Make generation of empty KnowledgeBase instances configurable in EntityLinker (#12320)

* Make empty_kb() configurable.

* Format.

* Update docs.

* Be more specific in KB serialization test.

* Update KB serialization tests. Update docs.

* Remove doc update for batched candidate generation.

* Fix serialization of subclassed KB in tests.

* Format.

* Update docstring.

* Update docstring.

* Switch from pickle to json for custom field serialization.

spacy/ml/models/entity_linker.py

@@ -89,6 +89,14 @@ def load_kb(
     return kb_from_file
 
 
+@registry.misc("spacy.EmptyKB.v2")
+def empty_kb_for_config() -> Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase]:
+    def empty_kb_factory(vocab: Vocab, entity_vector_length: int):
+        return InMemoryLookupKB(vocab=vocab, entity_vector_length=entity_vector_length)
+
+    return empty_kb_factory
+
+
 @registry.misc("spacy.EmptyKB.v1")
 def empty_kb(
     entity_vector_length: int,

spacy/pipeline/entity_linker.py

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ DEFAULT_NEL_MODEL = Config().from_str(default_model_config)["model"]
         "entity_vector_length": 64,
         "get_candidates": {"@misc": "spacy.CandidateGenerator.v1"},
         "get_candidates_batch": {"@misc": "spacy.CandidateBatchGenerator.v1"},
+        "generate_empty_kb": {"@misc": "spacy.EmptyKB.v2"},
         "overwrite": True,
         "scorer": {"@scorers": "spacy.entity_linker_scorer.v1"},
         "use_gold_ents": True,
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ def make_entity_linker(
     get_candidates_batch: Callable[
         [KnowledgeBase, Iterable[Span]], Iterable[Iterable[Candidate]]
     ],
+    generate_empty_kb: Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase],
     overwrite: bool,
     scorer: Optional[Callable],
     use_gold_ents: bool,
@@ -101,6 +103,7 @@ def make_entity_linker(
     get_candidates_batch (
         Callable[[KnowledgeBase, Iterable[Span]], Iterable[Iterable[Candidate]]], Iterable[Candidate]]
         ): Function that produces a list of candidates, given a certain knowledge base and several textual mentions.
+    generate_empty_kb (Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase]): Callable returning empty KnowledgeBase.
     scorer (Optional[Callable]): The scoring method.
     use_gold_ents (bool): Whether to copy entities from gold docs or not. If false, another
         component must provide entity annotations.
@@ -135,6 +138,7 @@ def make_entity_linker(
         entity_vector_length=entity_vector_length,
         get_candidates=get_candidates,
         get_candidates_batch=get_candidates_batch,
+        generate_empty_kb=generate_empty_kb,
         overwrite=overwrite,
         scorer=scorer,
         use_gold_ents=use_gold_ents,
@@ -175,6 +179,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         get_candidates_batch: Callable[
             [KnowledgeBase, Iterable[Span]], Iterable[Iterable[Candidate]]
         ],
+        generate_empty_kb: Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase],
         overwrite: bool = BACKWARD_OVERWRITE,
         scorer: Optional[Callable] = entity_linker_score,
         use_gold_ents: bool,
@@ -198,6 +203,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
             Callable[[KnowledgeBase, Iterable[Span]], Iterable[Iterable[Candidate]]],
             Iterable[Candidate]]
             ): Function that produces a list of candidates, given a certain knowledge base and several textual mentions.
+        generate_empty_kb (Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase]): Callable returning empty KnowledgeBase.
         scorer (Optional[Callable]): The scoring method. Defaults to Scorer.score_links.
         use_gold_ents (bool): Whether to copy entities from gold docs or not. If false, another
             component must provide entity annotations.
@@ -220,6 +226,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         self.model = model
         self.name = name
         self.labels_discard = list(labels_discard)
+        # how many neighbour sentences to take into account
         self.n_sents = n_sents
         self.incl_prior = incl_prior
         self.incl_context = incl_context
@@ -227,9 +234,7 @@ class EntityLinker(TrainablePipe):
         self.get_candidates_batch = get_candidates_batch
         self.cfg: Dict[str, Any] = {"overwrite": overwrite}
         self.distance = CosineDistance(normalize=False)
-        # how many neighbour sentences to take into account
+        self.kb = generate_empty_kb(self.vocab, entity_vector_length)
-        # create an empty KB by default
-        self.kb = empty_kb(entity_vector_length)(self.vocab)
         self.scorer = scorer
         self.use_gold_ents = use_gold_ents
         self.candidates_batch_size = candidates_batch_size

spacy/tests/serialize/test_serialize_kb.py

@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-from typing import Callable
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Callable, Iterable, Any, Dict
 
-from spacy import util
+import srsly
-from spacy.util import ensure_path, registry, load_model_from_config
+
+from spacy import util, Errors
+from spacy.util import ensure_path, registry, load_model_from_config, SimpleFrozenList
 from spacy.kb.kb_in_memory import InMemoryLookupKB
 from spacy.vocab import Vocab
 from thinc.api import Config
@@ -92,6 +95,9 @@ def test_serialize_subclassed_kb():
     [components.entity_linker]
     factory = "entity_linker"
     
+    [components.entity_linker.generate_empty_kb]
+    @misc = "kb_test.CustomEmptyKB.v1"
+    
     [initialize]
 
     [initialize.components]
@@ -99,7 +105,7 @@ def test_serialize_subclassed_kb():
     [initialize.components.entity_linker]
 
     [initialize.components.entity_linker.kb_loader]
-    @misc = "spacy.CustomKB.v1"
+    @misc = "kb_test.CustomKB.v1"
     entity_vector_length = 342
     custom_field = 666
     """
@@ -109,10 +115,57 @@ def test_serialize_subclassed_kb():
             super().__init__(vocab, entity_vector_length)
             self.custom_field = custom_field
 
-    @registry.misc("spacy.CustomKB.v1")
+        def to_disk(self, path, exclude: Iterable[str] = SimpleFrozenList()):
+            """We overwrite InMemoryLookupKB.to_disk() to ensure that self.custom_field is stored as well."""
+            path = ensure_path(path)
+            if not path.exists():
+                path.mkdir(parents=True)
+            if not path.is_dir():
+                raise ValueError(Errors.E928.format(loc=path))
+
+            def serialize_custom_fields(file_path: Path) -> None:
+                srsly.write_json(file_path, {"custom_field": self.custom_field})
+
+            serialize = {
+                "contents": lambda p: self.write_contents(p),
+                "strings.json": lambda p: self.vocab.strings.to_disk(p),
+                "custom_fields": lambda p: serialize_custom_fields(p),
+            }
+            util.to_disk(path, serialize, exclude)
+
+        def from_disk(self, path, exclude: Iterable[str] = SimpleFrozenList()):
+            """We overwrite InMemoryLookupKB.from_disk() to ensure that self.custom_field is loaded as well."""
+            path = ensure_path(path)
+            if not path.exists():
+                raise ValueError(Errors.E929.format(loc=path))
+            if not path.is_dir():
+                raise ValueError(Errors.E928.format(loc=path))
+
+            def deserialize_custom_fields(file_path: Path) -> None:
+                self.custom_field = srsly.read_json(file_path)["custom_field"]
+
+            deserialize: Dict[str, Callable[[Any], Any]] = {
+                "contents": lambda p: self.read_contents(p),
+                "strings.json": lambda p: self.vocab.strings.from_disk(p),
+                "custom_fields": lambda p: deserialize_custom_fields(p),
+            }
+            util.from_disk(path, deserialize, exclude)
+
+    @registry.misc("kb_test.CustomEmptyKB.v1")
+    def empty_custom_kb() -> Callable[[Vocab, int], SubInMemoryLookupKB]:
+        def empty_kb_factory(vocab: Vocab, entity_vector_length: int):
+            return SubInMemoryLookupKB(
+                vocab=vocab,
+                entity_vector_length=entity_vector_length,
+                custom_field=0,
+            )
+
+        return empty_kb_factory
+
+    @registry.misc("kb_test.CustomKB.v1")
     def custom_kb(
         entity_vector_length: int, custom_field: int
-    ) -> Callable[[Vocab], InMemoryLookupKB]:
+    ) -> Callable[[Vocab], SubInMemoryLookupKB]:
         def custom_kb_factory(vocab):
             kb = SubInMemoryLookupKB(
                 vocab=vocab,
@@ -139,6 +192,6 @@ def test_serialize_subclassed_kb():
         nlp2 = util.load_model_from_path(tmp_dir)
         entity_linker2 = nlp2.get_pipe("entity_linker")
         # After IO, the KB is the standard one
-        assert type(entity_linker2.kb) == InMemoryLookupKB
+        assert type(entity_linker2.kb) == SubInMemoryLookupKB
         assert entity_linker2.kb.entity_vector_length == 342
-        assert not hasattr(entity_linker2.kb, "custom_field")
+        assert entity_linker2.kb.custom_field == 666

website/docs/api/architectures.mdx

@@ -899,15 +899,21 @@ The `EntityLinker` model architecture is a Thinc `Model` with a
 | `nO`        | Output dimension, determined by the length of the vectors encoding each entity in the KB. If the `nO` dimension is not set, the entity linking component will set it when `initialize` is called. ~~Optional[int]~~ |
 | **CREATES** | The model using the architecture. ~~Model[List[Doc], Floats2d]~~                                                                                                                                                    |
 
-### spacy.EmptyKB.v1 {id="EmptyKB"}
+### spacy.EmptyKB.v1 {id="EmptyKB.v1"}
 
 A function that creates an empty `KnowledgeBase` from a [`Vocab`](/api/vocab)
-instance. This is the default when a new entity linker component is created.
+instance.
 
 | Name                   | Description                                                                         |
 | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `entity_vector_length` | The length of the vectors encoding each entity in the KB. Defaults to `64`. ~~int~~ |
 
+### spacy.EmptyKB.v2 {id="EmptyKB"}
+
+A function that creates an empty `KnowledgeBase` from a [`Vocab`](/api/vocab)
+instance. This is the default when a new entity linker component is created. It
+returns a `Callable[[Vocab, int], InMemoryLookupKB]`.
+
 ### spacy.KBFromFile.v1 {id="KBFromFile"}
 
 A function that reads an existing `KnowledgeBase` from file.

website/docs/api/entitylinker.mdx

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ architectures and their arguments and hyperparameters.
 > ```
 
 | Setting                                             | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
-| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| --------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `labels_discard`                                    | NER labels that will automatically get a "NIL" prediction. Defaults to `[]`. ~~Iterable[str]~~                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
 | `n_sents`                                           | The number of neighbouring sentences to take into account. Defaults to 0. ~~int~~                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
 | `incl_prior`                                        | Whether or not to include prior probabilities from the KB in the model. Defaults to `True`. ~~bool~~                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ architectures and their arguments and hyperparameters.
 | `entity_vector_length`                              | Size of encoding vectors in the KB. Defaults to `64`. ~~int~~                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
 | `use_gold_ents`                                     | Whether to copy entities from the gold docs or not. Defaults to `True`. If `False`, entities must be set in the training data or by an annotating component in the pipeline. ~~int~~                                                                                                                             |
 | `get_candidates`                                    | Function that generates plausible candidates for a given `Span` object. Defaults to [CandidateGenerator](/api/architectures#CandidateGenerator), a function looking up exact, case-dependent aliases in the KB. ~~Callable[[KnowledgeBase, Span], Iterable[Candidate]]~~                                         |
+| `get_candidates_batch` <Tag variant="new">3.5</Tag> | Function that generates plausible candidates for a given batch of `Span` objects. Defaults to [CandidateBatchGenerator](/api/architectures#CandidateBatchGenerator), a function looking up exact, case-dependent aliases in the KB. ~~Callable[[KnowledgeBase, Iterable[Span]], Iterable[Iterable[Candidate]]]~~ |
+| `generate_empty_kb` <Tag variant="new">3.6</Tag>    | Function that generates an empty `KnowledgeBase` object. Defaults to [`spacy.EmptyKB.v2`](/api/architectures#EmptyKB), which generates an empty [`InMemoryLookupKB`](/api/inmemorylookupkb). ~~Callable[[Vocab, int], KnowledgeBase]~~                                                                           |
 | `overwrite` <Tag variant="new">3.2</Tag>            | Whether existing annotation is overwritten. Defaults to `True`. ~~bool~~                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
 | `scorer` <Tag variant="new">3.2</Tag>               | The scoring method. Defaults to [`Scorer.score_links`](/api/scorer#score_links). ~~Optional[Callable]~~                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
 | `threshold` <Tag variant="new">3.4</Tag>            | Confidence threshold for entity predictions. The default of `None` implies that all predictions are accepted, otherwise those with a score beneath the treshold are discarded. If there are no predictions with scores above the threshold, the linked entity is `NIL`. ~~Optional[float]~~                      |