Advanced: Notes File Format
Overview
The notes files are in XML format. This is a mix of plain-text notes and computer code. It's not recommended to hand-edit these files yourself. If you want to copy and paste individual notes into other software, it is best to open the notes in the app and copy from there.
However, this XML format may be useful to advanced computer users. It is meant to be both human-readable and machine-readable for future compatibility. Advanced users may gain some comfort that the notes accumulated over several years could be imported into other software in the future with a little programming effort.
Within the XML structure, the format of each individual note is very basic Markdown (currently only bold and italics are supported).
Example
Notes are stored in a single file per chapter.
Filename: BibleReaderNotes.40.2.biblenotes
Filename format: BibleReaderNotes.bookNumber.chapterNumber.biblenotes
<Notes>
<Note Id="2c721679-5d94-4230-af1b-3184db586158"
Amended="2017-10-05T18:27:35.7402678+01:00"
Created="2017-10-05T18:27:35.7402678+01:00"
StartParagraphNumber="15"
EndParagraphNumber="15"
IsDisplayedBeforeParagraph="false">
<Content>Cp. Hosea 11:1</Content>
</Note>
<Note Id="e8ce518a-f617-4c45-a45d-aeb4fe8bda91"
Amended="2021-05-09T16:25:15.2392985+01:00"
Created="2021-05-09T16:25:08.3491484+01:00"
StartParagraphNumber="6"
EndParagraphNumber="6"
IsDisplayedBeforeParagraph="false">
<Content>Quoted from Micah 5:2.</Content>
</Note>
</Notes>
Attributes and Elements
- Id - a Guid XML attribute. Each note must have a unique ID across all files, errors will occur if multiple notes have the same Id even if they are in different files.
- Amended - a timestamp XML attribute. Refers to the date and time when the note was last edited.
- Created - a timestamp XML attribute. Refers to the date and time when the note was created.
- StartParagraphNumber - an integer XML attribute. Contains the number of the first paragraph (or verse) that the note is associated with.
- EndParagraphNumber - an integer XML attribute. Contains the number of the last paragraph (or verse) that the note is associated with. If the note is associated with a single verse and not a range then the
EndParagraphNumbershould be the same as theStartParagraphNumber. - IsDisplayedBeforeParagraph - a boolean XML attribute (with values
trueorfalse). Refers to whether the note should be displayed immediately before the first paragraph in the range, or immediately after the first paragraph. Most notes are displayed afterwards (false). A note that is intended to form a heading may be displayed before (true). - Content - a text XML element. The inner value is plain text but supporting bold and italic Markdown syntax.
Format of the Content element
The Content element contains plain text but adds support for two features from the Markdown language. Surround text in two asterisks to mark it as bold, and single asterisks to mark it as italic.
- This word will be **bold**.
- This word will be *italic*.
To create hyperlinks to Bible references, simply enter the reference in plain text. They will be rendered as hyperlinks when loaded and displayed in the software.
Examples of recognised patterns:-
1 Kings 6:20or1 Kings 6v20(a single verse)1 Kings 6:20,22(two verses in the same chapter)1 Kings 6:20-22(a range of verses)1 Kings 6;7(whole chapters 6 and 7 of 1 Kings).- Roman numerals are recognised in book names starting with a number, e.g. both
2 Kings 6andII Kings 6are recognised. - Abbreviated book names are recognised, e.g.
2 Sam 3and2 Samuel 3are both recognised. - Book names without chapters or verses are deliberately not rendered as hyperlinks. This is because it can be frustrating if a note is referring to a person, for example Daniel or John.