OmniOutliner and Obsidian

By nature of its structure, Obsidian is designed to absorb and display hierarchical materials such as outlines from OmniOutliner. Using Omni Automation and the automation tools in Obsidian, it is possible to cross-link data between the two applications.

This OmniOutliner plug-in will create a new Obsidian note whose contents is the revealed outline elements as plain text with tab indents. A link to the created note will be added to the end of the outline.

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Setting the Plug-In Preferences

Since Obsidian uses vaults, the title of the targeted vault is stored as a plug-in preference. To set the preference, select the plug-in from the Automation menu while holding down the Control key. A prompt for entering the title of the target Obsidian vault will appear. Once the preference has been set, the vault will be targeted by the plug-in. To change the vault, access the preference and enter the title of the new targeted vault.

When the plug-in is executed it will add a new row to the end of the outline. This row will contain information about the Obsidian vault and the item title used. The Obsidian note will also contain a UUID to make the note identifiable regardless of whether its name is changed. In addition, the added row will contain a link that will perform a search in the designated vault for the corresponding UUID related to the sent outline.

Return to: Plug-In Collection

Outline to New Obsidian Note
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/*{
	"type": "action",
	"targets": ["omnioutliner"],
	"author": "Otto Automator",
	"identifier": "com.omni-automation.oo.outline-as-text-to-obsidian",
	"version": "1.0",
	"description": "This action will create a new Obsidian note whose contents is the revealed outline elements as plain text with tab indents. A link to the created note will be added to the end of the outline.",
	"label": "Outline to Obsidian",
	"shortLabel": "Outline to Obsidian",
	"paletteLabel": "Outline to Obsidian",
	"image":"note.text.badge.plus"
}*/
(() => {
	const preferences = new Preferences()
	
	function genVal(){
		return (((1 + Math.random()) * 0x10000) | 0).toString(16).substring(1)
	}
	
	const action = new PlugIn.Action(async function(selection, sender){
		try {
			if (app.controlKeyDown){
				var errorID = "A"
				
				vaultTitle = preferences.readString("vaultTitle")
			
				var vaultTitleInput = new Form.Field.String(
					"vaultTitle",
					null,
					vaultTitle,
					null
				)
							
				inputForm = new Form()
				inputForm.addField(vaultTitleInput)
				formPrompt = "Enter title of the existing Obsidian vault to use:"
				formObject = await inputForm.show(formPrompt,"Continue")

				newVaultTitle = formObject.values["vaultTitle"]
				preferences.write("vaultTitle", newVaultTitle)
			} else {
				var errorID = "B"
				
				var vaultTitle = preferences.readString("vaultTitle")
				if(!vaultTitle || vaultTitle === ""){
					throw {
						name: "Undeclared Vault Preference",
						message: "A default Obsidian vault has not yet been indicated for this plug-in.\n\nRun this plug-in again, while holding down the Control key, to summon the preferences dialog."
					}
				}
				console.log("Pref-vaultTitle: ", vaultTitle)
				encodedVaultTitle = encodeURIComponent(vaultTitle)
		
				baseName = document.name
				fileTypeID = "public.plain-text"
				wrapper = await document.makeFileWrapper(baseName, fileTypeID)
				
				outlineContent = wrapper.contents.toString()
				encodedContent = encodeURIComponent(outlineContent)
			
				itemTitle = document.name
				encodedTitle = encodeURIComponent(itemTitle)
				
				UUID = (genVal() + genVal() + "-" + genVal() + "-3" + genVal().substr(0,2) + "-" + genVal() + "-" + genVal() + genVal() + genVal()).toUpperCase()

				sourceDocument = `OmniOutliner/${document.name}`
				
				frontMatter = `---\nid: ${UUID}\nfile: ${sourceDocument}\n---`
				encodedHeader = encodeURIComponent(frontMatter)
						
				targetURLStr = `obsidian://new?vault=${encodedVaultTitle}&name=${encodedTitle}&content=${encodedHeader}%0A%0A${encodedContent}`
				
				targetURL = URL.fromString(targetURLStr)
				
				fmtr = Formatter.Date.withFormat('yyyy-MM-dd-HH:mm-a')
				dateTimeStamp = fmtr.stringFromDate(new Date())
				exportID = `Obsidian (${vaultTitle}) ${dateTimeStamp}`
				
				searchLinkStr = `obsidian://search?vault=${encodedVaultTitle}&query=${UUID}`
				searchURL = URL.fromString(searchLinkStr)

				rootItem.addChild(
					null, 
					item => {
						item.topic = exportID + " "
						link = new Text("(Obsidian Link)", item.style)
						style = link.styleForRange(link.range)
						style.set(Style.Attribute.Link, searchURL)
						textObj = item.valueForColumn(outlineColumn)
						textObj.append(link)
					}
				)
								
				targetURL.open()
			}
		}
		catch(err){
			if(errorID !== "A"){
				new Alert(err.name, err.message).show()
			}
		}
	});

	action.validate = function(selection, sender){
		// selection options: columns, document, editor, items, nodes, outline, styles
		return true
	};
	
	return action;
})();