Zotero Linked Mindmaps

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Mindmaps section reference ​

An item-pane section headed "Mindmaps" that shows which mindmap the selected item belongs to, lists the links touching it, and offers controls to add or remove them. The sidenav icon's tooltip reads "Mindmaps".

The same content is drawn in a second place: the docked panel beside the graph in the mindmap tab, under the node summary. The two mounts differ in how the add-link form is opened, noted below; everything else is the same content from the same code.

When the section is available ​

Enabled for regular items and notes. Disabled for everything else, attachments included, and for the plugin's own bookkeeping: the "Zotero Linked Mindmaps (plugin data)" item and the storage notes under it are refused even though the notes are notes. Removing an item from a mindmap here never touches the Zotero item or note itself.

Which mindmap it shows ​

An item can be a node in several mindmaps. The panel reads every mindmap storage note in the item's library and shows one of them:

  • The docked panel in the mindmap tab shows the mindmap the graph is displaying.
  • Straight after saving a link, the panel shows the mindmap that link was written to.
  • Otherwise it shows the first mindmap (lowest storage note id) that holds a node for the item.

Links in the mindmaps it did not pick are not shown. Where the item is a node in more than one, the mindmap name at the top is a dropdown listing every mindmap holding it, and choosing another redraws the panel against that one. An item in a single mindmap gets its name as plain text instead, since there would be nothing to pick.

A storage note whose content will not parse is skipped rather than failing the whole lookup, so one corrupt mindmap does not hide the item's links in the others. Skipping is remembered: if nothing was found after a skip, the panel shows the error state rather than claiming the item is in no mindmap.

States ​

Nothing at all. The selected object is neither a regular item nor a note, so the body is left empty.

"Could not read mindmap data." Either the lookup threw, or every readable mindmap was searched, one was unreadable, and none held the item. No add-link controls are offered in this state.

"Not in a mindmap yet. Add it to one to start linking." No mindmap holds a node for this item, and nothing was unreadable. The same message appears when the panel is pinned to one mindmap (the graph's, or the one just written to) and the item is not a node in that one, even if it is a node elsewhere. The add-link controls are offered below the message.

"No links yet. Add one to link this to another item." The item is a node in the shown mindmap but no link touches it. The mindmap title, the remove-node button, and the add-link controls are all present.

Links listed. One row per link where this item's node is either end. A row is a type chip, a direction mark, the other end's title, an edit control, and a remove control:

  • The chip carries the type label, with the link's name appended after a colon when it has one (cites: see p.12), and a small line drawing the same style the graph uses for that type: dashed with an arrowhead for a directional type, solid for an undirected one, dotted for a type no longer in the vocabulary. The chip says what the type looks like, not which way this link points.
  • The direction mark is that second fact. It is drawn from this item's point of view: a right arrow when the stored direction runs away from this item, a left arrow when it runs toward it, and a middle dot when the link has no direction at all. An arrow on a row therefore always means a direction somebody authored.
  • The title is elided rather than wrapped, with the full text as a tooltip.
  • The edit and remove controls appear when the row is hovered or when something inside it takes keyboard focus, so the resting list is content rather than controls.

A link whose type is no longer in the vocabulary is listed as "(unknown type)", the same label the graph draws on that link's edge. The raw stored type id is never shown.

The other end's title is a regular item's title, a note's content preview, or "(missing item)" when the node points at something no longer in the library.

Controls ​

"+" in the section header, tooltip "Add link". Present in the item pane only. Expands the section if it was collapsed, then opens the add-link form.

"Add link", a button in the panel body. Present only where the panel has no section header, which today means the docked panel in the mindmap tab. Toggles the form: pressing it while the form is open hides it.

Either control writes to the mindmap the panel is showing, the one named at the top. The panel records it on the form when it draws, so the header "+" reaches it too even though the item pane hands that button nothing but the panel body.

"Add to mindmap:" with a dropdown and a "Continue" button. Appears in place of the add-link form only when the panel has no mindmap to hand on: the item is a node in none yet and the library holds more than one. Skipped when the library has one mindmap or none, and skipped whenever the panel is already showing a mindmap. The dropdown lists mindmaps in storage order with the first one selected.

Remove from mindmap, the icon control beside the mindmap name (tooltip "Remove from mindmap"). Removes this item's node from the shown mindmap, along with every link touching it. Afterwards the plugin reconciles cross-mindmap stubs in the library, dropping any that pointed at the removed node (see cross-mindmap-links-reference.md). The Zotero item is untouched.

"Remove from ...". One button per group the node is in, each naming its group. Takes the node out of that one group, leaving the group itself and the node's other groups in place. A node in no group gets none. See grouping-reference.md.

An edit control on each link row (tooltip "Edit link"), revealed on hover or keyboard focus. Opens the add-link form prefilled with that link's type, name and direction; the endpoints are shown as fixed text rather than a picker, since they cannot be changed here. Saving updates the link in place - same id, no new link created. Cancelling leaves it untouched. See links-add-reference.md.

A remove control on each link row (tooltip "Remove link"), revealed on hover or keyboard focus. Removes that link and nothing else. Both nodes stay on the mindmap.

None of the remove controls asks for confirmation.

Failure behavior ​

A failed write is logged to Zotero's debug output and swallowed. The panel redraws either way and stays on the mindmap the change was aimed at, so it ends up showing what is actually stored rather than a half-applied change. Nothing appears on screen to say the write failed.

Released under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license.

Copyright © Oscar Keur