The Project JMediawiki

1.   Is this project mainly a project for the Joomla CMS or  for the Joomla Platform?

This project is for the Joomla Platform

2.  What is the goal of your project? What problem does it attempt to solve?

Mediawiki is a free and open source web based wiki software which runs Wikipedia and thousands of other wiki based sites. Mediawiki provides an API to access and modify wiki features, data and meta-data. The existing php clients for mediawiki is either incomplete or stopped development. The goal of this project is to integrate a client for accessing mediawiki  API within the Joomla platform. The new JMediawiki package will allows applications based on Joomla Platfrom to access any mediwiki based sites seamlessly including Wikipedia.

3.  Please describe the proposed project in detail.

Introduction

The main goal of this project is to integrate a mediawiki client to access any mediawiki sites. There are some existing php clients to acess mediawiki based websites.  The existing php clients are either feature incomplete or stopped active development [1].  A fully featured client within the Joomla Platform will not only benefit the popular Joomla CMS but also attract other developers to the platform who want to create web applications in php that involves interacting with Wikipedia or any other mediawiki sites.

Project Scope

The scope of the project is to cover all the default APIs from mediawiki 1.18.1. See below for a full list of functions with descriptions. This may change with the mentors consent. For now the project does not cover APIs provided by popular extensions as it makes it very difficult to complete within the summer. I am looking forward to complete these functions after Google summer of code.

Grouping the functions

There about 70+ actions (See below) defined in the project scope. Similar to JGithub the functions are grouped into classes based on the entity the actions are performed.  Following are the proposed classes in JMediawiki packages.

• JMediawikiObject - MediaWiki API object class for the Joomla Platform
• JMediawiki - Joomla Platform class for interacting with a GitHub server instance
• JMediawikiHttp - HTTP client class for connecting to a MediaWiki instance
• JMediawikiPages – actions related to a pages in the site
• JMediawikiLinks – actions related to links in the site
• JMediawikiSites – generic actions to the site
• JMediawikiFiles – actions related to files in the site
• JMediawikiImages – actions related to images in the site
• JMediawikiCategories – actions related to categorizing objects in the site
• JMediawikiUsers – actions related to users in the site
• JMediawikiSearch – search functionalities in the site

All functions can be experimented using Mediawiki API sandbox [2].

Class Diagram

Output Format

Mediawiki supports a number of outputformats including xml,json,wddx. We chose xml as json callback has some restrictions [3].

Prototype

I have implemented a prototype [1] with one working function getSiteInfo() [2] which returns general information about the site. I am looking forward to implement some more functions before the deadline.

[1] https://github.com/nprasath002/joomla-platform/tree/JMediaWiki/libraries/joomla/mediawiki

[2] https://github.com/nprasath002/joomla-platform/blob/JMediaWiki/libraries/joomla/mediawiki/sites.php

Functions

This is a rough list of new functions. These may change with the mentor’s consent. The name, location may change. Some functions may be dropped, merged or added. Additional helper functions maybe introduced during the project.

Enumerate recent changes

List all titles protected from creation

Return general information about the site

Return messages from this site

Returns a watchlist feed

Display this help screen. Or the help screen for the specified module

Obtain information about certain API parameters and errors

Export an RSD (Really Simple Discovery) schema

Get basic page information such as namespace, title, last touched date, ...

Returns all templates from the given page(s)

Get various properties defined in the page content

Enumerate all pages sequentially in a given namespace

  Find all pages that link to the given page

List all pages in a given category

Find all pages that embed (transclude) the given title

Find all pages that use the given image title

Find all pages that link to the given interwiki link.

Find all pages that link to the given language link.

Get all recent changes to pages in the logged in user's watchlist

Get all pages on the logged in user's watchlist

Enumerate pages that contain a given URL

Get a set of random pages

  Get a list provided by a QueryPage-based special page

Expands all templates in wikitext

Parses wikitext and returns parser output

Get the difference between 2 pages

Purge the cache for the given titles.

Undo the last edit to the page

Delete a page

Restore certain revisions of a deleted page

Change the protection level of a page

Move a page

Create and edit pages

Patrol a page or revision

Import a page from another wiki, or an XML file

References

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:PHP_bot_framework_table

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ApiSandbox

[3] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Data_formats

4.  What will be the end product of your project at the close of the program?

The end product of this project is JMediawiki package complete with tests and documentation and some examples on how to use it.

5.  What is your plan for completing the project on time? For example, what are key milestones and what is your rough schedule for achieving them?

6.   What skills would a good mentor for your project have?

Knowledge in Joomla platform.

Familiarity with Joomla

1.   Please describe your experience as a Joomla developer or if you have not worked with Joomla before, describe your plans for learning Joomla development.

I am relatively new to Joomla. I am getting familiar with Joomla Plaform by going through books and tutorials about Joomla. I’m interested in working with the Joomla Platform. I,m looking forward to fix more bugs and implement new features to the Joomla Platform.

I have reported a bug with a fix.

https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1024.

I have also worked on a prototype for the proposed project with one working function getSiteMatrix() which returns all the sites in the domain. I am hoping to add more functions

https://github.com/nprasath002/joomla-platform/tree/JMediaWiki/libraries/joomla/mediawiki

Added label management features to JGithub package

https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1124

2.   Please attach or provide links to the repositories for one or more examples of your work with Joomla. This can be existing code or code you write as part of this application. If you are new to Joomla please consult with the people on the mailing list, in the skype chats, and in IRC about possibilities for this.       

[1] https://github.com/nprasath002/joomla-platform/tree/JMediaWiki/libraries/joomla/mediawiki

[2] https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1024.

[3] https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1124

3.   Please describe your familiarity with the development infrastructure used by Joomla, including PHPUnit, Selenium, PHPCS and Git. If these are new to you what are your plans for learning to work with them? We hope you will use the application period to increase your familiarity with these.

I am familiar with PHPUnit and GIt. Here is my Github profile

https://github.com/nprasath002

I will go through with selenium and PHPCS and in the coming days

4.   Optional: Attach or provide links to an example of non-Joomla code that reflects your development skill.

 In addition to that i have completed a 6 month internship at WSO2, a pioneer in webservices, middleware and SOA. I worked on WSO2 Stratos cloud platform where my role was to fix some bugs in two modules

Autoscalar - automatically scales in Amazon public cloud where the module will create/kill EC2 instances on demand

Load balancer - Keeps track of Amazon EC2 nodes created and distribute the load among live EC2 instances.

involvement with the Joomla community

1.  How have you been involved in the Joomla! Community? For example, have you participated in the Joomla Bug Squad, development mailing lists, the joomla.org family of websites, Joomla events or in other ways?

I was able to report a bug in the Joomla Platform with a fix.

https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1024

Added label management features to JGithub package

https://github.com/joomla/joomla-platform/pull/1124 

I am also following all the mailing lists and have been involved in some threads

2.   Have you released any extensions or provided support or services (volunteer or commercial) to Joomla users outside of the official Joomla project?           

I have experience in setting up Joomla websites

3.  If you have not been involved with the Joomla community before how do you plan to become involved?

I’m getting familiar with the Joomla Platform now. I’m planning to concentrate more by fixing some more bugs, writing platform examples and a few blog posts.

4.   Besides working on your project, what are your plans for involvement with Joomla? Do you expect to remain involved with Joomla after the completion of your project? If so, how?

Yes. I am hoping to contribute to the Joomla Platform in the areas of web service integration. I am also looking forward to get actively involved in the community by helping in the mailing lists, fixing bugs and helping to maintain web service and related packages in the Joomla Platform

participation in the Google Summer of Code project with the Joomla! Project

1.   A requirement for successful completion of the project is that students publish a minimum of three blog posts or articles on the joomla.org family of sites. Do you agree to complete this requirement?

Yes. I will publish weekly blog posts on my project status.    

2.   A requirement for successful             completion of the project is that you be in contact with your mentor or project administrator at least once a week. Do you agree to complete this requirement?

Yes.

3.   During the summer there will be meetings, webinars and other possible online events for students and mentors. Do you agree to make a commitment to attend as many of these as possible given your time zone?

Yes

4.   The Joomla project has a code of conduct (lhttp://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/code-of-conduct.html).  Do you agree to comply with the code of conduct?

Yes

5.   The Joomla project requires code contributors to complete the Joomla Contributor Agreement http://developer.joomla.org/contributor-agreements.html. Have you completed this agreement or do you commit to completing it prior to the commencement of the program?

I have already signed for the contributor agreement.