Getting Markdown files layout to match the Project Tree

[krvoje]

Basically, to have the novel laid out in a directory structure that mimics the Project Tree view, instead of the content dir with hashes (or as an additional export option).

[vkbo]

You mean in the project's contents folder on your hard drive? There's a previous discussion about it in the version control issue, here.

The short answer is that you are not supposed to touch those files. If you need to find a specific file in there for some reason or another, there's a ToC.txt file that tells you which file in the project tree is saved where.

There are very specific reasons why the file structure is the way it is, and I have no plans to change it. Using the internal file reference in the project as the file name makes the whole solution a lot more stable and less error prone. It also makes it significantly easier to implement the versioning features I'm planning to add.

However, I have considered an export feature that could do what you request on a one-off basis. It would make it easier to extract your work as it is structured without having to make a build.

[peter88213]

I'm glad to hear that, now that I've managed to read and write File Format version 1.3 with my yWriter converter.
By the way, it would be helpful if novelWriter would create its index automatically in case it does not find an index file.

[vkbo]

Yeah, it's a good idea. There are few cases where the index is missing though. It is (re)built automatically when the index is broken, where "broken" mostly means that the format has changed, and when a project is first made. Did you encounter any cases where there was no index?

Also, the JSON file is just a dump of the index memory between sessions. It doesn't have a "file format" per say, and it has changed many times as I've added features, or restructured things. What data do you extract from the index?

If I would move to a single file format, the index file would be dropped entirely and just rebuilt on load as all the text has to be loaded anyway.

[vkbo]

By the way, feel free to start a new discussion topic if you want to talk file formats in general. I find your input very useful, but perhaps they are a bit off topic in these other threads, and I'm sure the authors of the topic get a bunch of email notifications. :)

[peter88213]

Did you encounter any cases where there was no index?

This happens when converting a yWriter project to novelWiter. My converter script generates only the required files, i.e. 'nwProject.nwx' and the .nwd files. Such projects can be opened in novelWriter, but the index must then be created manually before the outline becomes visible. After that also a window has to be clicked away (could be omitted by me in case of success). This slows down my manual test runs a bit.

By the way, feel free to start a new discussion topic if you want to talk file formats in general.

About file formats I could say a thing or two, but I don't want to dispute a fundamental discussion here in any case. I probably can't bring up anything here that you haven't already thought through plenty.
I think I will open a new thread to introduce my file converter once it is ready, but that may take a while.

[vkbo]

Did you encounter any cases where there was no index?

This happens when converting a yWriter project to novelWiter. My converter script generates only the required files, i.e. 'nwProject.nwx' and the .nwd files. Such projects can be opened in novelWriter, but the index must then be created manually before the outline becomes visible. After that also a window has to be clicked away (could be omitted by me in case of success). This slows down my manual test runs a bit.

I see, well I can certainly add a check that re-builds the index quietly if it's empty. It may be useful in other cases too.

By the way, feel free to start a new discussion topic if you want to talk file formats in general.

About file formats I could say a thing or two, but I don't want to dispute a fundamental discussion here in any case. I probably can't bring up anything here that you haven't already thought through plenty. I think I will open a new thread to introduce my file converter once it is ready, but that may take a while.

Sure, sounds good.

[mlo-3]

However, I have considered an export feature that could do what you request on a one-off basis. It would make it easier to extract your work as it is structured without having to make a build.

Hi, I was looking to same thing, an export option would be nice indeed. This would be handy in order to migrate the work project to obdsidian for exemple. And also to have a sort of backup with readable file names. Just in case ;)

By the way, thanks a lot for novelwriter ! It rocks !

[vkbo]

I'm glad you find novelWriter useful :)

I absolutely see a use case for this. Not least because it makes it possible to export a project into a format that is human readable and independent of any software tool. I've added a new feature ticket for it at #1108.