Access Star Trek content from Memory Alpha.
memory_beta(endpoint)a data frame
The content returned is always a data frame. The structure changes slightly depending on the nature of the endpoint, but results from different endpoints can be merged easily.
At the highest level, passing endpoint = "portals" returns a data frame
listing the available Memory Beta portals supported by rtrek. A column of
relative URLs is also included for reference, but can be ignored. Compared to
Memory Alpha, Memory Beta does not technically offer "portals", but for
consistency in rtrek, several high level categories on Memory Beta are
treated as portal options. See memory_alpha() for comparison.
In all other cases, the endpoint string must begin with one of the valid
portal IDs. Passing only the ID returns a data frame with IDs and relative
URLs associated with the available categories in the specific portal. Unlike
memory_alpha(), there are no group or subgroup columns. Memory Beta
offers a more consistent reliance on the simple hierarchy of categories and
articles.
Selecting a specific category within a portal is done by appending the portal
ID in endpoint with the category ID, separated by a forward slash. You can
append nested subcategory IDs with forward slashes, provided the
subcategories exist.
When the endpoint is neither a top-level portal or one of a portal's
categories (or subcategories, if available), it is an article. An article is
a terminal node, meaning you cannot nest further. An article will be any
entry whose URL does not begin with Category:. In this case, the content
returned is still a data frame for consistency, but differs substantially
from the results of non-terminal endpoints.
Memory Beta is not a database containing convenient tables. Articles comprise
the bulk of what Memory Beta has to offer. They are not completely
unstructured text, but are loosely structured. Some assumptions are made and
memory_beta() returns a data frame containing article text and links. It is
up to the user what to do with this information, e.g., performing text
analyses.
The url column included in results for context uses relative paths to save
space. The full URLs all begin the same. To visit a URL directly, prepend it
with https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/.
Also note that once you know the relative URL for an article, e.g.,
"Worf", you do not need to traverse through one of the portals using an
endpoint string to retrieve its content. You can instead use
mb_article("Worf").
memory_beta() provides an overview perspective on how content available at
Memory Beta is organized and can be searched for through a variety of
hierarchical layouts. And in some cases this structure that can be obtained
in table form can be useful as data or metadata in itself. Alternatively,
mb_article() is focused exclusively on pulling back content from known
articles.
memory_beta("portals") # show available portals
#> # A tibble: 13 × 2
#> id url
#> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 books Category:Books
#> 2 comics Category:Comics
#> 3 characters Category:Characters
#> 4 culture Category:Culture
#> 5 games Category:Games
#> 6 geography Category:Geography
#> 7 locations Category:Locations
#> 8 materials Category:Materials_and_substances
#> 9 politics Category:Politics
#> 10 science Category:Science
#> 11 starships Category:Starships
#> 12 technology Category:Technology
#> 13 timeline Category:Timeline
endpoint <- "characters/Characters by races and cultures/Klingonoids/Klingons"
# \donttest{
x <- memory_beta(endpoint)
x <- x[grep("Worf", x$Klingons), ]
x
#> # A tibble: 8 × 2
#> Klingons url
#> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 K'Dhan, son of Worf K%27Dhan,_son_of_Worf
#> 2 Mogh, son of Worf Mogh,_son_of_Worf
#> 3 Worf Worf
#> 4 Worf (1ST) Worf_(1ST)
#> 5 Worf (alternates) Worf_(alternates)
#> 6 Worf (mirror) Worf_(mirror)
#> 7 Worf's family Worf%27s_family
#> 8 Worf, father of Mogh Worf,_father_of_Mogh
memory_beta(paste0(endpoint, "/Worf")) # return terminal article content
#> # A tibble: 1 × 4
#> title content metadata categories
#> <chr> <list> <list> <list>
#> 1 Worf <xml_ndst> <tibble [1 × 18]> <tibble [51 × 2]>
# }