Adding embeddable cards in a backward compatible way.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ All notable changes to the "anki" extension will be documented in this file.
 
 Check [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/) for recommendations on how to structure this file.
 
+## [1.2.8]
+- Embeddable Cards definitions. Extract `text` for processing from `<!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS -->text<!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->` match in the Markdown file.
+
 ## [1.2.7]
 
 - Fix bug that LaTeX curly brackets do not convert correctly [#63](https://github.com/jasonwilliams/anki/issues/63)

README.md

@@ -85,6 +85,27 @@ necessary.
 
 When parsing only one markdown file, the title of the deck could be generated based on the top-level headline (`#`).
 
+To embed cards definitions in the existing document, one can limit the scope of the document to be processed between one or more matching pairs of
+`<!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS -->` and `<!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->` markdown comments.
+```
+# Anki for VSCode
+
+This is a VSCode extension for interacting and sending cards to Anki.  
+It uses AnkiConnect for communication so you will need this extension installed and running before installing the VSCode extension.
+
+<!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS -->
+
+## What is the name of the most awesome VSCode plugin?
+
+It is `Anki for VSCode` of course.
+
+## What "Anki for VSCode" requires to function?
+
+It requires AnkiConnect
+
+<!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->
+```
+
 ### Cloze
 
 You can make Cloze deletions in the card title `## A bit like {{c1::this}}`.

package.json

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "anki",
   "displayName": "Anki for VSCode",
   "description": "Sync notes with your locally running Anki",
-  "version": "1.2.7",
+  "version": "1.2.8",
   "publisher": "jasew",
   "engines": {
     "vscode": "^1.66.0"

src/models/MarkdownFile.ts

@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ export class MarkdownFile {
   private loadContent(content: string) {
     this.noteIds = this.readNoteIds(content);
     this.autoSend = this.readAutoSendMeta(content);
-    this.cachedContent = this.removeMeta(content.toString());
+    this.cachedContent = this.removeMeta(
+      this.extractMarkedText(content.toString())
+    );
   }
 
   async load() {      
@@ -51,6 +53,39 @@ export class MarkdownFile {
     return path.dirname(this.uri.fsPath);
   }
 
+
+
+  private extractMarkedText(content: string): string {
+    // extract the text between markers - markdown comments <!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS --> text <!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->
+    // if the markers are not present then return the entire content
+
+    const beginMarker = "<!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS -->";
+    const endMarker = "<!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->";
+
+    const begin = content.indexOf(beginMarker);
+    const end = content.indexOf(endMarker);
+
+    // test if least one full pair of markets is present
+    if (begin === -1 || end === -1) {
+      // but if there is only one marker, show an error message
+      if (begin !== -1 || end !== -1) {
+        window.showErrorMessage("Anki Markdown: Found only one of the BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS or END_ANKI_CARDS markers. Ignoring.");
+      }
+      return content;
+    }
+
+    const regex = /<!-- BEGIN_ANKI_CARDS -->([\s\S]*?)<!-- END_ANKI_CARDS -->/gi;
+    const matches = content.matchAll(regex);
+
+    // If there are matches, concatenate the text between the markers and return the result. Otherwise, return conent intact.
+    let result = "";
+    for (const match of matches) {
+      result += match[1] + EOL;
+    }
+    return result ?? content;
+
+  }
+
   private removeMeta(content: string) {
     const before = content.split(this.metaStart)[0];
     const endSplit = content.split(this.metaEnd);