Mediawiki-api-announce

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143 discussions

BREAKING CHANGE: API help and pretty-printed output formatting changes
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 14 Oct '14

14 Oct '14

Legoktm has just merged Gerrit change 160798,[1] Gerrit change 161093,[2] Gerrit change 160819,[3] and a few associated patches. Collectively, these make the following changes to the human-readable aspects of the API output, which will be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.25wmf4 (see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.25/Roadmap for the schedule). * action=help now outputs a nice HTML page instead of a plain-text document wrapped in XML. * Hitting api.php with no parameters will display help for the main module only, with links to each submodule. One of the examples provided shows how to get everything on one page as with the old help. * The default for the 'format' parameter is now jsonfm rather than xmlfm. * Syntax highlighting for format=jsonfm and format=xmlfm now uses Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi rather than ad-hoc code that only worked right for xmlfm. Other formats are not highlighted. The patches also change the aspects of action=paraminfo that return help-related information: * Module description is no longer returned by default; a new parameter selects html, wikitext, or raw Message data. * The 'examples' result property is now an array rather than a string. * The 'allexamples' result property has been removed. * Parameter descriptions are no longer returned by default; a new parameter selects html, wikitext, or raw Message data. Machine-readable parameter info remains available. The impact of these changes on existing bots and scripts is expected to be minimal, as non-human consumption is likely to be limited to ApiSandbox. [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/160798 [2]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/161093 [2]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/160819 -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Backlinks, imageusage, and embeddedin as prop modules
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 19 Sep '14

19 Sep '14

With the success of prop=redirects, in Gerrit change 155592[1] I added new prop modules prop=linkshere, prop=fileusage, and prop=transcludedin, which are roughly equivalent to list=backlinks, list=imageusage, and list=embeddedin but can work on a list of titles (including titles from a generator). They should be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.25wmf1 (unless we call it 1.24wmf23 after all), see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.25/Roadmap for the schedule. I'm considering deprecating list=backlinks, list=imageusage, and list=embeddedin at some point in favor of these new prop modules. Opinions on this are welcome. [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/155592/ -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Deprecation of action=query&prop=categorymembers cmstartsortkey and cmendsortkey
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 13 Sep '14

13 Sep '14

The fact that the hex-encoded sortkey must be converted to binary format for prop=categorymembers cmstartsortkey and cmendsortkey has long been an odd wart in the API. Bug 70690[1] showed that the binary values for these parameters is actively breaking on some wikis. In Gerrit change 159746[2] these parameters have been deprecated in favor of new parameters cmstarthexsortkey and cmendhexsortkey which take the sortkey in the same hex-encoded format that is returned by the API. This change should be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.24wmf22, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.24/Roadmap for the schedule. [1]: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=70690 [2]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/159746/ -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Upcoming changes to token handling (and deprecation of old methods)
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 26 Aug '14

26 Aug '14

I've just submitted Gerrit change 153110[1] which will overhaul the token handling in the API, as described on the API Roadmap RFC.[2] The patch is not merged yet, feel free to join in the code review or reply with comments. Follow the Gerrit change for any changes to the information below. A followup to this announcement with deployment dates will be sent once the change is merged. For clients, all the old methods of fetching tokens will continue to work with deprecation warnings. Usage levels of the deprecated methods on queries to WMF wikis will be evaluated once the MediaWiki 1.25 development cycle begins. Changes visible to clients include: * All tokens are available from the new meta=tokens query submodule. ** The "centralauth" token, which was provided by action=tokens but wasn't really a token in the sense of the rest, is now available from action=centralauthtoken. ** Note that it is possible to use meta=tokens along with other query prop, list, and meta modules. * The help for all token parameters clearly indicates which type of token is needed. * The output from action=paraminfo includes the token type as a property on the subobject describing the token parameter. * All tokens may be cached as long as the session is valid; none are dependent on factors such as the page being edited or the user being targeted. * Most token types have been replaced with a single 'csrf' token. This has long been the case in practice (e.g. see [3]), this just makes it official. * The tokens returned for action=rollback and action=userrights (and certain extension modules) are no longer the same tokens used in the corresponding features in the web UI. The web UI tokens are accepted by the API for compatibility, but not vice versa. * Any API query (with a few exceptions, mainly queries to the 'feed' modules) will return the current timestamp when passed the 'curtimestamp' parameter. This may be used to fetch the starttimestamp necessary for action=edit. For extension authors, if your extension uses the core token handling it *will* need updating. I've already submitted patches for the 26 extensions hosted in WMF's Gerrit repository. The necessary changes are: * needsToken() must return a string or false; true will result in an error. Unless there are special security issues that require a custom salt, 'csrf' should be returned. ** Since any truthy string is equivalent to the old behavior of returning boolean true, this will continue to work with older versions of MediaWiki. * If a custom salt is needed, the new 'ApiQueryTokensRegisterTypes' hook must be used to register it. * If web UI will be using a different salt (e.g. because it's included in links rather than posted form fields), a method getWebUITokenSalt() may be overridden to supply this salt for compatibility. * It is no longer necessary to return data for 'token' from getAllowedParams() or getParamDescription(). Any return from getAllowedParams() will be overridden; a string from getParamDescription() will also be overridden with a standard message, while an array will have the standard message prepended. ** Compatibility with older versions of MediaWiki may be maintained by continuing to return data for 'token' from getAllowedParams() and a string for 'token' from getParamDescription(). * getTokenSalt() is no longer called or defined in ApiBase, and may be removed once compatibility with older versions of MediaWiki is no longer needed. [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/153110/ [2]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/API_roadmap#Token_handl… [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?format=jsonfm&action=tokens&type=block|d… -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Deprecation of seldom-used formats, and other deprecation notes
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

With the merge of Gerrit change 154098,[1] various seldom-used API output formats are now deprecated: dbg, dump, txt, wddx, and yaml. Clients using any of these formats should transition to the json format. In addition, any clients still using deprecated parameters to other modules[2] should transition to the non-deprecated replacements. We've begun logging the use of these parameters on WMF wikis, and when usage drops sufficiently they may be removed. Plans are also underway to improve the json format.[2] This may result in the deprecation of format=json in favor of format=json2; if you would like to provide input on the planned changes or on whether the improved format should be "format=json2" or something else, please comment at the linked page. Thanks. [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/154098/ [2]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/API_roadmap#Removal_of_… [3]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/API_roadmap#Changes_to_… -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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BREAKING CHANGE: Removal of 'props' and 'errors' from action=paraminfo
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 10 Aug '14

10 Aug '14

Gerrit change 152760,[1] likely to be merged in time for 1.24wmf17,[2] will remove the 'props' and 'errors' result properties from the output of action=paraminfo. The format of the former was never clearly specified, and the latter can be extremely difficult to keep updated and will only get worse as more error handling is moved out of the API and into the underlying core code. Further detail and discussion of this change is at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/API_roadmap#Removal_of_… [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/152760/ [2]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.24/Roadmap -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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RFC on changes to the API
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 17 Jul '14

17 Jul '14

If you want to give input on numerous proposed changes to the API, please comment at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/API_roadmap Also, please advertise that link on-wiki at any suitable locations. Thanks. -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Deprecated prop=languageshtml to action=parse is now removed
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

The 'languageshtml' result property for action=parse has been deprecated for some time now, and with the merge of Gerrit change 143299[1] is now removed entirely. This will be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.24wmf12; see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.24/Roadmap for the schedule. [1]: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/143299/ -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Breaking change in action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=interwikimap
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 18 Jun '14

18 Jun '14

The "protorel" property recently added to the output of action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=interwikimap was coded to include the property with a boolean true value rather than the API-standard empty string. This is now corrected, and will be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.24wmf10. At some point in the future (timeframe and details undecided yet), I would like to change the API so that boolean properties like this one will actually be a truthy value (e.g. boolean true) in JSON and other output formats. It's likely that the backwards-compatible mode would cause any other properties that are currently returning as boolean true to change to empty-string. -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Change in action=expandtemplates
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 04 Jun '14

04 Jun '14

With Gerrit change 136799 <https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/136799/>, the old output format for action=expandtemplates and the generatexml parameter are deprecated, but will continue to be used for existing queries. Clients should begin using the new 'prop' parameter to action=expandtemplates, to be ready for some future date when the deprecated format and parameter are removed. There is no timeline on this removal, but it will be announced well in advance to this list. This change will be deployed to WMF wikis with 1.24wmf8, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.24/Roadmap for the schedule. This is not considered a breaking change, since the old queries will continue to work with a deprecation warning. -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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