On 05/14/2012 02:57 AM, Max Semenik wrote:
On 14.05.2012, 7:04 Kevin wrote:
I propose moving API help to a new special page
Special:ApiHelp, which
would run a few preg_replace operations and then the parser on
individual portions of the documentation to format them as HTML. The
combined output for all modules would be cached in memcached as in the
old ApiHelp class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ApiSandbox
Are you suggesting the removal of the existing API help function from
core and the introduction of these missing features into ApiSandbox: a
clear, unambiguous "Must POST" indication, "Required" and
"Deprecated"
markers for parameters, and a way of viewing default parameter values?
Currently, Special:ApiSandbox only serves as a supplement to, not a
direct replacement for the complete documentation page, and the
documentation at
MediaWiki.org will always be out of date or partially
irrelevant to an older version of MediaWiki a particular wiki might run
(along with the set of installed extensions).
Some API functionality is implemented in the form of specific parameters
part of more general modules. For example, one can use
action=query&meta=userinfo&uiprop=hasmsg to check for new messages, not
the (potentially) confusingly similar meta=allmessages. I am thinking of
users who have no prior knowledge of the API or of MediaWiki internals.
If users are truly familiar with MediaWiki internals, they might as well
just look at the PHP source code in Git.
Do you see a way that Special:ApiSandbox could accommodate a single-page
view of all API modules, so that API users can more easily determine
which parts of the API they need to use?
--
Wikipedia user PleaseStand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PleaseStand