*! version 18.3.1 23Feb2026

What's New in wbopendata

Return to main help file

What's New

This file documents recent changes and new features in the wbopendata module.
For complete documentation, see help wbopendata.

Version 18.3.1 (23Feb2026)

Reset Data Cache - New resetdatacache option expires all cached data
entries without deleting the CSV files. The next query re-fetches fresh data
from the API while keeping cached files as a fallback. This complements
cleardatacache (which deletes everything) and nocache (per-query bypass).

Verbose Option - New verbose option provides targeted error handling
for cache and metadata operations.

Version 18.3.0 (23Feb2026)

YAML Metadata Lookup on Cache Hit - When the local YAML cache is current,
discovery commands (search(), info(), sources, alltopics)
now resolve metadata directly from the cached YAML files without making any
API call. This eliminates network latency for common catalog browsing workflows.

Configurable Cache TTL - New cachedays(#) option (default 7) controls
how many days cached API responses are kept before automatic re-fetch.
Use cachedays(1) for daily freshness or cachedays(30) for monthly.

QA Suite Hardened - Post-sync validation now uses hard asserts to verify
YAML files are actually created after every sync operation, preventing silent
false-pass results. Redundant sync calls in tests replaced with conditional
checks, reducing test suite runtime by ~50%.

Version 18.2.0 (22Feb2026)

Data Response Cache - API responses are now cached locally with a 7-day
TTL. Repeated queries for the same indicator, country, and language return
instantly from disk instead of re-downloading. The cache is on by default;
use nocache to bypass for a single query.

New Options - nocache bypasses the data cache for a fresh download;
cleardatacache removes all cached API response files. The cacheinfo
command now also displays data cache statistics.

Cache Consolidation - All metadata cache operations consolidated to
sysdir_plus (eliminated split-brain with sysdir_personal).
Simplified YAML path resolver from 5-level to 2-level (findfile + fallback).
Removed 3 orphaned cache files. Frame cache now invalidated on sync.

Version 18.1.1 (22Feb2026)

Characteristic Metadata - Indicator metadata (name, description, source, note)
is now stored as Stata characteristics (char) on the dataset, accessible via
char list after any download. Use nochar to suppress.

Linewrap Fix - The linewrap() option is now passed to _query_metadata
only when explicitly specified, preventing errors when older subroutine versions
are installed.

Expanded QA Suite - Test suite expanded from 65 to 89 tests across 16 categories,
including new CHAR, ERR, EXT, and DET test groups for characteristic metadata,
error conditions, extreme cases, and deterministic/offline validation.

Version 18.0.0 (05Feb2026)

YAML-Based Architecture - Parameters data moved from hardcoded Stata code to
_wbopendata_parameters.yaml, making metadata human-readable and independently
updatable without code changes.

Streamlined Help Files - Deprecated 89 per-indicator help files
(wbopendata_sourceid_indicators*.sthlp and wbopendata_topicid_indicators*.sthlp).
Source and topic help files now point users to the interactive discovery commands
(sources, alltopics, search, info) instead of static indicator
listings that required regeneration with each metadata update.

Version 17.8.1 (04Feb2026)

Discovery Commands - New interactive commands for exploring World Bank data:

sources List all 71 World Bank data sources with indicator counts

alltopics List all 21 topic categories with indicator counts

search(string) Search indicators by keyword, wildcard, or regex

info(code) Get detailed metadata for a specific indicator

Search Features:

. wbopendata, sources

Lists all data sources with clickable [Browse] links for navigation.

. wbopendata, alltopics

Lists all topic categories with clickable [Browse] links.

. wbopendata, search(GDP)

Search indicators by keyword. Supports multiple words, wildcards (*), and regex patterns.

. wbopendata, search(education) searchtopic(4)

Filter search results by topic.

. wbopendata, search(GDP) searchsource(2)

Filter search results by source (e.g., 2 = World Development Indicators).

. wbopendata, search(poverty) detail

Show full indicator details with wrapped text instead of truncated table.

. wbopendata, info(NY.GDP.MKTP.CD)

Display detailed metadata for a specific indicator.

Search Options:

searchsource(#) Filter results to specific source ID

searchtopic(#) Filter results to specific topic ID

searchfield(str) Search in: code, name, description, or all (default)

exact Require exact word match (no partial matching)

detail Show full wrapped details instead of truncated table

limit(#) Maximum results to display (default: 20)

Dynamic Column Widths:

Search results now adapt to your terminal width (c(linesize)). Wider terminals
show more of indicator names and topics without truncation.

Clickable Navigation:

All discovery commands include clickable SMCL links:

- [Browse] links to explore indicators within a source or topic

- [Info] links to view detailed indicator metadata

- [Download] links to fetch data directly

Version 17.7 (January 2026)

Basic Country Context by Default:

Every data download now automatically includes 8 country context variables:

region, regionname - World Bank region classification

adminregion, adminregionname - Administrative region

incomelevel, incomelevelname - Income level classification

lendingtype, lendingtypename - World Bank lending type

Use nobasic to suppress these variables if not needed.

Graph Metadata Options:

linewrap(fields) Wrap text for graph-ready display

maxlength(#) Maximum characters per line (default: 50)

linewrapformat(fmt) Output format: stack, newline, lines, all

Version 17.6 (December 2025)

Metadata Caching and Sync:

sync Sync metadata cache from GitHub

checkupdate Check if metadata updates are available

cacheinfo Display cache status and location

clearcache Clear local metadata cache

Earlier Versions

For complete version history, see the CHANGELOG on GitHub.

Version Highlights

v17.1 Community bug fixes, documentation overhaul

v17.0 Region metadata, enhanced country matching

v16.3 HTTPS API migration

v16.2.3 Metadata query rewrite (_api_read.ado)

v16.2.2 Metadata server update

v16.2.1 Flow check for metadataoffline

v16.2 Offline metadata option (SOURCEID/TOPICID docs)

v16.1 Removed SOURCEID/TOPICSID from package

v16.0.1 Minor functionality improvements

v16.0 Multiple indicators, modular architecture

v15.1 Update options, 16,000+ indicators

v15.0.1 Maintenance release

v15.0 Major version bump

v14.3 _wbopendata_update.ado revised (no out.txt)

v14.2 Checksum off; update fixes

v14.1 Indicator update + nopreserve

v14.0 New API server, indicator list revised

v13.5 Last SSC release (2016)

v13.4 Long reshape

v13.3 New error control (clear option)

v13.2 New error control mechanisms

v13.1 Regional code/name/iso2code support

v13.0 Duplicates fix; indicator list to 9,960

v12.0 Indicator list to 7,349; return list labels

Author

Joao Pedro Azevedo

github.com/jpazvd/wbopendata

Return to main help file