by michal frackowiak
on 05 Jul 2010 11:00
We are pleased to announce that Wikidot expands beyond its web interface and will be providing automated access to its resources. So far in order to edit pages, participate in discussions and post content our users had to use the web interface — point browser to a page, click Edit etc. Using remote access (API), those tasks can be performed by 3rd party applications on behalf of users.
With this new feature Wikidot can be used for more than just web publishing, and we hope for numerous new applications to emerge.
Why is API so important?
"Remote API" might sound a bit unfamiliar. But imagine a situation: one of our users wanted to create a huuuuge site about games, and wanted to create about 8,000 pages, one page per game. Doing this by hand would take a lot of time and effort. On the other hand it was a matter of minutes to create a script that reads data from a file and creates pages automatically using the Remote API.
Another application that one developer would like to create is a note-taking desktop and mobile suite that stores the notes remotely on Wikidot. A user could take notes using a mobile client, review them later on a desktop computer, but also edit using the web interface.
Also some people are interested in creating an alternative editor for wiki pages — now it is possible!
From a higher perspective, API is much more than just a new way to interact with Wikidot. Wikidot API could boosts the whole ecosystem of developers, users, web services, as happened to numerous other web services before.
We believe that Remote API will open endless possibilities for Wikidot users and developers.
developer.wikidot.com
Remote API is still in early development, but we are very excited about it. At this point we would like to extend our narrow circle of alpha-testers and open the API access a bit more. Although you still need to apply to get API access.
We are launching a site for developers interested in using our Remote API at:
We definitely hope to get valuable feedback from you, and give the development more momentum! If you are a developer, please join the site!
I don't have a clue what API is, but… Does this give us a possiblity to make bot changes in our sites, as it is possible at Wikipedia?
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
Exact ! Brunhllda!
or you can use wiikidot as a storage for your "own" -database data -reading by your own programs - writing/editing by yourself OR your programs.
That is a big step forward in a new level !
Question to the deveoloper team - my (old) API key is working too - till today?
Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org (Open source), Wikidot-Handbook.
Sie können fragen und mitwirken in der deutschsprachigen » User-Gemeinschaft für WikidotNutzer oder
im deutschen » Wikidot Handbuch ?
API stands for Application Programming Interface
Thanks, Gerdami, but I still don't know what is this… :(
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
Brunhilda, the simple answer is this: The Wikidot API lets people write programs that will interact with wikidot, instead of you having to do it all yourself through the web browser.
Not sure if you've seen my editor, STE? If you have, imagine that… but you can edit wikidot pages in that with never having to visit the actual page in a browser. That's in the next version of STE… so if you're interested in having a look I'll PM you when it's ready.
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.
Thanks, Shane, that's great news. I am interested to know how to make those bots, because it will be very useful for some changes that I had to do manually until now. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue how it is done. Does this editor of yours serves for this purpose? Can I make a bot with him?
I am familiar with the existence of bots, thanks to Wikipedia, but I see them as live animals who are put to work, who can make a mistake, go crazy and you have to switch it off using a big red button that programmers made. The thing is that I don't know anything about how it is made, and I would like to know how…
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
Nope, that's not what STE does
No, the editor (STE) is basically like Microsoft Word or Notepad, but it can access pages on Wikidot (well… the version I'm working on is able to - the one that you can download from the site at the moment is an earlier version without API access: http://editor.wikidot.com)
Making a "bot" that can interact with Wikidot's API
To make something like what you want someone would have to write a special-purpose program to do whatever task you want. If you let me know what you'd like to do, I'll gladly help you out as much as I can :) There is no need to create heaps of pages manually by hand any more!
Learning a programming language
Writing your own program (or 'bot' as you call it) would be very difficult if you have never learnt a programming language before. If you'd like to eventually make your own you should definitely try learning a language - but it will be quite some time before you get to the point where you can interact with Wikidot's API.
An API is probably too complicated for someone just starting out with a language. I can help you to learn Java if you'd like - and there are other people here that specialise in other languages. All you need to do is decide on which one you'd like to learn, then ask for help to learn it :)
You might be interested in my blog about learning the Java programming language (when I have time to update it): http://java.wikidot.com
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.
If you are interested in learning to program, especially if you might choose Python as the language you learn, then you should read this: http://source.sakaiproject.org/contrib//csev/trunk/pyinf/tex/book_03.pdf
It starts really slowly, and it's probably the best introduction to programming that I've seen. Even if you don't know whether you want to learn to program, the first chapter of that book is probably the best way to find out.
Copyright waived on Wikidot official and community sites — see profile for details.
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Shane, rurwin, thanks for the input… I will surely look into the links you gave me, and see if I am able to start something like this or not… I really don't have a clue about programming, and maybe this is really a too big bite for me… :)
Shane, thanks for offering help, right now I don't need any bot changes, but maybe in future I remind you of what you offered today… :)
Thanks again guys, you're really great. :)
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
@Brunhilda: I hate acronyms that are not defined at 1st occurence
@leiger: STE ?
gerdami, it stands for Shane's Text Editor.
Rob Elliott - Strathpeffer, Scotland - Wikidot first line support & community admin team.
Strathview ~ Wikidot-based wikis, websites & intranets and online database development. For community groups, villages, charities, business and government.
Well, what it stands for doesn't really matter. In this case the acronym isn't important as it doesn't provide any information about the app's actual purpose.
WOE would have been better… though I'm not sure I want to leave people feeling woeful after using it ;-) WOE, of course, representing Wikidot Offline Editor.
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.
@RobElliot: thanks, I was just missing one letter.
@leiger: EWO
@all: I hate acronyms except this one
35°c in Belgium today
There has been talk about this for a little while and I am very happy to see it moving forward.
This is a big step forward indeed!
A conclusion is what you reach when you get tired of thinking
My editor will hopefully have API access added to it soon. STE - Offline wikidot editor
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.
Shane, is STE editor like Word? I mean, i can use Cyrillic and I can add buttons? For example, I would like to add some buttons to the editor we have, like Serbian quotation marks, for example… („….. ”)
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
Easiest way is if you download it and have a look: http://editor.wikidot.com/download - by using it a bit and trying it out you should get a good understanding of what it does (though the next version will do a lot more)
At the moment you can't add custom buttons to the editor… but it's on my Todo list. Two people have requested something similar to what you want before:
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.
I will, Shane, as soon as I am on vacation, which will be in a month. :) Right now I am too busy at work and school, and this is something that I would like to do with tranquility and peace…. As soon as I see it and check it, I'll tell you my impressions…
Thanks again. :)
B.
Vir bonus miser vocari, at esse non potest miser.
awesome stuff. looks to be quite powerful
Great news about the wikidot API! Can I now write applications to solve the bulk upload problem? This is something I was looking for nearly an year back:- http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-220107/bulk-uploading-wiki-pages
As a summary, due to the absence of an automated application, I had to rely on the web interface to create 8500 plus pages in my site (http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/) manually one page at a time. I guess with the help of the Wikidot API I can create the automated application that I need which could take the wiki formated pages (thousands of them, created using my own text parsing C++ application) straight from my computer's local folder , upload it to wikidot and convert them into wikidot pages at the click of a button.