Edit transcluded (embedded) notes (blocks) in place (likely requires WYSWYG first)

Hello, everyone.

I started to use the Make.md plugin and their Flow functionality works quite well.

@jmbenedetto How long have you used it?

tempting to try and rip the flow editor out of make.md so itā€™s a ā€œdoes one thing onlyā€ plugin

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Yes, please do. (make.md developer)

Iā€™ve also repeatedly mentioned how great itā€™d be if Obsidian just implemented it in core.

Just to provide context, the flow feature in make.md was a pre-requisite to get wysiwyg tables and some other features for make.md. Allowing editing notes was a bonus since it was minimal work and was highly requested.

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Most of the issues with the flow feature comes when other plug-ins gets involved due to how different plug-ins target the editing view differently (and certain things like keyboard bindings).

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hey thanks for replying.

Iā€™m curious if you might have any comments on your design of the editable transclusion feature in make.md, such as any of: high level explanation of the solution, challenges or particularly interesting parts, tips for a possible obsidian implementation, or how you would do it differently if writing it again from scratch?

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The basic flow for flow editor is:

  • Spawn a new leaf from Obsidian (check HoverEditor, the leaf spawning implementation is based on it)
  • Replace the embed in the markdown view by parsing the markdown and replacing the found syntax with the a codemirror widget containing the new leaf DOM
  • Load the file into the leaf
  • Add listeners for view height changes, certain keyboard events, active editor changes, block level information changes if itā€™s block/heading level

Thereā€™s a lot of special considerations, some of which are not implemented since Iā€™ve been focused on getting the rest of make.md to 1.0 instead.

If youā€™re serious about this, feel free to either open an issue on make.md github or send me a message on discord @jpc, Iā€™m happy to answer questions. I donā€™t usually logon to the forum, probably every once in a few months.

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It would be nice to hear from the Obsidian devs where this feature request stands in their line of sight, seeing as people are beginning to consider building plugins. I would hate to see someone (like zerkshop) spend an inordinate amount of time developing this feature as a standalone plugin only to find Obsidian implementing it in the near future. The ability to edit transclusions stands among the most active feature requests on the forum right now, after all, and has been marked as ā€œvaluableā€.

Is there no word from any Obsidian dev in this entire thread?

I get the sense that addressing this FR would involve also addressing how transclusions are done at the foundation. Given that the only way to reference blocks right now is with a plugin that adds ugly strings of text (e.g. ^f93j4f) to our blocks, I get the feeling that the entire embed/transclusion functionality in Obsidian is due for a major overhaul. At this point it feels more like scrapbooking than any kind of modern technology.

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+1 to this. Currently working on a project for YouTube where being able to directly edit transcluded files would save me a ton of pointless jumping around.

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This could satisfy an element of one of my feature requests: Note Composer enhancement: Cut and paste block/line from search

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Encourage everyone to download and use this plugin for copying and pasting block and section links.

Given the complexity of developing an editable transclude, the topic of future proofing, markdown standards, and the relatively few folks that use internal links (Iā€™d wager most folks donā€™t grok transclusion), I doubt this ability will rise above anytime soon.

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+1 I think this would really save me some time for referencing characteristics for my characters in my novel.

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+1 I really need this. As someone who transitioned from notion, itā€™s something have become used to. Embeds are fine but I dislike the indentation. The notion auto sync blocks are the best.

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Did you use css to remove the purple indent?

Some people here seem to lack some respect for plugin developers. They create their plugins in their free time without being paid (except for a tiny donation).

I agree with most of the limitations of Make.md mentioned above, but you couldā€™ve said it better way. And if you donā€™t like something about a plugin, you can easily modify the source code and contribute to making everyoneā€™s life slightly easier. Even if you donā€™t code, you can still file an issue on GitHub to propose your idea.

Edit: I just want this great community to continue to be a place where everyone can share their small ideas, tools, plugins, themes, ā€¦ without being discouraged. No need for aggressiveness.

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There are several ways to do it.

You can use the CSS snippet shared here, but it only works in the reading view:

Alternatively, the Minimal theme provides an option to enable it, which you can configure using the Style Settings plugin:

This works in both the reading view & live preview.

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+1 from me :smiley:

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Some people here seem to lack some respect for plugin developers. They create their plugins in their free time without being paid (except for a tiny donation).

I agree with most of the limitations of Make.md mentioned above, but you couldā€™ve said it better way. And if you donā€™t like something about a plugin, you can easily modify the source code and contribute to making everyoneā€™s life slightly easier. Even if you donā€™t code, you can still file an issue on GitHub to propose your idea.

Itā€™s not at all easy for a non-developer to change the source code for a plugin, especially when the plugin developer has already spoken at length about the limitations of their approach. I am not bashing the developers of the make.md plugin, Iā€™m just re-iterating that it simply does not work properly and is full of bugs and therefore does not count as a solution to this problem. Even Some of us already have filed github issues and spoken to the developer. We are way ahead of you. And if you canā€™t stand the thought of someone calling an ugly, easily breakable string of random text what it is (an ugly, easily breakable string of random text), then you will never understand.

yes, very need it

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+1 for this

I am considering switching out to logsec since the more my vault grows the more cumbersome having to go to multiple notes to edit embeds becomes

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