This is a markdown renderer using/abusing pulldown-cmark to get some additional features I wanted for my note-taking.
The main addition I wanted was some sort of interactivity/scripting for automation. Basically a simpler version of Jupyter Notebook that works locally, where I don't need to view/run/build the document in a browser/app.
One thing I actually use this for is time tracking for different projects, so in the same markdown file where I have my notes, I can add something like this:
```{"t":"Data"}
name: hours
data:
- date: 2022-10-22
hours: 1
- date: 2022-11-03
hours: 2.5
- date: 2022-11-05
hours: 5
- date: 2022-11-27
hours: 2
- date: 2023-01-05
hours: 2
- date: 2023-01-27
hours: 6.5
- date: 2023-02-01
hours: 2.5
- date: 2023-02-08
hours: 6
```
```{"t":"Script","hidden_title":"Hours"}
let total_hours = 0;
for day in hours {
total_hours += parse_float(day["hours"]);
}
```
I've spent `_total_hours_` on some project.
```{"t":"DynamicTable"}
row(["Month", "Hours"]);
let hours_by_month = #{};
for day in hours {
let month = day["date"].sub_string(0, 7);
let hours = parse_float(day["hours"]);
if month in hours_by_month {
hours_by_month[month] = hours_by_month[month] + hours;
} else {
hours_by_month[month] = hours;
}
}
for month in hours_by_month.keys() {
row([month, hours_by_month[month]]);
}
```
Then I can render an HTML version of the file using yamdr-cli -f example.md render -, and it will run the scripts and display the value of total_hours, and generate a table.
Or if I don’t want to view the results in a browser, but just in the same editor I’m using to take notes, I can just run (in vim):
:%! yamdr-cli -f % render --format md -
And the file will be replaced with this:
```{"t":"Data"}
name: hours
data:
- date: 2022-10-22
hours: '1'
- date: 2022-11-03
hours: '2.5'
- date: 2022-11-05
hours: '5'
- date: 2022-11-27
hours: '2'
- date: 2023-01-05
hours: '2'
- date: 2023-01-27
hours: '6.5'
- date: 2023-02-01
hours: '2.5'
- date: 2023-02-08
hours: '6'
# | # | date | hours |
# |---|---|---|
# | 1 | 2022-10-22 | 1 |
# | 2 | 2022-11-03 | 2.5 |
# | 3 | 2022-11-05 | 5 |
# | 4 | 2022-11-27 | 2 |
# | 5 | 2023-01-05 | 2 |
# | 6 | 2023-01-27 | 6.5 |
# | 7 | 2023-02-01 | 2.5 |
# | 8 | 2023-02-08 | 6 |
```
```{"t":"Script","hidden_title":"Hours"}
let total_hours = 0;
for day in hours {
total_hours += parse_float(day["hours"]);
}
```
I’ve spent `_total_hours // > 27.5_` on some project.
```{"t":"DynamicTable"}
row(["Month", "Hours"]);
let hours_by_month = #{};
for day in hours {
let month = day["date"].sub_string(0, 7);
let hours = parse_float(day["hours"]);
if month in hours_by_month {
hours_by_month[month] = hours_by_month[month] + hours;
} else {
hours_by_month[month] = hours;
}
}
for month in hours_by_month.keys() {
row([month, hours_by_month[month]]);
}
// > | Month | Hours |
// > |---|---|
// > | 2022-10 | 1.0 |
// > | 2022-11 | 9.5 |
// > | 2023-01 | 8.5 |
// > | 2023-02 | 8.5 |
```
So I can see the results instantly. If I add or change something in the hours list, I can just rerun the command and see the updated values.
I also wanted to be able to use this crate as a library to parse markdown files in other projects as well. But other projects might need other types of custom blocks, for example if I'm rendering webpages, I might want to be able to define some metadata inside the file. That way I can parse the file, get the rendered content, and some structured data about the file that I can use at "parse-time", for example related to templating.
For this, I added an "External"-type block that can contain additional fields in the "header", and where the header and body can be accessed after parsing the file.
Defining metadata about a page written in markdown may therefore look like this (with the meta: true indicating that this is a "meta block"):
```{t: External, meta: true}
title: My page
public: true
navigation:
href: /index.html
title: Back to home
css: |
.page-specific-class {
color: red;
}
```
After parsing the file, I can check for external blocks that set meta: true, and (yaml) parse the content of that block to get the metadata about that file.