It's a parctice that dates back to 2006 when the API was first written, and frankly isn't covered by the coding conventions. Same thing with the docblocks, they're all copypasted with some bits changed and don't even make sense if you look at them in the genereated code docs.
I don't feel that any of us depend on this anymore (get a better IDE), so in the inerest of consistancy it's time we said goodbye to it.
* Introduced a "cache mode" concept to simplify the header generation code, and to avoid odd results when conflicting cache header requests are received from submodules, or at least to formalise the handling of such cases.
* Made the cache mode private by default, so that code written in ignorance of caching tends to be safe. If different query modules are used in a single request, private caching is preferred over public caching.
* Removed the "must-revalidate" option from all CC headers, this is really specific to page views with a hacked squid in front, I don't think it's applicable here.
* Made the watchlist module private. This is really the definition of private data. There's nothing in the HTTP spec that says the URL for a CC:public request is private and can't be leaked. CC:private provides protection against unknown proxy behaviour.
* In ApiQueryAllmessages: avoid calling $wgLang->getCode() to check if it's necessary to make a new $wgLang when lang= is specified, since this is the only thing that unstubs $wgUser.
* Removed "FIXME: should this check $user instead of $wgUser?" Answer is no.
"I wouldn't object to stylizing the API code to bring it in line with
the rest of MW on principle, but I'm not gonna bother myself." --Roan
<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:Code/MediaWiki/60657#c5108>
If you're seeing this commit in blames, tell your blame tool to ignore
whitespace, e.g., git blame -w or svn blame -x -w.
* Aggressively intval() numeric things; addresses the concerns raised on bug 11633
* Use ApiQueryBase::addTitleInfo() everywhere
* Remove a drug-induced-looking line from ApiQueryWatchlist.php
* This means queries could possibly return fewer results than the limit and still set a query-continue
* Add iicontinue, rvcontinue, cicontinue, incontinue, amfrom to faciliate query-continue for these modules
* Implemented by blocking additions to the ApiResult object if they would make it too large
** Important things like query-continue values and warnings are exempt from this check
** RSS feeds and exported XML are also exempted (size-checking them would be too messy)
** Result size is checked against $wgAPIMaxResultSize, which defaults to 8 MB
For those who really care, per-file details follow:
ApiResult.php:
* Introduced ApiResult::$mSize which keeps track of the result size.
* Introduced ApiResult::size() which calculates an array's size
(which is the sum of the strlen()s of its elements).
* ApiResult::addValue() now checks that the result size stays below
$wgAPIMaxResultSize. If the item won't fit, it won't be added and addValue()
will return false. Callers should check the return value and set a
query-continue if it's false.
* Closed the back door that is ApiResult::getData(): callers can't manipulate
the data array directly anymore so they can't bypass the result size limit.
* Added ApiResult::setIndexedTagName_internal() which will call
setIndexedTagName() on an array already in the result. This is needed for the
'new' order of adding results, which means addValue()ing one result at a time
until you hit the limit or run out, then calling this function to set the tag
name.
* Added ApiResult::disableSizeCheck() and enableSizeCheck() which disable and
enable size checking in addValue(). This is used for stuff like query-continue
elements and warnings which shouldn't count towards the result size.
* Added ApiResult::unsetValue() which removes an element from the result and
decreases $mSize.
ApiBase.php:
* Like ApiResult::getData(), ApiBase::getResultData() no longer returns a
reference.
* Use ApiResult::disableSizeCheck() in ApiBase::setWarning()
ApiQueryBase.php:
* Added ApiQueryBase::addPageSubItem(), which adds page subitems one item
at a time.
* addPageSubItem() and addPageSubItems() now return whether the subitem
fit in the result.
* Use ApiResult::disableSizeCheck() in setContinueEnumParameter()
ApiMain.php:
* Use ApiResult::disableSizeCheck() in ApiMain::substituteResultWithError()
* Use getParameter() rather than $mRequest to obtain requestid
DefaultSettings.php:
* Added $wgAPIMaxResultSize, with a default value of 8 MB
ApiQuery*.php:
* Added results one at a time, and set a query-continue if the result is full.
ApiQueryLangLinks.php and friends:
* Migrated from addPageSubItems() to addPageSubItem(). This eliminates the
need for $lastId.
ApiQueryAllLinks.php, ApiQueryWatchlist.php, ApiQueryAllimages.php, ApiQuerySearch.php:
* Renamed $data to something more appropriate ($pageids, $ids or $titles)
ApiQuerySiteinfo.php:
* Abuse siprop as a query-continue parameter and set it to all props that
couldn't be processed.
ApiQueryRandom.php:
* Doesn't do continuations, because the result is supposed to be random.
* Be smart enough to not run the second query if the results of the first
didn't fit.
ApiQueryImageInfo.php, ApiQueryRevisions.php, ApiQueryCategoryInfo.php, ApiQueryInfo.php:
* Added continue parameter which basically skips the first so many items
ApiQueryBacklinks.php:
* Throw the result in a big array first and addValue() that one element at a time if necessary
** This is necessary because the results aren't retrieved in order
* Introduced $this->pageMap to map namespace and title to page ID
* Rewritten extractRowInfo() and extractRedirRowInfo() a little
* Declared all private member variables explicitly
ApiQueryDeletedrevs.php:
* Use a pagemap just like in Backlinks
* Introduce fake page IDs and keep track of them so we know where to add what
** This doesn't change the output format, because the fake page IDs start at 0 and are consecutive
ApiQueryAllmessages.php:
* Add amfrom to facilitate query-continue
ApiQueryUsers.php:
* Rewrite: put the getOtherUsersInfo() code in execute()
