Extension:Cargo
Cargo is an extension to MediaWiki that provides a lightweight way to store and query the data contained within the calls to templates, such as infoboxes. It is similar in concept to the Semantic MediaWiki extension, but offers a number of advantages, including ease of installation and ease of use.
Cargo stores all its data in database tables, which can be placed in either MediaWiki's own database (the default) or a separate database. For the most part, each stored template gets its data stored in a single DB table, with a column for each relevant template parameter. There are a few exceptions to this: the handling of template fields that hold arrays/lists of values, and of fields that hold geographical coordinates, is more complex, due to poor native handling of those data types in most DB systems. And multiple templates can be set to all store their data in one DB table.
The extension defines a number of parser functions; these three are the most important:
#cargo_declare- placed within the<noinclude>part of a template; it defines the schema for a table.#cargo_store- stores one row to a Cargo table; usually placed within the<includeonly>part of a template.#cargo_query- queries one or more Cargo data tables, using SQL components.
The other defined parser functions are:
#cargo_attach- defines a template as adding rows to a table declared elsewhere.#cargo_compound_query- displays the results of multiple queries in one place.#cargo_display_map- displays a map showing a single point.#recurring_event- prints out the dates for a recurring event; for use by #cargo_store.
Cargo also defines various interfaces for viewing and drilling down through this stored data. As such, it adds the following special pages:
- Special:CargoQuery
- Special:CargoTableDiagram
- Special:CargoTables
- Special:Drilldown
Cargo has been tested, and works, with the MySQL and PostgreSQL database systems. In theory, it also supports SQLite, but it has not been well-tested with SQLite and may not work.
This version of the Cargo extension requires MediaWiki 1.38+.
Click through the pages in the navigation bar above to learn more about Cargo, how it works, how to use it, and how to install it.
Installation
Configuration
Below are Cargo's global configuration settings along with their default values.
To configure Cargo to use a separate database instead of the MediaWiki database, the following settings are provided:
| Separate database configuration settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Default | Description |
$wgCargoDBtype |
null |
Database type. |
$wgCargoDBserver |
null |
Host name or IP address of database server. |
$wgCargoDBname |
null |
Name of the database. |
$wgCargoDBuser |
null |
Database username. |
$wgCargoDBpassword |
null |
The password for $wgCargoDBuser. |
$wgCargoDBprefix |
null |
Database table name prefix. |
$wgCargoDBRowFormat |
null |
Data base row format. |
For character configuration as related to numbers, the following configuring settings are provided:
| Character configuration settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Default | Description |
$wgCargoDecimalMark |
. |
Decimal character for numbers. |
$wgCargoDigitGroupingCharacter |
, |
Thousands digit separator. |
The remaining global configuration settings are as follows:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
$wgCargoAllowedSQLFunctions |
[] |
Sets allowed SQL functions. See Using SQL Functions for defaults. |
$wgCargoRecurringEventMaxInstances |
100 |
The number of max instances to store for recurring events with no set end date. |
$wgCargoDefaultStringBytes |
300 |
The default number of characters for fields of type Page, String, Wikitext string, File, URL, Email |
$wgCargoDefaultQueryLimit |
100 |
Number of results to show for #cargo_query if no limit is set |
$wgCargoMaxQueryLimit |
5000 |
The maximum allowed number of results for #cargo_query |
$wgCargo24HourTime |
false |
If true uses 24-hour time for Datetime field types. |
$wgCargoDefaultMapService |
OpenLayers |
Sets the default map service to Google Maps, if set to googlemaps, to Leaflet if set to leaflet, and to OpenLayers if set to openlayers. |
$wgCargoGoogleMapsKey |
null |
API key for Google Maps, for the googlemaps display format. |
$wgCargoMapClusteringMinimum |
80 |
If the number of map points displayed is greater than the value of $wgCargoMapClusteringMinimum, the map displays the locations in "clusters" instead of individual points, for readability. If set to a very high number, does not display clustering. |
$wgCargoDrilldownUseTabs |
true |
Displays Special:Drilldown table names as tabs at the top instead of a vertical list at the side. |
$wgCargoDrilldownSmallestFontSize |
-1 |
If set to a positive number, sets the smallest font size, in pixels, for a tag-cloud-style display of filter values. |
$wgCargoDrilldownLargestFontSize |
-1 |
If set to a positive number, sets the largest font size, in pixels, for a tag-cloud-style display of filter values. |
$wgCargoDrilldownMinValuesForComboBox |
40 |
Sets the minimum number of values before their display is converted to a combo box, instead of individual links. |
$wgCargoDrilldownNumRangesForNumbers |
5 |
For fields/filters of type Integer or Float, specifies the number of "buckets" into which values are divided. |
$wgCargoMaxVisibleHierarchyDrilldownValues |
30 |
If set to a positive integer, specifies the maximum number of values shown at a time for any hierarchy field (All the top-level values are shown irrespective of this value). The values are hidden beyond a certain depth of the hierarchy such that the count of total visible values is at most this number. |
$wgCargoTablesPrioritizeReplacements |
false |
If true, all tables having a replacement appear at the top of the Special:CargoTables page, instead displaying them in alphabetical order. |
$wgCargoPageDataColumns |
[] |
The set of fields to store in the _pageData Cargo table. See Storing page data. |
$wgCargoFileDataColumns |
[] |
The set of fields to store in the _fileData Cargo table. See Storing file data. |
$wgCargoHideNamespaceName |
[6] |
Array of namespaces to hide from query results. |
$wgCargoLegacyNullLuaFieldsAsEmptyString |
false |
Null results to the Lua Cargo query function should return as string rather than nil. This allows you to rollback a breaking change from early 2022. New wikis created after this time should not enable this. |
$wgCargoStoreUseTemplateArgsFallback |
true |
Enable the behavior that looks for template arguments that match the template's declared table to fill columns. |
See also
- Manual:Managing data in MediaWiki – An overview and comparison.
- Semantic MediaWiki – Allows for the storage and querying of data within pages.
- WikiDB – Provides database features, somewhat similar to semantic properties.
- Wikibase – Allows to represent and manipulate structured data as part of the Wikidata project.
 | This extension is included in the following wiki farms/hosts and/or packages: This is not an authoritative list. Some wiki farms/hosts and/or packages may contain this extension even if they are not listed here. Always check with your wiki farms/hosts or bundle to confirm. |