Conflict with Automatic Table of Contents plugin causes missing Code Block Label in PDF export

[adec-t-tanaka]

I encountered an issue when using CodeBlockCustomizer together with the “Obsidian Automatic Table of Contents” plugin.

When both plugins are enabled,
the table of contents (generated via table-of-contents) is displayed correctly in the preview/editor.

However, when exporting the note to PDF,
the code block label does not appear in the output.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install and enable:
   • CodeBlockCustomizer
   • Obsidian Automatic Table of Contents
2. Add a TOC block like this:

3. Confirm that the TOC renders correctly in preview mode
4. Export the note to PDF

Expected behavior:

The code block label should be included in the PDF output.

Actual behavior:

The code block label is missing in the exported PDF.

Notes:

delete table-of-contents resolves the issue.

Environment:

Obsidian version: 1.12.4
CodeBlockCustomizer version: 1.4.3
Automatic Table of Contents version: 1.8.0
OS: Windows 11 Pro

Thank you for make great plugin!

[mugiwara85]

@adec-t-tanaka I could reproduce the problem, and I fixed it. I will release the new version (1.4.4) today, I just need fix another small bug.

[adec-t-tanaka]

@mugiwara85

Wow, thank you for really quick fix!

However, I think there is a misunderstanding regarding my request.

My goal is not to exclude table-of-contents blocks from CodeBlockCustomizer.
I actually want both plugins to work together.

What I want

• The Automatic Table of Contents plugin should render the TOC normally
• CodeBlockCustomizer should still add its label/header
• And importantly, the label should also appear in PDF export

Current behavior

• In preview: both plugins appear to work (TOC is rendered)
• In PDF export: the CodeBlockCustomizer label is missing

About the recent fix

From what I understand, the change filters out code blocks that are handled by other code block processors.

This prevents conflicts, but it also means:
→ CodeBlockCustomizer no longer applies to table-of-contents blocks at all
→ So the label/header is never rendered

Request

Would it be possible to support this use case:

• Allow CodeBlockCustomizer to still render labels/headers
• Even if the code block is processed by another plugin
• Especially for PDF export

Alternatively, if full compatibility is difficult,
a setting like:

"Apply header/label even for code blocks handled by other processors"

would solve the issue.

Thanks again for your work on this plugin.

[mugiwara85]

@adec-t-tanaka The table-of-contents code blocks must be excluded from processing. The reason PDF printing didn't work the first time is, that the code elements generated in PDF printing did not match the actual code blocks in the document. This is because the Table of Content plugin (and some other plugins) use MarkdownPreviewRenderer. This does generate the HTML but that does not contain any code element, like any other normal code block does. You actually had an error in the console in the previous version when you were pdf printing the document. In such cases no styling is applied at all (it wasn't just the header missing, but line numbers were missing as well, and every other styling), because it is not possible to identify which code block from the document belongs to which HTML.

If I understand, then you would want the header to be displayed for the table-of-content code block? So if you have something like this:

```table-fo-content file:table-of-content
```

Code

```php file:test.php
<?php echo "hello" ?>
```

then during PDF printing and reading mode you would want the header to be displayed for the table-of-contents code block as well? Do I understand this correctly?
To be honest, it might be possible, but I am not sure if it is a good idea. The problem is, that plugins that use MarkdownPreviewRenderer work like this:
During rendering, they see that specific code block they target (table-of-content in this case). First, the normal code block is rendered as it would be, but then immediately this HTML is replaced with the "override" HTML that the Table of Content plugin generates.
I did some debugging, and I can get the information for the header, before the HTML is replaced, and theoretically could insert a header, but this could lead to race conditions, which then would lead to that the header is inserted and then removed, because it was overwritten.
Why do you want to display a header above the Table of content? I am not sure, that collapse/uncollapse would work for such cases. I think that had to be a limitation, to disable it from code for these blocks, because the HTML could be anything, and that would be a huge hussle.

Please give a feedback if I understood correctly what you want, and 'll see what i can do about it.

[adec-t-tanaka]

@mugiwara85

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

It seems there’s a slight misunderstanding.

I don’t want to modify the HTML generated by the table of contents plugin itself or apply styles to it.

What I’m looking for is much simpler:

1. I want headers to be rendered for code blocks in files (such as index.php).
2. I also want those headers to appear in the PDF export.
3. I want these conditions to work without issues even when using the table-of-contents plugin alongside it.

In other words, my goal is not to manipulate or modify the replaced HTML.

It is simply to ensure that the code block labels are reliably reflected in the final PDF output.

I’m open to any workarounds or experimental settings that might work.

My primary use case is PDF export,
and having labels improves readability and structure.

I hope this explanation makes sense.

[mugiwara85]

I'm a little confused now. What you describe is what my fix does. It already achieves all 3. The fix is not yet released. Did you clone the repo and tried out the fix? Or why did you wrote that in your previous comment that "CodeBlockCustomizer no longer applies to table-of-contents blocks at all"? My plugin won't (and mustn't) process table-of-contents block as it is handled by the Table of Contents plugin.

Please copy the current main.js and styles.css file and overwrite your local files with it inside VaultFolder\.obsidian\plugins\codeblock-customizer\ and see if it works as you like it, and then give me a feedback. If you say it is ok, then I'll release it officially.

[adec-t-tanaka]

@mugiwara85
I’m sorry, that was my mistake.

I saw version 1.4.3, which was released today,
and mistakenly assumed the fix was already included in that version.

As you suggested,
I manually replaced main.js and styles.css,
and everything worked as expected!!

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you for your really quick support!

[mugiwara85]

No problem at all. Glad it works. I release 1.4.4 (which includes this fix), in a few minutes.

[mugiwara85]

Fix is released in version 1.4.4. Please update.