Can you access data from individual data files, rather than storing data in the mkdocs.yml config?

[chrisdburr]

Apologies in advance for the beginner question. I have looked through the documentation, and have stumbled my way to a partial solution, but it would be really helpful to get some steer/guidance on this:

I would like to create a simple image gallery, and have set up a template that extends base.html. I would like this template to iterate over a set of images stored in a yaml file, but cannot seem to get this to work.

So far, the closest I have come to the solution I have in mind is the following:

{% extends "base.html" %} 

{% block content %} 
{{ super() }}     

    {% for item in config.images %}
        <h1>{{ item.title }}</h1>
        <figure>
          <img src="{{ item.url }}" style="width:100%">
          <figcaption> {{ item.caption }} </figcaption>
        </figure> 
    {% endfor %}

{% endblock %} 

This works, but it requires me to store the data in the mkdocs.yml config, which is not ideal:

site_name: Test Site

theme: 
  name: material
  custom_dir: overrides

images:
  - title: "Image Title 1"
    tags:
      - tag 1
      - tag 2
    image_url: "https://example.com"
    caption: "An image caption."
  - title: "Image Title 2"
    tags:
      - tag 1
      - tag 2
    image_url: "https://example.com"
    caption: "An image caption."

A couple of questions:

1. Is it possible to move the data to a separate yaml file?
2. If so, are there restrictions on where it needs to be located and any adjustements I need to make to the site's config file?
3. And, finally, what variables would I use in the content block instead of the global config.variable ones when iterating over the dataset?

[squidfunk]

Is it possible to move the data to a separate yaml file?

I guess you might be able to use MkDocs configuration inheritance mechanism.

If so, are there restrictions on where it needs to be located and any adjustements I need to make to the site's config file?

AFAIK, only the path must be correct.

And, finally, what variables would I use in the content block instead of the global config.variable ones when iterating over the dataset?

If you define your configuration in mkdocs.yml, it will be global, so that's the way to go. Other options are using the macros plugin (possibly also global), or putting your data into front matter to scope it to a specific page.

[chrisdburr]

Thanks, @squidfunk.

The first suggestion of configuration inheritance sounds like a good quick fix.

But I think your second suggestion of using the macros plugin may be a better longer-term solution. I'll have a play around with them both and see how I get on.