ext

Value Members

1. object Directives

   

   API for creating directives, the extension mechanism of reStructuredText.

   API for creating directives, the extension mechanism of reStructuredText. The API did not aim to mimic the API of the original Python reference implementation. Instead the goal was to create an API that is idiomatic Scala, fully typesafe and as concise as possible. Yet it should be flexible enough to semantically support the options of the Python directives, so that ideally most existing Python directives could theoretically get ported to Laika.

   Entry points are the BlockDirective and SpanDirective objects. The Python reference parser does not make this distinction on the API level, but does this internally based on the context a directive is parsed in. Since Laika APIs are typesafe, the distinction is necessary since block level and span level directives create different types of document tree nodes. A SpanDirective can only be used in a substitution definition which can then be used within flow elements. A BlockDirective can be used directly in any location other block level content like paragraphs or lists can be used.

   A directive may consist of any combination of arguments, fields and body elements:

   .. myDirective:: arg1 arg2
    :field1: value1
    :field2: value2
   
    This is the body of the directive. It may consist of any standard or custom
    block-level and inline markup.

   In the example above arg1 and arg2 are arguments, field1 and field2 are fields, and followed by body elements after a blank line. If there are no arguments or fields the blank line may be omitted. For the full specification, see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#directives.

   For each of these directive elements, the API offers a method to specify whether the element is required or optional, and an optional function to convert or validate the parsed value.

   Consider the following simple example of a directive with just one argument and a body:

   .. note:: This is the title
   
    This is the body of the note.

   The implementation of this directive could look like this:

   case class Note (title: String,
                    content: Seq[Block],
                    options: Options = NoOpt) extends Block
                                              with BlockContainer[Note]
   
   object MyDirectives extends RstExtensionRegistry {
     val blockDirectives = Seq(
       BlockDirective("note") {
         (argument(withWS = true) ~ blockContent)(Note(_,_))
       }
     )
     val spanDirectives = Nil
     val textRoles = Nil
   )
   
   Transform from ReStructuredText to HTML using
     MyDirectives fromFile "hello.rst" toFile "hello.html"

   The argument() method specifies a required argument of type String (since no conversion function was supplied). We need to set the withWS flag to true as an argument cannot have whitespace per default. The blockContent method specifies standard block content (any block-level elements that are supported in normal blocks, too) which results in a parsed value of type Seq[Block]. Finally you need to provide a function that accepts the results of the specified directive elements as parameters (of the corresponding type). Here we created a case class with a matching signature so can pass it directly as the target function. For a block directive the final result has to be of type Block which the Note class satisfies. Finally the directive gets registered with the ReStructuredText parser.

   If any conversion or validation is required on the individual parts of the directive they can be passed to the corresponding function:

   def nonNegativeInt (value: String) =
     try {
       val num = value.toInt
       Either.cond(num >= 0, num, s"not a positive int: $num")
     }
     catch {
       case e: NumberFormatException => Left(s"not a number: $value")
     }
   
   case class Message (severity: Int,
                       content: Seq[Block],
                       options: Options = NoOpt) extends Block
                                                 with BlockContainer[Message]
   
   object MyDirectives extends RstExtensionRegistry {
     val blockDirectives = Seq(
       BlockDirective("message") {
         (argument(nonNegativeInt) ~ blockContent)(Message(_,_))
       }
     )
     val spanDirectives = Nil
     val textRoles = Nil
   )

   The function has to provide an Either[String, T] as a result. A Left result will be interpreted as an error by the parser with the string being used as the message and an instance of InvalidBlock containing the validator message and the raw source of the directive will be inserted into the document tree. In this case the final function (Message) will never be invoked. A Right result will be used as an argument to the final function. Note how the case class now expects an Int as the first parameter.

   Finally arguments and fields can also be optional. In case they are missing, the directive is still considered valid and None will be passed to your function:

   case class Message (severity: Option[Int],
                       content: Seq[Block],
                       options: Options = NoOpt) extends Block
                                                 with BlockContainer[Message]
   
   object MyDirectives extends RstExtensionRegistry {
     val blockDirectives = Seq(
       BlockDirective("message") {
         (optArgument(nonNegativeInt) ~ blockContent)(Message(_,_))
       }
     )
     val spanDirectives = Nil
     val textRoles = Nil
   }

   The argument may be missing, but if it is present it has to pass the specified validator.

   In case of multiple arguments, the order you specify them is also the order in which they are parsed from the directive markup, with the only exception being that required arguments will always be parsed before optional ones, and arguments with whitespace need to come last.

2. object ExtensionParsers

   

   Provides the parsers for all types of extensions (directives and text roles).

3. object TextRoles

   

   API for creating interpreted text roles, the extension mechanism for inline elements of reStructuredText.

   API for creating interpreted text roles, the extension mechanism for inline elements of reStructuredText. The API did not aim to mimic the API of the original Python reference implementation. Instead the goal was to create an API that is idiomatic Scala, fully typesafe and as concise as possible. Yet it should be flexible enough to semantically support the options of the Python text roles, so that ideally most existing Python text roles could theoretically get ported to Laika.

   Entry point for creating a new role is the TextRole object. It allows to specify the following aspects that define a text role:

   • The name with which it can be referred to by both, a span of interpreted text and a role directive to further customize it.
   • The default value, that should get passed to the role function in case it is used directly in interpreted text without customization through a role directive.
   • The role directive that specifies how the role can be customized. The options for role directives are almost identical to regular directives, the only difference being that role directives do not support arguments, only fields and body elements.
   • The actual role function. It gets invoked for each occurrence of interpreted text that refers to this role, either directly by name or to the name of a role directive that customized this role. The first argument is either the default value or the result of the role directive, the second is the actual text of the interpreted text span. The return value of the role function is the actual Span instance that the original interpreted text should be replaced with.

   A role directive may consist of any combination of fields and body elements:

   .. role:: ticket(link)
    :base-url: http://www.company.com/tickets/

   In the example above ticket is the name of the customized role, link the name of the base role and base-url the value that overrides the default defined in the base role. For the specification details on role directives see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#custom-interpreted-text-roles.

   Before such a role directive can be used, an implementation has to be provided for the base role with the name link. For more details on implementing directives see laika.rst.ext.Directives.

   The implementation of the link text role could look like this:

   val textRole = TextRole("link", "http://www.company.com/main/")(field("base-url")) {
     (base, text) => Link(List(Text(text)), base + text)
   }
   
   object MyDirectives extends RstExtensionRegistry {
     val textRoles = Seq(textRole)
     val spanDirectives = Seq()
     val blockDirectives = Seq()
   }
   
   Transform from ReStructuredText to HTML using
     MyDirectives fromFile "hello.rst" toFile "hello.html"

   We specify the name of the role to be link, and the default value the URL provided as the second argument. The second parameter list specifies the role directive implementation, in this case only consisting of a call to field("base-url") which specifies a required field of type String (since no conversion function was supplied). The type of the result of the directive has to match the type of the default value. Finally the role function is defined that accepts two arguments. The first is the base url, either the default in case the base role is used directly, or the value specified with the base-url field in a customized role. The second is the actual text from the interpreted text span. Finally the directive gets registered with the ReStructuredText parser.

   If you need to define more fields or body content they can be added with the ~ combinator just like with normal directives. Likewise you can specify validators and converters for fields and body values like documented in laika.rst.ext.Directives.

   Our example role can then be used in the following ways:

   Using the base role directly:

   For details read our :link:`documentation`.

   This would result in the following HTML:

   For details read our <a href="http://www.company.com/main/documentation">documentation</a>.

   Using the customized role called ticket:

   For details see ticket :ticket:`344`.

   This would result in the following HTML:

   For details see ticket <a href="http://www.company.com/ticket/344">344</a>.