Found no way to show the asterisk (*) in long text through API append

[LuXu]

It’s rather a small issue, but I wonder if there is a solution or workaround.

Problem:
if I use the seatable_api to append some rows with base.append_row, and the text contains literal asterisks (*) instead of markup notation, the “long text” cell will show no asterisk and a “…” at the end of the text. See the screenshot.

I would assume that the asterisk (*) is treated as half the italic markup *italic*, and the “…” is telling me it couldn’t find the closing half.

However, if I manually edit the text in webpage, the * will remain if I don’t close it with another *.

What I want:
I have searched the forum and found a dev’s explanation (slightly different scenario), which I agree

Format plain text with line breaks

Thanks for the clarifiction. The text column simply doesn’t support for line breaks. That the long text editor automatically recognizes the formatting markup from imported CSV file shouldn’t be observed as a bug, but rather a feature. If this is your workflow, I would rather take this as a feature request.

However then, in the case that I use API to append text containing asterisks to a long text cell, how to keep the asterisk as is, instead of being treated as a part of markup?

What I tried:
Just like in actual markdown, I tried escape with backslash \*, but that doesn’t work. The backslash itself is shown, but not the asterisk.

The choices I have are: 1. use text instead of long text, 2. accept the behavior, it’s not a big deal anyway.

[daniel.pan]

The long text column store content in Markdown format.

The cell in the grid shows a preview of the actual content of the long text. The * is removed when generating the preview, because * is usually used as markup.

[LuXu]

Does that mean there is no way of showing a * in the long text format in my use case? That seems a bug then.

According to your reply:

The cell in the grid shows a preview of the actual content of the long text

My following attempts don’t work:

• Backquote, like `*`
• Escape, \*

They only work if I manually enter them in webform, but don’t work if I use API in a Python script.

Update: And, the reply doesn’t seem to “solve” my question.

[daniel.pan]

@LuXu

if I use API in a Python script.

As I explained, the * is removed when generating the preview text for the cell.

@LuXu

They only work if I manually enter them in webform

It is likely the preview text is not generated in this case, and if the preview is not generated, the first a few strings in the field is shown, which contains ‘*’.

[LuXu]

Please pardon me commenting again. I don’t want to bother you, but I think you missed my point.

My major issue is: I need to see *, can I do that?
My reasoning is: It’s not right to make the users (through API) not able to use * as actual printable character in the case fore-mentioned.

@daniel.pan

As I explained, the * is removed when generating the preview text for the cell.

In markdown, * can be shown by escaping (\*) or backquoting (`*`) it. Thus I was hoping seatable to support that, too. Turns out not.

[daniel.pan]

@LuXu

My major issue is: I need to see *, can I do that?
My reasoning is: It’s not right to make the users (through API) not able to use * as actual printable character in the case fore-mentioned.

My point is that: it is not supported only in the cell preview and I explained the underlying reason why it is not supported: * is mostly used as markup, showing * in the preview will confuse users as in the extended dialog, the * is not shown; also, a lot of * in table cells make the UI looks ugly.

As you said, it is a small issue of not showing *, so we don’t have a plan to support it.

[LuXu]

Thanks, I think that finally explains clearly.