MediaWiki Extension · Wikibase · GPL v2

A native 2-state Boolean
for self-hosted Wikibase

WikibaseBoolean adds a genuine true/false datatype to standalone Wikibase installations that don't need Wikidata's item-based workaround — a checkbox where you'd otherwise juggle two items, a query pattern, and a pair of labels for every single flag.

View on GitHub → Read the docs

Quick start

# From your MediaWiki extensions/ directory
git clone https://github.com/lucamauri/WikibaseBoolean

# Enable it (after Wikibase Repository)
echo 'wfLoadExtension( "WikibaseBoolean" );' >> LocalSettings.php
# Composer-based install: see the README

What's included

Five focused components

Each piece does exactly one job in the parse → validate → store → display/export pipeline. Nothing here tries to do more than its name says.

Parser

BooleanParser

Accepts a checkbox state or typed text (true/yes/1, false/no/0) and produces the one canonical stored value.

Validator

BooleanValidator

Confirms a stored value is genuinely well-formed -- exactly "true" or "false" -- before it's ever accepted, whatever wrote it.

Formatter

BooleanFormatter

Localized, format-aware display -- plain text, wikitext, or HTML with a ✓/✗ glyph -- via a message-lookup abstraction.

RDF mapper

BooleanRdfMapper

Exports to a plain xsd:boolean literal for the Wikibase Query Service, by exact string equality -- never truthiness.

Edit widget

jquery.valueview.experts.Boolean

A checkbox right in the statement editor, instead of a raw text field for something with exactly two valid values.

How it fits together

Architecture overview

One value flows through validation once, then branches into whichever direction it's needed: shown to a person, or exported as RDF.

User input  checkbox, or typed text
  │
  ▼
BooleanParser  → StringValue("true" / "false")
  │
  ▼
BooleanValidator  confirms exactly "true" or "false"
  │
  ├──► BooleanFormatter   "True" / "False" (localized)
  └──► BooleanRdfMapper  "true"^^xsd:boolean

The stored value is a plain DataValues\StringValue, not a native PHP boolean -- a deliberate fix for a real Wikibase-core bug. See ADR-0006 for the full trace.

Prerequisites

What you need first

A small, standard footprint -- nothing beyond what Wikibase itself already needs.

  • MediaWiki 1.43 or later
  • PHP 8.1 or later
  • The Wikibase Repository extension
  • Composer (for dependency resolution)

Documentation

Guides and references

Everything below lives in the repository itself -- one source, linked from everywhere else.

README Installation, status, and scope Architecture decisions ADRs explaining key design choices and trade-offs Continuous integration Runs the full suite against a real, disposable MediaWiki + Wikibase install License GPL-2.0-or-later