Use new syntax for creating multiple references in QuickStatements export

[wetneb]

QuickStatements has introduced a new syntax to let people add multiple references to a statement, using exclamation marks to separate distinct references.

OpenRefine's Wikibase extension should be updated to use this syntax.

Proposed solution

When creating a statement with multiple references, instead of creating a QuickStatements script of the form

Qaaa Pbbb Qccc Sddd Qeee
Qaaa Pbbb Qccc Sfff Qggg

we should rather output a script of the form

Qaaa Pbbb Qccc Sddd Qeee !Sfff Qggg

Alternatives considered

None

Additional context

Reported on the OpenRefine-Wikimedia telegram Group by @SannitaSSJ.
See the previous issue which introduced support for multiple references: #2320,
and its resolution #2340.

[payalsaraljain]

Hi, I am interested in checking out this issue, is it assigned to someone?

[wetneb]

Amazing, it is yours @payalsaraljain :)

[payalsaraljain]

Thank you, I will start looking into this

[payalsaraljain]

Quick question there should be no tab space between the ! and reference right?

[wetneb]

Yes, that's also my understanding of the docs. You could double-check that by making some sample edits on the Wikidata Sandbox via QuickStatements, trying to add multiple references at once.

[payalsaraljain]

Hi, can you elaborate a little on how to do that I am unable to do it

[wetneb]

Sure. First, you'll need to create a Wikidata account. It's useful if you learn how to edit Wikidata manually first, for instance by following the Wikidata tours. That will help you get familiar with the different parts of Wikidata's data model (importantly, for this issue: items, properties, statements and references).

Then, you need to learn how to make Wikidata edits via QuickStatements. To do so, you could try to follow the docs or watch some video tutorial.

Once you have made a few edits with QuickStatements, you could experiment with the specific syntax that is available to create statements with multiple references. You should try and craft a small QuickStatements script that uses this syntax (using the ! character). Because you will be making a test edit, I recommend that the subject Wikidata item you use is a so-called "sandbox item", which is a particular Wikidata item where it's okay to make gibberish edits. One such item is https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4115189

Check that your script works by running it in QuickStatements. If it does not create two references as expected, you could try getting some help, for instance by starting a new discussion over at https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help_talk:QuickStatements.

If your script does work, then you should be ready to implement support for this syntax in OpenRefine. For that part, you should be able to follow this guide: https://openrefine.org/docs/technical-reference/code-contributions

[payalsaraljain]

Hi @wetneb, I followed the steps, up until making few edits via QuickStatements, it is saying "You can't create a new batch, because you are not autoconfirmed", on probing on this I found that it has some restriction on running certain commads for newly created wikidata account, if that is the case is there another way of validating?

[wetneb]

That's a good point! You could either do a few more edits to reach the autoconfirmed status (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Autoconfirmed_users) or run your test statements on another wiki. For instance, there are a number of test Wikibase instances listed at https://www.wikibase.cloud/discovery, such as https://naf-test.wikibase.cloud/wiki/NAF_Test or https://metadata-test2023-rbx.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Main_Page. You could try using one of them (and reverting your edits afterwards)

[wetneb]

@payalsaraljain I am assuming you stopped working on this by now, so I am de-assigning you from this for now. If you are still working on this, let me know what is holding you back and I'll happily re-assign you.

[Ahmed-Elgamel]

Hi @wetneb can you assign me this issue?

[Ahmed-Elgamel]

Hi @wetneb , I have gone through the Wikidata tours and made a Wikidata account.I am doing edits on a test Wikibase instance as you mentioned earlier(I am not auto confirmed on WikiData yet).I am trying to enter the command that creates a statement with multiple references but it does not seem to understand this syntax and behaves unexpectedly.

The command was worked correctly when we added multiple references in the same group

But when I try to put each reference in a separate group it does not recognize the exclamation mark.


In the last photo it just recognizes the first source/reference while the second one is not recognized.

Is there something that I am misunderstanding or doing wrong?

[wetneb]

Hi @Ahmed-Elgamel,

You're totally right, I also cannot get it to work on my side either. Weird! Thanks for checking.
@SannitaSSJ can you confirm how to use this syntax?

Removing the "good first issue" label in the meantime.