Replacement for templater

[ru-van-urk]

Came across this plugin today and with it I want to replace some functionality of my other plugins (templater, quickAdd, dataview).

First up is my daily note, which now uses templater. I was tinkering with it and could not find a nice solutions without some hick-ups. First of all here is what I tried. I created a template file (Daily.md) with the following in it:

```code-button
---
isRaw: true
---
const activefile = app.workspace.getActiveFile();

const fileName = activefile?.basename

const fileDate = moment(fileName, "YYYY-MM-DD");
const day = fileDate.format("ddd");
const prevDay = fileDate.clone().subtract(1, "days").format("YYYY-MM-DD");
const nextDay = fileDate.clone().add(1, "days").format("YYYY-MM-DD");

await codeButtonContext.replaceCodeButtonBlock(`
---
date: ${fileName}
---
# ${fileDate.format("dddd")}

[[Calendar/Daily/${prevDay}|Previous]] | [[Calendar/Daily/${nextDay}|Next]]

## Habit Tracker

![[Habits.base#Per day (daily note)]]

## Experiences

![[Experiences.base#Experiences (Daily)]]

`)

```

My goal is to handle all the logic before the call to await codeButtonContext.replaceCodeButtonBlock, or equivalent. Eventually, I’d like to import that logic from a separate script and then render everything within the template literal. This approach reminds me a lot of React, which I like. Some hick-ups I experienced:

1. I can not get the frontmatter creation to run. The cursor stays at the top when the code-button has run. Maybe this is fixed with point 2)

2. What is the equivalent of tp.file.cursor().

3. When I put the code-button in the template file I keep accidentally enabling preview mode and then the code executes. Is there a way to only execute on file creation?

4. Is using a code-button this way a good way of replacing templater?

Thanks in advance!

[mdbraber]

Adding a more general question (as it seems to fit with the title of this): is Codescript Toolkit a supposedly (albeit more technical) replacement for Templater? E.g. functionality like merging properties etc. all are highly specific to Templater. I can see that e.g. additional function support would be great in Templater, but would it also work the other way around (having Templater specific functions in Codescript Toolkit?)

[mnaoumov]

@ru-van-urk

While technically it's possible to get rid of Templater and replace with this plugin, I would not recommend it as the readability would suffer.

I personally use Templater together with the plugin in a way

<%*

import {
  fn1,
  fn2,
  fn3,
  fn9
} from '/module.ts';

const var4 = fn1(app);
const var5 = await fn2(app.workspace.getActiveFile(), 'arg6');

-%>
Static content <% var4 %>
Another static content <% var5 %>
Inline function call <% fn3(app) %>
Even inline module, but I don't recommend it, as it's too verbose <% await require('/module7.ts').fn8() %>

<%* for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) { -%>
Generated line <% i %>: <% fn9(i) %>
<%* } -%>

I find it more readable than the example from the topic starter.

1. I can not get the frontmatter creation to run

If you have a button code at the top of the file

(beginning of the file)
```code-button
await codeButtonContext.replaceCodeButtonBlock('---\na: b\nc: 2\n---\n');
```

Then frontmatter creation works

However, if the button code is not at the top of the file, you cannot rely on naive text replacement then, you need

(any place at the beginning of file or not)
```code-button
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter((fm) => {
  fm.key = 'newValue';
  fm.key2 = ['list', 'of', 'values'];
});
```

The cursor stays at the top when the code-button has run

codeButtonContext.replaceCodeButtonBlock() doesn't take cursor position into account. As its name states, it replaces the code button block, regardless of where the cursor is.

In case you want to write something at cursor you can

(any place at the beginning of file or not)
```code-button
await app.workspace.activeEditor.setState({ mode: 'source' }, {});
app.workspace.activeEditor.editor.replaceSelection('new text to insert at cursor');
```

2. What is the equivalent of tp.file.cursor().

tp.file.cursor() moves cursor to the place where this function is written.

There is no one-line equivalent of it. I don't see much use of it. But will some calculations you can, for example

```code-button
await app.workspace.activeEditor.setState({ mode: 'source' }, {});
app.workspace.activeEditor.editor.setCursor(codeButtonContext.markdownInfo.positionInNote.end.line + 1, 0); // go to line after the code block
```

3. When I put the code-button in the template file I keep accidentally enabling preview mode and then the code executes. Is there a way to only execute on file creation?

The button executes only when the note is opened. You can use Remove after execution feature to prevent multiple executions, but if you just created the note, but never opened it, nothing will trigger the code execution. It's possible, but would require some additional coding.

4. Is using a code-button this way a good way of replacing templater?

I would not suggest replacing Templater. It's possible but not worth it.

@mdbraber

is Codescript Toolkit a supposedly (albeit more technical) replacement for Templater

No, the aim of CodeScript Toolkit is not to replace Templater

would it also work the other way around (having Templater specific functions in Codescript Toolkit?)

If you are using Templater

You can have

<%*

import { fn } from '/module.ts';

-%>
Text: <% await fn(tp) %>

And in module.ts

interface TemplaterApi {
  system: {
    clipboard(): Promise<string>;
  }
}

export async function fn(tp: TemplaterApi): Promise<string> {
  return await tp.system.clipboard();
}

If the question was can we access Templater API outside of Templater context. The answer is yes, but it's a bit tricky.

However, in my opinion, Templater API doesn't have any functionality that cannot be implemented directly or via Obsidian API. So it's just a matter of habits.

[ru-van-urk]

Thank you for your very detailed and thorough response, it has made things much clearer for me.