#1

Since for the time being Obsidian does not include a timeline view of all files I whipped up a small app myself: MarkdownFileTimeline (mft)

You can download a .NET Core 3.1 release here: https://github.com/Programming-with-Ease/MarkdownFileTimeline/releases/tag/1.0.0.0

  1. Install .NET Core for all platforms from here
  2. Download release zip and unpack in a folder, maybe close to your Obsidian notes
  3. Run mft like this: dotnet exec <path to>/mft.dll <path to .md file directory root>

Hope this works for you like it does for me. I just checked it on my MacBook. Here’s an example of how it looks:

mft screenshot
mft screenshot800×610 297 KB

Enjoy!

3 Likes
#2

@RalfW: nice initiative, Ralf. I am on macOS, and tried to run it, but this is what I get:

-bash: <path to>/mft.1.0.0.0/mft.dll: cannot execute binary file

I thought it was mft.dll was not authorised, so in the terminal I changed directory to the mft.1.0.0.0 folder, then did chmod +x mft.dll. I got the same feedback.

#3

Have a look at the readme.md in the repo. There are installation instructions.

In any case you need to run the program by calling the runtime, eg dotnet exec mft.dll .

Both mft.dll and the root directory specified after it can be given a path, eg dotnet exec subdir/mft.dll /User/xyz/documents/notes

Hope this helps.

#4

@RalfW: I don’t see a readme.md, neither in the repo nor in the folder I unzipped. I read your instructions in your OP, and followed them to the letter. I just tried again, now get a different message: The application to execute does not exist.

Strange, because dotnet is installed, I checked - see screenshot.
mft

#5

You can / need to download a .NET Core 3.1 … :confounded: ehmmm.

#6

Here’s the readme.md. It’s the default file of the repo. But the installation instructions are the same :wink:

Please check the path you’re using in your example. It does not look right with mft.1.0.0.. There is a final 0 missing, I’d say. Why not copy it to a very simply named directory like xxx first? :wink:

Several people have installed it in the meantime and none had this kind of problem. Also, please download the latest release first.

#7

Well, others require you to download heaps of JS packages :wink: But it’s a free world. No hurt feelings if you don’t like runtime downloads.

#8

I’m almost finished with Python script :wink:

#9

mft.1.0.0. was an error, but if you look at the screenshot again you’ll see that I tried a 2nd run with mft.1.0.0.0.

#10

Try it with path names other than those with %20 in them.

#11

@RalfW: I should have put NO\ NAME instead. It works.
Couple of questions:

  • what is the meaning of the number of lines? Does it mean the number of lines amended in the file , or the total number of lines of text in the file?
  • in my list the script returns some file names as ._filename: what does that mean?
#12

Glad it works!

The number of lines is the number of lines in the file.

Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean by ._filename. Only files with their filenames ending in .md should be listed (with the extension removed). Maybe you can provide a screenshot? (We can continue the conversation with DMs, if you like.)

#13

@RalfW
Here’s a screenshot:

timeline
timeline850×546 174 KB

I can assure you those ._filename files do not occur in the folder.
We can continue this with DMs, but then in the Discord channel, because I find using DMs on the forum too long-winded and frustrating.

#14

We can try Discord. Ping me there: ralfw#2959. I’ll have an eye on it for a while. Usually I’m not using Discord.