#meta

Page templates can be used to automate or simplify the creation of pages based on a template.

Creating a page template

To create a page template, create a page and tag it with #meta/template/page.

The last component of the page name will be used as the template name.

Cursor placement

In the template’s body text, you can optionally use |^| as a placeholder for where the cursor should be after creating the page.

Configuration

Optional keys you can set in the page’s frontmatter:

• suggestedName: the proposed name for the new page, can use embedded Lua expressions, like Daily/${date.today()}.
• confirmName: Confirm the suggested page name before creating it (defaults to true).
• openIfExists: If a page with the suggestedName already exists, open it rather than attempting to create it anew.
• command: expose the page template as a command with this name.
• key: Bind the snippet to a keyboard shortcut (note: this requires to also specify the command configuration).
• mac: Bind the snippet to a Mac-specific keyboard shortcut.
• frontmatter: Frontmatter (encoded as a string) to set in the resulting page.
• priority: Similar to how space lua scripts are loaded, this controls the order in which page template commands are created (see "overriding page templates" below)

Example: Daily note

The following creates a page template that can be run using the Journal: Daily Note command, it automatically creates Daily/today’s date if it does not already exist with a bulleted list, putting the cursor at the first bullet. If the page already exists, it navigates there.

---
command: "Journal: Daily Note"
suggestedName: "Daily/${date.today()}"
confirmName: false
openIfExists: true
tags: meta/template/page
---
* |^|

Instantiating page templates

You can create a page based on a page template via the ${widgets.commandButton("Page: From Template")} command, or via the command name that you defined in your template’s frontmatter.

Overriding page templates

If you would like to override an existing page template (for instance the Quick Note) template with your own, you can take advantage of the load order determined by the priority frontmatter. Built in page templates will have a priority set that is higher than the default. Therefore, their commands and keybindings will be set early. Therefore, by simply defining your own version of the page template with the same command name will let that version override the versions that are built in.

Example: overriding the Quick Note template

---
command: Quick Note
key: "Alt-Shift-n"
suggestedName: "Quick notes/${os.date('%Y-%m-%d/%H-%M-%S')}"
confirmName: false
tags: meta/template/page
---
This is my quick note version

Implementation

local function createPageFromTemplate(templatePage, pageName)
  -- Won't override an existing page
  if space.pageExists(pageName) then
    editor.flashNotification("Page " .. pageName .. " already exists", "error")
    return
  end
  local tpl, fm = template.fromPage(templatePage)
  local initialText = ""
  if fm.frontmatter then
    initialText = "---\n"
      .. string.trim(template.new(fm.frontmatter)())
      .. "\n---\n"
  end
  -- Write an empty page to start
  space.writePage(pageName, initialText)
  editor.navigate({kind = "page", page = pageName})
  -- Insert there, supporting |^| cursor placeholder
  editor.insertAtPos(tpl(), #initialText, true)
end

-- Create commands for all page templates with a command key in frontmatter
for pt in query[[
    from index.tag "meta/template/page"
    where _.tag == "page" and _.command
    order by _.priority desc
  ]] do
  command.define {
    name = pt.command,
    key = pt.key,
    mac = pt.mac,
    run = function()
      local pageName
      if pt.suggestedName then
        pageName = (template.new(pt.suggestedName))()
      end
      if pt.confirmName != false then
        pageName = editor.prompt("Page name", pageName)
      end
      if not pageName then
        return
      end
      if pt.openIfExists and space.pageExists(pageName) then
        editor.navigate({kind = "page", page = pageName})
        return
      end
      createPageFromTemplate(pt.name, pageName)
    end
  }
end

command.define {
  name = "Page: From Template",
  run = function()
    local pageTemplates = query[[from index.tag "meta/template/page" where _.tag == "page"]]
    local selected = editor.filterBox("Page template", pageTemplates, "Pick the template you would like to instantiate")
    if not selected then
      return
    end
    local pageName
    if selected.suggestedName then
      pageName = (template.new(selected.suggestedName))()
    end
    pageName = editor.prompt("Page name", pageName)
    if not pageName then
      return
    end
    createPageFromTemplate(selected.name, pageName)
  end
}