Mediawiki API: Get image from articles in specific category

Question

Without much success, I've been trying to retrieve images (and extracts) from all posts in a certain category.

Here's a query to get the images from the main page, but I haven't found a query for specific categories.

api.php?action=query&prop=images&titles=Main%20Page

Using search seemed more promising, but still it's not what I'm looking for.

api.php?action=query&list=search&format=jsonfm&srsearch=incategory:Marine_mammals

The second query could've been a good starting point if it provided page IDs.

Answer 1

What you want is to use the categorymembers generator, by adding &generator=categorymembers&gcmtitle=Category%3AMarine_mammals in place of &titles. Since I discovered generators I barely remember using the API for anything else. I'd also recommend sticking to mainspace. So for example,

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=images&format=json&imlimit=10&generator=categorymembers&gcmtitle=Category%3AMarine_mammals&gcmnamespace=0&gcmlimit=50

Gives:

{"query-continue":{"images":{"imcontinue":"60257|Ursus_maritimus_4_1996-08-04.jpg"}},"query":{"pages":{"149269":{"pageid":149269,"ns":0,"title":"Blubber"},"19289045":{"pageid":19289045,"ns":0,"title":"Instituto Via Delphi"},"2178272":{"pageid":2178272,"ns":0,"title":"List of marine mammals of Australia"},"60257":{"pageid":60257,"ns":0,"title":"Marine mammal","images":[{"ns":6,"title":"File:Desmostylus2DB.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Estuary-mouth.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:FL fig04.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Humpback Whale underwater shot.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Hydrurga leptonyx edit1.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Maldivesfish2.jpg"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Oceanic whale pump - journal.pone.0013255.g001.tiff"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:PikiWiki Israel 15217 Dolphin.JPG"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Sea lion family.JPG"},{"ns":6,"title":"File:Sea otter cropped.jpg"}]},"36425597":{"pageid":36425597,"ns":0,"title":"Marine mammals as food"},"3703749":{"pageid":3703749,"ns":0,"title":"Marine otter"},"644379":{"pageid":644379,"ns":0,"title":"North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission"},"1336536":{"pageid":1336536,"ns":0,"title":"Sea mink"},"567471":{"pageid":567471,"ns":0,"title":"Sea otter"},"2764345":{"pageid":2764345,"ns":0,"title":"United States Navy Marine Mammal Program"}}}}