Append question from a Newbie

Patrick68 · September 1, 2021, 9:58am

Hi
Sorry to borrow you with basic question here !
What I would do : Is inserting the content of a Draft into an existing document.
My document is an .md file which contain some tags #todo and I would append the Draft into the correct section (below the tag #todo but before the next one)
Any help will be appreciated
Thanks
Patrick

sylumer · September 1, 2021, 11:22am

Some questions for you to consider that are likely to affect the options and approach:

Where is the Markdown document located in the file system?
Is it always the same Markdown file you are updating or does it vary in name/location?
What operating system/device do you want to do this with?
Do you want new lines before or after the inserted draft?
is the draft to insert the currently viewed draft, a draft that is always a particular draft, or do you want to choose a draft each time?
Just to confirm, it is always an insertion after the todo tag, and never a replacement of the content between the todo tag and the next hash tag.

Patrick68 · September 1, 2021, 11:51am

Thanks a lot the Mardown file is part of a Obsidian Vault located in Dropbox
I can append or pre-append the Draft into the correct doc it is the mechanic to put into the doc below the #todo tag without an empty line I’m failing with
I use Osx for that Big Sur and Draft 27.0.11
The aim is to enter my todo’s in my obsidian doc in the right place with the draft content ( the full draft) it can contain one or multiple lines and it is only an insert
Thanks for your help here

sylumer · September 1, 2021, 12:00pm

If it is just the algorithmic bit you are stuck on, try this:

Read the Markdown file content.
Split thre Markdown file content into two parts at the #todo tag - e.g. Into an array.
Create new content that consists of concatenation of the first part of the Markdown content, followed by the #todo tag, followed by the draft content, followed by the last part of the Markdown content.
Replace the Markdown file content with the new content.

Patrick68 · September 1, 2021, 12:32pm

Hi @sylumer good point ! And from an algorithmic point of view is fully understood
It should be in 3 part as the document have other section below the #todo tag
But the main question is How to do it ?
I’m not a dev and bit lost with

Thanks

sylumer · September 1, 2021, 2:52pm

Can you start with sharing what you have? I still don’t know how you are triggering or doing what you have said you can/do do.

Otherwise there are other unknowns from the above that are not covered that would affect how you might choose to do it.

Patrick68 · September 2, 2021, 8:42am

Hi @sylumer
Thanks a lot
I have daily note file name YYYY-MM-DD.md
With some sections :

# 🗞️ **Agenda**: 
 
## **Meeting: **
 #meeting
 ---
 ##  ✔️ **Todo: ** 
 #todo 
 - [ ] 
 - [ ] 
	
 --- 
 ## Notes:
#notes

I use a dropbox action to append my information into this file (with some variables) to reach the right file
However the append add the content of the draft at the end of the file and not in the correct section.
The aim is to have the content of the Draft Inserted just below the (#todo), moving the existing lines below the the inserted Draft without blank line
It would be a new draft at each time but I can imagine to have it based on a template if needed

The mechanic can be also find the Tag and insert the Draft content below

Hope is clearer
Thanks

agiletortoise · September 2, 2021, 1:58pm

To do what you want, you need a script that:

Reads the content of the file into a string variable
Finds the location of the #todo marker in the string
Inserts the additional text at that location
Save the file back overwriting the existing version

You said you are using Dropbox, so that might look something like:

// not sure where your file is, update this...
let path = "/path/to/file.md";
// use full text of current draft? Not sure...
let newContent = draft.content;
// the string you looking for (included line feed)
let marker = "#todo\n";

// read file from Dropbox
let db = Dropbox.create();
let oldContent = db.read(path);

// replace marker with marker + newContent
let content = oldContent.replace(marker, `${marker}
${newContent}`);

// save back to Dropbox
db.write(path, content, "overwrite", false)

Patrick68 · September 2, 2021, 2:34pm

Hi Thanks a lot for you support

I got :
Script Error: TypeError: undefined is not an object (evaluating ‘oldContent.replace’)
Line number: 16, Column 25

I have created a new Action

Select script
Paste the code provided
set the path to a test file ( it will be in variable to fit with my daily note )
And run

// See online documentation for examples
// https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/actions/scripting

// not sure where your file is, update this...
let path = "~/Dropbox/@PLAINTEXT/CALENDAR/2021_CALENDAR_NOTES/test.md";
// use full text of current draft? Not sure...
let newContent = draft.content;
// the string you looking for (included line feed)
let marker = "#todo\n";

// read file from Dropbox
let db = Dropbox.create();
let oldContent = db.read(path);

// replace marker with marker + newContent
let content = oldContent.replace(marker, `${marker}
${newContent}`);

// save back to Dropbox
db.write(path, content, "overwrite", false)

Thanks

agiletortoise · September 2, 2021, 2:50pm

I didn’t bother with pleasant error handling for the example. That error means the file was not read successfully…which makes sense, as your path is not right. If using the Dropbox object, paths are relative to the root of your Dropbox, so probably:

let path = "/@PLAINTEXT/CALENDAR/2021_CALENDAR_NOTES/test.md";

Patrick68 · September 3, 2021, 6:15am

Just Perfect !!!

Thanks a lot for your support !!! So Great !!

Patrick68 · September 3, 2021, 6:25am

One more thing
How can I make the file name as a variable?
It should be like YYYY-MM_DD.md this will help me to fill my daily journal with the same action

Thanks
Patrick

sylumer · September 3, 2021, 7:02am

Assuming you have a typo in your format compared to the earlier reference, this amendment will include the current date in yyyy-MM-dd format for the base file name.

let path = "/@PLAINTEXT/CALENDAR/2021_CALENDAR_NOTES/" + draft.processTemplate("[[Date|%Y-%m-%d]]") + ".md";

Patrick68 · September 3, 2021, 7:08am

Thanks a lot @sylumer It works perfectly !!!
Very usefull action !!

Thanks a ll for your support !!!

Patrick68 · January 12, 2022, 10:02am

Hello all,
I’m in a way to use Obsidian mobile in my workflow and to achieve it I need to move my Obsidian vault in iCloud
I have created a bookmark and it work find
How can I adapt the functionality above from Dropbox to iCloud
Thanks for your help

Patrick

sylumer · January 12, 2022, 12:26pm

Have you looked a the scripting section on the Bookmarks page and reviewed the scripting documentation for the Filemanager and Bookmark objects it references?

Patrick68 · January 12, 2022, 1:08pm

Thanks a lot @sylumer have made some ty but unfortunately I’m clearly not a dev

Could help on the code?
Thanks
Patrick

Patrick68 · January 12, 2022, 1:10pm

// See online documentation for examples
// https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/actions/scripting

// create file manager using a Bookmark
let bookmark = Bookmark.findOrCreate("Obsidian");
let fm = FileManager.createForBookmark(bookmark);

// not sure where your file is, update this...
let path = "/Obsidian/Test" + draft.processTemplate("[[Date|%Y-%m-%d]]") + ".md";
// use full text of current draft? Not sure...
let newContent = draft.content;
// the string you looking for (included line feed)
let marker = "#todo\n";

// read from file in iCloud
let fmCloud = FileManager.createCloud(); // iCloud
let oldcontent = fmCloud.readString(path)

// replace marker with marker + newContent
let content = oldContent.replace(marker, `${marker}
${newContent}`);

// save back to iCloud
fmCloud.writeString(path, ontent, "overwrite", false)

Patrick68 · January 12, 2022, 1:10pm

but it say error as oldcontent variable is not defined

agiletortoise · January 12, 2022, 2:00pm

You are on the right track, but have a few typos. Variable names in JavaScript are case-sensitive, so “oldcontent” and “oldContent” are not the same thing. Looks like you have it in there as “ontent” once, too.

And you create the bookmark FileManager in the fm var, but don’t use it because you copy and paste other code.

Didn’t test this…but I think this is roughly what you need…

// create file manager using a Bookmark
let bookmark = Bookmark.findOrCreate("Obsidian");
let fm = FileManager.createForBookmark(bookmark);

// not sure where your file is, update this...
let path = "/Obsidian/Test" + draft.processTemplate("[[Date|%Y-%m-%d]]") + ".md";
// use full text of current draft? Not sure...
let newContent = draft.content;
// the string you looking for (included line feed)
let marker = "#todo\n";

// read from file in iCloud
let oldContent = fm.readString(path)

// replace marker with marker + newContent
let content = oldContent.replace(marker, `${marker}
${newContent}`);

// save back to iCloud
fm.writeString(path, content, "overwrite", false)