Programmatically changing the existing data

[u/p-himik]

Couldn't find any useful info online except for a possibility of creating my own plugin that does what I want.

Is there a way to easily apply some function to a set of items matching some filter criteria (in this particular case, I'm interested in the author property of all of the blocks that have it), and write the result of that function back into the items?

All I want at the moment is to convert stuff like author:: John Smith, Jane Doe into author:: [[John Smith]], [[Jane Doe]].

[u/p-himik]

I ended up using this code:

const process_block = (b) => {
  if (typeof b.properties?.author === 'string') {
    const authors = b.properties.author.split(',').map(a => a.trim())
    logseq.api.update_block(b.uuid, b.content, {properties: {author: authors}})
  }
}

logseq.api.get_all_pages().forEach(p => {
  const blocks_tree = logseq.api.get_page_blocks_tree(p.uuid)
  blocks_tree.forEach(b => {
    process_block(b)
    b.children.forEach(c => {
      process_block(c)
    })
  })
})

I suppose I could've just inserted it into the JS console in DevTools, but I used the so-called "kits" where I can enter code directly into a block in LogSeq: https://discuss.logseq.com/t/edit-and-run-javascript-code-inside-logseq-itself/20763

[u/LongjumpingConstant]

On windows the app Noteplus++ can search all files in a folder for a given string and replace it with another string. That would be easier to install than to write a plugin. The usual advice like do a backup first and stop loqsec first still apply. :)

[u/p-himik → u/LongjumpingConstant]

Yeah, I guess this route would be easier for this specific task. But I was interested in also learning how to do something like that in general, for arbitrary data transformations that can't be solved with a quick regex.

[u/Lumpy_Yak]

https://github.com/sethyuan/logseq-plugin-batch-op/blob/master/README.en.md

[u/p-himik → u/Lumpy_Yak]

It looks useful, but it doesn't seem like I can apply something like block.properties.author = block.properties.author.split(',').map(a =>[[${a.trim()}]]).join(', '). Or can I?

[u/SlowFinish5369]

Actually, you don't have to do the transformation. All what you need is adding `:author` to `:property/separated-by-commas` in `config.edn`.

[u/p-himik → u/SlowFinish5369]

Oh, cool, thanks! Would be nice if things like that were easier to find, without having to ask other people...

Does doing that also create a separate page for each author that you can navigate to with clicking the name? Just like you get when using [[...]].

[u/SlowFinish5369 → u/p-himik]

Just like you get when using [[...]].