Automatic template insertion in daily notes

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Added config option `sort_by` to allow setting search result order by "path", "modified", "accessed", or "created".
 - Added config option `sort_reversed` to allow setting search result sort reversed order. The default is `true`.
 - Added an extra option for daily notes to allow changing the default title from "%B %-d, %Y" to other strings.
+- Added a configuration option `daily_notes.template` for automatically using a specific template when creating a new daily note.
+- Adding a configuration option `templates.substitutions` for defining custom template substitutions.
 
 ### Changed
 

README.md

@@ -149,6 +149,8 @@ This is a complete list of all of the options that can be passed to `require("ob
     date_format = "%Y-%m-%d",
     -- Optional, if you want to change the date format of the default alias of daily notes.
     alias_format = "%B %-d, %Y"
+    -- Optional, if you want to automatically insert a template from your template directory like 'daily.md'
+    template = nil
   },
 
   -- Optional, completion.
@@ -213,6 +215,8 @@ This is a complete list of all of the options that can be passed to `require("ob
     subdir = "templates",
     date_format = "%Y-%m-%d-%a",
     time_format = "%H:%M",
+    -- A map for custom variables, the key should be the variable and the value a function
+    substitutions = {}
   },
 
   -- Optional, customize the backlinks interface.
@@ -328,7 +332,7 @@ For example, with the following configuration
   templates = {
       subdir = "my-templates-folder",
       date_format = "%Y-%m-%d-%a",
-      time_format = "%H:%M"
+      time_format = "%H:%M",
   },
 }
 ```
@@ -351,6 +355,20 @@ Date created: 2023-03-01-Wed
 
 above the cursor position.
 
+You can also define custom template substitutions with the configuration field `templates.substitutions`. For example, to automatically substitute the template variable `{{yesterday}}` when inserting a template, you could add this to your config:
+
+```lua
+{
+-- other fields ...
+templates = {
+  substitutions = {
+    yesterday = function()
+      return os.date("%Y-%m-%d", os.time() - 86400)
+    end
+  }
+}
+```
+
 ## Known Issues
 
 ### Configuring vault directory behind a link

lua/obsidian/config.lua

@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ end
 ---@field folder string|?
 ---@field date_format string|?
 ---@field alias_format string|?
+---@field template string|?
 config.DailyNotesOpts = {}
 
 ---Get defaults.

lua/obsidian/init.lua

@@ -385,6 +385,9 @@ client._daily = function(self, datetime)
   -- Create Note object and save if it doesn't already exist.
   local note = obsidian.note.new(id, { alias }, { "daily-notes" }, path)
   if not note:exists() then
+    if self.opts.daily_notes.template then
+      obsidian.util.clone_template(self.opts.daily_notes.template, tostring(path), self, note:display_name())
+    end
     local frontmatter = nil
     if self.opts.note_frontmatter_func ~= nil then
       frontmatter = self.opts.note_frontmatter_func(note)

lua/obsidian/util.lua

@@ -443,6 +443,61 @@ util.get_active_window_cursor_location = function()
   return location
 end
 
+---Substitute Variables inside a given Text
+---
+---@param text string  - name of a template in the configured templates folder
+---@param client obsidian.Client
+---@param title string|nil
+---@return string
+util.substitute_template_variables = function(text, client, title)
+  local methods = client.opts.templates.substitutions or {}
+  if not methods["date"] then
+    methods["date"] = function()
+      local date_format = client.opts.templates.date_format or "%Y-%m-%d"
+      return tostring(os.date(date_format))
+    end
+  end
+  if not methods["time"] then
+    methods["time"] = function()
+      local time_format = client.opts.templates.time_format or "%Y-%m-%d"
+      return tostring(os.date(time_format))
+    end
+  end
+  if title then
+    methods["title"] = function()
+      return title
+    end
+  end
+  for key, value in pairs(methods) do
+    text = string.gsub(text, "{{" .. key .. "}}", value())
+  end
+  return text
+end
+
+---Clone Template
+---
+---@param template_name string  - name of a template in the configured templates folder
+---@param note_path string
+---@param client obsidian.Client
+---@param title string
+util.clone_template = function(template_name, note_path, client, title)
+  local template_path = Path:new(client.templates_dir) / template_name
+  local template_file = io.open(tostring(template_path), "r")
+  local note_file = io.open(tostring(note_path), "wb")
+  if not template_file then
+    return error("Unable to read template at " .. template_path)
+  end
+  if not note_file then
+    return error("Unable to write note at " .. note_path)
+  end
+  for line in template_file:lines "L" do
+    line = util.substitute_template_variables(line, client, title)
+    note_file:write(line)
+  end
+  template_file:close()
+  note_file:close()
+end
+
 ---Insert a template at the given location.
 ---
 ---@param name string - name of a template in the configured templates folder
@@ -451,20 +506,14 @@ end
 util.insert_template = function(name, client, location)
   local buf, win, row, col = unpack(location)
   local template_path = Path:new(client.templates_dir) / name
-  local date_format = client.opts.templates.date_format or "%Y-%m-%d"
-  local time_format = client.opts.templates.time_format or "%H:%M"
-  local date = tostring(os.date(date_format))
-  local time = tostring(os.date(time_format))
   local title = require("obsidian.note").from_buffer(buf, client.dir):display_name()
 
   local insert_lines = {}
   local template_file = io.open(tostring(template_path), "r")
   if template_file then
     local lines = template_file:lines()
     for line in lines do
-      line = string.gsub(line, "{{date}}", date)
-      line = string.gsub(line, "{{time}}", time)
-      line = string.gsub(line, "{{title}}", title)
+      line = util.substitute_template_variables(line, client, title)
       table.insert(insert_lines, line)
     end
     template_file:close()