Automatically add linked mentions to the mentioned note

crabtree · September 10, 2020, 3:24pm

i keep a TODO note and it’s nice to see all the things i need to do through backlinks and the graph view, though i was wondering if it’d be possible to add a linked mention automatically to the TODO note.

for example, if i were to type in my daily note “[[TODO]] complete this week’s math assignment” i’d like for that sentence to appear in the TODO note that i keep in the sidebar (ideally with a checkbox! [ ]).

hope that makes sense - i haven’t seen anything on the forums about this kind of thing and i’m relatively new to obsidian, so if there’s already a way of accomplishing this then i’d love to hear about it!

thanks

ryanjamurphy · September 10, 2020, 3:42pm

It isn’t currently possible within Obsidian, though you may be able to make some automations that help compile these things for you. E.g., a script that compiles all such [[TODO]] lines in your file every 15 minutes or something.

There has been talk of transcludable searches, which would resolve this issue, I think. E.g., a search query returns all lines that have [[TODO]], and you just display the results of that search in the note.

Otherwise the idea you’ve described sounds like it would make for a good plugin!

pka · September 11, 2020, 12:37pm

Check this:

github.com

mm53bar/obsidian_utils/blob/master/todo.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

def read_markdown_directory(raw_directory)
  contents = {}
  rbfiles = File.join("**", "*.md")
  Dir.chdir(raw_directory) do
    Dir.glob(rbfiles).sort_by{ |f| File.mtime(f) }.reverse.each do |filename|
      unless filename == 'TODO.md'
        contents[filename.chomp('.md')] = File.read(filename, :encoding => 'utf-8')
      end
    end
  end
  contents
end

def extract_todo_lines(contents)
  todo_lines = {}
  contents.each do |filename, content|
    todo_text = ''
    content.scan(/[\*\-+]\s\[\s\]\s(.*)/).flatten.each do |match|

This file has been truncated. show original

crabtree · September 11, 2020, 2:02pm

this sounds crazy useful - i started back at school this week and already there’s been a good few instances where i’ve written something in a daily note only to copy/paste it into a permanent note after class.

i’m glad you think so! is it currently possible for us to create our own plugins at the moment? i’d like to give it a bash.

@pka thank you! i’m fairly new to software development - ruby is on my list of things to play with so this gives me a great excuse.

RikD · September 11, 2020, 2:15pm

This is exactly what I’ve been doing in a BASH-script.

One GREP-command fixes the job of finding all the files with a given (Regular) Expression, which I put in a processing file (for safety reasons only and tracability).
The SED-command fixes the job of putting the expression between [[]] for all the files in the processing file.
Then I transform the processing files into a MOC with links to the processed files.
Would be a nice feature within Obsidian only thing for me is speed.
This scripts takes me max. 10 seconds to process 180K files all-in.
Don’t know if that is do-able in Obsidian

crabtree · September 11, 2020, 2:37pm

i was just reading your post when i got your reply! it sounds like that script mightcome in handy when it’s time for me to start generating MOCs.

currently working on a little python script to perform a similar task: find all instances of [search term] and format the following string using regex:

- grab n characters appearing after the specified ter… [[source note name]] line #

and append that to the next line of TODO.md.

from there i’m thinking about having AHK to take care of the interval scheduling.

ryanjamurphy · September 11, 2020, 3:12pm

Not yet!

I believe the current plan is to get graph filtering tools and Publish out the door, then launch the API. Roughly. But I only deal in rumours and speculation.

CaqKa · October 6, 2021, 7:34am

any news on this topic, besides writing my own script?