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To add a category, click the "(+)" link at the end of the category line. This will open the [[#Input box|input box]] where you can enter a new category name.
==Advanced usage tips==
===Avoid auto saving===
Normally HotCat automatically saves your edit. However sometimes you might wish to go to the edit box instead to verify and then execute the save yourself. Instead of clicking OK, click OK while you have the modifier key pressed. On Windows computers this is the [[Control key|Ctrl key]], on Apple computers it should be the [[Command key|Command (⌘) key]].
=== Sort keys ===
You can even give a sort key together with the category. Just type a vertical bar ("|") after the category, followed by the sort key under which the page shall be sorted within that category's list.
* Input "Foo" will add a new category "Foo" without sort key, or change an existing category to "Foo", preserving the sort key.
* Input "Foo|Key" will add a new category "Foo" or change an existing category to "Foo", using the given sort key "Key" in both cases.
* Input "Foo|" (with a trailing vertical bar) will add a new category "Foo" without sort key, or change an existing category to "Foo", removing any sort key the changed category might have had.
Note that, to remove an existing sortkey, you should change "Foo|Key" to "Foo|". Changing it to "Foo" has no effect.
===Easy categorizing to child or parent categories===
Users who do a lot of category maintenance might want to enable the quick access links for categorizing to child or parent categories. To enable this add the following to [[Special:MyPage/skin.js|your javascript page]]:
<div style="margin-left:3em;">
<source lang="javascript">
window.hotcat_use_category_links = true;
</source>
</div>
(You may need to [[MediaWiki:Clearyourcache|make your browser re-load the JavaScript]] after the change.)
The following controls will be added:
* "(↓)" after a category: when clicked, the input field is opened, and a list of available subcategories is displayed.
* "(↑)" after a category: when clicked, the input field is opened, and a list of available parent categories is shown.
Note that the "(↓)" and "(↑)" links are shown only for existing categories. Red-linked categories, i.e. non-existing categories, can have neither parent nor subcategories, and thus showing these links wouldn't make sense. Also note that it is possible that only the input box is shown when these links are clicked, but no list. That indicates that this category does not have parent categories or subcategories, respectively. See also "[[#Search engines|Search engines]]" below.
=== Search engines ===
Between the suggestion list and the text input field, there is a search engine selector to select the search method which populates the suggestion list. HotCat supports a number of search engines.
The MediaWiki servers offer two general ways to search for categories. The first is through the page list of the wiki. This list is always up to date, but is strictly alphabetic and also case-sensitive, so "similar" suggestions (for instance, suggesting "[[:Category:Bláhnjúkur|Bláhnjúkur]]" when "Blahn" was entered) are not shown. The second search engine is the search ''index'' that is also used by the "search" box on all pages. It does find "similar" suggestions and is not case-sensitive, but as its index is updated only at intervals, it may not show newly created categories.
HotCat by default combines these two search engines to get the best of both worlds: similar suggestions ''and'' newly created categories. However, to do so, it must make two requests to the server. Normally, that's not a problem, but if it turns out to be too slow on a slow connection, you can use the engine selector to choose which search engine you want to use. It is also possible to [[#User configuration|configure]] which search engine HotCat should use by default.
In addition to these general searches, HotCat also provides two additional, more specialized search engines. A first one can be used to search for subcategories of the category given by the current input. A second one returns the parent categories of the category given by the current input. Both engines may return empty results, in which case no suggestion list is shown. (For instance, if the current input is a name of a non-existing category, or if a category has no subcategories). In this case, the search engine is automatically reset to the default search engine after the first non-deleting input.
Note that there is no way to "page" through a list of subcategories. The script just tries to get as many subcategories as it can (normally at most 500, the limits for administrators are somewhat higher). Subcategory queries can also be slow if a category contains many items (not just many subcategories), and the input field is made non-editable for the time of the request. If it doesn't become editable in reasonable time, just click cancel.
:<small>For the technically inclined: the problem is that subcategory continuation queries appear not to work in the MediaWiki API. On the (hidden) category [[:Category:Media with locations]], the API returns (with a limit of 5000) only the first 1540 subcategories of more than 4800 that exist, and continuation queries seem to return no further subcategories at all. Related bug reports on this are [[bugzilla:1211]] and [[bugzilla:23682]]. Until this is fixed, there will be no paging through subcategories in HotCat.</small>
===User configuration===
You can adapt many of the aspects of HotCat. Please see its full [[:commons:Help:Gadget-HotCat|documentation page on Wikimedia Commons]].
==History==
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