Hi Joshua, thanks for your reply. The JsonMangler sounds impressive! I suspect that (at least for now) flat table (vanilla) functionality is fine, since I still do all my relational database work in FileMaker.
What I would really benefit from is some kind of walkthrough of a very basic JSON import process (starting not from a "file" per se but from a big hunk of exported text, which is what my database will yield), along with a couple simple demos of ways to use TW macros or templates to filter and extract field data from it. From there I would begin experimenting to produce the templates I need for things like slider sets for batches of records from the JSON data. One other thing that a JSON-savvy person might be able to clarify, quite quickly, is how much of a nuisance it will be to handle things like quotation marks or style formatting within my original data. I assume JSON files have some kind of escape sequences available, and that these play nice with TW5, but a confirmation would make a big difference. I'll poke around at your site to learn a bit more, but I admit that even the simple transclusion task you described wasn't coming through with anything for me (I created a new tiddler at your site and pasted in the string from your post, but the resulting tiddler showed nothing). Perhaps I just need pointers to get oriented on the basics, since your wiki seems to be doing stuff at a much higher level than the simple task (retrieve-filtered-records-from-flat-JSON-and-display-selected-fields-according-to-template) that I'm aiming for. Many thanks again! On Monday, January 6, 2020 at 8:56:54 PM UTC-5, Joshua Fontany wrote: > > You have a good understanding of the different approaches. One thing to > note is that native-Tiddlywiki syntax can only understand "flat" (1 level > deep) JSON structure. > > Being able to proccess large-data-sets from other data-management > structures i one of the reasons I made the "JsonMangler" plugin. See demo > here: > > https://joshuafontany.github.io/TW5-JsonMangler/ > > With this plugin installed, you can "dig down" into nested or mutli-level > JSON structures with Tiddlywiki widgets/syntax. > > For example, to transclude the "videoId" of the second item (index 1) in > one of my Test json tiddlers ( > https://joshuafontany.github.io/TW5-JsonMangler/#Test%2FYouTubeAPI.json), > which is full of nested objects representing YouTube search results, you > could write: > > {{Test/YouTubeAPI.json##\items\1\etag\id\videoId}} > > In vanilla Tiddlywiki, you would only be able to access the "items" object > and would need to manually split the items into individual tiddlers. > > With the ability to access nested data, the rest of the Tiddlywiki toolkit > (List Widget, Filters, etc) will allow you format or even break up the data > into individual tiddler. > > Let me know if the docs at the example wiki are in need of updating. :) > > Best, > Joshua Fontany > > On Monday, January 6, 2020 at 2:35:29 PM UTC-8, springer wrote: >> >> OK, all. I have mentioned that in the classroom my students see lots of >> TiddlyWiki; I freely navigate links, on the big screen, to pull up relevant >> bits during discussion. >> >> But I'm also a kind of database nerd. In my office I work out of >> FileMaker. FileMaker is the "back end" of what I do in TW (and elsewhere), >> for lots of reasons. >> >> In TW Classic, I used calculation functions in the database to "extrude" >> marked-up content to paste in TiddlyWiki. >> >> - Example 1: my database has hundreds of quiz question-answer sets >> accumulated over the years, and in TWC I used a calculation to "dress >> them >> up" with Eric's NestedSliders syntax. Paste the complex result in a >> tiddler >> and.. Instant fun quiz GUI! >> <http://ethics.tiddlyspot.com/#Autonomy...> >> - Example 2: my database has thousands of quoted excerpts from books >> and articles. I used a database calculation to build a nice slider around >> each quote (page number and teaser, plus details-style slider to show >> full >> quote). After using the find function in the database to bring up a >> particular subset of quotes, I could grab a tiddler-worth of >> neatly-formatted excerpts >> <http://ethics.tiddlyspot.com/#%5B%5BKing%20passages%5D%5D> ready to >> paste and go. >> >> Now, I face a decision: Do I (A) just rework the TW5 calc field in my >> database (updating so as to dress each quote/quiz element in TW5-specific >> reveal/details/slider macro syntax, options still under evaluation), or (B) >> do I figure out how to go all-in on data structure, and use TW5 data >> features to grab the bits I need from a massive "in-house" JSON tiddler >> (not thousands of quotes, but hundreds), and use templates to display >> aspects of the database as desired? The second *sounds* great... >> >> HOWEVER (!), I have no experience with manipulating JSON data yet, and >> grasp only the syntactic basics of how fields and values are paired (plus >> the fact that FileMaker does have some JSON-handling functions, so export >> should be possible). With JSON, there would be a learning curve, but I >> don't know how steep. (I tried mocking up some JSON-looking stuff and >> pasting it into TiddlyWiki and giving it JSON data "type" and my wiki just >> blinked back at me and said, OK, there's a buncha funny looking text...) >> >> If I understand correctly, it seems the advantage of the JSON approach >> (once I figure out how to import the data) is that I'd have great >> flexibility to re-filter things on the fly within TW, and *also* great >> flexibilty in GUI. So, if I suddenly discover some new display macro >> approach (in the reveal/details/accordion/slider world) or I realize I want >> to change which fields to display and how, I modify my template once, and >> all the tiddlers that rely on it are instantly updated. On my old system, >> when I became inspired to tweak how these things display, I would have to >> shuttle back and forth to my FileMaker database, and perform copy-paste >> operations for each tiddler with the new syntax. >> >> So, for those fluent in JSON (and yet not unsympathetic to JSON newbies), >> would you advise me toward (A), or toward (B)? Or, am I not grasping the >> choice well yet? >> >> By the way, I'm guessing that the path of importing JSON data, if I don't >> ever convert it into regular tiddlers, seems to place more importance on >> the possibility of freelinking, since my database of quoted passages uses >> many terms that are in my glossary, and I've love for them to link, but all >> the data will stay "under the hood" within the JSON tiddler, right? >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/01083e90-9874-4af0-8851-e414aaa9142e%40googlegroups.com.
