Adding claim deletes other claims?

[logicdavid]

I'm trying to add a Claim to a wikidata item, but instead of adding it and keeping all other claims with same property, the tool deletes all other claims and replaces them.

Specifically,
flametti = wbi.item.get(entity_id='Q105624761')
flametti.claims.get(PROPS['title'])
shows the entity has several claims about regarding title, two of them in German, but none in English (yet) so I'd like to add it:
title_en_string = datatypes.MonolingualText(text='Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor', language='en', prop_nr=PROPS['title'])
flametti.claims.add(title_en_string)
If I do flametti.claims.get(PROPS['title']) indeed the local object it has four or so titles, now, as it should.
But after
flametti.write(login=login_instance)
the entity ends up having only one title, the one I just added. Is this expected behaviour? What am I doing wrong?

[logicdavid]

I just turned on debugging, and the request sent by the api helper function indeed puts
"remove" : ""
in the json which is posted as string to the API, for precisely all the other title property claims. So I suppose that's what tells the API to remove these.
I've tried adding random strings as property claims on the test instance, there nothing of the sort happens.

[logicdavid]

I figured out that to do what I want to do I have to use

flametti.claims.add(title_en_string, action_if_exists=ActionIfExists.KEEP)

But I still don't understand why when I keep adding simple strings to a property on the test instance, I don't need this option to heap many values onto one property. Also, I wonder if this is what is intended. Literary works of course have many titles, if you want to add one in a new language, one should check if the title already exists IN THAT LANGUAGE, right? Not remove all other languages.

[logicdavid]

Is this a bug in how equality of claims is tested? Or am I simply misusing the interface, and is my new title claim somehow missing something it needs to have for the comparison to work properly? Or something else entirely... I can't figure it out, I would very much appreciate any hints!

[LeMyst]

Hello @logicdavid
I'm looking into your issue.
Do you have public modifications that have the issue and code related?
It will help me to figure out how you use the module.

[logicdavid]

Thanks for helping!
You can see my edits at the top here, Nov 8. (I am Katdav-wd-lit, and it's the same edit over and over again, and undoing it.)

https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q105624761&action=history

I just tried to reproduce it, but right now even wbi.item.get(entity_id='Q105624761') hangs for minutes, so I can't. This might be my internet.
I don't have code online yet, here's a quick copy from my jupyter notebook: (sorry that I can't verify right now that it leads to the exact same thing, I will try again tomorrow)

from wikibaseintegrator import WikibaseIntegrator
from wikibaseintegrator import wbi_login, datatypes
from wikibaseintegrator.wbi_config import config as wbi_config
import logging

logging.basicConfig(filename='wikibaseint-debug.log', 
                    format='%(asctime)s %(message)s', 
                    datefmt='%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S',
                    encoding='utf-8', 
                    level=logging.DEBUG)

wbi_config['MEDIAWIKI_API_URL'] = 'https://www.wikidata.org/w/api.php'

login_instance = wbi_login.Login(user='..', password='..')

wbi = WikibaseIntegrator(login=login_instance)

flametti = wbi.item.get(entity_id='Q105624761')

title_en_string = datatypes.MonolingualText(text='Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor', language='en', prop_nr='P1476')

flametti.claims.add(title_en_string)

flametti.write(login=login_instance)

Here is a piece of the debug log I saved, this is the json data field from the POST request:

{   
    "action": "wbeditentity", 
    "data": 
        { "labels":  
            {   
                "de":{"language":"de","value":"Flametti oder Vom Dandysmus der Armen"},
                "sr":{"language":"sr","value":"Flammetti"},
                "en":{"language":"en","value":"Flammetti"},
                "fr":{"language":"fr","value":"Flametti ou Du dandysme des pauvres"}
            },
        "descriptions":
            {"de":{"language":"de","value":"Roman von Hugo Ball"},
            "ar":{"language":"ar","value":"\\u0631\\u0648\\u0627\\u064a\\u0629 \\u0645\\u0646 \\u062a\\u0623\\u0644\\u064a\\u0641 \\u0647\\u0648\\u063a\\u0648 \\u0628\\u0627\\u0644"},
            "en":{"language":"en","value":"1918 novel by Hugo Ball"},
            "fr":{"language":"fr","value":"roman de Hugo Ball"},
            "sr":{"language":"sr","value":"\\u0440\\u043e\\u043c\\u0430\\u043d \\u043d\\u0435\\u043c\\u0430\\u0447\\u043a\\u043e\\u0433 \\u043f\\u0438\\u0441\\u0446\\u0430"}},
            "aliases":
                {"de":[{"language":"de","value":"Flammetti"}]},
            "sitelinks":
                {"enwiki":{"site":"enwiki","title":"Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor","badges":[]}},
            "type":"item",
            "claims":
                {   "P31":  [{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P31","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":7725634,"id":"Q7725634"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$f63dd2dd-451e-5605-e08c-4bb948efd7b6","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P50":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P50","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":70989,"id":"Q70989"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$b4c3e8fd-4396-92b3-9dfe-97999d7192c5","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P577":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P577","datatype":"time","datavalue":{"value":{"time":"+1918-00-00T00:00:00Z","timezone":0,"before":0,"after":0,"precision":9,"calendarmodel":"http:\\/\\/www.wikidata.org\\/entity\\/Q1985727"},"type":"time"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$7b6da158-4195-2f61-5fb4-a2ce573a31ba","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P407":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P407","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":188,"id":"Q188"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$cbb38b1c-46c6-d325-3521-0ac4b2e65c70","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P227":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P227","datatype":"external-id","datavalue":{"value":"1084233649","type":"string"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$2ac3f5fb-4610-bd37-cd4e-5ea110091483","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P214":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P214","datatype":"external-id","datavalue":{"value":"312391177","type":"string"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$76ae5beb-490e-41a3-8d7a-47a83d699749","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P7937":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P7937","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":8261,"id":"Q8261"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$9112BA89-1A59-4B7A-8278-C1067432A330","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P747":
                        [ {"mainsnak": {"snaktype":"value","property":"P747","datatype":"wikibase-item",
                                            "datavalue":{"value": {"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":111238852,"id":"Q111238852"},
                                            "type":"wikibase-entityid"}
                                        },
                            "type":"statement",
                            "id":"Q105624761$70599F23-4408-49F1-A0C2-0F6A5364AC5A",
                            "rank":"normal","qualifiers":
                                {"P407":
                                    [{"snaktype":"value","property":"P407","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":188,"id":"Q188"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}
                                    }],
                    "P577":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P577","datatype":"time","datavalue":{"value":{"time":"+2021-00-00T00:00:00Z","timezone":0,"before":0,"after":0,"precision":9,"calendarmodel":"http:\\/\\/www.wikidata.org\\/entity\\/Q1985727"},"type":"time"}}]},"qualifiers-order":["P407","P577"]},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P747","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":111240135,"id":"Q111240135"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$B1706A7E-264D-4D5D-A3CE-E242818E646B","rank":"normal","qualifiers":{"P577":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P577","datatype":"time","datavalue":{"value":{"time":"+1975-00-00T00:00:00Z","timezone":0,"before":0,"after":0,"precision":9,"calendarmodel":"http:\\/\\/www.wikidata.org\\/entity\\/Q1985727"},"type":"time"}}],
                    "P291":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P291","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":1794,"id":"Q1794"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}}]},"qualifiers-order":["P577","P291"]},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P747","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":111241041,"id":"Q111241041"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$368A2D1E-9B51-44A2-B4EC-99C2F972958D","rank":"normal","qualifiers":{"P407":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P407","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":188,"id":"Q188"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}}],
                    "P291":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P291","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":56037,"id":"Q56037"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}}],
                    "P577":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P577","datatype":"time","datavalue":{"value":{"time":"+1918-00-00T00:00:00Z","timezone":0,"before":0,"after":0,"precision":9,"calendarmodel":"http:\\/\\/www.wikidata.org\\/entity\\/Q1985727"},"type":"time"}}]},"qualifiers-order":["P407","P291","P577"]}],
                    "P1085":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1085","datatype":"external-id","datavalue":{"value":"4675078","type":"string"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$0C93A7C5-E040-4B3C-B883-8A9EED4287D2","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P1552":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1552","datatype":"wikibase-item","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":5248657,"id":"Q5248657"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"}},"type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$E0731A26-66C1-4F9C-BF64-5D131A241F66","rank":"normal"}],
                    "P1476":
                    [   {"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1476","datatype":"monolingualtext","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"Flametti oder Vom Dandysmus der Armen","language":"de"},"type":"monolingualtext"}},
                            "type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$93bcf640-42fa-dadd-3dc5-3f701b43c7a4","rank":"preferred","remove":""},
                        {"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1476","datatype":"monolingualtext","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"Flametti o El dandismo de los","language":"es"},"type":"monolingualtext"}}, 
                            "type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$bd65a8aa-49f9-2c23-b374-459cf34128e6","rank":"normal","remove":""},
                        {"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1476","datatype":"monolingualtext","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"Flametti o del dandismo dei poveri","language":"it"},"type":"monolingualtext"}},
                            "type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$111081b5-413d-8932-2f7b-9f52e1ec8eaf","rank":"normal","remove":""},
                        {"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1476","datatype":"monolingualtext","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"Flammetti","language":"de"},"type":"monolingualtext"}},
                            "type":"statement","id":"Q105624761$51B0CBB3-EE55-4CE7-9BE7-500CF252C850","rank":"normal","remove":""},
                        {"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1476","datatype":"monolingualtext","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"Flametti, or The Dandyism of the Poor","language":"en"},
                            "type":"monolingualtext"}},"type":"statement","rank":"normal"}]},"id":"Q105624761"}
}

[logicdavid]

I tested it today, the above code reproduces the behaviour.