Maniphest T119702

API returns error messages in place destined for end user
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	Robert-RtC3V
	Nov 26 2015, 12:11 PM

Description

I believe to have found a bug that hasn't been reported before: the API seemingly returns error messages in its response at an improper place. The query

https://de.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=coordinates%7Cpageimages%7Cextracts&colimit=10&pithumbsize=100&pilimit=1&explaintext=1&exintro=1&exlimit=1&pageids=5780474

responds with the body

{
  "batchcomplete": "",
  "query": {
    "pages": {
      "5780474": {
        "pageid": 5780474,
        "ns": 0,
        "title": "Psychologische Hochschule Berlin",
        "coordinates": [
          {
            "lat": 52.51280975,
            "lon": 13.4157896,
            "primary": "",
            "globe": "earth"
          }
        ],
        "thumbnail": {
          "source": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Psychologische_Hichschule_Berlin_%28PHB%29_am_K%C3%B6llnischen_Park_2.jpg/100px-Psychologische_Hichschule_Berlin_%28PHB%29_am_K%C3%B6llnischen_Park_2.jpg",
          "width": 100,
          "height": 67
        },
        "pageimage": "Psychologische_Hichschule_Berlin_(PHB)_am_Köllnischen_Park_2.jpg",
        "extract": "Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Logo fehltVorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Mitarbeiter fehlt\n\nDie Psychologische Hochschule Berlin (PHB) wurde 2010 vom Berufsverband Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen gegründet und ist im Haus der Psychologie am Köllnischen Park in Berlin-Mitte untergebracht. Sie wurde am 5. Mai 2010 vom Berliner Senat für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung als nichtstaatliche Hochschule staatlich anerkannt und startete ihren Lehrbetrieb zum Wintersemester 2010/2011."
      }
    }
  }
}

The extract property starts with Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Logo fehltVorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Mitarbeiter fehlt, which appear to be error messages about missing stuff in the infobox. I believe these error messages should not be at this place, much like they don't show up when the user visits the https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologische_Hochschule_Berlin page.

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Mentioned In: T131923: de.wikipedia.org prefixes geocoordinates for some articles using api interface

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Robert-RtC3V created this task.Nov 26 2015, 12:11 PM

Robert-RtC3V raised the priority of this task from to Needs Triage.

Robert-RtC3V updated the task description. (Show Details)

Robert-RtC3V added a project: MediaWiki-Action-API.

Robert-RtC3V subscribed.

Restricted Application added subscribers: StudiesWorld, Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptNov 26 2015, 12:11 PM

Robert-RtC3V renamed this task from API returns error messages in to API returns error messages in place destined for end user.Nov 26 2015, 12:17 PM

Robert-RtC3V set Security to None.

Anomie moved this task from Unsorted to Non-core-API stuff on the MediaWiki-Action-API board.Nov 26 2015, 1:14 PM

If you check the source of the page, you'll see

<p><span style="display: none;"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Vorlage:Infobox_Hochschule/Logo_fehlt&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Logo fehlt (Seite nicht vorhanden)">Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Logo fehlt</a></span><span style="display: none;"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Vorlage:Infobox_Hochschule/Mitarbeiter_fehlt&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Mitarbeiter fehlt (Seite nicht vorhanden)">Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Mitarbeiter fehlt</a></span></p>

i.e. the text is there, just hidden with CSS. The TextExtracts extension is picking up this text when generating its extracts.

fehlt... Sounds like "tracking" links to find back errors in templates. Which is dandy, but display:none is not enough to deal with such pieces of content.

Define a semantic class, and make sure that such a class is filtered by the various tools (as english wikipedia uses the metadata class for instance). In this case, probably even the pre existing semantic class "error" would work I guess, if you keep the "display:none;" in addition to the class....

• Jhernandez triaged this task as Medium priority.Nov 26 2015, 6:09 PM

• Jhernandez subscribed.

While this has not been fixed, is there any workaround? Getting HTML instead of plain text, i.e. removing the explaintext=1 parameter (https://de.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=coordinates|pageimages|extracts&colimit=10&pithumbsize=100&pilimit=1&exintro=1&exlimit=1&pageids=5780474), does not help.
It results in

[...]"extract": "<p><span>Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Logo fehlt</span><span>Vorlage:Infobox Hochschule/Mitarbeiter fehlt</span></p>\n\n\n[...]

where the span lacks the style="display: none;" attribute.

Anomie mentioned this in T131923: de.wikipedia.org prefixes geocoordinates for some articles using api interface.Apr 6 2016, 2:46 PM

In T119702#2079664, @Robert-RtC3V wrote:

While this has not been fixed, is there any workaround?

Looking at the source of the extension, I think that a potential workaround might be: Always make sure that "tracking links" are wrapped inside a <div> element (and not just a <span> element).

This should be done for other reasons anyway (styling issues with margins).

MBinder_WMF added a project: Web-Team-Backlog.May 17 2016, 6:31 PM

Jdlrobson moved this task from Incoming to 2014-15 Q4 on the Web-Team-Backlog board.Jun 22 2016, 4:45 PM

• Jhernandez updated the task description. (Show Details)Jun 22 2016, 4:46 PM

Note: In the meantime, I have added the workaround from T119702#2188976 to the template in question, so error messages from this specific template will not appear in TextExtracts anymore.

In general, putting such "tracking" links into templates is a very popular practice at dewiki (it is even documented on a help page), and I don't think it is realistic to assume that this will stop anytime soon.

Solution is to mark this up with the appropriate class. See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TextExtracts#FAQ

Aklapper removed a subscriber: Anomie.Oct 16 2020, 5:28 PM

API returns error messages in place destined for end userClosed, InvalidPublicActions

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API returns error messages in place destined for end user
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