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Maniphest T395480

Usability: Ability to apply functions directly on selected text
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Description

Ability to apply functions directly on selected text
Some participants demonstrated an intuitive expectation to apply functions by first selecting text within the article.

Recommendation
Goal: Align the function insertion workflow more closely with user expectations by enabling functions to be applied to pre-selected text in an article.

Ideas:
When a text is selected by an editor and a function is opened, automatically use the selected text as the input value especially for functions that accept only one input value such as conversion of miles to kilometers.

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectRepoBranchLines +/-
VE: selected text will be used as an input value to a function call when inputs = 1mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambdamaster+220 -11
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Event Timeline

gonyeahialam created this task.May 28 2025, 4:05 PM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptMay 28 2025, 4:05 PM
gonyeahialam triaged this task as Low priority.May 28 2025, 4:06 PM
DSantamaria removed a project: Epic.May 30 2025, 5:38 AM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from 25Q4 (Apr–Jun) to Product Backlog on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Jun 11 2025, 3:48 PM
Jdforrester-WMF edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team; removed: Abstract Wikipedia team (25Q4 (Apr–Jun)).
DSantamaria moved this task from Product Backlog to 26Q1 (Jul–Sep) on the Abstract Wikipedia team board.Jun 19 2025, 8:20 AM
DSantamaria edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)); removed: Abstract Wikipedia team.
DSantamaria edited parent tasks, added: T397411: If we address usability findings from the Dagbani community, editors will encounter fewer or zero critical usability issues during testing and we will see an increase in use of embedded Wikifunctions in wikis.; removed: T395472: If we address usability findings from the Dagbani community, editors will encounter fewer or zero critical usability issues during testing and we will see an increase in use of embedded Wikifunctions in wikis..Jul 14 2025, 2:17 PM
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Incoming to Ready on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.Jul 16 2025, 3:44 PM
gerritbot added a comment.Aug 22 2025, 12:44 PM

Change #1181126 had a related patch set uploaded (by Daphne Smit; author: Daphne Smit):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] VE: selected text will be used as an input value to a function call when inputs = 1

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1181126

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Aug 22 2025, 12:44 PM
Jdforrester-WMF changed the task status from Open to In Progress.Aug 25 2025, 5:57 PM
Jdforrester-WMF assigned this task to DSmit-WMF.
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Ready to In Engineering on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.
gengh subscribed.Sep 3 2025, 8:57 AM

The selected text is correctly used as input value, but when inserting the function, it's duplicated instead of being applied to the selected text:

selected-text-input-cal.gif (663×419 px, 460 KB)

gonyeahialam added a comment.Sep 3 2025, 9:43 AM
In T395480#11142727, @gengh wrote:

The selected text is correctly used as input value, but when inserting the function, it's duplicated instead of being applied to the selected text:

selected-text-input-cal.gif (663×419 px, 460 KB)

The challenge is that some functions like conversion functions need the output to be placed beside the input/selected text

DSmit-WMF added a comment.EditedSep 3 2025, 4:58 PM

I didnt get it technically to replace the text selected. I dont think that is possible, because when opening the function dropdown, the selectednode already loses focus. Maybe there is a way to store that and replace it , probably there is.

But: the editor will lose the double check if what he did with the input is ok. also there are use cases where you do not want to replace the text I think, like functions adding units or so.

DSmit-WMF moved this task from In Engineering to In Code review on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.Sep 8 2025, 1:26 PM
DSmit-WMF moved this task from In Code review to In Engineering on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.Sep 25 2025, 3:37 PM
DSmit-WMF moved this task from In Engineering to Ready on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)) board.
DSantamaria edited parent tasks, added: T404099: Usability findings (part 2) from the Dagbani community; removed: T397411: If we address usability findings from the Dagbani community, editors will encounter fewer or zero critical usability issues during testing and we will see an increase in use of embedded Wikifunctions in wikis..Sep 30 2025, 3:14 PM
DSantamaria edited projects, added: Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)); removed: Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q1 (Jul–Sep)).
Jdforrester-WMF moved this task from Incoming to In Engineering on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)) board.Oct 16 2025, 2:08 PM
DSmit-WMF moved this task from In Engineering to Ready on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)) board.Nov 13 2025, 3:15 PM
DSantamaria changed the task status from In Progress to Open.Nov 13 2025, 4:37 PM
DSmit-WMF changed the task status from Open to In Progress.Nov 21 2025, 10:56 AM
DSmit-WMF moved this task from Ready to In Code review on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)) board.
gerritbot added a comment.Dec 9 2025, 9:40 AM

Change #1181126 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda@master] VE: selected text will be used as an input value to a function call when inputs = 1

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1181126

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Dec 9 2025, 10:31 AM
ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.46-notes (1.46.0-wmf.7; 2025-12-16).Dec 9 2025, 11:00 AM
DSmit-WMF moved this task from In Code review to Ready to deploy on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)) board.Dec 9 2025, 11:23 AM
DSantamaria moved this task from Ready to deploy to Needs Sign-off on the Abstract Wikipedia team (26Q2 (Oct–Dec)) board.Dec 19 2025, 8:26 AM
DSmit-WMF closed this task as Resolved.Dec 19 2025, 10:46 AM
So9q subscribed.EditedDec 19 2025, 10:16 PM
In T395480#11144843, @DSmit-WMF wrote:

I didnt get it technically to replace the text selected. I dont think that is possible, because when opening the function dropdown, the selectednode already loses focus. Maybe there is a way to store that and replace it , probably there is.

But: the editor will lose the double check if what he did with the input is ok. also there are use cases where you do not want to replace the text I think, like functions adding units or so.

I agree, this is fine. Thanks!

DSmit-WMF added a comment.Jan 6 2026, 9:58 AM

I managed to make that work aswell. I think its already deployed even!

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