/xmindmark

Lightweight markup language for mind mapping, with a toolset to make it easy to use.

Primary LanguageTypeScriptMIT LicenseMIT

XMindMark - Lightweight markup language for mind mapping

XMindMark is a lightweight markup language for mind mapping inspired by markdown. It is designed to describe structures and elements of a mind map easily.

Just like everyone can use mind mapping software to organize ideas and improve efficiency, everyone can benefit from XMindMark.

XMindMark files are written in plain text, which means that you can describe a mind map faster using any text editor at any time anywhere, like:

Seasons
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter

For more information about XMindMark syntax, please visit XMindMark specification.

The recommended way to save a XMindMark file is to use .xmindmark as its extension name, though you can use any other names as you like. If you are developing an application that distributes or generates XMindMark files, you're encouraged to use application/vnd.xmind.xmindmark as the mime type, or org.xmind.openformat.xmindmark as the UTI.

From XMindMark to Mind Map

We provide xmindmark to help you convert XMindMark files into various forms of mind maps easily.

For an XMindMark file with the following content,

Seasons
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter

you can easily convert it to a graphical mind map using xmindmark:

seasons.svg

See also:

Use xmindmark as a CLI program

Install

Make sure Node.js and npm is available on your computer, and run the command below in your command line program:

npm install -g xmindmark

Convert xmindmark file to XMind file

> xmindmark <your-xmindmark-file>

A .xmind file will be generated in your working directory, which can then be opened and further edited using XMind.

You can also pass your XMindMark file through standard input:

> cat <your-xmindmark-file> | xmindmark

This command has the same effect as the previous one.

Convert XMindMark file to SVG file

> xmindmark -f svg <your-xmindmark-file>
# or
> xmindmark --format svg <your-xmindmark-file>

You can use the -f or --format flag to specify the target format of the output file. So far xmindmark supports these target formats:

  • xmind
  • svg

If no target format is specified, xmindmark will use xmind by default.

In the case above, a .svg file will be generated in your working directory.

Specify the output directory

> xmindmark -o ./out <your-xmindmark-file>
# or
> xmindmark --outputDir ./out <your-xmindmark-file>

You can use -o or --outputDir flag to specify the output directory where the generated file will be placed. Either relative or absolute paths are supported.

Get more information

> xmindmark -h
# or
> xmindmark --help

Use xmindmark as a Javascript library

Install

> npm install xmindmark -S

Usage

import { parseXMindMarkToXMindFile } from 'xmindmark'

const xmindMarkFileContent = `
Central Topic
- Main Topic 1
- Main Topic 2
`

const xmindArrayBuffer = await parseXMindMarkToXMindFile(xmindMarkFileContent)

Currently, xmindmark only supports converting string content to ArrayBuffer of .xmind file. You can then save it to the local disk or upload it to an online storage.

Roadmap

  • Default theme. Generate files with a pretty color theme.
  • Syntax parser API. Improve and expose the parser API to allow developers to obtain more detailed syntax and semantic information.
  • Editor language support. Allow users to interact with XMindMark files easily and gracefully in text editors like Visual Studio Code.

Troubleshooting

Getting stuck during conversion process

Converting XMindMark files to .svg files relies on a graphical environment, so when xmindmark converts an XMindMark file to a .svg file for the every first time, it must complete the following preparations:

  1. Download a bundled version (specified here) of Chromium by puppeteer-core.
  2. Download the mind map rendering engine from XMind official website: https://assets.xmind.net.

These downloads will be cached in the local disk. The next time, xmindmark will just start converting if the cache is still valid.

If there is a problem during the preparation, please check whether your network is available. If the problem still exists, please create an issue.

"Output file exists"

If the file to be exported already exists, xmindmark will report a warning message and quit without doing anything else.

Other issues not mentioned here

You can try to find existing related issues, otherwise please create an issue and report to us.