Template talk:Ent

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I think that if Jeff would know XML, he could simply create a new tag in the CSS itself, called <ent>. That would leave the question, what is easier to write - "{{ent|path_track}}" or "<ent path_track/>"? --Andreasen (talk) 10:21, 23 Sep 2007 (UTC)

Not much of a difference really...--Ts2do (talk) 12:06, 23 Sep 2007 (UTC)

The big difference would be if Valve allowed us to set the CSS on our user settings page. In that way Jeff would get his highlighting, while I could just read the ents as plain text, at the same time.  --Andreasen (talk) 12:11, 23 Sep 2007 (UTC)

Actually, as this template means that entities will always be linked to, Jeff is against it, as this is considered excess use of linking. Unless you can write [[{{ent|func_wholly}}]], XML tags seems like the only possibility (and don't consider writing a "{{nolinkent| }}", please). --Andreasen (talk) 20:27, 23 Sep 2007 (UTC)

One Template, two Purposes

If I may ask, why use this template for two completely different purposes? (1. a code-style link, 2. the first sentence for an entity page)
If we want to revolutionize {{Point ent}}, then I'd suggest doing the first step with a new template, and not with this simple template that is being used on nearly every page. Extending {{Ent}} for two distinct purposes makes it unnecessarily hard to find the pages that use {{Ent}} for just one of the two purposes. And honestly, isn't it annoying to write {{Ent|mode=entity|...}} every time? Why not make a new template? Template:Entity is still open. --Popcorn (talk) 20:52, 23 January 2023

We originally wanted to move {{Point ent}} to {{Ent}} when it was finished improvement. I think it's a good idea that making a new template on a new page. I will move the template later.
Before the mode has deprecated by all pages, we can't delete the code for compatibility. --1416006136 (talk) 01:03, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

Merge with Template:Command

Both this template and {{Command}} use almost the same exact code, it doesnt make sense for the same template to be duplicated. We should merge these into smth like {{Codelink}}, with a shortcut of {{Cl}}. --Equalizer5118 (talk) 16:07, 22 Mar 2024

You're right, i can help with moving. --NOUG4AT (talk) 16:55, 22 Mar 2024

Template:Ent/param2usecheck

Ok, that's clever to find where {{{2}}} is used. But why? --popcorn (talk) 02:30, 25 December 2024 (PST)

The plan is to use Ent template only for entities and nothing else so param 2 is unneeded. I just haven't got to actually editing all of it --Nescius (talk) 02:54, 25 December 2024 (PST)

Ah, {{cmd}} has been invented for that. Good to know. That change then must be reflected at Help:Templates. --popcorn (talk) 03:13, 25 December 2024 (PST)

Using in body of page for linking

Am I correct in assuming that the main purpose of the template is to automatically add per-Engine tabs (if configured), and link entities to categories (e. g. "Half-Life point entities", etc)? If so, then am I also correct in understanding that it's of little use other than for the primary subject of the page, and links inside regular paragraphs should just use regular wiki linking? I. e. if I'm talking about weapon_crowbar, I just use it, not weapon_crowbar, because what's the point of using the template specifically other than in the first line? Cvoxalury (talk) 17:01, 30 August 2025 (PDT)

This doesn't add any categories nor adds tabs. It makes links mono font and can use the game/engine param for making link that follows the format 'some_entity (Left 4 Dead 2)' for example. The doc pretty much says all it does. --Nescius (talk) 18:48, 30 August 2025 (PDT)

Alright, I misunderstood the engine part then (edit: I mistook it for "this is a" template, it was late...). But is there now a guideline in effect that says it should be used instead of just links? I noticed it for example can't do the thing wiki links can do where they can attach the "s" of plural forms automatically (like using weapon_crowbars: can't do it with weapon_crowbars). So I prefer to use just the links (plus, isn't it a bit faster on the CPU?) but I wanted to know if it's unwanted now for some reason, since I see a ton of pages use it constantly instead of simple links. Cvoxalury (talk) 01:09, 31 August 2025 (PDT)

The speed is negligible in this case as it's not used that many times per page (unless it's one of the pages that lists entities, when it comes to performance any templates used currently are not slowing down loading remotely close to what we lived with under uselang/autolang/multipage dark ages lel) and it's I guess good to have consistent formatting for entity links so I've been using it lot on those. Originally this template was used as just quick way to do link+code but the name didn't make sense so I added to doc it should be used only on entity links and removed it from bunch of links that were not entity links (still some to go). Also convenient to do the following [[prop_physics (Left 4 Dead 2)|prop_physics]] as {{ent|prop_physics|game=Left 4 Dead 2}} instead. --Nescius (talk) 07:54, 31 August 2025 (PDT)