Extension:VisualData

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 [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Parameters $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryForms $wgVisualDataCreateJobsWarningLimit $wgVisualDataDisableSlotsNavigation $wgVisualDataEditDataNamespaces $wgVisualDataDisableSidebarLink $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryJsonData $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryButtons $wgVisualDataDisableVersionCheck $wgVisualDataTrackingCategoryQueries
Added rights visualdata-caneditdata visualdata-canmanageschemas
Hooks used ArticleUndelete BeforeInitialize BeforePageDisplay ContentAlterParserOutput ContentGetParserOutput EditPage::showEditForm:initial LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates MediaWikiServices MultiContentSave OutputPageParserOutput PageDeleteComplete PageRenderingHash PageSaveComplete ParserAfterTidy ParserFirstCallInit ParserPreSaveTransformComplete RandomPageQuery RevisionFromEditComplete ScribuntoExternalLibraries SidebarBeforeOutput SkinBuildSidebar SkinTemplateNavigation::Universal
Quarterly downloads	26 (Ranked 107th)
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
•  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
visualdata-admin
visualdata-editor		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

• Extension:ContactManager (A demo wiki-application built on top of VisualData)
• Extension:Semantic MediaWiki
• Extension:Cargo
• Extension:PageForms
• Extension:FlexForm
• Manual:Managing data in MediaWiki – An overview and comparison

References

• Demos on Wikisphere
• json-schema
• json-editor demo
• json-schema creator
• schema store
• php-json-schema-model-generator

Test it out !

WikiSphere