[FR] Keep properties synced between fileClass and Notes

[Seventhxiv]

Feature Request

It would be great to use this plugin as a consistent schema for notes.
The biggest obstacle for that is that it's hard to keep all notes synced with the definition of their fileClass.

Work Around

If anyone is interested I ended up using a workaround with RunJS to trigger a script to sync all notes.

What it does is:

1. Go over all notes (under a certain Folder)
2. Removes all properties that are not recognized by Metadata
3. Add missing Metadata properties

If you would like to skip (2), just disable the call to DeleteUnschematizedMetadataFields().

This is the code snippet:

var fileMap = this.app.fileManager.vault.fileMap;  
var files = Object.values(fileMap).filter(note => note?.path.startsWith(<Some-Folder-Path>) && note?.extension == "md");  
for (let i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {  
	SchematizeNoteMetadata(files\[i\]);  
}

async function SchematizeNoteMetadata(file) {  
	console.log(file.path);  
	await DeleteUnschematizedMetadataFields(file);  
	AddMissingMetadataFields(file);  
}

function AddMissingMetadataFields(file) {  
	const {insertMissingFields} = app.plugins.plugins\["metadata-menu"\].api;  
	insertMissingFields(file.path, -1, false, false, null);  
}

async function DeleteUnschematizedMetadataFields(file) {  
	const existingMetadataFields = \[\];  
	  
	const {fileFields} = app.plugins.plugins\["metadata-menu"\].api;  
	var records = await fileFields(file.path);  
	  
	for (const indexedPath in records) {   
		const fields = records\[indexedPath\];  
		console.log(indexedPath);  
		console.log(fields.name + ": " + fields.value + ", " + fields.sourceType + ", " + fields.isValid);  
		existingMetadataFields.push(fields.name);  
	}  
	  
	await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(file, (fm) => {   
		for (const key in fm)  
		{  
			if (!existingMetadataFields.includes(key))  
			{  
console.log("Deleting: " + key);  
delete fm\[key\];  
			}  
		}  
	});  
}

[LynetteCullens]

Modified the code to have folder path at the top, notifications, and efficiency.

var folderPath = "Glossary";
var fileMap = this.app.fileManager.vault.fileMap;

if (!folderPath) {
    new Notice("Folder path is not specified.");
} else {
    var files = Object.values(fileMap).filter(note => note?.path.startsWith(folderPath) && note?.extension === "md");

    for (let i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
        SchematizeNoteMetadata(files[i]);
    }
}

async function SchematizeNoteMetadata(file) {
    new Notice(`Processing file: ${file.path}`);
    await DeleteUnschematizedMetadataFields(file);
    AddMissingMetadataFields(file);
}

function AddMissingMetadataFields(file) {
    const metadataMenu = app.plugins.plugins["metadata-menu"];
    if (!metadataMenu || !metadataMenu.api || !metadataMenu.api.insertMissingFields) {
        new Notice("metadata-menu plugin or its insertMissingFields API is not available.");
        return;
    }
    const { insertMissingFields } = metadataMenu.api;
    insertMissingFields(file.path, -1, false, false, null);
}

async function DeleteUnschematizedMetadataFields(file) {
    const existingMetadataFields = [];

    const metadataMenu = app.plugins.plugins["metadata-menu"];
    if (!metadataMenu || !metadataMenu.api || !metadataMenu.api.fileFields) {
        new Notice("metadata-menu plugin or its fileFields API is not available.");
        return;
    }
    const { fileFields } = metadataMenu.api;
    var records = await fileFields(file.path);

    for (const indexedPath in records) {
        const fields = records[indexedPath];
        new Notice(`Field: ${fields.name}, Value: ${fields.value}, SourceType: ${fields.sourceType}, IsValid: ${fields.isValid}`);
        existingMetadataFields.push(fields.name);
    }

    await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(file, (fm) => {
        for (const key in fm) {
            if (!existingMetadataFields.includes(key)) {
                new Notice(`Deleting: ${key}`);
                delete fm[key];
            }
        }
    });
}

[msageryd]

Any news on this?
I found metadata menu and went "wow". But I calmed down when I realized the amount of mouse clicks needed to actually use the plugin.

1. create new note
2. assign class, either via tag or by assigning a class property directly or via cmd-p
   3a. click on "add missing fields"
   3b. or cmd-p -> bulk add missing fields. This is quite impossible to automate if frontmatter already exists. The insertion point gets messed up (probably my fault).

It would be soo sweet if the notes could be kept in sync with their classes, or at least "auto add missing fields" upon class assignment.

I have tried to automate this myself, both via a plugin and via a quickAdd script. Both attempts failed.

[LynetteCullens]

I've messaged the creator on Discord and Twitter. I don't know if he is still alive.