[Toolserver-l] Internally calling the pywikipedia API on Toolserver

[Dr. Trigon]

Hello all!

"[Toolserver-l] Internally calling the MediaWiki API on Toolserver" is
a very good idea!!

What about doing the same e.g. with the actual pywikipedia bot framework
to have some API for python script as well?

Greetings
Dr. Trigon


Am 05.02.2011 23:42, schrieb Krinkle:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm finding myself making calls to the live api on the wmf wikis and  
> thinking: Writing the query from scratch for every detail (or copying  
> it from the bits and pieces in mw source code) for every time I need  
> the data is nonsense since it was already done..... in mediawiki core.
> 
> MediaWiki uses the API internally as well in some places (more in  
> extensions) with a FauxRequest (which is calling the api without a  
> real http request).
>  From a server hosting a live MediaWiki-site it's very easy (php  
> include includes/WebStart.php anad make a FauxRequest() - one can make  
> several requests all without making a http request ). However from the  
> toolserver it's a little trickier since we're not on the same server.
> 
> So I was thinking :
> * upload a mediawiki install (the same version that WMF runs, ie.  
> 1.16wmf4 or 1.17wmf1)
> * make it not publically accessable (we don't want people actually  
> browsing the wiki)
> * Configure it in a special way so that one can use the same code for  
> any wiki (ie. a $lang and $family variable of some kind)
> 
> Then one can include includes/WebStart.php, and use the API (ie. using  
> the huge library of quiries already in the MediaWiki core (ie.  
> action=query&list=categorymembers, using generators and getting  
> properties, you name it) like this:
> 
> <source>
> $site = 'wikipedia';
> $lang = 'en';
> require( $mw_root . '/includes/WebStart.php' ); // loads all common  
> code including LocalSettings.php
> // LocalSettings contains extra code to check for $site and $lang  
> figuring out the correct $wgDBname,
> // $wgDBserver etc. a tiny bit like wmf's CommonSettings.php
> 
> $apiRequest = array(
> 	'action' => 'query',
> 	'list' => '...',
> 	/* etc. */
> );
> /* etc. */
> </source>
> 
> This should basically be includable by anyone so that not everybody  
> has to re-do this.
> 
> ie. it could be in /home/somebody/wmf-api/includes/WebStart.php
> which would be a checkout of the wmf-branch in SVN and (maybe) the  
> same extensions etc.
> 
> 
> This will make it a lot easier to interact with the database when you  
> need certain information, this will also prevent us from hardcoding  
> names all the time (which I'm sure happends a lot and this is one of  
> the causes some tools brake over time when just small details changed).
> 
> I believe some of the toolserver users already have parts of mediawiki  
> in their home (I imagine stuff like GlobalFunctions.php can be very  
> handy at times).
> 
> Basically I'm asking three things:
> * Has this been done already ? If so, we should document this better  
> as I spent time looking for it but came up empty
> * Do we want this ? Are there potential problems here, what do we need  
> to tackle or fix on our side ?
> * Who would want to do this ? (If nobody has plans for this already, I  
> would like to do this)
> 
> 
> --
> Krinkle
> 
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