#  Snekdown - More than just Markdown 
This projects goal is to implement a fast markdown parser with an extended syntax fitted
for my needs.
## Installation
You need a working rust installation, for example by using [rustup](http://rustup.rs).
```sh
cargo install snekdown
```
With pdf rendering
```sh
cargo install snekdown --features pdf
```
## Usage
```
USAGE:
snekdown [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND]
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
--no-cache Don't use the cache
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-f, --format the output format [default: html]
ARGS:
Path for the output file
SUBCOMMANDS:
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
render Default. Parse and render the document
watch Watch the document and its imports and render on change
```
## Syntax
### Images
```md
Simple Syntax
!(url)
Extended syntax with a description
Extended syntax with metadata to specify the size
[metadata]
Extended syntax with metadata and no description
!(url)[metadata]
```
When generating the html file the images are base64 embedded. To turn off this behaviour
set the config parameter `embed-external` to `false`.
### Quotes
```md
Simple (default) Syntax
> This is a quote
Multiline
> This is a
> Multiline Quote
Quote with metadata (e.g. Author)
[author=Trivernis year=2020 display='{{author}} - {{year}}']> This is a quote with metadata
```
### Imports
Imports can be used to import a different document to be attached to the main document.
Imports are parsed via multithreading.
```md
<[path]
<[document.md]
<[style.css][type=stylesheet]
```
The parser differentiates four different types of imported files.
- `document` - The default import which is just another snekdown document
- `stylesheet` - CSS Stylesheets that are inclued when rendering
- `bibliography` - A file including bibliography
- `config`/`manifest` - A config file that contains metadata
If no type is provided the parser guesses the type of file from the extension.
### Tables
Tables MUST start with a pipe character `|`
```md
Standalone header:
| header | header | header
Header with rows
| header | header | header
|--------|--------|-------
| row | row | row
```
### Placeholders
Placeholders can be used to insert special elements in a specific place.
Placeholders are always case insensitive.
```md
Insert the table of contents
[[TOC]]
Insert the current date
[[date]]
Insert the current time
[[time]]
```
### Metadata
Additional metadata can be provided for some elements.
```md
String value
[key = value]
String value
[key = "String value"]
Integer value
[key = 123]
Float value
[key = 1.23]
Boolean
[key]
Boolean
[key = false]
Placeholder
[key = [[placeholder]]]
```
Metadata can also be defined in a separate toml file with simple key-value pairs.
Example:
```toml
# bibliography.bib.toml
author = "Snek"
published = "2020"
test-key = ["test value", "test value 2"]
# those files won't get imported
ignored-imports = ["style.css"]
# stylesheets that should be included
included-stylesheets = ["style2.css"]
# other metadata files that should be included
included-configs = []
# bibliography that should be included
included-bibliography = ["mybib.toml"]
# glossary that sould be included
included-glossary = ["myglossary.toml"]
# if external sources (images, stylesheets, MathJax)
# should be embedded into the document (default: true)
embed-external = true
# If SmartArrows should be used (default: true)
smart-arrows = true
# Includes a MathJax script tag in the document to render MathML in chromium.
# (default: true)
include-math-jax = true
```
The `[Section]` keys are not relevant as the structure gets flattened before the values are read.
#### Usage
```
Hide a section (including subsections) in the TOC
#[toc-hidden] Section
Set the size of an image
!(url)[width = 42% height=auto]
Set the source of a quote
[author=Me date=[[date]] display="{{author}} - {{date}}"]> It's me
Set options for placeholders
[[toc]][ordered]
```
### Centered Text
```
|| These two lines
|| are centered
```
### Inline
```md
*Italic*
**Bold**
~~Striked~~
_Underlined_
^Superscript^
`Monospace`
:Emoji:
§[#0C0]Colored text§[] §[red] red §[]
```
## Bibliography
Bibliography entries can be defined and referenced anywhere in the document.
Definition:
```md
[SD_BOOK]:[type=book, author=Snek, title = "Snekdown Book" date="20.08.2020", publisher=Snek]
[SD_GITHUB]: https://github.com/trivernis/snekdown
```
Usage:
```
There is a book about snekdown[^book] and a github repo[^github].
```
Entries can also be defined in a separate toml file with the following data layout:
```toml
# snekdown.toml
[BIB_KEY]
key = "value"
[SD_BOOK]
type = "book"
author = "Snek"
title = "Snekdown Book"
date = "20.08.2020"
publisher = "Snek"
[SD_GITHUB]
type = "website"
url = "https://github.com/trivernis/snekdown"
```
The valid types for entries and required fields can be found on in the [bibliographix README](https://github.com/Trivernis/bibliographix#bibliography-types-and-fields).
Bibliography entries are not rendered. To render a list of used bibliography insert the
`bib` placeholder at the place you want it to be rendered.
## Glossary
Glossary entries are to be defined in a `glossary.toml` file or any other toml file
that is imported as type `glossary`.
The definition of glossary entries has to follow the following structure
```toml
[SHORT]
long = "Long Form"
description = "The description of the entry"
# Example
[HTML]
long = "Hypertext Markup Language"
description = "The markup language of the web"
```
Those glossary entries can be referenced in the snekdown file as follows:
```md
~HTML is widely used for websites.
The format ~HTML is not considered a programming language by some definitions.
~~HTML
```
The first occurence of the glossary entry (`~HTML`) always uses the long form.
The second will always be the short form. The long form can be enforced by using two
(`~~HTML`) tildes.
## Math
Snekdown allows the embedding of [AsciiMath](http://asciimath.org/):
The AsciiMath parser is provided in the [asciimath-rs](https://github.com/Trivernis/asciimath-rs) crate
```
inline math $$ a^2 + b^2 = c^2 $$
Block Math
$$$
A = [[1, 2],[3,4]]
$$$
```
The expression get's converted into MathML which is then converted by MathJax when loaded in
the browser.
## Smart Arrows
Snekdown automatically renders the sequences `-->`, `==>`, `<--`, `<==`, `<-->`, `<==>` as
their respective unicode arrows (similar to [markdown-it-smartarrows](https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-it-smartarrows)).
This behavior can be turned off by setting the config parameter `smart-arrows` to `false`
(the config needs to be imported before the arrows are used for that to work).
## Roadmap
The end goal is to have a markup language with features similar to LaTeX.
- [x] Checkboxes
- [x] Emojis (\:emoji:)
- [x] Colors
- [x] Watching and rendering on change
- [x] Metadata files
- [x] Bibliography
- [x] Math
- [x] Glossary
- [x] Chromium based pdf rendering
- [x] Custom Stylesheets
- [x] Smart arrows
- [ ] Custom Elements via templates (50%)
- [ ] Cross References
- [ ] Figures
- [ ] EPUB Rendering
- [ ] Text sizes
- [ ] Title pages