Editing User:ArchiveBot

{{Bot|Shane|active}}
Hello. I am the '''ArchiveBot''' that makes archives for various talk pages and other pages. I am built using the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywikipediabot/ pywikipediabot] Python code. Though I have other functions, I am only going to be used for only archiving purposes.  [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Archivebot.py Archivebot.py] is the primary file that I use.

== How to set up archiving? ==

Put the following template on the top of the page that you want automatically archived:

<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
|algo = old(...)
|archive = Name of archive page
 [ other parameters - read below ]
}}
</nowiki></pre>

=== Quick examples ===

==== Example 1 - Static archive ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
|algo = old(7d)
|archive = User talk:Example/Archives
}}
</nowiki></pre>

This setup archives threads from <code>User talk:Example</code> to <code>User talk:Example/Archive</code> after they are 7 days old (counting from newest timestamp). The archive '''will grow indefinitely'''. Probably not a very useful config (unless for sending threads to a periodically cleaned trash bin), but it's easiest, so I'm mentioning it first.

==== Example 2 - Incremental archives ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
|maxarchivesize = 250K
|counter = 1
|algo = old(5d)
|archive = User talk:Example/Archive%(counter)d
}}
</nowiki></pre>

This tells me to archive threads from <code>User talk:Example</code> to <code>User talk:Example/Archive3</code> (more about variables [[#Variables|below]]) until it fills up to 250 kilobytes, whereupon I will move to 4 (updating the counter when saving page). Remember to '''specify the maximum size''' of an archive, or I will behave pretty much like in the first example.

==== Example 3 - Date-based archives ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
|algo = old(5d)
|archive = User talk:Example/Archives/%(year)d/%(monthname)s
}}
</nowiki></pre>

In this configuration, threads older than 5 days will land in archives depending on their date (that is newest timestamp). You can read about other variables [[#Variables|below]].

==== Other things to add ====
Add the {{tl|ArchiveTOC}} template underneath this template so people can get to the archives faster. Archive Index's is something you add to the primary page.

=== Parameters explained ===

{| class = "messagebox"
! Parameter || Meaning
|-
| <tt>archive</tt> || Name of the page to which archived threads will be put. Supports [[#Variables|variables]].
|-
| <tt>algo</tt> || Algorithm that instructs the bot how to decide whether to archive a thread or not. Complex formulas (including regex matching) will be available in the future, but so far it '''must''' be of the form '''<tt>old(...)</tt>''' where '''...''' specifies the maximum age of a thread (in hours or days: ''24h'', ''72h'', ''5d'', ''21d'' etc.)
|-
| <tt>counter</tt> || The current value of the counter. If the <tt>%(counter)d</tt> variable is not used, it is ignored. Bot will update this parameter as necessary.
|-
| <tt>minthreadsleft</tt> || The minimum number of threads that should be left on a page (to prevent pages from getting completely harvested). Default value: 1
 |-
 | <tt>minthreadstoarchive</tt> || The minimum number of threads to archive at one time (lowers edit frequency by refusing to act when only few threads would be archived). Default value: 1
|-
| <tt>maxarchivesize</tt> || Specifies the maximum archive size before incrementing the counter. Ignored if counter is not used.
|-
 | <tt>archiveheader</tt> || Content that will be put on new archive pages as the header. Supports [[#Variables|variables]]. '''Cannot''' be multiline (use a template like {{tl|archive-message}}).
|-
| <tt>index</tt> || Creates an index of all the archives for the current page. This must equal '''Y''' to work.
|}

=== Variables ===

{| class = "messagebox"
 ! Variable... || ...expands to...
 |-
 | <tt>%(counter)d</tt> || the current value of the <tt>counter</tt>
 |-
 | <tt>%(year)d</tt> || year of the thread being archived
 |-
 | <tt>%(month)d</tt> || month (as a number 1-12) of the thread being archived
 |-
 | <tt>%(monthname)s</tt> || English name of the month above
 |-
 | <tt>%(monthnameshort)s</tt> || first three letters of the name above
 |}
= When a new archive is created =
When a new archive is created, the bot will automaticly add {{tl|archive-message}} to the top. Depending on the type of archive it is creating, the fields will be filled out. As of December 19, 2007, it will only fill out the next archive number.

= See Also =
* [[:Category:Automatically archived pages]]