Extension:PageImages

This extension comes with MediaWiki 1.34 and above. Thus you do not have to download it again. However, you still need to follow the other instructions provided.

This extension is under code stewardship review and not actively maintained (task T252249). No new feature requests will be considered during this period.

MediaWiki extensions manual

PageImages Release status: stable
Implementation	API , Parser extension
Description	Stores information about images representing a page
Author(s)	Max Semenik (MaxSemtalk)
Latest version	continuous updates
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
MediaWiki	1.37+
PHP	7.3.19+
Database changes	No
License	WTFPL 2.0
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Parameters $wgPageImagesOpenGraphFallbackImage $wgPageImagesDenylist $wgPageImagesScores $wgPageImagesNamespaces $wgPageImagesAPIDefaultLicense $wgPageImagesExpandOpenSearchXml $wgPageImagesLeadSectionOnly $wgPageImagesOpenGraph $wgPageImagesDenylistExpiry
Hooks used ApiOpenSearchSuggest BeforePageDisplay InfoAction ParserAfterTidy ParserModifyImageHTML ParserTestGlobals SearchResultProvideThumbnail SpecialMobileEditWatchlist::images
Quarterly downloads	114 (Ranked 51st)
Public wikis using	2,271 (Ranked 191st)
Translate the PageImages extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The PageImages extension collects information about images used on a page.

It aims to return the single most appropriate thumbnail associated with an article.

PageImages also provides OpenGraph protocol metadata for articles on the wiki for 3rd parties like Facebook to extract.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted PageImages folder to your extensions/ directory.
  Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/PageImages
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'PageImages' );
  

• Configure as required
• To initially assign the page images to the pages, run the "initImageData.php" script from the extensions maintenance directory (/path/to/extensions/PageImages/maintenance/)
•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

$wgPageImagesDenylist is an array of sources for image denylists. Listed images will never be selected as page images. Examples:

$wgPageImagesDenylist = [
	// Page on local wiki
	[
		'type' => 'db',
		'page' => 'MediaWiki:Pageimages-denylist',
		'db' => false,
	],
	// Page on Wikimedia Commons, for other Wikimedia projects using direct DB access
	[
		'type' => 'db',
		'page' => 'MediaWiki:Pageimages-denylist',
		'db' => 'commonswiki',
	],
	// Page on Commons, for third-party sites using web access
	[
		'type' => 'url',
		'url' => 'http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=somepage&action=raw',
	],
];

More than one source can be used at the same time.

The denylist should contain wikilinks to files. The rest of the content is irrelevant (and can contain links to other pages). For example:

* [[:File:First denylisted file.png]]
* [[:File:Second denylisted file.jpeg]]
...

Remember that file links that result in images being added to the page will not work (these files are denylisted for a reason, right?), so don't forget the : in front of the links.

$wgPageImagesDenylistExpiry determines how long the list will remain cached, in seconds. Default: 15 * 60 (15 minutes).

$wgPageImagesExpandOpenSearchXml if set to true, PageImages will override the image detection in the opensearch API module with its own, more accurate results. Default: false.

$wgPageImagesNamespaces is an array of namespaces PageImages will be activated on. Default: NS_MAIN.

After the change, you'll have to run refreshLinks.php to generate the Page image information for those namespaces (hopefully, you can use the --namespace parameter to process only pages on the affected namespaces, since that script is very resource-intensive)

$wgPageImagesOpenGraph enables or disables the OpenGraph meta tags (could be useful if other extensions manage these tags) (1.39+). Default: true

$wgPageImagesOpenGraphFallbackImage is a URL to a fallback image that will be shown when there is no image on a page. Default: false

Upgrade to MediaWiki 1.37+ notes

• Since MediaWiki 1.37, $wgPageImagesBlacklist and $wgPageImagesBlacklistExpiry have been renamed to $wgPageImagesDenylist and $wgPageImagesDenylistExpiry respectively. There's no backward compatibility code added to accept the old variable names, which means you should change the variable names during the upgrade or define both variables in advance in preparation for the upgrade.
• Since MediaWiki 1.37, the default page value for $wgPageImagesDenylist has been changed from MediaWiki:Pageimages-blacklist to MediaWiki:Pageimages-denylist. If you've added content to MediaWiki:Pageimages-blacklist on your wiki, you should rename it during the upgrade. If you want to prepare in advance for the upgrade, you can rename the page to the new name and also set $wgPageImagesBlacklist (the old variable name) to the new page name. The default value will be used when upgrading, which should match your previous change.

API

The PageImages extension provides image information by adding a prop=pageimages to the properties API for action=query.

prop=pageimages (pi)

(main | query | pageimages)

• This module requires read rights.
• Source: PageImages
• License: WTFPL

Returns information about images on the page, such as thumbnail and presence of photos.

• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:PageImages#API

Specific parameters:

Other general parameters are available.

piprop

Which information to return:

thumbnail

URL and dimensions of thumbnail image associated with page, if any.

name

Image title.

original

URL and original dimensions of image associated with page, if any.

Values (separate with | or alternative): name, original, thumbnail

Default: thumbnail|name

pithumbsize

Maximum width in pixels of thumbnail images.

Type: integer

Default: 50

pilimit

Properties of how many pages to return.

Type: integer or max

The value must be between 1 and 50.

Default: 50

pilicense

Limit page images to a certain license type:

free

Only free images.

any

Best image, whether free or non-free.

One of the following values: any, free

Default: free

picontinue

When more results are available, use this to continue. More detailed information on how to continue queries can be found on mediawiki.org.

Type: integer

pilangcode

Code for the language the image is going to be rendered in if multiple languages are supported

Example:

Get name and 100-pixel thumbnail of an image on the Albert Einstein page.

api.php?action=query&prop=pageimages&titles=Albert%20Einstein&pithumbsize=100 [open in sandbox]

Response

{
  // piprop.name (and image exists)
  pageimage?: string // Source image filename (basename of original.source).
  // piprop.thumbnail (and image exists)
  thumbnail?: {
    source: string // Thumbnail image URL.
    width: number // Thumbnail image width in pixels.
    height: number // Thumbnail image height in pixels.
  }
  // piprop.original (and image exists)
  original?: {
    source: string // Source image URL.
    width: number // Source image width in pixels.
    height: number // Source image height in pixels.
  }
}

Sample request

Request page image for an article.

api.php?action=query&prop=pageimages&titles=Lightbox_demo [try in ApiSandbox]

Result

{ "query": { "normalized": [ { "from": "Lightbox_demo", "to": "Lightbox demo" } ], "pages": { "162510": { "pageid": 162510, "ns": 0, "title": "Lightbox demo", "thumbnail": { "source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Crystal_Clear_app_korganizer.png/50px-Crystal_Clear_app_korganizer.png", "width": 50, "height": 50 }, "pageimage": "Crystal_Clear_app_korganizer.png" } } } }

How it works

When a page is saved with a local image, the parser runs the hooks ParserMakeImageParams and LinksUpdate. The PageImages extension responds to these (and other hooks) and inserts a new property for the page into the page_props table. The property name is page_image_free and its value is the name of the image.

The extension only stores the chosen image name. Other features may display the image, such as Page information, Hovercards, and Mobile search while typing.

Image choice

How can I check which image is associated with a page?

Page images will be listed on the ?action=info page.

How does it select images?

All images on the page are collected, and a score for each image is calculated. The image with the highest score is selected as the page image. If the wiki is configured such that images contain metadata that specifies images are not freely licensed, the image with the best score that is also freely licensed is also stored. If no suitable image is found or all the images score badly (i.e., have a negative score), the page will not have any images.

If $wgPageImagesLeadSectionOnly is true, only images in the lead section will be considered. This is true for Wikipedia projects only; all other projects can pull images from outside the lead.

How are images scored?

The best possible page image on Wikimedia wikis is one of the first four images in an article, with a width/height between 400-600px and a height/width twice the value of the other dimension.

• The algorithm is configurable.
• Scores are calculated by a combination of:
  • Image widths as defined in $wgPageImagesScores['width']
    • In Wikimedia wikis, images smaller than 119 pixels are negatively weighted. Images with widths between 400px-600px are favoured, with a preference for the lower bound.
    • Images inside galleries are scored separately using $wgPageImagesScores['galleryImageWidth']
      • In the Wikimedia wikis gallery, images smaller than 100 pixels are disregarded.
  • Position in document is also considered as defined in $wgPageImagesScores['position']
    • On Wikimedia wikis, only the first four images that appear in the document are considered.
  • The ratio of the image's width to height is considered $wgPageImagesScores['ratio']
    • On Wikimedia wikis a ratio of 0.4 to 3.1 is allowed, with 0.6 to 2.1 preferred.
    • The default value is $wgPageImagesScores['ratio'] = ["3" => -100, "5" => 0, "20" => 5, "30"=> 0, "31"=> -100]; with the key representing the width divided by height, rounded to the tenths place, and the decimal shifted one position to the right. An image 400px wide by 300px high would have a value of 13. The key's value is the scoring multiple associated with that ratio. Keys are selected and increase from zero, with a new scoring multiple not taking effect until the key has met or exceeded its value but not exceeded the next key. Any other images will score negatively and be discarded.

How are page images updated?

Pageimages populates images whenever the LinksUpdate hook runs, e.g. when a page is being edited.

Can I exclude certain page images?

Yes!

For an entire wiki, there is a page that administrators can edit at MediaWiki:Pageimages-denylist (example). Any images that appear here will not be used as page images for any article.

For specific pages, add |class=notpageimage to each image you want to exclude. For example, [[File:Example.png|class=notpageimage]]. More details are at phab:T301588.

How can I see the image of a page?

Using the Page information link in the sidebar (or adding ?action=info to the URL) you'll be able to see the current image choice.

How can I purge a bad image?

The page image only changes when a link in an article changes. Please add/remove links from the page for emergencies, reverting if necessary. Purging will not work. For larger emergencies please file a Phabricator ticket.

Why is my page image a blank box?

This likely relates to video content in your article. If a video file begins with a blank screen, that will become the default thumbnail for the video, and if used as the page image, it will become the page image. We are currently working on a fix for this that will allow you to change the default thumbnail of a video. See: phab:T92457 and phab:T22647 for further information.

See also

• Extension:Popups