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I've often pondered the idea of something similar to this. I'd love the idea of a note taking app as relational database. Most of my work tends to follow a few

I've often pondered the idea of something similar to this. I'd love the idea of a note taking app as relational database. Most of my work tends to follow a few similar formats, which I would like to create as templates that pull in data based on queries for whatever project/product/task I'm currently working on. Editing the document in current view would then modify the database, while editing the templates would allow for a quick update of all files simultaneously (i.e.- generating a test plan for a physical product of type "X" would then apply to all products of type "X"). It seems like a great way to take out the annoyance of the "little stuff" by providing a boilerplate way to get ideas off the ground. Any ideas if this already exists, or if I'm just talking crazy?

rpdillon 4y ago
I often post about Tiddlywiki on HN, so this is a bit of a repeat, but I think Tiddlywiki comes really close. I wrote a bit about it earlier in the year because it occurred to me that, with filters, it really is a database for your notes. My writeup is not complete, but hopefully gives some idea of how Tiddlywiki could be used in this way. https://rpdillon.net/tiddlywiki-a-database-for-your-notes-2022.html https://rpdillon.net/tiddlywiki-a-database-for-your-notes-20...
- karencarits 4y ago
  Indeed, you can get your template up and running by just writing <$list filter="[product_type[X]]">  <div class="example_value">{{!!a_field_value}}</div> <div class="description">{{!!text}}</div> </$list> and having the `{{!!fields}}` replaced by values from your "database"
dangoor 4y ago
This sounds a good bit like Tana: https://tana.inc/ https://tana.inc/ Tana mostly works as an outliner now, but they're planning a document mode. Using "supertags" you can tag a node in the database as being a certain kind of thing (eg an article or, one of my uses, a library for a programming language). You can then specify certain fields that are always (or optionally) part of those things. And you can right queries to display nodes that match a bunch of different criteria and then display those fields in columns in a table or create a board of cards.
- HyperSane 4y ago
  Tana is extremely interesting! It is like someone built an easy to use GUI for neo4j.
- techdragon 4y ago
  This looks super interesting as a concept... but has massive issues for me, despite the fact I feel like the product was practically made for the way my mind works... I genuinely want this, or something like this, and how I use Obsidian plugins is to try and work like this but clearly not as slick as a dedicated product... but despite how much I want this, I can't adopt a product that has not just one red flag but three. One red flag might be worth learning about to see if its just that good I can stomach the risk/pride/disgust/etc... but two or even three is just a complete non starter. My massive red flags: 1st - It currently requires connecting a Google Account. I don't care about the encryption at rest and in transit, thats nice, you've still forced Google in between Me the customer and You the proprietor. My Google Account is my oldest, least wanted account. I've been slowly trying to purge it from my life, but its been growing since the day I got a gMail invite in the closed beta days. It's too personal it has way too much junk leftover from 16+ years of use across dozens of google services. 2nd - They promise that the data will always be exportable, yet I see nothing about formats or methods. 3rd - Its obviously a cloud SaaS ... all the stuff I think and put into something like this, a second brain if you will... should always be accessible. Offline functionality is mandatory
  - dangoor 4y ago
    It's worth noting that Tana is currently early access. IIRC, it just opened to public beta on September 30th. I believe the Google account thing is specifically noted as a temporary thing (and I suspect it's because they appear to use Firebase, so Google account would have been trivial to get started). You can export to some kind of JSON format. I haven't looked at that yet, personally. Offline would be good and they definitely need a better mobile story, but for such a new product it's still really great.
    - techdragon 4y ago
eitland 4y ago
Did you try Logseq? It is flat file but still queryable (and it is fast).
Martinussen 4y ago
You can achieve a lot of this with Obsidian and some plugins, like obsidian-dataview and Templater. Might have some missing bits still, but if you're comfortable writing JavaScript (or not, honestly) it's very simple to make your own plugin to fix that, it sounds like a pretty minimal plugin after you have dataview. https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview https://github.com/SilentVoid13/Templater https://github.com/SilentVoid13/Templater https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin

rpdillon 4y ago

I often post about Tiddlywiki on HN, so this is a bit of a repeat, but I think Tiddlywiki comes really close. I wrote a bit about it earlier in the year because it occurred to me that, with filters, it really is a database for your notes. My writeup is not complete, but hopefully gives some idea of how Tiddlywiki could be used in this way. https://rpdillon.net/tiddlywiki-a-database-for-your-notes-2022.html https://rpdillon.net/tiddlywiki-a-database-for-your-notes-20...

karencarits 4y ago
Indeed, you can get your template up and running by just writing <$list filter="[product_type[X]]">  <div class="example_value">{{!!a_field_value}}</div> <div class="description">{{!!text}}</div> </$list> and having the `{{!!fields}}` replaced by values from your "database"

dangoor 4y ago

This sounds a good bit like Tana: https://tana.inc/ https://tana.inc/ Tana mostly works as an outliner now, but they're planning a document mode. Using "supertags" you can tag a node in the database as being a certain kind of thing (eg an article or, one of my uses, a library for a programming language). You can then specify certain fields that are always (or optionally) part of those things. And you can right queries to display nodes that match a bunch of different criteria and then display those fields in columns in a table or create a board of cards.

HyperSane 4y ago
Tana is extremely interesting! It is like someone built an easy to use GUI for neo4j.
techdragon 4y ago
This looks super interesting as a concept... but has massive issues for me, despite the fact I feel like the product was practically made for the way my mind works... I genuinely want this, or something like this, and how I use Obsidian plugins is to try and work like this but clearly not as slick as a dedicated product... but despite how much I want this, I can't adopt a product that has not just one red flag but three. One red flag might be worth learning about to see if its just that good I can stomach the risk/pride/disgust/etc... but two or even three is just a complete non starter. My massive red flags: 1st - It currently requires connecting a Google Account. I don't care about the encryption at rest and in transit, thats nice, you've still forced Google in between Me the customer and You the proprietor. My Google Account is my oldest, least wanted account. I've been slowly trying to purge it from my life, but its been growing since the day I got a gMail invite in the closed beta days. It's too personal it has way too much junk leftover from 16+ years of use across dozens of google services. 2nd - They promise that the data will always be exportable, yet I see nothing about formats or methods. 3rd - Its obviously a cloud SaaS ... all the stuff I think and put into something like this, a second brain if you will... should always be accessible. Offline functionality is mandatory
- dangoor 4y ago
  It's worth noting that Tana is currently early access. IIRC, it just opened to public beta on September 30th. I believe the Google account thing is specifically noted as a temporary thing (and I suspect it's because they appear to use Firebase, so Google account would have been trivial to get started). You can export to some kind of JSON format. I haven't looked at that yet, personally. Offline would be good and they definitely need a better mobile story, but for such a new product it's still really great.
  - techdragon 4y ago

eitland 4y ago

Did you try Logseq? It is flat file but still queryable (and it is fast).

Martinussen 4y ago

You can achieve a lot of this with Obsidian and some plugins, like obsidian-dataview and Templater. Might have some missing bits still, but if you're comfortable writing JavaScript (or not, honestly) it's very simple to make your own plugin to fix that, it sounds like a pretty minimal plugin after you have dataview. https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview https://github.com/SilentVoid13/Templater https://github.com/SilentVoid13/Templater https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin