Question

Im tring to get the infobox from wiki pages. For this I’m using wiki api. The following is the url from which I’m getting json data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=revisions&rvprop=content&format=json&titles=“+first+”&rvsection=0

Where first is a variable containing the article title for Wikipedia.

I’m finding it extremely complex to parse this data to make a meaningful html out of it.

I was usuing $.each function initially. But the loop is very deep that I had to use 6-7 times to get to the actual data that I want. I think there would be better alternative than this.
Please help me.

json data for reference

jQuery16209061950308827726_1334683337112({"query":{"pages":{"11039790":{"pageid":11039790,"ns":0,"title":"Animal","revisions":[{"*":"{{Redirect|Animalia}}\n{{Other uses}}\n{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}\n{{pp-move-indef}}\n{{Taxobox\n| color = {{taxobox color|[[animalia]]}}\n| name = Animals\n| fossil_range = [[Ediacaran]] \u2013 Recent {{fossilrange|610|0|}}\n| image = Animal diversity.png\n| image_width = 250px\n| domain = [[Eukaryota]]\n{{Taxobox_norank_entry | taxon = [[Opisthokonta]]}}\n{{Taxobox_norank_entry | taxon = [[Holozoa]]}}\n{{Taxobox_norank_entry | taxon = [[Filozoa]]}}\n| regnum = '''Animalia'''\n| regnum_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Systema Naturae|1758]]\n| subdivision_ranks = [[Phylum|Phyla]]\n| subdivision =\n* '''Subkingdom [[Parazoa]]'''\n** [[Sponge|Porifera]]\n** [[Placozoa]]\n* '''Subkingdom [[Eumetazoa]]'''\n** '''[[Radiata]] (unranked)'''\n*** [[Ctenophora]]\n*** [[Cnidaria]]\n** '''[[Bilateria]] (unranked)'''\n*** [[Orthonectida]]\n*** [[Rhombozoa]]\n*** [[Acoelomorpha]]\n*** [[Chaetognatha]]\n*** '''Superphylum [[Deuterostomia]]'''\n**** [[Chordata]]\n**** [[Hemichordata]]\n**** [[Echinoderm]]ata\n**** [[Xenoturbellida]]\n**** [[Vetulicolia]] [[extinction|\u2020]]\n*** '''[[Protostomia]] (unranked)'''\n**** '''Superphylum [[Ecdysozoa]]'''\n***** [[Kinorhyncha]]\n***** [[Loricifera]]\n***** [[Priapulida]]\n***** [[Nematoda]]\n***** [[Nematomorpha]]\n***** [[Lobopodia]]\n***** [[Onychophora]]\n***** [[Tardigrada]]\n***** [[Arthropoda]]\n**** '''Superphylum [[Platyzoa]]'''\n***** [[Platyhelminthes]]\n***** [[Gastrotricha]]\n***** [[Rotifera]]\n***** [[Acanthocephala]]\n***** [[Gnathostomulida]]\n***** [[Micrognathozoa]]\n***** [[Cycliophora]]\n**** '''Superphylum [[Lophotrochozoa]]'''\n***** [[Sipuncula]]\n***** [[Hyolitha]] [[extinction|\u2020]]\n***** [[Nemertea]]\n***** [[Phoronida]]\n***** [[Bryozoa]]\n***** [[Entoprocta]]\n***** [[Brachiopoda]]\n***** [[Mollusca]]\n***** [[Annelida]]\n***** [[Echiura]]\n}}\n\n'''Animals''' are a major group of multicellular, [[eukaryotic]] [[organism]]s of the [[Kingdom (biology)|kingdom]] '''Animalia''' or '''Metazoa'''. Their [[body plan]] eventually becomes fixed as they [[Developmental biology|develop]], although some undergo a process of [[metamorphosis]] later on in their life. Most animals are [[Motility|motile]], meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also [[heterotroph]]s, meaning they must ingest other organisms or their products for [[sustenance]].\n\nMost known animal [[phylum|phyla]] appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the [[Cambrian explosion]], about 542 million years ago."}]}}}})

Answer 1

If you want the actual html as it is displayed in the wikipage, use action=parse instead.
And yes, the result objects are deeply nested. But no reason to loop over them!

• the first property is always the action, here: query
• you have requested properties of pages, so you will receive pages
• which are keyed by their page id. This is the only step to use a loop
• Each page object has certain properties (like a title), you’re interested in the revisions
• this is an array of revision objects, you need the only and first
• the sourcetext property of a revision object is the *

So, just do it:

if (data && data.query && data.query.pages)
    var pages = data.query.pages;
else
    // error: No pages returned / other problems!
for (var id in pages) { // in your case a loop over one property
    if (pages[id].revisions && pages[id].revisions[0] && pages[id].revisions[0]["*"])
        var content = pages[id].revisions[0]["*"];
    else
        // error: No revision content returned for whatever reasons!
}
// use "content" variable here

Dont forget to check for the existance of each object! If you requested no pages, there will be no pages object; this is only the case when the pages “array” is empty. A page may be missing/invalid title or something else, so that is has no revisions. etc.