Semanticmediawiki: New results format in order to edit the results of the smw query

[NicolasNallet]

When watching a results of a smw query we often see that some data are outdated but we cannot directly change it. Today we have to go to each page to change data.
It could be very useful to edit some parts of the results (updating the data) of any SMW query in the manner of the page Special:MultiPageEdit

Special:MultiPageEdit is a first step but display too many lines/columns. An editable SMW query could display only data that we would like to update.

[kghbln]

I am not sure if I understand this correctly. Outdated data would mean that the data on the respective pages were indeed already edited however the query is still showing the previous set of data. So this appears to be an issue of change propagation of data rather than changing the data in the first place.

[NicolasNallet]

No it's not related to propagation of data or jobs. To goal is to have a table (from a query) that you can edit (update or add new values) directly.
For example in this table https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Table_format#smwtable-clean
You know that the population of Berlin has increased and you would like to put new number directly in the table without going to each page (Berlin, Munich...)

It's the same behaviour than with the special page MultiPageEdit but within a table provided by a smw query
https://wikivalley-publictest.wiki-valley.com/index.php?title=Special:MultiPageEdit&template=Article&form=Article

[kghbln]

Ok, thanks for clarifying. Now I am with you. Since data is still being stored on the respective pages this is about having an advanced editing interface for manipulating data. This is in my opinion something for a dedicated extension and not for SMW core.

[JeroenDeDauw]

This would be rather difficult to achieve and would require significant changes in SMW core. It would not just be a result format.

[kghbln]

I added this to the open section for "enhancements and features". Also labelled as "seeks developer".

[akuckartz]

What is the reason for closing this issue?

[kghbln]

See my explanation. I is in the open section. This being open or not does not influence the progress on this.

[akuckartz]

I never actively look into closed issues to find things which should be done and I suppose I am not alone...

[JeroenDeDauw]

I concur. Closing issues and putting them into some open column no one but the core devs know about is very confusing. Never seen a project do this.

[alex-mashin]

This feature goes beyond the current level of wiki technology. Strictly speaking, it's impossible except in special cases.

The naive approach to it would be to accompany any semantic value with a kind of provenance data, referring to the exact place in wikitext where the property was set.

However, the data can have gone through various transformations done by templates or Lua modules on its way from wikitext to SMW storage. Those transformations are, generally, irreversible.

So, unless a given semantic annotation is accompanied by its author with provenance data being a function _f: new semantic value → (change operator: wikitext → wikitext)_, this can't be done.

In the simplest case, when a semantic value _Old value_ of the property _Property_ is generated by a simple inline semantic annotation [[Property::Old value]], _f(New value) = sed s/[[Property::Old value]]/[[Property::New value]]/_.

Automatic generation of such provenance data will require an artificial intelligence.

If semantic data ultimately comes from an external source like a semantic query to another wiki, this goal cannot be achieved even theoretically.

[JeroenDeDauw]

Another way of looking at this: SMW is too flexible/powerful to have nice usability for the common simple use cases (since the flexibility/power is not optional). We have done a bunch of thinking at Professional.Wiki on how we can improve on this, and although we have some ideas, none of those are viable from a cost/benefit perspective for us at the moment.