Additional meta data with a blog post

[pitosalas]

I am using material and the blog plugin. As you can see from the screenshot, I get nice meta data with the post. I get the posting date and the minutes read. What if I want to add more meta data? For example one or more urls?

[kamilkrzyskow]

Hello @pitosalas,
in the community version of the Blog plugin only the creation date, updated date, categories and read time are available as the metadata.
In the Insiders version of the plugin it's mostly the same, there is also the option to add related reference links

If you need more you'd have to use theme extension: https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/customization/#extending-the-theme
You'd have to override the blog-post.html template and add more metadata extraction as you see fit:

mkdocs-material/src/templates/blog-post.html

Lines 77 to 153 in 02bf848

	<!-- Post metadata -->
	<ul class="md-post__meta md-nav__list">
	<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--section">
	<div class="md-post__title">
	<span class="md-ellipsis">
	{{ lang.t("blog.meta") }}
	</span>
	</div>
	<nav class="md-nav">
	<ul class="md-nav__list">
	<!-- Post date -->
	<li class="md-nav__item">
	<div class="md-nav__link">
	{% include ".icons/material/calendar.svg" %}
	<time
	datetime="{{ page.config.date.created }}"
	class="md-ellipsis"
	>
	{{- page.config.date.created | date -}}
	</time>
	</div>
	</li>
	<!-- Post date updated -->
	{% if page.config.date.updated %}
	<li class="md-nav__item">
	<div class="md-nav__link">
	{% include ".icons/material/calendar-clock.svg" %}
	<time
	datetime="{{ page.config.date.updated }}"
	class="md-ellipsis"
	>
	{{- page.config.date.updated | date -}}
	</time>
	</div>
	</li>
	{% endif %}
	<!-- Post categories -->
	{% if page.categories %}
	<li class="md-nav__item">
	<div class="md-nav__link">
	{% include ".icons/material/bookshelf.svg" %}
	<span class="md-ellipsis">
	{{ lang.t("blog.categories.in") }}
	{% for category in page.categories %}
	<a href="{{ category.url | url }}">
	{{- category.title -}}
	</a>
	{%- if loop.revindex > 1 %}, {% endif -%}
	{% endfor -%}
	</span>
	</div>
	</li>
	{% endif %}
	<!-- Post readtime -->
	{% if page.config.readtime %}
	{% set time = page.config.readtime %}
	<li class="md-nav__item">
	<div class="md-nav__link">
	{% include ".icons/material/clock-outline.svg" %}
	<span class="md-ellipsis">
	{% if time == 1 %}
	{{ lang.t("readtime.one") }}
	{% else %}
	{{ lang.t("readtime.other") | replace("#", time) }}
	{% endif %}
	</span>
	</div>
	</li>
	{% endif %}
	</ul>
	</nav>
	</li>
	</ul>

[pitosalas]

Looks like I have to copy the whole of blog-post.html to overrides because it doesn't have "blocks", am I understanding that right?

[pitosalas]

And in that code, how do I retrieve for example a "markdown front matter variable called: "original"?

[kamilkrzyskow]

Looks like I have to copy the whole of blog-post.html to overrides because it doesn't have "blocks", am I understanding that right?

Yes, the blog-post.html extends main.html and everything is already an override of the container block.

And in that code, how do I retrieve for example a "markdown front matter variable called: "original"?

In normal templates you'd do something like page.meta.original, but based on the example above you should access it via page.config.original. Remember to use the special brackets {{ }}, when accessing Jinja variables.

EDIT:
After looking at the code, I can say that page.meta.original would still work, as the meta property isn't cleared, but is merged into config for convenience (?)

mkdocs-material/src/plugins/blog/structure/__init__.py

Lines 90 to 98 in bcad9ce

	# Initialize post configuration, but remove all keys that this plugin
	# doesn't care about, or they will be reported as invalid configuration
	self.config: PostConfig = PostConfig(file.abs_src_path)
	self.config.load_dict({
	key: self.meta[key] for key in (
	set(self.meta.keys()) &
	set(self.config.keys())
	)
	})

[squidfunk]

Looks like I have to copy the whole of blog-post.html to overrides because it doesn't have "blocks", am I understanding that right?

Correct, because the blog-post.html is a partial and we cannot use blocks in partials. Furthermore, we're planning to cut it up into smaller partials and pieces, but that's left to the next iteration on the blog plugin which currently does not have an ETA but will definitely come. Partials might change significantly, because the blog plugin and templates are currently still experimental.

[squidfunk]

After looking at the code, I can say that page.meta.original would still work, as the meta property isn't cleared, but is merged into config for convenience (?)

We use MkDocs configuration validation features to validate the blog post meta data, so post.config contains the validated and potentially transformed metadata. You can still use post.meta in templates, which is the raw input.

[pitosalas]

Thanks all. I did get it to work just the way I want! Pito

…

On Feb 3, 2024 at 8:47:01 PM, Martin Donath ***@***.***> wrote: After looking at the code, I can say that page.meta.original would still work, as the meta property isn't cleared, but is merged into config for convenience (?) We use MkDocs configuration validation features to validate the blog post meta data, so post.config continues the validated and potentially transformed metadata. You can still use post.meta in templates, which is the raw input. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#6733 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAK5CIM63SCQ3TBYJGQIULYR3SBLAVCNFSM6AAAAABCXDFI2SVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4DGNJYGAZTG> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>