Wikimedia Commons queries to get image data

I am developing application to get images from Wikimedia Commons which is a big repository of excellent images. The query API is not well documented. I researched and came up with the following queries to get the file locations of images.

Suppose I want to get the images in the Category Flags of United States, I will do the following:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?format=xml&action=query&list=categorymembers&cmlimit=10&cmtitle=Category:benthos

which produces the following XML output for the first 10 items.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<api>-<query>-<categorymembers><cm title="Category:Porifera" ns="14" pageid="13371"/><cm title="Category:Riftia pachyptila" ns="14" pageid="8805563"/><cm title="File:1991 benthos-achtern02 hg.jpg" ns="6" pageid="3321991"/><cm title="File:Abra alba.jpg" ns="6" pageid="333239"/><cm title="File:Ammonia tepida.jpg" ns="6" pageid="706636"/><cm title="File:Aonides paucibranchiata.jpg" ns="6" pageid="396315"/><cm title="File:Aphrodita aculeata (Sea mouse).jpg" ns="6" pageid="3610614"/><cm title="File:Aphrodita aculeata.jpg" ns="6" pageid="1525478"/><cm title="File:Arenicole système.jpg" ns="6" pageid="4258545"/><cm title="File:Asterias rubens.jpg" ns="6" pageid="364648"/></categorymembers></query>-<query-continue><categorymembers cmcontinue="file|42454e5448494320464f52414d494e4946455241532e4a5047|2080936"/></query-continue></api>

to  get an image you have to use the

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aonides%20paucibranchiata.jpg will take you to the Aonides paucibranchiata image!

if you query

http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?format=xml&action=query&list=categorymembers&cmlimit=10&cmtitle=Category:benthos&cmcontinue=file|42454e5448494320464f52414d494e4946455241532e4a5047|2080936

you get the following output  which are the next 10 items, and so on

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<api>-<query>-<categorymembers><cm title="File:Benthic foraminiferas.jpg" ns="6" pageid="2080936"/><cm title="File:Benthic GLERL 1.jpg" ns="6" pageid="2143998"/><cm title="File:Bentos kasarek.jpg" ns="6" pageid="16992357"/><cm title="File:Borstenwurmer des Meeres.png" ns="6" pageid="5229875"/><cm title="File:Branchiostoma lanceolatum.jpg" ns="6" pageid="5712836"/><cm title="File:Capitella capitata.jpg" ns="6" pageid="398359"/><cm title="File:Cirratulus cirratus.jpg" ns="6" pageid="398775"/><cm title="File:Crabmuss 600.jpg" ns="6" pageid="292191"/><cm title="File:Crangon crangon (dorsal).jpg" ns="6" pageid="10320338"/><cm title="File:Crangon crangon.jpg" ns="6" pageid="470098"/></categorymembers></query>-<query-continue><categorymembers cmcontinue="file|4352494252494e4f50534953204645524e414c44492e4a5047|3307271"/></query-continue></api>

Other useful formats

format=json

format=jsonfm produces a html output of json format.

Reference

1. API reference



2. API:Main page



3. API:Tutorial