mwclient
========

mwclient is a Python client to the `MediaWiki API <//mediawiki.org/wiki/API>`_
which provides access to most API functionality.
It requires Python 2.6 or 2.7 (Python 3.x support planned) and supports MediaWiki 1.16
and above.
For functions not available in the current MediaWiki, a ``MediaWikiVersionError`` is raised.

This framework was written by Bryan Tong Minh, who released the latest stable 
`version 0.6.5 <//github.com/mwclient/mwclient/archive/REL_0_6_5.zip>`_ 
on 6 May 2011. Version 0.6.5 is also 
`available through PyPI <//pypi.python.org/pypi/mwclient/0.6.5>`_:

.. code-block:: console

    $ pip install mwclient

Note that 0.6.5 might not work with the latest MediaWiki versions.
The current `development version <//github.com/mwclient/mwclient>`_
can be installed directly off github:

.. code-block:: console

    $ pip install git+git://github.com/mwclient/mwclient.git

Please see the 
`release notes <//github.com/mwclient/mwclient/blob/master/RELEASE-NOTES.md>`_
for a list of changes.

Contributing
--------------------

mwclient ships with a test suite based on `pytest <//pytest.org>`_.
Only a small part of mwclient is currently tested, but hopefully coverage
will improve in the future.

The easiest way to run tests is:

.. code-block:: console

    $ python setup.py test

This will make an in-place build and download test dependencies locally
if needed. To make tests run faster, you can use pip to do an
`"editable" install <//pip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/pip_install.html#editable-installs>`_:

.. code-block:: console

    $ pip install pytest pytest-pep8 responses
    $ pip install -e .
    $ py.test

To run tests with different Python versions in isolated virtualenvs, you
can use `Tox <//testrun.org/tox/latest/>`_:

.. code-block:: console

    $ pip install tox
    $ tox

Implementation notes
--------------------

Most properties and generators accept the same parameters as the API,
without their two-letter prefix. Exceptions to this rule:

* ``Image.imageinfo`` is the imageinfo of the latest image.
  Earlier versions can be fetched using ``imagehistory()``
* ``Site.all*``: parameter ``[ap]from`` renamed to ``start``
* ``categorymembers`` is implemented as ``Category.members``
* ``deletedrevs`` is ``deletedrevisions``
* ``usercontribs`` is ``usercontributions``
* First parameters of ``search`` and ``usercontributions`` are ``search`` and ``user`` 
  respectively

Properties and generators are implemented as Python generators.
Their limit parameter is only an indication of the number of items in one chunk.
It is not the total limit.
Doing ``list(generator(limit = limit))`` will return ALL items of generator,
and not be limited by the limit value.
Default chunk size is generally the maximum chunk size.


HTTPS
-----

To use https, specify the host as a tuple in the form of ``('https', hostname)``.


Example
-------

For more information, see the
`REFERENCE.md <//github.com/mwclient/mwclient/blob/master/REFERENCE.md>`_ file
or the 
`documentation on the wiki <//github.com/mwclient/mwclient/wiki>`_.

.. code-block:: python

	# Initialize Site object
	import mwclient
	site = mwclient.Site('commons.wikimedia.org')
	site.login(username, password)

	# Edit page
	page = site.Pages['Commons:Sandbox']
	text = page.edit()
	print 'Text in sandbox:', text.encode('utf-8')
	page.save(text + u'\nExtra data', summary = 'Test edit')

	# Printing imageusage
	image = site.Images['Example.jpg']
	print 'Image', image.name.encode('utf-8'), 'usage:'
	for page in image.imageusage():
		print 'Used:', page.name.encode('utf-8'), '; namespace', page.namespace
		print 'Image info:', image.imageinfo

	# Uploading a file
	site.upload(open('file.jpg'), 'destination.jpg', 'Image description')

	# Listing all categories (don't do this in reality)
	for category in site.allcategories():
		print category