FOAM_SLUG template variable addition

[techCarpenter]

This is my first open source contribution. I'm excited to contribute and also eager to do things right so any feedback on this PR is appreciated!

---

This contribution addresses the discussion about slugifying wikilinks

The FOAM_TITLE_SLUG variable will be available in foam templates. When the note title is entered with Create New Note, a slug is created by github-slugger that can then be used as part of the file name.

Example:

Variable	Value
FOAM_TITLE	My new note
FOAM_TITLE_SLUG	my-new-note

[chrisUsick]

I wanted to clarify something. Is it improper to use FOAM_TITLE in the file path? That, plus other recent fixes to slugs finally allowed for wikilinks to work well. I appreciate having the wikilink text having the capitalization and spaces. I have a lot of notes that use this format and would like to know if that’s becoming an unsupported pattern.
Another thing I’m unclear on is whether FOAM_TITLE style wikiklinks affect publishing? It sounds like it might not work.

[riccardoferretti]

Thanks for your contribution @techCarpenter! I have left a few comments for you, let me know your thoughts

[techCarpenter]

@riccardoferretti Thank you for the notes, I'll address them!

[techCarpenter]

I wanted to clarify something. Is it improper to use FOAM_TITLE in the file path? That, plus other recent fixes to slugs finally allowed for wikilinks to work well. I appreciate having the wikilink text having the capitalization and spaces. I have a lot of notes that use this format and would like to know if that’s becoming an unsupported pattern. Another thing I’m unclear on is whether FOAM_TITLE style wikiklinks affect publishing? It sounds like it might not work.

@chrisUsick I was told by @riccardoferretti that using FOAM_TITLE is the default way to do wikilinks in Foam. I suspect there could be issues when publishing files that have spaces in the filename.

[chrisUsick]

@chrisUsick I was told by @riccardoferretti that using FOAM_TITLE is the default way to do wikilinks in Foam. I suspect there could be issues when publishing files that have spaces in the filename.

Ah, I see that in the comments. Thanks!

[memeplex]

The github slugger is not actually used, it seems to be a legacy part of Foam, I've opened a PR to remove the remnants (#872). Having a title is not required, but if your note has a title it's best to name the file after that title, or some transformation of it (but no transformation is enforced or preferred, therefore you have to do it manually, so again: better name your note after the title). Except that @riccardoferretti considers that some default transformation is desirable for templates. The problem I see with that is that one user may prefer this-is-my-note.md, while another likes this_is_my_note.md better, yet another one choses ThisIsMyNote.md, a fourth one goes with This is my note.md and a dendron-minded guy is used to this.is.my.note.md. So short of having some kind of slug expression language there is no way to make everyone happy. IMHO the most sensible approach is that slug = filename = title (the title may be later made more verbose or whatever by the user, I'm just talking about defaults) and that Foam should support that convention OOTB but also allow the user to choose another convention, even if it's a bit more cumbersome to work with. This is what Obsidian does also.

[riccardoferretti]

The only constraints that Foam gives you is that wikilinks use the file name to find the resource.
As long as you are fine with this premise, you can use anything you want to name your files, whether the title, the slug, ... or something totally different (e.g. timestamp).

Except that @riccardoferretti considers that some default transformation is desirable for templates

This is not about templates, per my comment above, you can pick whatever path you desire.

What would need a transformation might be the [[wikilink key]], almost as an automatic alias (or, more precisely, a key normalization function). The way Foam works would actually support it fairly easily, but atm I am not inclined to have much magic happen there, as there are still a few wrinkles to iron before considering this option.

To summarize, sure you can have a FOAM_TITLE = File with Slug and via FOAM_TITLE_SLUG create your /path/to/file-with-slug.md, be aware that you will need to refer to such file as [[file-with-slug]] and not [[File With Slug]].

[memeplex]

This is not about templates, per my comment above, you can pick whatever path you desire.

What I meant is that when you create a template you have a title but not a slug, except when slug = title. But, sure, the same happens when you enter [[slug]] and ctrl-click on the placeholder link, if you want title = slug you will be fine with the default, otherwise you will have to edit the title. So, I was saying that except that you prefer some slug convention over the others, or are willing to provide a way to configure a programmable slugger, all conventions but title = slug will require extra manual intervention. Which is fine for me.

[riccardoferretti]

relevant comment: #872 (comment)

[memeplex]

Despite the outcome of the discussion ongoing in #872 I'd suggest to rename FOAM_TITLE_SLUG to FOAM_SLUG. slug is or may be used in other contexts, not necessarily derived from the title. Besides FOAM_SLUG is shorter.

[riccardoferretti]

What do you mean by "slug is or may be used in other contexts"?

[memeplex]

What do you mean by "slug is or may be used in other contexts"?

More or less your open questions in #872 (comment). I mean, in this context it's clear that slug is something created from a title, but in other yet to be defined contexts that may not be the case. For example, in the ctrl-click over [[a-placeholder]] case maybe we end up creating a # A placeholder title from the slug. I believe a more neutral terminology of slug, like the slug being a feature of the note, instead of title slug, could be preferable.

[techCarpenter]

All changes are up to date with comments by @riccardoferretti. New foam template variable FOAM_SLUG is available to use.

[riccardoferretti]

Looking good, thanks @techCarpenter!

[techCarpenter]

PR merged into master branch

[riccardoferretti]

@allcontributors add @techCarpenter for code

[allcontributors]

@riccardoferretti

I've put up a pull request to add @techCarpenter! 🎉