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Extension:VisualData

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MediaWiki extensions manual
VisualData
Release status: stable
Implementation Hook , Special page
Description VisualData is a full-fledged metadata management framework based on json-schema able to easily record, organize and query collection of data on your wiki.
Author(s) thomas-topway-it (thomas-topway-ittalk)
Latest version 1.0.8 (2024-08-19)
Compatibility policy Master maintains backward compatibility.
MediaWiki 1.35+
License GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download
Download extension
Git [?]:
Parameters
  • $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryForms
  • $wgVisualDataCreateJobsWarningLimit
  • $wgVisualDataDisableSlotsNavigation
  • $wgVisualDataEditDataNamespaces
  • $wgVisualDataDisableSidebarLink
  • $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryJsonData
  • $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryButtons
  • $wgVisualDataDisableVersionCheck
  • $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryQueries
Added rights
  • visualdata-caneditdata
  • visualdata-canmanageschemas
Hooks used
Quarterly downloads 25 (Ranked 114th)
Translate the VisualData extension if it is available at translatewiki.net

VisualData is a full-fledged metadata management framework based on json-schema able to easily record, organize and query collection of data on your wiki.

It is characterized by a strong emphasis on the UI/UX side and aims to present itself as a lightweight or modern alternative to Semantic MediaWiki and Cargo.

Key-features

  • Based on json-schema and slots
  • forms and pop-up forms auto-generated from json-schema
  • Integrated SchemaBuilder to easily create json-schema compliant schemas, with nested items and OOUI widgets
  • Forms are validated with industry-standard ajv-validator
  • SMW's style inline queries and result formats
  • Can import/store/query large amount of data (with hierarchical structure) in specific articles/the entire wiki, and to rebuild them in minutes


check out live demos and Release notes for the latest improvements


UI elements

The extension adds the following interface elements to your wiki (some of them only for authorized users and/or sysops)

  • A sidebar section where to access all special pages offered by the extension



  • The action tab "Edit data" by which to assign schemas to article and fill-in them through automatically generated OOUI forms



  • and a namespace tab where to access the slot with json-data registered within an article through the extension



The visibility of each of them can be managed using the global parameters below.


Installation

  • Download and place the file(s) in a directory called VisualData in your extensions/ folder.
  • Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php 
wfLoadExtension( 'VisualData' );
  • Run php maintenance/update.php (this will install the required tables)
  • run composer install --no-dev in the extension folder. This will install the required libraries[1]
  • Yes Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Make sure to run 

php extensions/VisualData/maintenance/RebuildData.php

after each update of the extension when indicated in the Release notes. This will drop/recreate the tables based on the data stored on the wiki

Main sections

New article UI

New article UI

Schema Builder & File upload

Schema Builder

File upload

Edit data

Edit data

Forms

Forms

Geolocation

Queries

Queries

Queries in forms (auto-completion)

API

Result formats

Result formats

Browse data

Browse data

Maintenance scripts

Maintenance scripts

Miscellaneous

Additional parser functions

Release notes

Rights and privileges

The extension creates the following user rights. They can be both included manually in the LocalSettings.php or to be managed through the interface (special page Special:UserRights). Sysops and bureaucrats are assigned with the complete set of permissions by default.

Rights

right description
visualdata-caneditdata Can edit metadata related to wiki articles by editing/assigning json-schemas to them
visualdata-canmanageschemas Can create/edit/delete schemas through the SchemaBuilder

Example configuration

$wgGroupPermissions['*']["visualdata-caneditdata"] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']["visualdata-canmanageschemas"] = false;

Groups

group Can edit data Can manage schemas
sysop, bureaucrat Yes   Yes  
visualdata-admin Yes   Yes  
visualdata-editor Yes   N  

Global parameters

variable description default
$wgVisualDataDisableSlotsNavigation hide slots tab on the navigation panel false
$wgVisualDataDisableSidebarLink hide VisualData's links section on the sidebar false
$wgVisualDataEditDataNamespaces default namespaces with editable metadata 0, 4 (Main, Project)
$wgVisualDataJsonDataTrackingCategory add a tracking category to articles with data false
$wgVisualDataCreateJobsWarningLimit number of jobs created without emitting a notice 0
$wgVisualDataDisableVersionCheck disable version check of the extension false

Known issues

  • in some MediaWiki versions and configurations, the ResourceLoader may generate syntax errors when bundling the Javascript files. In this case please use $wgResourceLoaderDebug = true; in LocalSettings.php, this will include separately each file and should solve the problem.
  • rename of schemas and properties must be kept in synch with property and schema names hardcoded in parser functions. This will be solved implementing a query and form builder (see #Roadmap)
  • queries require that the first printout exists, otherwise the row will not show. This could be solved using DUAL keyword
  • the SchemaBuilder and the form processor do not yet support the directives oneOf, anyOf and support for the $ref keyword

Roadmap

  • add oneOf, anyOf and allOf support to form generator and SchemaBuilder (the SchemaBuilder will contain a select on the schema main panel)
  • add tuple and $ref keyword to SchemaBuilder (properties panel, besides 'add field', 'add content block', etc.)
  • add additional properties to SchemaBuilder (additional panel)
  • add query and form builder: this will store queries and forms as json schemas so that rename of schemas or properties can be updated within such schemas, not in the wikitext. The parser function will add queries and forms by their names or code
  • UI for bulk-edit of json data in the BrowseData special page
  • Ajax navigation for datatables, SearchPanes and SearchBuilder


Additionally:

  • version control for schemas and related data, so that edits of the schema constrain to the data related to the previous data structure
  • version control notice shown through Extension:Echo and/or complying better design practice
  • partial editing of schemas and field operations like Firebase's ArrayUnion, ArrayRemove, etc.
  • preload json-ld/schema.org entities as json-schemas
  • associate json-ld/schema.org vocabulary to user-defined schemas


Release notes

Extension:VisualData/Release notes


Support & bugs

Please post error messages in the Talk page of the extension. Updates will be occasionally posted on the MediaWiki's Wikitech mailing list.

For professional support please write at the email address posted here

See also

References

Test it out !

WikiSphere

  1. ↑ although the extension works without additional libraries, they are required to handle rename of schemas and properties, and to support preload-data override
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