Add "Folders" to Bookmarks to collect Bookmarks into Categories

[craigarno]

I find the Bookmarks feature really useful since I find myself in many different locations and on different computers. So I collect a large number of bookmarks.

To help me organize my Bookmarks, I'd like to request a new "Folder" feature in Bookmarks so I can group related Bookmarks together. I'm attaching a picture to help explain this concept. This concept is very similar to how Firefox and Chrome organize bookmarks.

I should probably mention I'm using OwnCloud 5.0.5 on OpenSUSE 12.2 x64 LAMP setup, and am brand new to OwnCloud.

Thank you, Craig

[desyncr]

+1 I'll work on this on the next couple of days.

So far it needs an schema change (add column parent, to have a hierarchy structure) and, on the frontend, may be jsTree (http://www.jstree.com) or similar, on the sidebar (leftcontent).

[craigarno]

Thank you, this will be useful to get around the Bookmark 10 Tag display limit which currently exists. I already have over 20 tags. I hope migration effort for current bookmarks / Tags into the new format will be easy / painless / trivial.

I run MySQL backend (Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.28, for Linux (x86_64) using readline 6.2) with the latest release OwnCloud 5.0.x frontend on OpenSUSE 12.2 / 12.3 x64 accessing from both Linux (3.4.33-2.24-desktop / 3.7.10-1.16-desktop ) and Windows (7 and XP) based Thunderbird / Lightning, Firefox, and Chrome / Chromium.

If I can help, please send a message.

[desyncr]

I just added a very basic support for folders. There are some limitations still, but should be fixed in a few days.

Currently it supports importing from FF and Chrome (haven't tested on others) preserving folders and order.

Limitations:

• It won't export folders (easy)
• It won't import favicons (easy)
• You can't add bookmarks inside folders (medium)
• There is no way to move things around (not so easy to fix).
• Other small things here and there.

If somebody want to test it out and give some feedback that would be greatly welcome. Just clone my fork and checkout the branch hierarchy.

[craigarno]

Ok, really feeling like a newb...

Rather than tamper with my working server, I set one up on my workstation (Neptune). I installed OC 5.0.10, imported my bookmarks from the server and verified everything worked... it did, bookmarks displayed, etc.

Then I executed

neptune:/srv/www/htdocs/owncloud # git clone https://github.com/asphxia/bookmarks.git
Cloning into 'bookmarks'...
remote: Counting objects: 11568, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1728/1728), done.
remote: Total 11568 (delta 5683), reused 11489 (delta 5605)
Receiving objects: 100% (11568/11568), 1.34 MiB | 637 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (5683/5683), done.

And looked again...

The original looked like this...

So, what did I do wrong? And what do I need to do to correct this?

Craig

[desyncr]

You probably didn't do anything wrong. I'll checkout what could have caused that.

Thanks for the feedback.

[desyncr]

I can't repro the error :/ Did you checkout the branch hierarchy?

git clone https://github.com/asphxia/bookmarks.git && \
cd bookmarks && \
git checkout hierarchy

[craigarno]

Just tried your suggestion. Same result as before.

neptune:/srv/www/htdocs/owncloud # git clone https://github.com/asphxia/bookmarks.git && cd bookmarks && git checkout hierarchy
Cloning into 'bookmarks'...
remote: Counting objects: 11568, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1728/1728), done.
remote: Total 11568 (delta 5683), reused 11489 (delta 5605)
Receiving objects: 100% (11568/11568), 1.34 MiB | 191 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (5683/5683), done.
Branch hierarchy set up to track remote branch hierarchy from origin.
Switched to a new branch 'hierarchy'
neptune:/srv/www/htdocs/owncloud/bookmarks #

I had to perform an rm -r bookmarks for your suggested command to succeed.

[craigarno]

If you'd like, you can go to http://arno.com:81 and login as test/test. Maybe looking at HTML output will provide a clue?

I temporarily forwarded my web server for this URL to tunnel to my development machine.

[desyncr]

Not sure why but the app keeps serving some old files. Some really old templates.

Tomorrow I'll install OC 5.0.10 to check against it (I'm running master).

Regards.

[craigarno]

Ok, let me know when you're able to sort it out. From my end, I can afford to be patient.

I really like the idea that I can "import from FF and Chrome". Can this be made into a bidirectional "sync"?

Wish #1 - How hard would it be to put the Folder / Sub-Folder Tree in the "Related Tags" pane and have URL's displayed in the right pane, similar to the current Tag's setup? Vertical scroll bars available in both panes when content exceeds pane size?

Wish #2 - I like to store related URL information, like a utility account number and password for e-pay for sites which disable "saved" account information in your browser, phone numbers for support. Phone numbers are especially useful for cable companies that like to bury and hide this information on their site so customers will have a hard time finding this information, especially if the site moves this information to a new hiding place regularly, or internet access is down. This is related information (Notes) which I'd like to see if I do something like hover the cursor over the URL in the right pane. This sounds trivial, until you have 20 or more URL's with this kind of related information. Being able to easily copy/paste things like 30-digit account numbers from notes to enter into "required fields" is also useful. When things are going wrong, having this information at your fingertips is invaluable. Notes might look something like this:

Account Number: 00849833001234567890

Comcast Quality Assurance 888-565-4329 [1-1-2] abuse@comcast.net

http://www.comcast.com User Name: me@domain.com Password: Secre.....

Email Us: http://www.comcastsupport.com/com/email.asp Phone: Call 1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278). 24/7

[desyncr]

I really like the idea that I can "import from FF and Chrome". Can this be made into a bidirectional "sync"?

There is no native way to do that. Unless creating an extension for each browser that communicates with ownClud.

Folder / Sub-Folder Tree in the "Related Tags" pane

That's the next step. The folder tree would be collapsible as well the "related tags" pane, otherwise it won't fit.

I like to store related URL information,

There is the description field. I took the liberty to remove it from the listing because it's not standard (you can't import or export this field, neither tags). I think that may be the bookmarks items can be "expanded" to show the description and such when clicked on a brief of the description.

[desyncr]

If any one is still insteresting here's how it looks so far:

Only tested with SQLite. If anyone can grab it and test against postgres and mysql that would be nice.

[craigarno]

Tried again with both git commands listed above. Getting the same results as last time. I'm updating "ownCloud 5.0.10 (up to date)"

Test account http://arno.com:81 setup last time should still be there if you want to look at output.

Image above looks great!

[ghost]

Hi asphxia checked out your fork 1.) Descriptions of the bookmarks are not displayed anymore 2.) I cannot figure out how to put them into a folder 3.) i cannot figure out how to create a folder 4.) it's still wasting lot of browser width

@craigarno i think you should move to apps/ folder before checking out

[desyncr]

@roadfox Thanks for feedback.

1- It's not displayed anymore as I'll add a dropdown effect to display it. May be I can accommodate description and tags as it were before. But I think it leaves a small space for both.

2, 3 - Folder and bookmarks creation (inside a folder) are still in dev.

4- That's because when there are tags the full title isn't displayed. But I agree there is too much free space to use.

Regards.

[craigarno]

@roadfox You are right, don't know why I didn't see that. All I can say is Duh?! Senior moment.

@asphxia 5.0.10 with revised Bookmarks App is installed using a duplicated OwnCloud MySQL db on a remote server. It appears to be working http://arno.com:81. Bookmarks are showing up and behave as they do in the released 5.0.10 app, minus descriptions.

Apps says I have Bookmarks 0.4 installed. Since 5.0.10 says Bookmarks 0.3, I think this means I'm running your new code.

I also see a problem when I scroll to the bottom and back to the top. Tag bubble images are scattered through the (title) column starting at about line 11. I also see from the database that Descriptions (description) are still in the database, just not presented.

[desyncr]

@craigarno Thanks for the feedback. I'll look upon the tag issue.

Regarding the description I'll put it back and it used to. I thought as it's not a standard thing it wouldn't as widely used, but it seems it's actually very useful :)

App says version 0.4 on my fork only. I don't know if the app version will be bumped once the changes get merged (hopefully :)

Regards!

[craigarno]

A thought or two on the description field.

• Why not hide the Description field and have it show when the URL "Title" is clicked on (takes you to the URL now)
• Put a "GO" or "Take me there" button

[desyncr]

Actually I was thinking on making the bookmark title the link and all the space left would be clickeable (except tags and edit buttons) and on click show the description (slide down).

This way there wouldn't be a need for an extra button.

[craigarno]

Oops, didn't mean to post that yet (experiencing a few computer problems)... still working on the description idea.

But, yes, hiding the description field until it is requested might be a good thing. This will allow me to place login ID and password information in the description field and by default keep it hidden from view.

Another thought along these lines is to have a second "hidden" description field for sensitive information, like login, account #'s with CVV codes, etc.

[craigarno]

On the TAG image duplication problem, it might be tied to the right scroll bar operation. I notice the scroll bar displays one size until I get to the bottom of my list, then it resizes to a larger page and more bookmarks are shown. It is after this resizing that the problem seems to appear. I don't know for certain they are related, however from what I've observed, I'd certainly consider that they might be related.

[desyncr]

I think a second "hidden" would address a problem too punctual being out of the scope of a basic bookmark app.

I can think of a "show more" button bellow the displayed description layer that would expand the layer to show the full description, in case it's too long to fit. That idea can be implemented easily.

[desyncr]

Regarding the tags issue, yes, the problem resides on how the tags are floated and dynamically inserted (fetched). When I get some time I'll push the fix (together with folder and bookmark creation).

[flause]

I was thinking about the tag and folder issue and in my opinion to combine these two different organization structures are not that useful. I would suggest to concentrate on one of them. If we use tags, and that is what we actually doing, it is not necessary to also have a folder structure.You can group your bookmarks in tags as well as in folders. And the advantage to the tag structure is that you have a flat hierarchy. At the same time you can give a bookmark more tags to organize them more precise. What do you think?

[abditus]

I think it might be difficult to organise a huge amount of bookmarks only with tags. But more important is, that most of the browsers like Firefox use a folder structure. So import / export issues may be easier. For the user the "look an feel" is more similar. And there is a new Firefox-sync: Maybe in future the bookmark-app can access to the stored firefox-sync-bookmarks. That would be great.

[nick4fake]

any news?

[Morley93]

Just wondering, is this feature still in development? I agree that folder support seems like a logical feature given that this is how most browsers manage bookmarks - the lack of this functionality makes it difficult for people used to organising bookmarks this way to adopt the app.

[IzzySoft]

I second this. One reason keeping me from using the bookmarks app is it makes no sense to me without supporting folders.

[s0me0ther]

+1 for the folder feature. Without the feature the bookmarkapp is not as half as usefull.

[sebastianbrosch]

+1

[franklinkim]

+1

[uwecl]

+1

[webmarka]

One more +1 :)

[poelzi]

+1 ! will make syncing much easier

[radekm87]

+1

[IzzySoft]

If you'd all added your "+1" to the opening post, they would show up as a sum. That would be much more impressive – and make the comments much easier to follow. Right now, they are scattered across multiple (screen-) pages, and rather a nuisance :)

But apart from that: My "+1" is already present up there :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

[berndhahnebach]

any progress on this?

[trueshanti]

+1 .. very important to make floggus able to work with folders .. https://github.com/marcelklehr/floccus

[craigarno]

It's been 4 years since I left that post. I've been using the built-in Bookmark system provided by Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Sync to keep all my bookmarks available on multiple systems.

The value I see in having bookmarks available in OwnCloud is having access to my BookMark data on public machines (Library), at work, a coworkers machine, or even on my own machine using a different browser, like Chrome or MSIE. In both work and public places sometimes the systems are so locked down that data can't be added and configurations can't be changed. Most of my book marks are related to design activity.

I'd still like to see this feature in OwnCloud, but I'm living mostly painlessly without. To be fair this is a thorny problem for the developer as it doesn't just involve OwnCloud. Does the author feel a need or motivation to complete this effort? If this is important to you, how can you support the effort?

[berndhahnebach]

Just an idea for an workaround ... Does someone know how to add in Firefox the foldername as a tag to all bookmarks in a folder?. Since nextcloud bookmark system supports tags this would be somehow like folders ...

[blizzz]

@berndhahnebach thx for your post. So, correct, the bookmarks app makes intensive use of tags, and deliberately not folders. Because, folders are like tags, but less flexible, and make the UI difficult. To automatically take over folder names as tags when importing from other sources would be a good idea, I think.

[marcelklehr]

@blizzz When realizing a sync step, this can get in the way though, as tags are not hierarchical. I've run into this issue with floccus: marcelklehr/floccus#5

My vision here is to use nextcloud/bookmarks, like most apps in nextcloud, not only as an app but as a storage backend that multiple apps/devices can sync to. However, most devices out there happen to rely on folders, or at least offer the feature, which makes it hard to sync them with this app.

I wouldn't advocate against tags. Don't get me wrong. I think tags are great, but if nextcloud/bookmarks is supposed to be useful to the normal user, who happens to bookmark things with the browser's native ui and perhaps wants to sync them, perhaps just wants to back them up, then supporting folders would be necessary, I think.

[maverick74]

Let me be honest here: I use XMarks since... well since the beginning when they were called FoxMarks. I could and would change to Firefox Bookmarks system because it has a LOT of advantages (specially in privacy) but there is one thing that keeps me from doing it: i can't access them anywhere.

Case: Many times i'm with a friend and want to show him that bookmark, or want to add a link he has to my bookmarks... how to do it???

If nextcloud's bookmarks could support folders and a a good addon for browsers existed (eg.: floccus - https://github.com/marcelklehr/floccus) then i could replace xmarks for something i trust, backup my bookmarks on my own server, access them anywhere, and add or remove bookmarks while being privacy aware...

it would be a cool world for bookmarks since it could be the cross browser solution and have the best of both worlds (Firefox & Xmarks)!!!

Please, consider it

[blizzz]

@marcelklehr the problem with hierarchies are that they too often are random and could be just the other way around. With tags, you find them no matter the order.

I guess we can support one (or more) folder properties for syncing reasons. For the UI, however, I'd prefer to keep clicking on Tags "$Subfolder" "$Subsubfolder" "$Folder" (or any combinaton) instead of clicking along a fixed folder structure.

We can make it possible to mark tags as favorite, so that some important ones are always on top on the list (and in the same way perhaps also recently used tags).

How does that sound?

[craigarno]

Since you ask, sounds good to me... what I hear is:

• Maintain internal Folder/Path information for Sync with other systems which support Folder style bookmarks
• Syncing will {eventually} be available for browser(s) [I use Firefox]
• OwnCloud UI won't display Folder information
• Tags will be available/used in the OwnCloud interface.
• Multiple tags will be available per bookmark {important, favorite, blue, red, ...]

I think it will be important to be able to "edit" the path/folder information in a sync'ed bookmark. i.e. /All Bookmarks/Bookmarks Menu/Utilities/PSE - Puget Sound Energy Where the bookmark name is "PSE - Puget Sound Energy" and the bookmark path is "/All Bookmarks/Bookmarks Menu/Utilities/" I'd like some way to edit the path, even if it is just part of the Bookmark name and I'm editing one long string.

As we discussed earlier, I also need the Description field available. I use the description field to store Notes which go with the bookmark. Notes include; Company phone number, company Login/Account username/password, special pin numbers, anything else I need which is often very hard to find on the companies web site, or won't be available if I don't have an internet connection (like calling my ISP during an internet outage).

So what I hear is provide what is easy to provide now (no folder UI), and provide the rest as need and desire require.

The critical part of this will be the Sync interface. The Sync interface will get used by other applications, so it must be documented and not change. After reading Richard Newman's @rnewman comments in the Sync forum, sounds like a "transaction" based approach is most reliable. He has been saying interfaces like WebDAV tend to lose information which means some bookmarks never make it through the Sync process and represent "lost data".

There needs to be a rock solid Interface Specification for external Bookmark Sync. I'm sure this interface specification will include all kinds of things like; date, time, deleted status, name, URL, Tags, Keyword, Description, and at a lower level the mechanics of how this data is exchanged securely over a data channel, what handshaking occurs, what escape characters are used, packet size limitations, etc. I'm assuming the https channel will be used for sync. Any other ports/technologies will be blocked at some corporate installations.

What is done on either side of the interface is more up to the developer. The Sync Interface in the middle needs to be carefully thought out and nailed down.

For now, just get the OwnCloud UI and any existing data "sync" working as a proof of concept. My 2¢ and thoughts.

[maverick74]

@blizzz I'm not sure i'm understanding you right (in the folder/subfolder subject) so, just in case, i would like to manifest that my near 3300 bookmarks (yes, it's been a few years adding to it, but their are VERY useful) are organized in, sometimes, 6 subfolders.

Loosing that priceless hierarchy would make me wanna beat someone... (and i do not believe in violence!)

[rnewman]

I don't believe it's possible to correctly implement a bookmarks synchronization extension using the current WebExtensions bookmarks interface.

That rules out building a Chrome extension, and also Firefox 57+. You could build an unreliable one, of course, or take a different tack (e.g., owning the data somewhere outside the browser bookmarks store, which ruins the Awesomebar but gives you total control over syncing).

I'd also say that multi-writer syncing of structured data (like a folder hierarchy) is really hard, and will likely not be a fun project to get right.

[marcelklehr]

@rnewman Thanks for you input!

I don't believe it's possible to correctly implement a bookmarks synchronization extension using the current WebExtensions bookmarks interface.

Can you elaborate, why you believe that?

I'd also say that multi-writer syncing of structured data (like a folder hierarchy) is really hard, and will likely not be a fun project to get right.

Multi-writer syncing of structured data is hard, I agree. However, there are solutions, like e.g. OT and CRDT.

[rnewman]

I summarized many of my concerns in

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1351897

Consumer-level APIs don't really expose the state changes that you'd need to do OT without a huge amount of work, roughly equivalent to maintaining your own data structures and trying to deduce changes from coarse-grained notifications. It's also not necessarily the case that your syncing system supports sending operations, or even deltas. OT works best when you have vaguely commutative operations, don't ever need to merge & dedupe two trees from scratch, and have mostly online operation. Bookmarks in a browser don't really fit.

[marcelklehr]

@rnewman Your list in that bug is very enlightening -- a lot of good points. I'm very glad you jumped into the discussion :) I agree that the current bookmarks API could do better in providing details on what exactly changed, but as you said you can still perform a diff, even if that's expensive. In a world where the choice is no sync vs. expensive, possibly less frequent sync I tend to take the latter. The lack of transactions is a point that concerns me more, frankly. However, if you sync less frequently in a fixed interval instead of on every change, collisions are much less likely to happen -- you might not preserve every user intention if you move a folder from a to x when it's actually just been moved to b a few microseconds before, but at least the sync sites are consistent. Also, how likely is it for multiple extensions that move bookmarks around the place to be installed at the same time?