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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    • 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)
      
      
    • MiscReply
    • sagar
      VIP Warrior

      @adham Wow 😍 You are a master programmer indeed! I was still trying to figure out how to use Python to open all .md files in a directory, by copy/pasting code from Stackoverflow 😄 This solution is exactly what I meant.

      I do believe it can be extended to include references to any arbitrary block, not just a document block. You did say that you don't want to mutate the linked documents, but I am just laying out the approach in case any other master programmers want to try it 😄. You wrote,

      I don't know how to find out if the link is of a block or a document,

      I see a few different possible checks for this

      • Look at the 'type' field in the response of the SQL query. If it is a document block, the type value will be 'd'. Other type values are given in the documentation at /Please Start Here/Advanced search/Type filtering
      • I believe that if the block is of type document, then the 'root_id' will be the same as 'id'. See the documentation of the SQL table fields at /Please Start Here/Advanced search/Database table

      So one or both of the above checks can be used to determine if the block is of type 'document' or something else.

      If the block is of type something else, then the way to link to it would be

      1. Open the target document that contains the block (i.e. the hpath)
      2. Search for the occurrence of the content in the 'markdown' field of the SQL query response. This will place the "cursor" inside the document to the start of the paragraph (or whatever other content) the block points to
      3. At this cursor position, insert an HTML anchor text like: <a name="block-id"></a>
      4. Then, update the siyuan://blocks/block-id part of the link to hpath_value.md#block-id

      This approach enables having links in the markdown files to any other markdown files or parts inside markdown files.

      @adham Thank you once again for your example code 🙏

      3 Operate
      sagar updated this reply at 2023-12-02 01:22:47
      sagar updated this reply at 2023-12-02 01:21:03
      sagar updated this reply at 2023-12-02 01:18:06
    • adham
      Author

      Here's the before and after comparison.

      Before:

      
      # Networking
      
      The most important things to know are the networking protocols.
      
      
      * [TCP](siyuan://blocks/20231110002225-jzlfmvr)
      * [UDP](siyuan://blocks/20231111114912-9gi1l0p)
      * [HTTP](siyuan://blocks/20231110002250-b9w413n)
      * [TLS](siyuan://blocks/20231111114933-oti4rz4)
      * [WebSockets](siyuan://blocks/20231111115839-xw23n4k)
      * [WebRTC](siyuan://blocks/20231111114916-nevtkga)
      
      
      

      After:

      # Networking
      
      The most important things to know are the networking protocols.
      
      
      * [TCP](/Networking/TCP.md)
      * [UDP](/Networking/UDP.md)
      * [HTTP](/Networking/HTTP.md)
      * [TLS](/Networking/TLS.md)
      * [WebSockets](/Networking/WebSockets.md)
      * [WebRTC](/Networking/WebRTC.md)
      
      
      
    • Siysuy

      The anchor hash feature currently creates a span object <span id="20231110120736-ze6m41f"></span>. Some kind of program should be able to understand and find this block inside the note as reference. Can anyone help me understand how this can be useful after export, where do I use this, which program understands this syntax?

      The export mode Anchor hash for notebook Markdown exporting has some limitations.

      In the case i want to publish a particular note (with links to other notes) my approach is:

      1. From main notebook export the notebook you want to publish to .sy.zip file
      2. Create new (temporary) notebook
      3. import .sy.zip file to new temp notebook
      4. Export temp notebook export it to any selectable format (only markdown is currently selectable)

      Other limitation of Anchor has export and the only way I got it to work (performed testing by exporting to Obsidian):

      • currently only works for notebook and does not allow nested notes. In the process of exporting all notes must be unnested inside notebook for .md export to function.
      • Currently does not support block reference. Can only link to main note. Tested by importing to obsidian (not a siyuan issue, but a markdown syntax limitation i presume)

      Depending on the responses here I might add a feature request soon that involves the concept of user selectable export syntax. In which before execution of export using anchor hash a user can type in the conversion syntax to apply. User is presented with input fields much like the settings > Export > Anchor text wrapping symbol fields.

      Conversion syntax for siyuan > obsidian would be: [[test3.md/Note 2#^d8bf62|Note 2]] and conversion input fields could somehow be [[ .. / .. #^ .. | .. ]]

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