Extension:Cargo

Cargo is an extension to MediaWiki that provides a lightweight way to store and query the data contained within the calls to templates, such as infoboxes.

It is similar in concept to the [http://semantic-mediawiki.org Semantic MediaWiki] extension, but offers a number of advantages, including ease of installation and ease of use.

Cargo stores all its data in database tables, which can be placed in either MediaWiki's own database (the default) or a separate database.

For the most part, each stored template gets its data stored in a single DB table, with a column for each relevant template parameter.

There are a few exceptions to this: the handling of template fields that hold arrays/lists of values, and of fields that hold geographical coordinates, is more complex, due to poor native handling of those data types in most DB systems.

And multiple templates can be set to all store their data in one DB table.

The extension defines a number of parser functions; these three are the most important:
 * - placed within the  part of a template; it defines the schema for a table.
 * - stores one row to a Cargo table; usually placed within the  part of a template.
 * - queries one or more Cargo data tables, using SQL components.

The other defined parser functions are:
 * - defines a template as adding rows to a table declared elsewhere.
 * - displays the results of multiple queries in one place.
 * - displays a map showing a single point.
 * - prints out the dates for a recurring event; for use by #cargo_store.

Cargo also defines various interfaces for viewing and drilling down through this stored data.

Cargo has been tested, and works, with the MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQL Server database systems.

In theory, it also supports SQLite and Oracle, but it has not been tested with these systems and may not work.

This version of the Cargo extension requires MediaWiki 1.23 or higher.

Click through the pages in the navigation bar above to learn more about Cargo, how it works, how to use it, and how to install it.