB

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The full user manual.
Developer Talk Page · Typos · IW Order · User talk templates · Plugins · IRCMonitor · Projects which have used AWB · Changelog · AWB Sandbox · Settings · Custom Modules · WikiFunctions.dll · Custom style.css · Userbox · SVN Snapshots · Usage Stats
Archive
Archives
  1. January → February 2006
  2. February 2006
  3. February → April 2006
  4. April 2006
  5. April → May 2006
  6. June 2006
  7. June → July 2006
  8. July 2006
  9. August 2006
  10. September 2006
  11. October 2006
  12. October → November 2006
  13. December 2006
  14. January 2007
  15. February 2007
  16. March → May 2007
  17. June → November 2007
  18. December 2007 → March 2008
  19. April → May 2008
Index


Contents

[edit] Before you post

Do you want to ... Please use
Report a bug in AWB? Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs
Report an incorrectly fixed typo? Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos
Request a feature for the next version of AWB? Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Feature requests
Request approval to use AWB? Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage
Ask a question about AWB or ask for help? This page

[edit] Frequently asked questions

  • When I start it up I get one of the following errors:
    • "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.", or
    • "To run this application, you must first install one of the following versions of the .NET Framework..."
    This error means your computer does not have the .NET framework version 2 installed properly. You can choose from various versions for download here, or you can run Microsoft Update and select version 2 of the .Net framework from the "Optional Updates" section, if you want the choice made for you.
  • When I try to update to the new version 4.0, the updater freezes halfway through.
    There is a bug in the version 3.9 updater. If you encounter this problem, uninstall AWB, and then re-install the latest version from Sourceforge.
  • Does AWB run on Linux or Mac?
    Not yet.
    • A Wine bug on AWB has been filed
    • AWB does not yet start in Wine with Mono 1.9 or native Microsoft .NET 2.0. (Wine 0.9.59, AWB 4.3.1.0.)
    • Please note that problems with AWB on Wine/Mono or Wine/.NET are not reportable AWB bugs.
    A native version, PyAutoWikiBrowser (screenshots here), based on Python, is being developed for Unix-like systems.
  • Does AWB work on other projects/languages?
    Many WikiMedia projects and languages are supported, see the "User and project preferences" option in the general menu. Other languages will be added on request, though at the moment the interface is always in English. You are also able to use AWB with third-party wikis, if you go to the General menu and select "User and project preferences", you can change the wiki there. The wiki must support the Bot API required by AWB. This means that it should have latest HEAD version of MediaWiki or something close to that.
  • AWB puts stubs after categories, though categories are always renedred the last by MediaWiki?
    According to WP:STUB#Categorizing stubs, By convention this is placed at the end of the article, after the External links section, any navigation templates, and the category tags, so that the stub category will appear last. If your wiki uses other order, please let us know here.
  • I don't like or use Internet Explorer; please use Firefox instead.
    AWB does not use Internet Explorer per se. It does, however, use the same web browser control (MSHTML) as Internet Explorer; the equivalent Firefox component does not provide the needed functionality.
  • How do I open the page in another browser if I can't use the one in AWB?
    Right click on the edit box in the bottom right side of your screen. Select "Open page in browser"
  • How do I edit a page that doesn't exist?
    Uncheck "Ignore non existing pages" in the "Skip articles" box.
  • How do I skip certain articles?
    Use the "Skip if contains" and "Skip if doesn't contain" in the "(2) Set options" tab
  • Can't you leave up a "stable" version, so I don't have to download new versions?
    It is important to keep people up to date with the latest versions, because their use of the software doesn't just affect them, but the whole of Wikipedia. As any bugs that remain will be trivial, hopefully releases won't be too frequent.
  • How can I stop AWB clicking when it changes pages?
    This is a Windows sound theme setting. This page explains how to turn off the clicking sound.
    Alternatively, delete the following key from the Windows registry:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current
  • AWB randomly crashes upon page load on my system, and I always use a browser other than Internet Explorer when using Wikipedia.'
    You may have installed custom scripts incompatible with IE. Wrap the contents of your monobook.js into conditional:
               //Detect IE5.5+
               if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE")==-1)
               {
                   // Previous contents go here
                   ....
               }
  • I get Just In Time Debugger Messages when loading AWB/loading pages
    In Internet Explorer, go to Tools --> Options --> Advanced. Make sure 'Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)' and 'Disable Script Debugging (Other)' Are both checked. Press apply and close.

[edit] Problems with other software

  • Modified versions of monobook.js (e.g. to utilise popups, godmode-light etc.): AWB works, but page loading can be slow. Workaround is to disable Active Scripting in Internet Explorer - see AWB Tips and tricks for more information and workaround.
    • Bugs in monobook.js can cause AWB to crash or be unable to load pages. Use the same workaround, or refer to the answer in the FAQ above. If you've updated monobook.js and are experiencing problems, please verify the bug still occurs with a blank monobook.js before reporting it as an AWB bug.
  • Wikipedia Skins other than monobook: AWB might not work with other skins due to the skins having bugs.
  • NoScript (Firefox extension) or other XSS-related extensions: some features such as "Open text in browser" may not work correctly. Workaround for NoScript: Disable the "Sanitize cross-site suspicious requests" option.

[edit] Discussion

This talk page is automatically archived by MiszaBot I. Any sections older than 7 days are automatically archived to Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive 18. Sections without timestamps are not archived.

[edit] List maker

Okay, I can't figure this one out. How can you import a group of article into the list maker? I can export lists galore to edit out articles I don't want processed; but the only way I can get them back into the list is to take the list and upload it to my sandbox then I do the links on page option to grab the links and put them back in the list. There has to be a faster way to do this? Thanks for your time and for such a great program! §hep • ¡Talk to me! 00:28, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried the text file option? You need a text file with one article name per line. Rjwilmsi (talk) 07:42, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Or like * [[Link]] —Reedy 09:40, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
That's how I have the list exported is *[[Link]]. What do I need to do to upload that list or articles back into the list maker? §hep • ¡Talk to me! 16:31, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
God, I feel like an idiot. I must have looked over the "From text file" selection 100 times. Wow. Thanks for putting up with me. :) §hep • ¡Talk to me! 23:16, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Don't feel too bad. I thought it was broken the first time I used it, because I chose "from text file" and then no dialog box to choose the file came up. Never occurred to me to press "make list". Duh. :) --Fabrictramp | talk to me 23:31, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Ahhh well. If we made it popup automatically, i'd see 2 problems with that, 1, its out of the style of the way the others work, 2 people would get annoid if it kept popping up everytime you selected it, especially if it was accidental ;) —Reedy 10:03, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
No complaint with the way you implemented it. My only complaint is with my own brain. :) --Fabrictramp | talk to me 17:43, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
Was more of a funny aside :) —Reedy 22:48, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
Which means now I can complain about my glasses, because I totally missed your wink. :) --Fabrictramp | talk to me 15:33, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Unicode again

An editor says that the following substition is anti-useful:

please see this change here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bulgarian_language&diff=216614260&oldid=216480357 [...]as non-unicode-compatible computers can't read the symbol it substitutes.

I'm too busy to even think about this ATM, just out the door in a second. Comments?

Rich Farmbrough, 13:23 3 June 2008 (GMT).

[edit] Skipping

I have got the skip if only white space box ticked but my bot is still editing only white space in some of its edits. Also I dont know if this is mean to happen but while using the tagging feature it misses many articles that I personally think should be tagged with uncat e.t.c such as 14032_Mego. Or is it just that it doesn't tag pages this small? ·Ãḍď§ђɸŗЄ· Talk 19:15, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I have the same issues with the white space skipping. It doesn't work. §hep • ¡Talk to me! 19:23, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
I have looked through some of the edits it still made and they mainly seem to be edits that add white space just under headings. e.g. It will add white space under ==HEADER==. Hope this helps. --·Ãḍď§ђɸŗЄ· Talk 19:37, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs#White_space_bug - Its weird, as to do the compare, it first removes ALL whitespace between the original text and the curernt text to look if they are the same... —Reedy 19:50, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bot access

I have AWB access for my bot : User:TinucherianBot , but the AWB page for Bots configuration is uneditable now .. Why ? -- TinuCherian (Wanna Talk?) - 07:07, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

It is ok now, i had loaded my normal user settings -- TinuCherian (Wanna Talk?) - 07:08, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Auto-tagging

AWB adds stub tag "when appropriate". What exactly it means? Matma Rex (talk) 15:26, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Quick save

The manual says in the Section about bot options that there is a 'Quick save' check box. I am using SVN 2882 and I can't see it. Where is it? Lightmouse (talk) 10:53, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Its redundant and has been removed, also removed from user manual now. —Reedy 10:55, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Lightmouse (talk) 10:56, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

The screenshot needs removing or updating too. Lightmouse (talk) 10:57, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bystander bot switch off

I have seen things on other pages that allows bystanders to switch off the bot with just one click. For example see User:SmackBot. However, the code for that appears to be restricted to admins. Does anybody have any equivalent? Lightmouse (talk) 12:56, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Depends on the type of bot. That one blocks the bot, some have shutoff pages, but AWB, if you leave a message on the users page, they will be alerted that they have a message, and cant continue till its dealt with. —Reedy 15:14, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

The AWB 'stop on message' feature is good. But the shutoff button goes just that step further and allows a single click. I would like the code to do it. Lightmouse (talk) 15:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

The only "easy" way to do this, would be to have a page that has "true" if the bot is ok to run, of "false" if not, just i'd have to be checking the page at every page load.. —Reedy 15:47, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

That sounds like it would add a lot of time. I wonder how the admin only version Smackbot does it? Lightmouse (talk) 11:28, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] SourceForge Awards

Hey Guys, If you've got a sourceforge account (or, you could create one ;), please vote for AWB in some relevant categories - SF Project Page. Nomination link. —Reedy 15:16, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How is edit rate calculated?

The log time intervals do not appear to match the edit rate. How is edit rate counted? Lightmouse (talk) 11:34, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Codes not the simplest to follow. Every 60 seconds, it works out how many edits its done in the last minute (so its current edits per minute), and uses that for epm, so its not an average, just the last minute, it would seem. Looking at my bots contribs, i know it was doing 9-11 epm, and the contribs for that minute period, are about those values. Note, it wont be 00 --> 00, it might be 13 seconds to 13 seconds in the next minute.... Have you noticed a large discrepancy? —Reedy 12:46, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

It is approximately the same. It is just that I sometimes calculate it myself using the inverse of the inter-edit interval of the last two edits. I saw a 5 second interval and expected to see 12 edits per minute but it said 11 edit/min. I saw a 6 second interval and I expected to see 10 edit/min but it said 11. I was just curious about the mismatch.

The pedant in me would ask whether 'edits/min' should be changed to 'edit/min' to fit our mosnum style of keeping plurals out of abbreviations.

Using the inter-edit interval of two edits would give the peak value and would be the most rapidly changing rate. The method you describe is a 1 minute rolling average. I do not think there is a right or wrong method. It depends what the user wants to do with the information. Lightmouse (talk) 14:06, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I suppose, either way, its only to give the user a rough guide of whats going on... —Reedy 15:02, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. I can't think of a scenario where a faster rate is required. I just thought that perhaps it was inaccurate but clearly it is not. Thanks for telling me how it works. Lightmouse (talk) 15:08, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Can a wikipedia page request that AWB not fix it or warn AWB users?

A page I've worked on keeps getting mis-fixed by AWB due to a known bug (removing paragraph markers in block quotes). Can I put some sort of directive on the page to warn AWB users? Espertus (talk) 18:31, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Whats the page? As we can blacklist the page against general fixes... For the time being at least —Reedy 18:45, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for leaving that out. It's Stephen Donaldson (activist). Thanks. Espertus (talk) 21:19, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[1] —Reedy 21:27, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you think that it would be worth developing a solution whereby a piece of text could have 'no bot' or 'no AWB' section markers? A user has just asked on my talk page for a similar function. Although in this case, it is not an AWB bug but the solution could be similar. Lightmouse (talk) 16:14, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Date format in log window

Can the date format in the log window be made to show ISO 8601 format (2008-06-08) rather than slash format (08/06/2008)? Lightmouse (talk) 11:46, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

It just uses the Windows defaults, so it should be clear enough for every user. MaxSem(Han shot first!) 13:15, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Ah. I did not know that. I thought that it was the format chosen by a AWB developer. Thanks. Lightmouse (talk) 14:02, 8 June 2008 (UTC)