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API:Article ideas generator

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Overview

In this tutorial, you will get a demo of an article ideas generator app that suggests articles from various categories that don't yet exist on English Wikipedia.

This tutorial will teach you how to do this using:

A step-by-step process of building this application:

Step 1: Set up Python and Flask development environment

To set up the Python development environment for a Flask application, you will need to install Python, create a virtual environment, and install Flask and Requests.

This application uses Python3, the recommended version for new Python projects.

Learn more about the differences between Python2 and Python3 here. To install Python3 on your local machine, follow step-by-step instructions in these installation guides.

Here is how to set up the development environment for building the application: 

$ mkdir article-ideas-generator
$ cd article-ideas-generator/
This will create a new directory and change into it
$ python3 --version #Python 3.6.5
This command checks your Python version 
$ python3 -m venv venv
This command will create a virtual environment named 'venv'
$ source venv/bin/activate
This will activate the virtual environment
$ pip install Flask requests
This command will install the Flask and Requests packages with all their dependencies

Step 2: Create a simple Flask application

Render a simple static page

Place the following code in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py 

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    articles.py1

    MediaWiki Action API Code Samples

    Article ideas generator app: suggests articles from various categories that don't yet exist on English Wikipedia.
    The app uses action=parse module and prop=links module as a generator.

    MIT license
"""

from flask import Flask, request, render_template
import requests

APP = Flask(__name__)

@APP.route('/')
def index():
    """ Displays the index page accessible at '/'
    """
    return render_template('articles.html')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    APP.run()

Drop this one line of code ‎<h1>Article ideas generator‎</h1> in a HTML file inside the templates folder: $article-ideas-generator/templates/articles.html

In this simple application, we are using render_template method which renders the template named articles.html from the templates directory.

Next run your Flask app with the command python articles.py and open http://127.0.0.1:5000/ to view your app in the browser. You should be able to see "Article ideas generator" in your browser window.

Style your app

Let's do some app styling. To do so, add link tags to load an external and internal stylesheet. External stylesheet, in this case, is the URL of a CSS file for the font Amatic.

Replace the existing code in $article-ideas-generator/templates/articles.html with the following: 

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//tools-static.wmflabs.org/fontcdn/css?family=Amatic+SC:700">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//tools-static.wmflabs.org/fontcdn/css?family=Josefin+Sans">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css">

<h1>Article ideas generator</h1>
<p>Some ideas for topics to write articles on:</p>

Place the following code in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/static/style.css 

h1 {
    color: black;
    font-family: 'Amatic SC', cursive;
    font-size: 4.5em;
    font-weight: normal;
}

p {
    font-family: 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;
    font-size: 1.4em;
}
Article ideas generator demo app

Application layout

$HOME/article-ideas-generator
├── templates/
│   └── articles.html
├── static/
│   └── style.css
├── articles.py
└── venv/

Step 3: Fetch page sections from Wikipedia:Requested articles

Let's write some code in a get_page_sections() function in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py to fetch page sections from Wikipedia:Requested articles. This function takes page name as an argument and makes a GET request to the Action API to parse sections of the page. API call consists of an endpoint https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php and query string parameters. Some of the key parameters are:

  • action=parse - module to parse content on a page
  • page=page - page title to parse
  • prop=sections - tells which piece of information to retrieve, in this example it is sections
For more information on the parse module, see API:Parsing wikitext .
def get_page_sections(page):
    """ Get page sections
    """
    params = {
        "action": "parse",
        "page": page,
        "prop": "sections",
        "format": "json"
    }

    res = SESSION.get(url=API_ENDPOINT, params=params)
    data = res.json()

    if 'error' in data:
        return

    parsed_sections = data and data['parse'] and data['parse']['sections']
    sections = []

    for section in parsed_sections:
        if section['toclevel'] == 1:
            sections.append(section['line'])

    return sections

Next, extend the Python Flask route / in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py to call the function defined above and also pass the results returned by the function to render_template. 

APP = Flask(__name__)
SESSION = requests.Session()
API_ENDPOINT = 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'
PAGE = {}

@APP.route('/')
def index():
    """ Displays the index page accessible at '/'
    """
    global PAGE
    results = []

    PAGE = {'name': 'Wikipedia:Requested_articles', 'type': 'category'}
    results = get_page_sections(PAGE['name'])

    return render_template(
        "articles.html",
        results=results,
        pagetype=PAGE['type'])

Place the following Jinja template code in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/templates/articles.html. It dynamically renders an array of category buttons based on page sections obtained via the API above. 

{% if results %}
<p>Choose a {{ pagetype }}</p>
<form method="POST">
{% for pagename in results %}
<button name="{{ pagetype }}" class="{{ pagetype }}" value="{{ pagename }}">{{ pagename }}</button>
{% endfor %}
{% else %}
<p>Ooooops! We couldn't find any results.</p>
<button onclick="location.href='/'">Start over</button>
</form>
{% endif %}

Place the following code in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/static/style.css for button styling. 

div {
    left: 10%;
    position: absolute;
    right: 10%;
    text-align: center;
    top: 5%;
}

button {
    background-color: #06b6c9;
    border: none;
    border-radius: 5px;
    color: white;
    font-size: 1.2em;
    margin: 5px;
    padding: 20px;
}
Choose a category page in the demo app

Step 4: Get more sections based on user selection

Based on a category or section selected by the user in the previous step, we want to fetch subsections from Wikipedia:Requested articles. Extend the Python Flask route / in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py to handle POST requests. You can do so by adding both GET and POST in the methods argument list in the route decorator. You can then obtain category selection available in a dictionary format from the request object, which is passed to get_page_sections() function for further processing. 

# Modify the APP route to support both GET and POST requests
@APP.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])

# Add these lines in the index() function
if request.method == 'POST':
    PAGE['name'] = PAGE['name'] + '/' + \
        request.form.to_dict()['category']
    PAGE['type'] = 'subcategory'
Choose a subcategory page in the demo app. Showing subcategories for category Natural Sciences (see screenshot above)

Let's write some code in a get_red_links() function in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py to fetch around 20 articles with missing links on a page. This function takes page name as an argument, makes a GET request to the Action API, and returns all links embedded on that page. From further extraction, you can obtain those links that are missing and don't yet exist on English Wikipedia. The API call consists of an endpoint https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php and query string parameters. Some of the key parameters are:

  • action=query - module to query information
  • titles=title - page title to collect links
  • generator=links - query module's submodule links used as a generator module to get a set of links embedded on a page
  • gpllimit=20 - number of links to fetch
For more information on the parse module, see API:Links .
def get_red_links(title):
    """ Get missing links on a page
    """
    params = {
        "action": "query",
        "titles": title,
        "generator": "links",
        "gpllimit": 20,
        "format": "json"
    }

    res = SESSION.get(url=API_ENDPOINT, params=params)
    data = res.json()
    pages = data and data['query'] and data['query']['pages']
    links = []

    for page in pages.values():
        if 'missing' in page:
            links.append(page['title'])

    return links

Next, extend the if block for the POST method in the / route in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py to call the get_red_links() function if the page from which the request is issued is of type subcategory. 

if request.method == 'POST':
    if 'category' in request.form:
        PAGE['name'] = PAGE['name'] + '/' + request.form.to_dict()['category']
        PAGE['type'] = 'subcategory'
        results = get_page_sections(PAGE['name'])
    elif 'subcategory' in request.form:
        PAGE['name'] = PAGE['name'] + '#' + request.form.to_dict()['subcategory']
        PAGE['type'] = 'links'
        results = get_red_links(PAGE['name'])

Place the following Jinja template code in $HOME/article-ideas-generator/templates/articles.html. It dynamically renders a list of links using data obtained via the API above. 

{% if 'links' in pagetype %}
    <p>Some ideas for topics to write articles on:</p>
    {% for link in results %}
      <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title={{ link }}&action=edit&redlink=1">{{ link }}</a><br>
    {% endfor %}
    <button onclick="location.href='/'">Take me to the homepage</button>
{% endif %}
Missing links page in the demo app

View the complete Python, CSS, and HTML code.

$HOME/article-ideas-generator/articles.py
#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    articles.py

    MediaWiki Action API Code Samples

    Article ideas generator app: suggests articles from various categories that don't yet exist on English Wikipedia. The app uses action=parse module and prop=links module as a generator.

    MIT license
"""

from flask import Flask, request, render_template
import requests

APP = Flask(__name__)
SESSION = requests.Session()
API_ENDPOINT = 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'
PAGE = {}


@APP.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
    """ Displays the index page accessible at '/'
    """
    global PAGE
    results = []

    if request.method == 'POST':
        if 'category' in request.form:
            PAGE['name'] = PAGE['name'] + '/' + \
                request.form.to_dict()['category']
            PAGE['type'] = 'subcategory'
            results = get_page_sections(PAGE['name'])
        elif 'subcategory' in request.form:
            PAGE['name'] = PAGE['name'] + '#' + \
                request.form.to_dict()['subcategory']
            PAGE['type'] = 'links'
            results = get_red_links(PAGE['name'])
    else:
        PAGE = {'name': 'Wikipedia:Requested_articles', 'type': 'category'}
        results = get_page_sections(PAGE['name'])

    return render_template(
        "articles.html",
        results=results,
        pagetype=PAGE['type'])


def get_page_sections(page):
    """ Get page sections
    """
    params = {
        "action": "parse",
        "page": page,
        "prop": "sections",
        "format": "json"
    }

    res = SESSION.get(url=API_ENDPOINT, params=params)
    data = res.json()

    if 'error' in data:
        return

    parsed_sections = data and data['parse'] and data['parse']['sections']
    sections = []

    for section in parsed_sections:
        if section['toclevel'] == 1:
            sections.append(section['line'])

    return sections


def get_red_links(title):
    """ Get missing links on a page
    """
    params = {
        "action": "query",
        "titles": title,
        "generator": "links",
        "gpllimit": 20,
        "format": "json"
    }

    res = SESSION.get(url=API_ENDPOINT, params=params)
    data = res.json()
    pages = data and data['query'] and data['query']['pages']
    links = []

    for page in pages.values():
        if 'missing' in page:
            links.append(page['title'])

    return links


if __name__ == '__main__':
    APP.run()


$HOME/article-ideas-generator/static/style.css
h1 {
    color: black;
    font-family: 'Amatic SC', cursive;
    font-size: 4.5em;
    font-weight: normal;
}

div {
    left: 10%;
    position: absolute;
    right: 10%;
    text-align: center;
    top: 5%;
}

p {
    font-family: 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;
    font-size: 1.4em;
}

button {
    background-color: #06b6c9;
    border: none;
    border-radius: 5px;
    color: white;
    font-size: 1.2em;
    margin: 5px;
    padding: 20px;
}

.subcategory {
    background-color: #EE6352;
}

a {
    color: red;
    font-size: 1.2em;
    line-height: 1.4em;
}
$HOME/article-ideas-generator/templates/articles.html
<title>Article ideas generator</title>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//tools-static.wmflabs.org/fontcdn/css?family=Amatic+SC:700">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//tools-static.wmflabs.org/fontcdn/css?family=Josefin+Sans">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css">

<div>
  <h1>Article ideas generator</h1>
  {% if 'links' in pagetype %}
    <p>Some ideas for topics to write articles on:</p>
    {% for link in results %}
      <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title={{ link }}&action=edit&redlink=1">{{ link }}
    </a>
    <br>
  {% endfor %}
  <button onclick="location.href='/'">Take me to the homepage</button>
  {% else %}
  {% if results %}
  <p>Choose a {{ pagetype }}</p>
  <form method="POST">
    {% for pagename in results %}
    <button name="{{ pagetype }}" class="{{ pagetype }}" value="{{ pagename }}">{{ pagename }}</button>
  {% endfor %}
  {% else %}
  <p>Ooooops! We couldn't find any results.</p>
  <button onclick="location.href='/'">Start over</button>
  </form>
  {% endif %}
  {% endif %}
</div>


Next steps

See also

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