Trouble implementing internal links in Portable Text, resolved with corrected GROQ query.

11 replies
Last updated: Aug 12, 2020
Hello! I'm trying to implement the internal link as explained here: https://www.sanity.io/guides/portable-text-internal-and-external-links
When I want to add the slug using a the GROQ query given, it does not seem to work. Nothing is added to the markDefs object when I test it in Vision:

*[_type == "post"]{
  ...,
  body[]{
    ...,
    markDefs[]{
      ...,
      _type == "internalLink" => {
        "slug": @.reference->slug
      }
    }
  }
}
In fact, even if I type something directly in the query, nothing is added to the markDefs:


*[_type == "page"]{
  ...,
  body[]{
    ...,
    markDefs[]{
      ...,
     _type == "internalLink" => {
        "something": "test"
      }
  }
}
Even if I remove the _type == "internalLink", it does not get written into the result.

Can somebody please help me and tell me what I am doing wrong?
Jun 4, 2020, 8:23 AM
Could an example your data? That would be helpful.
Just from the look if it, I think don't think the conditional should be in the
markDefs
array, but rather one level up, in
body
like this:

*[_type == "post"]{
  ...,
  body[]{
    ...,
    _type == "internalLink" => {
      "slug": @.reference->slug
    }
  }
}
Jun 4, 2020, 6:19 PM
Does that help?
Jun 4, 2020, 6:19 PM
Could you post an example of some body data? Would be helpful to see the structure of it.
Jun 4, 2020, 6:22 PM
{
  "_createdAt": "2020-04-02T12:35:58Z",
  "_id": "0ad5ed76-14b6-43fb-bc3f-f077c6f22279",
  "_rev": "5wdIb9L6kFflQqbpITq6F3",
  "_type": "page",
  "content": [
    {
      "_key": "cb02625fd1ee",
      "_type": "textSection",
      "body": [
        {
          "_key": "d1c8b8608870",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "d1c8b86088700",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Here is a heading"
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "h1"
        },
        {
          "_key": "0f63f6e1823d",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "0f63f6e1823d0",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Here is some text."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "3c2e5e258014",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "3c2e5e2580140",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Here I put a "
            },
            {
              "_key": "3c2e5e2580141",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [
                "f4e218586de7"
              ],
              "text": "link"
            },
            {
              "_key": "3c2e5e2580142",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": " somewhere."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [
            {
              "_key": "f4e218586de7",
              "_type": "link",
              "href": "<https://somesite.com>"
            }
          ],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "6c2615f2c05a",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "6c2615f2c05a0",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "This is "
            },
            {
              "_key": "6c2615f2c05a1",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [
                "u"
              ],
              "text": "underlined"
            },
            {
              "_key": "6c2615f2c05a2",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "864868246e17",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "864868246e170",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [
                "em"
              ],
              "text": "Cursive text"
            },
            {
              "_key": "864868246e171",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "8db586a956b6",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "8db586a956b60",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": ""
            },
            {
              "_key": "8db586a956b61",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [
                "d8aaeb931f05"
              ],
              "text": "This is an internal link"
            },
            {
              "_key": "8db586a956b62",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [
            {
              "_key": "d8aaeb931f05",
              "_ref": "211d539f-7e8c-4f0f-b87c-f2fcbda6228a",
              "_type": "internalLink"
            }
          ],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "aff49ec10194",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "aff49ec101940",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": ""
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "_key": "ede6681c4907",
      "_type": "twoColumn",
      "bodyLeft": [
        {
          "_key": "a34bf5b12787",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "a34bf5b127870",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "This is the left column contents."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        }
      ],
      "bodyRight": [
        {
          "_key": "6f94ca0e7826",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "6f94ca0e78260",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Thsi is right column text."
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "88dd6d8ca0c5",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "88dd6d8ca0c50",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Here comes a list:"
            }
          ],
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "a1e220a3c068",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "a1e220a3c0680",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Number 1"
            }
          ],
          "level": 1,
          "listItem": "bullet",
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "c66d6ca5dc4d",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "c66d6ca5dc4d0",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Number 2"
            }
          ],
          "level": 1,
          "listItem": "bullet",
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        },
        {
          "_key": "8c9bd044ab22",
          "_type": "block",
          "children": [
            {
              "_key": "8c9bd044ab220",
              "_type": "span",
              "marks": [],
              "text": "Dont forget 3"
            }
          ],
          "level": 1,
          "listItem": "bullet",
          "markDefs": [],
          "style": "normal"
        }
      ],
      "heading": "Here comes two columns"
    }
  ],
  "openGraphImage": {
    "_type": "image",
    "asset": {
      "_ref": "image-e4cf4bc559e435f458a659bc5abdd83fea6c6304-800x606-jpg",
      "_type": "reference"
    }
  },
  "slug": {
    "_type": "slug",
    "current": "test"
  },
  "title": "This is the heading",
  "_updatedAt": "2020-06-05T06:14:27.247Z"
}
Jun 5, 2020, 6:27 AM
Yes, here is a copy from "Inspect" of the page:
Jun 5, 2020, 6:27 AM
Actually I now changed a bit how the portableText object is constructed. I made the internalLink its own object:

export default {
    title: 'Portable Text',
    name: 'portableText',
    type: 'array',
    of: [
      {
        type: 'block',
        styles: [
          { title: 'Normal', value: 'normal' },
          { title: 'H1', value: 'h1' },
          { title: 'H2', value: 'h2' },
          { title: 'H3', value: 'h3' },
          { title: 'H4', value: 'h4' },
          { title: 'Quote', value: 'blockquote' },
        ],
        // Marks let you mark up inline text in the block editor.
        marks: {
          // Decorators usually describe a single property – e.g. a typographic
        // preference or highlighting by editors.
          decorators: [
            { title: 'Strong', value: 'strong' },
            { title: 'Emphasis', value: 'em' },
            { title: 'Code', value: 'code' },
            {
              title: 'Underline',
              value: 'u',
              blockEditor: {
                render: LinkRender
              }
            }
          ],
          annotations: [
          { type: 'link' }, 
          { type: 'internalLink' },
        ],
        },
      },
      { type: 'image' }
    ],
  };
And


export default {
  title: 'Internal link to another document',
  name: 'internalLink',
  type: 'reference',
  description: 'Locate a document you want to link to',
  to: [{ type: 'userPage'}, { type: 'page' }],
  blockEditor: {
    icon: () => ':link:',
    render: InternalLinkRender,
  },
};
But still I did not get the GROQ query to write anything in the result. I also tried ""slug": @.reference-&gt;slug.*current*"
Jun 5, 2020, 6:27 AM
I tried to replicate your data here, and it seems to work https://groq.dev/33ls10IOb2um1bqXCrrq0t
Jun 5, 2020, 8:01 AM
I just realised that you were missing the
content[]
array in your first query
Jun 5, 2020, 8:20 AM
Yes, I noticed that now too, and also there was the @.*reference-*&gt;slug, but in your example, which works, it was @ -&gt; .slug.current without the reference word. Thank you for your help!
Jun 5, 2020, 8:30 AM
Glad it worked!
Jun 5, 2020, 8:33 AM
Thanks
user T
it seems to work for me as well… I’m wondering why it the documentation shows @.reference if that does not work?
Aug 12, 2020, 2:48 PM

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