MacDownApp / MacDownApp/macdown

New file behavior is a bit confusing

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bug
Dominant language
Rich Text Format
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Description

When I click on a markdown link for a non-existent file and the "automatically create files for link targets" option is checked off, Mac Down will open a new, blank editor. Perfect. However, upon entering text into the blank editor, I receive a message that says this:

> The file cannot be found.
> You can duplicate this document and edit the duplicate. Only the duplicate will include your changes.

Also the editor is locked. I don't think this should be the behavior, but maybe I'm not understanding the use case you're supporting. I would like to begin editing, and then once the buffer is full of things that I want to save to that file, I should be able to File->Save and then the file will be created.

There is a work around. If I immediately File->Save with the buffer empty, it will create the file and I will be able to continue editing. However this work around, of saving a blank file, is pretty counter to any program I've used that's capable of doing a file safe. If this is not a necessary behavior I think it would be great if it were changed to align itself with the user experience of more common editors.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the workflow in MacDown: open a markdown link for a missing file with automatic file creation disabled, type in the blank editor, and use File->Save. Trace the missing-file editor and save behavior; done means the new file can be edited and created on save without first saving an empty buffer.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
macos, objective-c
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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