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https://github.com/org-roam/org-roam
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Instead of implementing our own templating system, we abuse org-capture's templating system. We add 2 additional properties: - :head: a starting template that goes at the beginning of the file. - :file-name: a string that expands to the file name The templates are customizable at `org-roam-capture-templates` and `org-roam-ref-capture-templates`.
84 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
84 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
Rather than creating blank files on `org-roam-insert` and
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`org-roam-find-file`, it is may be desirable to prefill the file with
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content. This may include:
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- Time of creation
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- File it was created from
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- Clipboard content
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- Any other data you may want to input manually
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This requires a complex template insertion system, but fortunately,
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Org ships with a powerful one: `org-capture`. However, org-capture was
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not designed for such use. Org-roam abuses `org-capture` to some
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extent, extending its syntax. To first understand how org-roam's
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templating system works, it may be useful to look into org-capture.
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## Org-roam Templates
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The org-roam capture template extends org-capture's template with 2
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additional properties:
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1. `:file-name`: This is the file name template used when a new note
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is created.
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2. `:head`: This is the template that is inserted on initial note
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creation.
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### Org-roam Template Expansion
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Org-roam's template definitions also extend org-capture's template
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syntax, to allow prefilling of strings. In many scenarios,
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`org-roam-capture` is passed a mapping between variables and strings.
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For example, during `org-roam-insert`, a title is prompted for. If the
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title doesn't already exist, we would like to create a new file,
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without prompting for the title again.
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Variables passed are expanded with the `${var}` syntax. For example,
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eduring `org-roam-insert`, `${title}` is prefilled for expansion. Any
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variables that do not contain strings, are prompted for values using
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`completing-read`.
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After doing this expansion, the org-capture's template expansion
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system is used to fill up the rest of the template. You may read up
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more on this on [org-capture's documentation
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page](https://orgmode.org/manual/Template-expansion.html#Template-expansion).
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For example, take the template: `"%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>-${title}"`, with the title
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`"Foo"`. The template is first expanded into `%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>-Foo`. Then
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org-capture expands `%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>` with timestamp: e.g.
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`20200213032037-Foo`.
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This templating system is used throughout org-roam templates.
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### Template examples
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Here I walkthrough the default template, reproduced below.
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```
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("d" "default" plain (function org-roam--capture-get-point)
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"%?"
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:file-name "%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>-${slug}"
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:head "#+TITLE: ${title}\n"
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:unnarrowed t)
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```
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1. The template has short key `"d"`. If you have only one template,
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org-roam automatically chooses this template for you.
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2. The template is given a description of `"default"`.
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3. `plain` text is inserted. Other options include Org headings via
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`entry`.
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4. `(function org-roam--capture-get-point)` should not be changed.
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5. `"%?"` is the template inserted on each call to `org-roam-capture`.
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This template means don't insert any content, but place the cursor
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here.
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6. `:file-name` is the file-name template for a new note, if it
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doesn't yet exist. This creates a file at path that looks like
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`/path/to/org-roam-directory/20200213032037-foo.org`.
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7. `:head` contains the initial template to be inserted (once only),
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at the beginning of the file. Here, the title global attribute is
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inserted.
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8. `:unnarrowed t` tells org-capture to show the contents for the
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whole file, rather than narrowing to just the entry.
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Other options you may want to learn about include `:immediate-finish`.
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