I am using Java to work with the mediawiki Api.  We would like to add login to our queries. 

Using a post routine, I entered api.php?action=login&lgname=username&lgpassword=password.

I retrieved the information including lgtoken.  I add lgtoken=… to the end of my query and receive the following error:

<error code="unknown_action" info="Unrecognized value for parameter 'action': query" />

If I have “$wgGroupPermissions['*']['read'] = true” I receive no error. 

I have read about the login, and it looks like I may need to use cookies.  I would prefer not using cookies, but if I have to, I am not sure what to use. 

Thanks, 

Mary Beebe