Cargo Data

Cargo is used to store and query data contained within AntWiki pages. Data is added to pages by including specially formatted templates on individual pages. These templates not only display data on the page, but also add it to a database table. Each template uses a single table, with a column for each template parameter. There are a few exceptions to this; see Cargo Documentation for a full discussion of the details.

See Cargo Tables for a list of Cargo-managed data.

How It Works

Cargo is similar to the extension Dynamic Page List [DPL] (which is used extensively throughout AntWiki) in that sets of pages meeting user-defined conditions can be retrieved and displayed. For example, this DPL code:

{{#dpl:
|category=Bamboo Specialist
|ordermethod=title
|order=ascending
}}

gives the same result as this Cargo code:

{{#cargo_query:
tables=Ataglance
|fields= _pageName=Taxon
|where=Item HOLDS "Bamboo Specialist"
|order by = _pageName
|format=ul
}}

While these simple queries are essentially the same, Cargo offers extended functionality that supports much more sophisticated queries, as well as allowing complex data to be stored without relying on page categories alone. This extends and greatly simplifies data storage and retrieval.

Example

As an example, here is how AntWiki stores and manages karyotype data using the Karyotype template.

The standard karyotype template has two sections added beyond what is needed to display data on the page, one to create the database table and one to add data to the table.

Code to create the table with the fields Haploid, Diploid, Karyotype, Locality, Source, Notes:

{{#cargo_declare: _table = Karyotype
|Haploid = List (;) of Integer
|Diploid = List (;) of Integer
|Karyotype = String
|Locality = String
|Source = String
|Notes = String
}}

Code to store the data:

{{#cargo_store: _table = Karyotype
|Haploid = {{{haploid|}}}
|Diploid = {{{diploid|}}}
|Karyotype = {{{karyotype|}}}
|Locality = {{{locality|}}}
|Source = {{{source|}}}
|Notes = {{{notes|}}}
}}

When adding the template to a page, each of the included parameters (those that are non-blank) will be displayed on the page as well as stored in the table named “Karyotype”. The table can be viewed in its entirety or queries of the data can be included on individual pages.

Displaying Queried Data on Individual Pages

This query (when added to a page):

{{#cargo_query: tables = Karyotype
|fields = _pageName = Taxon, Haploid, Diploid, Karyotype, Locality, Source, Notes
|format = table
}}

will display this table (this is live data but only the top 10 rows are included here):

Taxon	Haploid	Diploid	Karyotype	Locality	Source
Acanthomyrmex		22		Malaysia	Goni et al., 1982
Acanthomyrmex		24		Sarawak	Tjan et al., 1986
Acanthomyrmex	11			Malaysia	Goni et al., 1982
Acanthomyrmex	11	22		Malaysia	Imai et al., 1983
Acromyrmex ambiguus		38	14M + 12SM + 8ST + 4A	Brazil	de Castro et al., 2020
Acromyrmex ambiguus		38	2M+6SM+16ST+14A	Uruguay	Goñi et al., 1984
Acromyrmex ameliae		36	10M +16SM + 8ST + 2A	Brazil	Barros et al., 2021; Cardoso et al. 2018; de Castro et al., 2020; Micolino et al., 2021
Acromyrmex aspersus		38	8M+10SM+16ST+4A	Brazil	Teixeira et al., 2017
Acromyrmex balzani		38	12M+10SM+14ST+2A	Brazil	Barros et al., 2016
Acromyrmex balzani		38	12M+10SM+14ST+2A	French Guiana	Aguiar et al., 2020

More...

To include only data for the genus ‘’Aphaenogaster’’, this query:

{{#cargo_query: tables = Karyotype
|fields =_pageName=Taxon, Haploid, Diploid, Karyotype, Locality, Source, Notes
|where = _pageName like "Aphaenogaster%"
|format = table
}}

will return (only the first 10 rows shown):

Taxon	Haploid	Diploid	Karyotype	Locality	Source	Notes
Aphaenogaster		30		Malaysia	Goni et al., 1982
Aphaenogaster depilis		34		Tunisia	Hauschteck-Jungen & Jungen, 1983
Aphaenogaster famelica	17	34		Japan	Imai & Yosida, 1964; Imai, 1966; Imai, 1969; Imai, 1971
Aphaenogaster fulva		36		USA	Crozier, 1977
Aphaenogaster gibbosa	11 • 16 • 17	34	4M+2SM+4ST+6T; 6M+4SM+8ST+16T	Switzerland	Hauschteck-Jungen & Jungen, 1983; Lorite et al., 2000; Palomeque et al., 1993b	this karyotype is reported as fusion of two telocentric chromosomes
Aphaenogaster iberica	17	34	6M+4SM+8ST+16T	Spain	Palomeque et al., 1993a; Palomeque et al., 1993b; Lorite et al., 2000	ocurrence of supernumery chromosome segment
Aphaenogaster japonica		22		Japan	Imai, 1969
Aphaenogaster lamellidens		38		USA	Crozier, 1977; Taber & Cokendolpher, 1988
Aphaenogaster longiceps		45 • 46		Australia	Imai et al., 1977	a metacentric pair is single and two telocentric corresponds the arms
Aphaenogaster miamiana		36		USA	Crozier, 1977

More...

Complex Data Queries

The database used by Cargo is a relational database. This means that separate tables within the database can be joined together to return a single, combined result set containing data from both tables. As an example, AntWiki holds data on both karyotypes and worker morphology. By combining these two tables, information on the (say) diploid karyotype number can be compared to (say) the antennal segment number for any given taxon.

In this query, the tables WorkerMorphology and Karyotype are joined on the field _pageName (which occurs in both tables) and three fields are returned: taxon name (from either table), diploid number (from Karyotype) and antennal segment count (from WorkerMorphology):

{{#cargo_query: tables = WorkerMorphology, Karyotype
|join on = WorkerMorphology._pageName = Karyotype._pageName
|fields = WorkerMorphology._pageName = Taxon, Karyotype.Diploid = Diploid, WorkerMorphology.AntennalSegmentCount = AntennalCount
|where = Karyotype.Diploid__full IS NOT NULL
|group by = WorkerMorphology._pageName
|order by = WorkerMorphology._pageName
}}

with the result (first 10 rows only):

Taxon	Diploid	AntennalCount
Acanthomyrmex	22	12
Acropyga	30 • 32	7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11
Aenictus	30	8 • 9 • 10
Amblyopone	44
Anochetus	24	12
Anonychomyrma	16	12
Aphaenogaster	30	12
Apterostigma	20 • 24 • 32	11
Bothroponera	48
Brachymyrmex	18	9

More...

Using this technique, complex questions can be answered by combining data from across AntWiki.

Real-World Examples

A few of the AntWiki pages that use Cargo data include:

Karyotypes - As a table.
Karyotype records for a genus - As a table.
Doleromyrma - Worker morphology in paragraph format.