My goal is to write an API search of Wikipedia that will:
- Return pages only in the category "English language films"
- Of those, return pages only beginning with the letters "Avatar" (or anything, really, just using those letters for an example)
- Of those, give me the url, the title, the date, a summary, and the main page image.
So far I've tried three things, none of which seem to be able to do exactly what I want.
PROBLEM: list=allpages is just generally useless
Here's a search with list=allpages:
Here's the result (just the first 3 pages):
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"continue": {
"apcontinue": "Avatar,_The_Last_Airbender",
"continue": "-||info|pageimages|extracts"
},
"query": {
"allpages": [
{
"pageid": 100368,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar"
},
{
"pageid": 4846971,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar's Abode"
},
{
"pageid": 35243953,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar, Iran"
}
]
}
}
As you can see, it basically ignored all my prop requests.
PROBLEM: generator=allpages can't search by category
Here's a search using generator-allpages:
Here's the output from that (just the first result):
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"continue": {
"gapcontinue": "Avatar's_Abode",
"continue": "gapcontinue||"
},
"query": {
"pages": {
"100368": {
"pageid": 100368,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar",
"contentmodel": "wikitext",
"pagelanguage": "en",
"pagelanguagehtmlcode": "en",
"pagelanguagedir": "ltr",
"touched": "2018-05-03T11:21:07Z",
"lastrevid": 838959509,
"length": 45784,
"fullurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar",
"editurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avatar&action=edit",
"canonicalurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar",
"displaytitle": "Avatar",
"thumbnail": {
"source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Avatars.jpg/80px-Avatars.jpg",
"width": 80,
"height": 100
},
"original": {
"source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Avatars.jpg",
"width": 357,
"height": 448
},
"pageimage": "Avatars.jpg",
"extract": "An avatar (Sanskrit: \u0905\u0935\u0924\u093e\u0930, IAST: avat\u0101ra), a concept in Hinduism that means \"descent\", refers to the material appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth. The relative verb to \"alight, to make one's appearance\" is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being.\nThe word avatar does not appear in the Vedic literature, but appears in verb forms in post-Vedic literature, and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the 6th century CE. Despite that, the concept of an avatar is compatible with the content of the Vedic literature like the Upanishads as it is symbolic imagery of the Saguna Brahman concept in the philosophy of Hinduism. The Rigveda describes Indra as endowed with a mysterious power of assuming any form at will. The Bhagavad Gita expounds the doctrine of Avatara but with terms other than avatar.\nTheologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, though the idea has been applied to other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are important in Vaishnavism theology. In the goddess-based Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, avatars of the Devi in different appearances such as Tripura Sundari, Durga and Kali are commonly found. While avatars of other deities such as Ganesha and Shiva are also mentioned in medieval Hindu texts, this is minor and occasional. The incarnation doctrine is one of the important differences between Vaishnavism and Shaivism traditions of Hinduism.\nIncarnation concepts similar to avatar are also found in Buddhism, Christianity and others. The scriptures of Sikhism include the names of numerous Hindu gods and goddesses, but it rejected the doctrine of savior incarnation and endorsed the view of Hindu Bhakti movement saints such as Namdev that formless eternal god is within the human heart and man is his own savior."
}
}
}
}
...and it's so close to perfect that I can't believe it... the only problem is there's no way to restrict the search to the category "English-language films".
PROBLEM: generator=categorymember won't show page images and doesn't filter by prefix, only sets start point by prefix
Here's a search using generator=categorymember:
Here's the first ten results (I've left the prop=extract and prop=info parameters off--they're working fine--so you can see just the relevant detail):
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"continue": {
"gcmcontinue": "page|2953314335314b4d04354b394141011201dcbedc08|47013432",
"continue": "gcmcontinue||"
},
"query": {
"pages": {
"4273140": {
"pageid": 4273140,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar (2009 film)"
},
"15945267": {
"pageid": 15945267,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar (2004 film)"
},
"25813358": {
"pageid": 25813358,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 2"
},
"27442998": {
"pageid": 27442998,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 3"
},
"50071841": {
"pageid": 50071841,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Ave Maria (1918 film)"
},
"41748079": {
"pageid": 41748079,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avenged (2013 U.S. film)"
},
"42739169": {
"pageid": 42739169,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avenger (film)"
},
"50726142": {
"pageid": 50726142,
"ns": 0,
"title": "The Avenger (1931 film)"
},
"43707905": {
"pageid": 43707905,
"ns": 0,
"title": "The Avengers (1950 film)"
},
"22114132": {
"pageid": 22114132,
"ns": 0,
"title": "The Avengers (2012 film)"
}
}
}
}
And as you can see:
- The
pageimagesdata is nowhere to be seen - The setting
gcmstartsortkeyprefix=Avataronly sets the point from which the listing starts, it doesn't actually filter out results that don't have that prefix. There's no analogue to thegapprefixparameter that's available when usinggenerator-allpages.
PROBLEM: list=search won't show any prop values and searches by content as well as title
Here's a search using list=search, an avenue of approach I'm grateful to this page for:
And here's the return (just the first 3 results):
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"continue": {
"sroffset": 3,
"continue": "-||info|pageimages|extracts"
},
"query": {
"searchinfo": {
"totalhits": 224
},
"search": [
{
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar (2009 film)",
"pageid": 4273140,
"size": 201954,
"wordcount": 18643,
"snippet": "<span class=\"searchmatch\">Avatar</span>, marketed as James Cameron's <span class=\"searchmatch\">Avatar</span>, is a 2009 American epic science fiction film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, and",
"timestamp": "2018-05-01T01:52:00Z"
},
{
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 2",
"pageid": 25813358,
"size": 55754,
"wordcount": 5380,
"snippet": "<span class=\"searchmatch\">Avatar</span> 2 is an upcoming American epic science fiction film directed, produced, and co-written by James Cameron, and the first of four planned sequels to",
"timestamp": "2018-05-02T10:02:34Z"
},
{
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 3",
"pageid": 27442998,
"size": 17747,
"wordcount": 1374,
"snippet": "<span class=\"searchmatch\">Avatar</span> 3 is an upcoming 2021 American epic science fiction film directed, produced, co-written, and co-edited by James Cameron, scheduled to be released",
"timestamp": "2018-05-02T10:02:45Z"
}
]
}
}
Now this search does define prop=info and prop=images and prop=extracts, but they're nowhere to be seen. Plus there's also no analogue to gapprefix with this approach.
PROBLEM: generator=search won't show pageimages and searches by content as well as title
Here's the same search as above, but using generator=search:
And here's the result:
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"continue": {
"gsroffset": 3,
"continue": "gsroffset||"
},
"query": {
"pages": {
"4273140": {
"pageid": 4273140,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar (2009 film)",
"index": 1,
"contentmodel": "wikitext",
"pagelanguage": "en",
"pagelanguagehtmlcode": "en",
"pagelanguagedir": "ltr",
"touched": "2018-05-01T01:52:00Z",
"lastrevid": 839068297,
"length": 201954,
"fullurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)",
"editurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avatar_(2009_film)&action=edit",
"canonicalurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)",
"displaytitle": "<i>Avatar</i> (2009 film)",
"extract": "Avatar, marketed as James Cameron's Avatar, is a 2009 American epic science fiction film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the mineral unobtanium, a room-temperature superconductor. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi \u2013 a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.\nDevelopment of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but, according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language of the film's extraterrestrial beings began in 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006. Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion. The film made extensive use of new motion capture filming techniques, and was released for traditional viewing, 3D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and for \"4D\" experiences in select South Korean theaters. The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted as a breakthrough in cinematic technology.\nAvatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was internationally released on December 16 and in the United States and Canada on December 18, to positive critical reviews, with critics highly praising its groundbreaking visual effects. During its theatrical run, the film broke several box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time, as well as in the United States and Canada, surpassing Cameron's Titanic, which had held those records for twelve years. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion and the best-selling film of 2010 in the United States. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Following the film's success, Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce four sequels: Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are currently filming, and will be released on December 18, 2020, and December 17, 2021 respectively; subsequent sequels will start shooting as soon as they wrap filming, and will be released in 2024 and 2025. Several cast members are expected to return, including Worthington, Saldana, Lang, and Weaver."
},
"25813358": {
"pageid": 25813358,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 2",
"index": 2,
"contentmodel": "wikitext",
"pagelanguage": "en",
"pagelanguagehtmlcode": "en",
"pagelanguagedir": "ltr",
"touched": "2018-05-02T10:02:34Z",
"lastrevid": 839266311,
"length": 55754,
"fullurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_2",
"editurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avatar_2&action=edit",
"canonicalurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_2",
"displaytitle": "<i>Avatar 2</i>",
"extract": "Avatar 2 is an upcoming American epic science fiction film directed, produced, and co-written by James Cameron, and the first of four planned sequels to his film Avatar (2009). Cameron is producing the film with Jon Landau, with Josh Friedman originally announced as his co-writer; it was later announced that Cameron, Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno took a part in the writing process of all sequels before being attributed separate scripts, making the eventual writing credits unclear. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, C. C. H. Pounder, and Matt Gerald are all expected to return.\nCameron, who had stated in 2006 that he would like to make sequels to Avatar if it were successful, announced the first two in 2010 following the widespread success of the first film, with Avatar 2 aiming for a 2014 release. However, the subsequent addition of two more sequels, and the necessity to develop new technology in order to film performance capture scenes underwater, a feature never accomplished before in motion capture history, led to significant delays to allow the crew more time to work on the writing, pre-production, and visual effects; it is currently planned for a release on December 18, 2020, exactly eleven years after the American release of the first film, with the following sequels to be released between 2021 and 2025.\nPreliminary shooting for the film started in Manhattan Beach, California on August 15, 2017, followed by principal photography simultaneously with Avatar 3 in New Zealand on September 25, 2017. The other sequels are expected to start shooting as soon as Avatar 2 and 3's filming wraps."
},
"27442998": {
"pageid": 27442998,
"ns": 0,
"title": "Avatar 3",
"index": 3,
"contentmodel": "wikitext",
"pagelanguage": "en",
"pagelanguagehtmlcode": "en",
"pagelanguagedir": "ltr",
"touched": "2018-05-02T10:02:45Z",
"lastrevid": 839266333,
"length": 17747,
"fullurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_3",
"editurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avatar_3&action=edit",
"canonicalurl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_3",
"displaytitle": "<i>Avatar 3</i>",
"extract": "Avatar 3 is an upcoming 2021 American epic science fiction film directed, produced, co-written, and co-edited by James Cameron, scheduled to be released on December 17, 2021. It is the second of four planned sequels to his film Avatar (2009), and will be a follow-up to Avatar 2 (2020). Cameron is producing the film with Jon Landau, with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver originally announced as his co-writers; it was later announced that Cameron, Jaffa, Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno took a part in the writing process of all of the sequels before being assigned to finish the separate scripts, making the eventual writing credits unclear. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder and Matt Gerald are all expected to return from the first two films.\nAvatar 3 started shooting simultaneously with Avatar 2 on August 15, 2017. Two additional sequels will start shooting as soon as the first two wrap post-production, and are expected to be released in 2024 and 2025 respectively."
}
}
}
}
...and again this one is so close to perfect, because in this version it does return the prop=info and prop=extracts results, but again it ignores prop=pageimages and I can't find any way to restrict the search to the starting letters of the titles.
Conclusion: SNAFU
...Is there any 'one search to rule them all' here? It's so tantalizing that I can almost, almost, almost get everything with one query, but in the end I can't figure out how to get 'em all. Can anyone help me through the thicket?
