From The TV IV

With the cast table, I've seen that it can be a problem to deal with since the duration can last from 1 to 30 or more. So, here's my proposal for it. I made {{User:Joltman/Casttable-start}} which takes a number for a parameter. That number would be the number of seasons being shown in the duration, for example, if the show went for 12 seasons, it would be {{User:Joltman/Casttable-start|12}} What that would do is put the colspan of Duration at 15 and the colspan of billed cast at 17 (15 + 2). Then, for the rows, here's my thought. Instead of incorporating the duration into the lt/dk templates, leave them out and use regular wiki code to do them. I'm sure if I show you, it'll make more sense:

{{User:Joltman/Casttable-start|15}}
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-lt|Show|Person|Character}} 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15
|}

Produces:

Actor	Character	Duration
Billed Cast
Person	Character	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15

If used with the current cast table templates, the code would look like this:

{{Casttable-start}}
{{Casttable-ltna|Show|Person|Character|1|2|3|4|5}} || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15
|}

And the output would look like this:

Actor	Character
Person	1	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15

Also, I combined the lt and ltna together, so if you put a fourth variable, you get an alternate, but if you don't it uses the third variable. Example: {{User:Joltman/Casttable-lt|Show|Person|Character}} Shows up as

Actor	Character
Person	Character

While {{User:Joltman/Casttable-lt|Show|Person|Character|Character (alt)}} Shows up as

Actor	Character
Person	Character (alt)

Can you tell I've been waiting for ParserFunction? :) Joltman 09:29, 30 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Discussion

I like it, but we need some sort of migration path since this changes existing templates in an incompatible way. —Naddy 11:36, 30 January 2007 (EST)

Yea, that's something I thought about, but there's only about 130 shows using it right now, so I don't think that it would be that bad to just put the new template in place and go through and fix all the pages. Joltman 11:54, 30 January 2007 (EST)

BTW, I just also made it so that if the number isn't present Duration will not be in the header. I think that will be good for films and specials, where a duration is not need. Joltman 12:06, 30 January 2007 (EST)

[edit] Implemented

I implemented the new cast table scheme. It is slightly different than it was and what you suggested. Here is how to use it:

{{casttable-start|2}}
{{casttable-billed|2}}
{{casttable-lt|SHOW|ACTOR|CHARACTER}} || 1 || 2
{{casttable-dk|SHOW|ACTOR|CHARACTER|MR. CHARACTER}} || 1 || 2
{{casttable-ltnl|SHOW|ACTOR|Host}} || 1 || 2
{{casttable-supporting|2}}
{{casttable-lt|SHOW|ACTOR|CHARACTER|MRS. CHARACTER}} || 1 || 2
{{casttable-dk|SHOW|ACTOR|CHARACTER}} || 1 || 2
|}

resulting in this:

Actor	Character	Duration
Billed Cast
ACTOR	CHARACTER	1	2
ACTOR	MR. CHARACTER	1	2
ACTOR	Host	1	2
Supporting/Recurring Cast
ACTOR	MRS. CHARACTER	1	2
ACTOR	CHARACTER	1	2

I separated the "Billed Cast" header from the table header. I did this because, especially with older shows, it is difficult to determine who was billed. For those shows {{casttable-main}} will result in "Main Cast". I combined lt/ltna and dk/dkna. I added ltnl and dknl for when it doesn't make sense for the role to be linked, such as a host.

I fixed all pages that were using the templates so everything should be ready to go. If I screwed up or missed anything, let me know. DCEdwards1966 | Talk 02:17, 1 February 2007 (EST)

I also created {{casttable-legend}} and {{red}} to help standardize the was we handle actors billed in one season and recurring/guesting in another. DCEdwards1966 | Talk 02:30, 1 February 2007 (EST)

Looks good. One thing I've thought about before regarding the recurring/billed people, is that I don't think it should be red, because it looks like a redlink. Maybe it's just me, and it's not that big of a deal, but I thought maybe putting it in parenthesis or something.

BTW, I was just about to suggest something else, but looking at the template you already did it! If you leave out the actor or character, they won't be shown, so the template can be used with one character with multiple actors and one actor with multiple characters. Nice! -Joltman 06:43, 1 February 2007 (EST)

OK, so I should have thought about this before, but I have a couple more ideas now. These mostly stem from the programmer in me who wants to consolidate anything possible. First, instead of casttable-lt and casttable-dk, what if there was one, casttable-row, where the first variable was either lt or dk? Then, there's only one template to keep track of instead of two. Also, instead of casttable-billed, casttable-mean and casttable-supporting, how about one called casttable-head that takes an argument of billed, main or supporting and prints the appropriate stuff. Here's examples:

Here's how to do it now:

{{casttable-start|2}}
{{Casttable-billed|2}}
{{Casttable-lt|Show|Actor|Character}} || 1 || 2
{{Casttable-dk|Show|Actor|Character}} || 1 || 2
{{Casttable-supporting|2}}
{{Casttable-lt|Show|Actor|Character|Alt Character}} || 1 || 2
{{Casttable-dk|Show|Actor|}} || 1 || 2
|}

And here's my way:

{{casttable-start|2}}
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-head|billed|2}}
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-row|lt|Show|Actor|Character}} || 1 || 2
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-row|dk|Show|Actor|Character}} || 1 || 2
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-head|supporting|2}}
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-row|lt|Show|Actor|Character|Alt Character}} || 1 || 2
{{User:Joltman/Casttable-row|dk|Show|Actor|}} || 1 || 2
|}

Produces this:

Actor	Character	Duration
Billed Cast
Actor	Character	1	2
Actor	Character	1	2
Supporting/Recurring Cast
Actor	Alt Character	1	2
Actor		1	2

This is really for a more efficient code, and less places with duplicate code. Again, it's just the programmer in me :) Let me know what you think. -Joltman 07:51, 1 February 2007 (EST)

How do we reconcile the issues stemming from actors who play multiple characters, or characters with multiple actors? Generally the preferred method is to have the actor or character span multiple rows so that whichever is less will be centered. Additionally, what about notes that are put at the bottom of cast tables explaining symbols or the red numbers? Both examples are used in the table on Angel. But this is a good start. I haven't liked using the cast table templates we've had in place because of their static number of seasons. --IndieRockLance 11:49, 1 February 2007 (EST)

I created a template called {{casttable-legend}} which produces the "season numbers in red..." text. I also created a template called {{Red}} so people don't have to remember the HTML to change the text color. We might want to rename it to something else in case we decide to indicate the recurring seasons in a different manner. DCEdwards1966 | Talk 12:26, 1 February 2007 (EST)

As far as multiple actors/role and multiple roles/actor, it can be done like this:

Actor	Character	Duration
Billed Cast
Actor 1	Character 1	1	2
	Character 2	1	2
	Character 3	1	2
Actor 2	Character	1	2
Supporting/Recurring Cast
Actor 3	Character	1	2
Actor 4		1	2
Actor 5	Character	1	2

This isn't the method that you were talking about, but it was easily implemented with the templates we have. DCEdwards1966 | Talk 12:26, 1 February 2007 (EST)

I can understand the attraction of factoring things out, but the result is less compact and arguably more complicated. I'm happy with the current {{casttable-lt}} and friends. Now, if only we had some magic to automatically color in alternating rows... —Naddy 12:09, 1 February 2007 (EST)