Import diaries from existing markdown files

[Weiming-Hu]

Thank you for publishing it on the app store. I have installed it and I like the calendar view!

I have a few questions and perhaps a request:

1. Where are the markdown stored? I know some other apps just creates a root folder in files and store them there. How are files stored for Diary?
2. Is it possible to import from existing markdown files? I have a large number of past diaries that I would like to somehow link them to this app. They are written in markdown and the file names are 'YYYYMMDD.md'. They are saved in Nextcloud Files.

Although I do not know JS very well, I regularly code in Python/C++ and I would love to contribute. If you could give me instructions, I might be able to figure out the details and submit PRs. Let me know how I can help.

Thanks!

[danielroehrig]

Hi @Weiming-Hu It's stored in the database, not in the file system. My plans are:

1. Having an option to download single entries, years, months, and custom time frames as PDFs, Markdowns, and/or ODTs
2. Having a sychronized PDF or Markdown in a "Diary" folder
3. Having some kind of encryption, so that these personal entries are not in plaintext in a database. Although, no one should really have access to these entries, except for the admin and they can read all your files anyways, but I would like to have an additional layer of security here.

The export function is on my todo list for the near future.

I am a backend developer myself, and the frontend part does not come naturally for me. I've written a short blog entry about my setup

[Weiming-Hu]

How hard is it to index files from the file system? For example, users can select a root folder in the file system, perhaps "Diary". And then, when users select a date on the calendar, Diary just tries to find the file under the root folder. If it exists, it renders the content; if it does not exist, it creates an empty entry. Would something like this be along the lines you are working on? Thank you.

Regarding #3, I think it is always good to have a second layers of security. But as you've mentioned, admin already has the permission anyway. And actually this is just my personal instance. So I guess this is not a direct concern of mine.

Thank you.

[danielroehrig]

How would you map a file to a date? By creation timestamp, headline, filename? This might get complicated as not every country uses the same format to display dates.

[Weiming-Hu]

Thank you for mentioning that. I agree with you that date formats can be different for various countries. The easier thing I can think of is, maybe there could be an option for whether to store files in a database (as it is right now), or to store files in the File app by specified the root directory, like /Diary, and the date format, like %Y%m%d.md. This way, the app just tries to find the corresponding file to a date if it exists, otherwise the file will be created.

If you think this is worth doing, I can actually help with the implementation. I just need some instructions of what I should do. Thank you very much!

[danielroehrig]

The current version features a simple markdown export (and pdf export). If this is something that is really wanted, we can add the functionality to export directly into a folder structure in nextcloud.

[Weiming-Hu]

Thank you for your reply. Actually, I was more talking about import because I have a bunch of markdown files already. They are organized as such:

Root/
|-- 2022
|---- 0101.md
|---- 0102.md
....

The structure and filenames can definitely be changed. I'm just wondering whether there is a way for the app to be "pointed" to the root folder and detect markdown files within, so that I don't have to manually copy and paste all my past documents into the app.

Thank you

[foegra]

Hello. That's a long topic, but I'd like to jump in as well. It would be really great to have a possibility to move import existing diary. I do have markdown files from 2016 and would like to be able to import them into diary app. Absolute best would be to use folders as for the notes app!

[danielroehrig]

My intentions with using the database and not the filesystem were

• I know more about the database than nextclouds file system
• I wanted to add meta data to the entries, which is easy if it's in a database

But currently I am stuck, because I don't have the time and experience to deal with the frontend and without a partner that can help me with that, I will try my best to keep the app working, but I won't expand it much further.