Add support for alias notes

[kevinslin]

Context

There are some cases when you want the same note to have multiple paths. See this and this

Proposal

Introduce note aliases, a way to map the same note to multiple paths.

Example

Say you have the following note

• python.lib.pandas.md

---
title: Pandas 
desc:  > 
    pandas is a fast, powerful, flexible and easy to use open source data analysis and manipulation tool
aliases: 
  - ds.tools.pandas # ds -> data science
  - pro.pandas # pro -> project
---
...

• 1. This note would be able to be queried via lookup using any of the following queries:
  • python.lib.pandas
  • ds.tools.pandas
  • pro.pandas
• 2. Any wikilinks with the above three terms will also all resolve to python.lib.pandas
• 3. The Dendron Tree View will show all three notes. Clicking on any will resolve to python.lib.pandas
• 4. The Note Graph View will follow the same behavior as the tree view

[sahil48]

I like this idea a lot.

The main concern I have is if two notes have the same alias, where a file name conflicts with the alias name in the tree view.

Right now, in this case, I think the file name should win out, and possible the file name could include a link to the alias notes, possibly as a metadata, or transcluded in the body of the document. Perhaps by default, if an alias is created, a note should be created with the file name corresponding to the tree node with the aliased note transcluded in it. There are a lot of ways to approach this.

Also, what would be the benefit of this approach as opposed to create a note that transcludes or links to the existing note? I'm not even sure if there would be benefits in the graph view.(#1916 (comment)). #1916

[nickolay-kondratyev]

@sahil48 On the topic of what is the benefit of just regular link, there is a huge benefit between just the link since alias would allow you to open the note right away instead of having another navigation hop to get from a stubby alias note to the actual note which contains the content.

[nklamann]

Perhaps by default, if an alias is created, a note should be created with the file name corresponding to the tree node with the aliased note transcluded in it

I think this is a good idea to make the alias visible in the filesystem.

[aleksey-rowan]

This issue is featured in this week's round of CROP voting.

[SR--]

Will this require extra functionality in the export pods to convert to standard Markdown?

[namjul]

Adding this article https://www.goedel.io/p/the-importance-of-aliases about the topic.

[gwenwindflower]

just want to voice my support for this! i'm a couple days into porting my notes to dendron from a more pure network graph system and already hitting the need for these, would be a huge feature for my use. 🙏🏻❤️

[FrancoB411]

This would be ideal for publishing, since one could create a vault with a hierarchy of aliases to files one wants to publish without having to move those files from their original hierarchy.

Using the file system seems to make sense for build/tooling reasons because the file system already has that functionality, but if having the alias as front matter is what dendron needs to knows about the relationship, so be it.

Long as I can publish vaults with aliases in their hierarchies, that would add a lot of flexibility to potential publishing workflows. If there's a way to do this already, please inform...