Embedded vs external

#1

Hi everyone,

I’d like to find a more succinct way to list links to PDF files stored on a different drive, rather than move them adjacent to the TW-file.

When trying out the link/pathname yesterday, I ran into problems, so I checked out various TW advice, methods, etc. — then my glitchy links worked anyway. It’s confusing for sure…

  • TW seems to accept pathnames using either back-slash or forward-slash. Does it matter?
  • In what circumstance do I need to explicitly use the scheme (img / file) in the pathname?

All of the following worked!

 [ext[TITLE|D:/Music/CHARTS/A-E_SONG-Titles/A Little More.pdf]]
 [ext[TITLE|D:\Music\CHARTS\A-E_SONG-Titles\A Little More.pdf]]
 [ext[TITLE|file:///D:\Music\CHARTS\A-E_SONG-Titles\A Little More.pdf]]

I re-read the reference info on images in wikitext and image-widget (where I found the tooltip example didn’t work), and external images…

To manually create an external image just create the tiddler with the appropriate image content type, and add a _canonical_uri field with a URI pointing to the actual image location.

I’m just terribly confused. After tests, I see that using… `[img[filename.jpg]]’ — does indeed mean the image is now embedded.

  • So how do I ensure it stays external?
  • If I delete the link, is the image removed from the wiki-file?
  • Is it possible to remove the embedded “core” images (icons) OR add more?

I’ve tried [ext[images/filename.jpg]] (of course it just makes a link) — I don’t understand how to “do” the canonical_uri, as mentioned in the reference and in the post → [tw5] External links on usb?
I wish the reference gave a clear comparative example of the two wikitext methods, embedded vs external.

:frowning: with thanks
ps. I’ve been busy these past months adding content to my wikis, making do with my lowish level of TW knowhow. I’m still extremely inexperience re. macros, but ready to learn more.

#2

Its quite simple.

  1. Create a new tiddler. You can name it whatever you like. For the purpose of this example, lets call it A Little More
  2. Edit this new tiddler.
  3. At the bottom of the tiddler, set Type: to application/pdf
  4. Add a new field called _canonical_uri field, with the field value set to file:///D:\Music\CHARTS\A-E_SONG-Titles\A Little More.pdf
  5. Save the changes

Now that the tiddler has been created, you can link to the pdf by using [[A Little More]] and you can transclude (show) the pdf by using {{A Little More}}

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for the clear instructions. I’ll save them for future reference.

I only need a list of links - to open the PDF in a separate tab. It seems though, that a tiddler is needed for every PDF chart? But I can see the advantage, generate different lists by genre, key, etc.

#4

The advantage of a tiddler for every file even if external is you can name it, tag it, set fields, list it, transclude it and more. There are ways to avoid creating a tiddler but if you do you reduce its utility. Try the html object tag.

#5

Ok, thanks guys. I’ve re-read all the references to the workings of image widget, and I’m understanding it better.

Also I’m recognising a block in my thinking — the folly of trying to economise on the number of tiddlers in my wiki, as though that simplifies things. :flushed:

Gonna break loose on tiddlers, and make a TOC tab in the sidebar.

2 Likes
#6

Think of the tiddler as a record in a database or table if you want, this record is available to the whole wiki, not just a single table.

  • The tiddler is the key “object” in tiddlywiki and has the advantage that the tiddler is what we give primacy. It has a unique key, the title, and can have 0 + columns, the fields.
  • When you group a set of tiddlers together (eg a tag or common field/field value you can think of it as a table, but each tiddler can be a member of 0 + tables.
  • For good measure, the text field of a tiddler can contain anything, including other tables, and data such as dictionary, CSV and JSON, but because they are inside a tiddler you need a little more effort to access them.
2 Likes
#7

Is there an existing table that shows a hierarchy of methods available in TW – and the underpinning knowledge required? I imagine it would help me understand when one needs to delve deeper. Something like:

  1. basic tiddler — one or more tiddlers, each has a unique Title. Contents added and viewed via wikitext. Can be found in list of ALL or Recent (sidebar). Requires: basic understanding of text-editing using wikitext

  2. tiddler + tags — (as above), tiddlers are now associated by tags. Can be found via sidebar (list of tags). Requires: basic understanding of how tags can be used

  3. using list-filters — tiddler displays a list of tiddlers based on tags. Requires: understand TW syntax, conventions – how to write a filter when used in Macro, etc.
    …

“14”. JSON in TiddlyWiki ---- does what?? Requires: ??

Because, I have no idea after reading the TW info on JSON (or elsewhere) why I would need to use it, let alone what I need to know/understand in order to do so.

1 Like
#8

I will think if I can provide more guidence but;

  • I don’t think there is a known learning path, but when you ask here, people will try and frame the answer according to your apparent level of knowledge.
  • Learning tiddlywiki is a journey we all start with different knowledge, needs, and conceptual frameworks. Grok wiki carries you along a path from ignorance to one of better understanding, but I can’t read it any more, because I am already on the journey.
  • Read what I said again, remember this only, for now. Keep it in mind, and be informed more can be done, but no need to learn the details for now, however it helps you understand, if you need it, or come accross it, that there “is more”.
#9

I do not believe using the JSON tools is a requirement for any TW use. As far as I understand it: 5.2.0 release changed to a more JSON-based operation. To make that change, TW needed tools to manipulate JSON-formatted tiddlers. Since any tool TW uses on itself can also be used by the user, we got a set of JSON-manipulating tools as a free bonus.

As a layperson, I can only assume there may be a reason for a plugin-maker to utilize the tools for import/export purposes.

If you are using DataTiddlers, both the original TW version and the JSON version can be used. For an abbreviation-expanding macro and a Sidebar Tabs-organizer, I made use of JSON tiddlers and the related filter operators. This was for no reason other than an excuse to be more familiar with the tools available to me.

———

For my overall TiddlyWiki learning progression, it roughly followed this trajectory…

  1. Entering data into tiddlers

  2. Exploring and using the Sidebar lists to find existing notes

3a. Memorizing the most useful wikitext formatting
3b. Using links to connect notes outside of the Sidebar
3c. Using tags to organize notes into groups

  1. Using my own familiarity with HTML to start making more complex notes

  2. Trying, to various degrees, to split notes and make good use of transclusions.
    ——— After about 10 years, with Classic & TW5, I STILL don’t make too much use of transclusions in my actual notes, though I heavily use it with UI and custom-tools stuff.

  3. Using my own familiarity with CSS to make things look pretty (or at least more to my own preferences)

  4. Trying to make use of basic lists, being VERY confused about nested lists.

  5. Playing around with a few plugins to see what could be useful to me.

—
Fast-forward about 7 years, during which I used TW for personal & work-related notes storage.
—

9a. I lost my job (thanks Covid😡) and found that I finally had time to try to better understand more advances usage and see if I can make use of it.

9b. Much fumbling about trying to learn on my own.

  1. Grok TiddlyWiki is released. I read through that, start-to-finish, and try to incorporate as much of the info in my own wikis as I can.

  2. Finally comfortable enough to dive into the Contents tab of tiddlywiki.com and go through the References section top-to-bottom.

??. Somewhere between steps 9 and 11, I started trying to be more active in the forums. This was just before the move to discourse. Trying to answer questions and give my thoughts helped to look into other areas or strengthen current knowledge.

  1. Learned about the existence of Flexbox & Grid from MarioP’s video series on the Script Manager.

  2. Alternative layouts released. Perfect way to experiment and understand flexbox & grid layouts.

  3. I’m still just trying to figure what works for me, learning what I can, helping out when I can. Still keeping both personal and work-related notes in TiddlyWiki.

6 Likes
#10

@Brian_Radspinner — thank you, it’s very interesting to follow the progressive steps of your journey. Mine is similar, but a different order. Sorry to hear you lost your job, I hope something new/better opened up for you.

  1. same - enter data.
  2. explore wikitext, mix it up with some HTML
  3. control panel - taking notes to read up on the aspects that lost me.
  4. tweaking UI as I explored the sidebar
  5. find Grok and decide it’s a useful resource but not doing the tutorial – contacts can stay in my phone and work/clients can b.o. (thanks Covid)
  6. tag nearly every tiddler with “ToDO” and visit forums to learn how to make a checkbox list of tasks.
  7. document everything I know so far (not much) and decide that this’ll do for now

ffwd… 5 wiki files and hundreds of tiddlers later…

  1. start to “pretty up” my tiddlers … and realise I’ve been embedding not linking to the external files.
  2. set the intention to experiment with examples in the resources (and maybe read through Grok from start-to-finish).
  3. make a note to look at MarioP’s video series (where?)
#11

Here is the YouTube playlist for Mario’s videos on the Script Manager. Videos 4 and 8 were what got my attention.

Unfortunately, for me, most of his videos are above my comfort zone, so I haven’t been able to take advantage of what is surely a lot of valuable information. I’ll have to make a point of circling back and seeing if I am able to grab anymore tidbits a year or so after I last went through his videos. He also just has a lot of videos to go through. :sweat_smile:

1 Like
#12

Thanks for mentioning it. … Having a look at the videos … Ouch is there a bad sound quality with the first view videos. … It gets better with the 4th and 5ths as I was learning how to make it better :wink:

I think it’s important to start with the first video, even if the sound quality is bad. Every video builds on information of all other videos before. So jumping ahead may be confusing, since some info may be missing.

The Script Manager was born, because there was a question at the Google Groups Sept. 2017. Even if the specification was a very short description of 5 lines, it caught my eye.

I did have some ideas from an earlier post in Jan. 2017 and started coding.

I immediately saw, that the project will be much bigger than the 5 line spec would suggest.

That’s often the case with projects like that. The “big picture” seems to be simple, but the devil is in the detail. … eg:

  • How to make the workflow simple.
  • How should the data structure look like.
  • How the different elements like buttons should look like.

I needed about 1 Month of spare time to show something that did fit my own expectations.

INTRO: A script and todo manager workflow / UI experiment + video howto’s

… There was no feedback from the initial author of the post. So I think s/he was long gone :confused:

Important: The Script Manager Editon only works up to TW v5.2.7 – I need to fix something that did break

I did make the Script Manager Edition for my own, because I wanted to have something like that for a long time.

I did make the video series, where I basically describe every concept and every line of the code, because I think it has some value. Also for myself, to be able to re-view the stuff and see, what I would make different today.

The structure is still like the one described in the videos and it became my “Link and Ideas Manager” that I still use on a daily basis. It’s the only wiki that gets started with the computer.

It contains 1000++ different topic tiddlers with about 5+ external links to web-pages I thought are important to keep about that topic.

1/3 of the items are Ideas for “this and that”, which link internally to 1 or more topics.

The funny thing is. I did not make any code adjustments till then. So the workflow still works for me. I had some ideas to improve it, but non of the “shortcomings” are severe enough to “change a working system”. As in: “Do not fix it if it ain’t broken”

With TW v5.3.0 out in the open, I need to fix it and actually implement some of the ideas and functions that are missing. Especially CTRL-Enter should save and close the link inputs.

I hope my post is on topic. I’m not sure about that :slight_smile:
and – Have fun!
Mario