[SUPPORT] Best approach for attachments like ".txt"?

[MySkeletonHurts]

General question for your thoughts on something I ran into while getting this Android app setup and looking into #6 . I found some loose files treated like notes (also in Nextcloud Notes Android app since they share the same nextcloud/notes API). I did some digging and it looks like that API has no way to exclude special folders like /attachments or /media that QOwnNotes desktop obviously handles properly. There's just a simple isNote function that whitelists 5 extensions as notes.

// NotesService.php
private static function isNote(FileInfo $file, string $customExtension) : bool {
    static $allowedExtensions = ['txt', 'org', 'markdown', 'md', 'note'];
    $ext = strtolower(pathinfo($file->getName(), PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
    return $file->getType() === 'file' && (in_array($ext, $allowedExtensions) || $ext === $customExtension);
}

The best fix is probably for the API to support excluding certain directory paths. I could open a PR for nextcloud/notes to do that.

Some kind of marker file would probably be ideal, like a .notesignore. That way QOwnNotes desktop could drop the file itself, without users needing to configure anything (other parts of the Nextcloud stack do this already like the .sync-exclude.lst for the desktop sync client). If upstream didn't like that, a persisted per-user setting of folder exclusions could work (like how they handle the hidden file setting today).

Another option would be to leverage the existing option in Nextcloud Notes to not show hidden files.

foreach ($nodes as $node) {
    $hidden = str_starts_with($node->getName(), '.');
    if ($hidden && !$showHidden) {
        continue;   // fires for a hidden file or directory, before isNote() is ever reached
    }

An option (off by default) in QOwnNotes desktop to use /.attachments and /.media so their content never gets treated like individual notes could work, with a side benefit of those special folders not being fully mixed in with the note hierarchy folders in a standard file manager view. I realize that may not be an attractive option for you though.

Not a huge deal either way. I can always clean up my impacted files and either change file extensions (e.g. .txt -> .log) or prepend a "." and adjust the links in the notes. But I like the marker file approach, so maybe I'll file something upstream in nextcloud/notes.

[pbek]

Optionally use hidden directories such as /.attachments and /.media.

Sorry, we can't do that. Those folders have been in use for more than 10 years, long before Nextcloud Notes started to support subfolders, and are heavily depended on in QOwnNotes and many apps around it.

QOwnNotes Android is just ignoring them.

[pbek]

Do you have an issue with those folders in QOwnNotes Android?

[MySkeletonHurts]

Optionally use hidden directories such as /.attachments and /.media.

Sorry, we can't do that. Those folders have been in use for more than 10 years, long before Nextcloud Notes started to support subfolders, and are heavily depended on in QOwnNotes and many apps around it.

QOwnNotes Android is just ignoring them.

Right, which is why I mentioned I assumed you wouldn't like that option. The best and just generally useful approach still seems like nextcloud/notes offering some configurable way to define some directories that should be skipped. That's why I like the idea of me submitting a PR to nextcloud/notes for something like a .notesignore file. Clients of the nextcloud/notes API could have all manner of special folders that they don't want treated like sources of notes.

The problem is that right now the API seems to return any file in any folder with these extensions as a note ['txt', 'org', 'markdown', 'md', 'note']. So even files in /media or /attachments with these extensions get shown as individual notes. A better visual example...

Those aren't actually notes. They are ".txt" attachments to notes. I've renamed them and updated the links in my notes so they will be hidden files, so that when the next version of Nextcloud Notes releases with the ignore hidden files option, it should fix itself. Sorry if my original post wasn't clear. Does that make sense?

[pbek]

But what issue are you trying to get fixed?
An attachment showing up as note in QOwnNotes Android?

[MySkeletonHurts]

But what issue are you trying to get fixed? An attachment showing up as note in QOwnNotes Android?

Correct. No files in /attachments or /media should be showing up as a note since they are by definition some child object of an actual note.

[pbek]

Ok, should have been already the case, but it seems it isn't.

[pbek]

In the next release:

Fixed

• Files returned by the Nextcloud Notes API from QOwnNotes' top-level attachments/ and media/
  trees no longer appear as notes (for #7).

[MySkeletonHurts]

Awesome, thanks! I built from main with the proguard change from #8 cherry-picked on top for a release build, and can confirm the loose files in /attachments aren't coming through as notes now.

[pbek]

Great, thank you for testing!