Topic on User talk:User:Dikshagupta99/Sandbox/API:Get the contents of a page

Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

@Dikshagupta99 Thank you for working on this! Here's some feedback:

  • This is an overview page, i.e it's a page that gives general information about the API and it's modules. So we cannot confine it to a GET request as some of the modules used to get content are POST request modules as well.
  • We do not need to duplicate the code samples here as these are already documented in their respective module pages. You could just have the GET request example and response, then link to the respective module page for more information.
  • Which module do the parameters listed refer to? I'm wondering if it's necessary to have them there since they are probably already listed on their respective module page.
  • Here are some overview pages for your reference: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Properties, https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Cross-site_requests,
Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

@Dikshagupta99 Thank you for making the changes. A few more comments:

  • Since this page is about getting the content of a page, the examples should be API requests that get the content of a page, and the responses of those requests should contain the actual content in the page, and not just general data about the page.
Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

@Dikshagupta99 Thank you for making the changes. A few more comments:

  • Let us get the content of one page in all the requests. Use a popular page e.g `Main Page`.
  • Go through your work to get rid of minor spelling and grammar errors. You could use an online grammar cheker.
  • Let the responses of all methods contain all the content of the response and make the responses collapsibe.
  • Reduce the width of the response so that it does not overlap the sidebar menu.
Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

Some more feedback:

  • The response of the second method seems to be a redirect. It should contain the content of Main page.
  • You can go through Help:Formatting and it's related links to figure out how to fix the issue of the response bar.
  • The response of the third method should contain the content of Main page as well.
  • The formatting in the heading of the third method should be similar to those of the other methods.
  • Please use a grammar checker like Grammarly to check for grammar errors.

This page is going to be a highly visible page so it requires a lot of research and time to ensure that all the information is laid out clearly and correctly :)

Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

I have made the following minor improvements to your page:

  • Fixed the overflow issue in the response section.
  • Minor copy editing like adding full stops where you might have forgotten them.
  • Removed the links to the API pages as I see that they are also in the "See also" section. We want to avoid duplication:)

There are some deletions that I had made but I have added them back because maybe you had a reason to add them. I have some questions concerning them:

  • You have added the
    {{MW 1.33|and after}}
    template. I'm wondering if the information on this page is not applicable to Mediawiki versions below 1.33 as well. Did you test on a lower MediaWiki version or how did you know that this information would only work in MediaWiki versions 1.33 and above only?
  • Where is the translation marker in the "See also" section derived from?

I think the page looks good so we can address the content now:). Taking the view point of someone who does not know anything about how to get the contents of a page via the API, I would be confused about the following things:

  • In your first paragraph, you have mentioned the ways in which someone can get content through the API. However, the sub headings, i.e "Method 1..., Method 2..., Method 3..." are not the same to the ways you have mentioned. The subheadings include which API to use, yet you had not mentioned the APIs in your first paragraph, so I would be very confused whether you are referring to the same concepts. Since this page is about getting the contents of a page via the API, I think the ways should contain which content format you can get and from which API e.g "Get parsed content of a page through API:Parse".
  • In the method explanation, I think it would be more appropriate to specify which content format(wikitext, html..etc) can be retrieved through the said API, and how to retrieve the content. I see that your explanation is a copy of the descriptions of the API modules in the auto-generated documentation. These APIs, e.g API:Revisions do more than just getting the contents of a page so the general descriptions may contain information that is not relevant to this page :).
Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

Good job! The content in the page is clearer now :). I would advise you to play with these API modules to see if there are other parameters that can allow us to get the content through them. Also check if there are other APIs or Extensions that may allow us to get content from a page. For instance, for API:Parse, I'm sure one can get wikitext from it as well using the "wikitext" parameter, but this is not mentioned in your document. As I said, this page requires a lot of research and time so please take your time to make sure you exhaust all the information. If you feel like this page might be weighing you down because of all the changes I keep requesting, you may pick other tasks and then get back to this one from time to time:)

Jeropbrenda (talkcontribs)

Some more feedback:

  • Please go through your work to fix grammar errors like starting a sentence with small letter, ending a sentence without a full stop...etc.
  • In method 2, use the term API:Parse like you have used in the first paragraph of the page.
  • We document parameters using <code>parameter</code> tags. I see that you are using italics.
  • Could the heading of method 1 be rephrased to be clearer? What exactly does revised page data mean..especially in relation to getting the content of a page.
  • When you are done with this, notify me so that we move the page to the main namespace.
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