Is it possible for markdown export to link to other files?

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I exported a notebook to markdown (which is great), but I found that the files don't have links to other files like they were in Siyuan.

So, is there anyway to make markdown exports have links to other files?

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    • sagar 2
      VIP Warrior

      I think there is a fairly simple solution to this, which I will describe below. I think it can be implemented as a simple Python script that does some post-processing of the exported markdown files. I will try to create a proof-of-concept script, but it will take me a few days because I am not a programmer and will need to learn some Python programming first.

      Solution description

      1. In Settings > Export configure 'Ref' to 'Anchor text with block URL'. After doing this, a link to another block in a SiYuan note appears in the exported Markdown file as [Anchor text](siyuan://blocks/block-id).

      2. Write a Python script that opens each exported markdown file and uses regex matching to identify all instances of [Anchor text](siyuan://blocks/block-id). For each instance,

      3. Use the /api/query/sql API endpoint to get details of the block-id by making a query like:

        { "stmt": "SELECT * FROM blocks WHERE id='block-id'" }

      4. In the query result, you can find the hpath key whose value is a human readable path.

        1. If the block-id is for a block of type document (which would be the case for a link to another document), then the Python script just needs to replace siyuan://blocks/block-id with hpath_value.md which would be the relative path to the exported markdown file that the link points to.
        2. If the block-id is for a block inside a document (e.g. to some arbitrary paragraph block in the document), all you need to do is to open the exported markdown document containing that paragraph (from the value of hpath for that block-id), find the start of the paragraph and add an <a name="block-id"></a> anchor at the start of the paragraph. Then, the siyuan://blocks/block-id in the exported markdown file can be replaced by hpath_value.md#block-id

      This would basically solve the problem of having correct links in the exported markdown files and additionally the exported notes can easily be converted to HTML and published e.g. with a static site generator like Hugo.

      @88250 Do you see any problems with this approach? I don't understand why SiYuan does not do this already when exporting to markdown.. but in any case, a Python script that does the above can post-process the exported markdown files from SiYuan and fix all the links. What do you think?

      1 Reply
      1 Operate
      sagar updated this reply at 2023-12-01 08:25:07
    • MiscReply
    • 88250

      The reason why this function is placed at the notebook level is because some users no longer want to use SiYuan and need complete batch export, so support for this function is not considered at the document level.

      I'm not sure if the span tag still exists after pandoc converts the HTML, but I'm sure anchor jumps can be used and you can write HTML tests in the browser.

      1 Reply
    • 88250

      In theory, programs that support standard Markdown (CommonMark) should be able to support parsing and rendering inline HTML elements, that is, <span>, but they may not necessarily support anchor hash jumps. After rendering from Markdown to HTML, the browser can support anchor hash jumping, so currently, exporting references as anchor hashs is the optimal solution.

      1 Reply
    • adham 1
      Author

      I was able to do it (for documents only, not blocks, as I don't know how to find out if the link is of a block or a document, and I don't want to mutate the linked documents anyway).

      Here's the Python script:

      import os
      import re
      import requests
      
      # Replace 'YOUR_API_ENDPOINT' with the actual Siyuan API endpoint
      SIYUAN_API_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost:6806"
      
      
      # Function to make a SQL query to Siyuan API
      def query_block_details(block_id):
          query = {"stmt": f"SELECT * FROM blocks WHERE id='{block_id}'"}
          response = requests.post(f"{SIYUAN_API_ENDPOINT}/api/query/sql", json=query)
          return response.json()
      
      
      # Function to process each markdown file
      def process_markdown_file(file_path):
          with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
              content = file.read()
      
              # Use regex to find instances of [Anchor text](siyuan://blocks/block-id)
              matches = re.findall(r"\[.*?\]\(siyuan://blocks/(.*?)\)", content)
      
              for block_id in matches:
                  # Query Siyuan API to get block details
                  result = query_block_details(block_id)
      
                  # Assumes ref is of a document, not a block
                  if result:
                      hpath_value = result["data"][0].get("hpath")
      
                      # Replace the siyuan://blocks/block-id with hpath_value.md
                      new_link = f"({hpath_value}.md)"
      
                      # Replace the old link in the content
                      content = content.replace(f"(siyuan://blocks/{block_id})", new_link)
      
          # Write the updated content back to the file
          with open(file_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as file:
              file.write(content)
      
      
      def process_markdown_directory(directory_path):
          for root, _, files in os.walk(directory_path):
              for file_name in files:
                  if file_name.endswith(".md"):
                      file_path = os.path.join(root, file_name)
                      process_markdown_file(file_path)
      
      
      # Replace 'YOUR_MARKDOWN_DIRECTORY_PATH' with the actual path to your exported markdown files
      markdown_directory_path = "YOUR_MARKDOWN_DIRECTORY_PATH"
      
      # Process each markdown file in the specified path
      process_markdown_directory(markdown_directory_path)
      
      
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