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-rw-r--r-- | doc/using-the-pandoc-api.md | 133 |
1 files changed, 98 insertions, 35 deletions
diff --git a/doc/using-the-pandoc-api.md b/doc/using-the-pandoc-api.md index 6054df77d..3d4da3659 100644 --- a/doc/using-the-pandoc-api.md +++ b/doc/using-the-pandoc-api.md @@ -27,21 +27,19 @@ conversions with $M$ readers and $N$ writers. The Pandoc AST is defined in the [pandoc-types](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types) package. You should start by looking at the Haddock -documentation for -[Text.Pandoc.Definition](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types/docs/Text-Pandoc-Definition.html). As you'll see, a `Pandoc` is -composed of some metadata and a list of `Block`s. There are -various kinds of `Block`, including `Para` (paragraph), -`Header` (section heading), and `BlockQuote`. Some of the -`Block`s (like `BlockQuote`) contain lists of `Block`s, -while others (like `Para`) contain lists of `Inline`s, and -still others (like `CodeBlock`) contain plain text or -nothing. `Inline`s are the basic elements of paragraphs. -The distinction between `Block` and `Inline` in the type -system makes it impossible to represent, for example, -a link (`Inline`) whose link text is a block quote (`Block`). -This expressive limitation is mostly a help rather than a -hindrance, since many of the formats pandoc supports have -similar limitations. +documentation for [Text.Pandoc.Definition]. As you'll see, a +`Pandoc` is composed of some metadata and a list of `Block`s. +There are various kinds of `Block`, including `Para` +(paragraph), `Header` (section heading), and `BlockQuote`. Some +of the `Block`s (like `BlockQuote`) contain lists of `Block`s, +while others (like `Para`) contain lists of `Inline`s, and still +others (like `CodeBlock`) contain plain text or nothing. +`Inline`s are the basic elements of paragraphs. The distinction +between `Block` and `Inline` in the type system makes it +impossible to represent, for example, a link (`Inline`) whose +link text is a block quote (`Block`). This expressive +limitation is mostly a help rather than a hindrance, since many +of the formats pandoc supports have similar limitations. The best way to explore the pandoc AST is to use `pandoc -t native`, which will display the AST correspoding to some @@ -101,7 +99,7 @@ The `PandocMonad m =>` part is a typeclass constraint. It says that `readMarkdown` and `writeRST` define computations that can be used in any instance of the `PandocMonad` type class. `PandocMonad` is defined in the module -Text.Pandoc.Class. +[Text.Pandoc.Class]. Two instances of `PandocMonad` are provided: `PandocIO` and `PandocPure`. The difference is that computations run in @@ -112,8 +110,7 @@ to prevent users from doing anything malicious. To run the conversion in `PandocIO`, use `runIO` (as above). To run it in `PandocPure`, use `runPure`. -As you can see from the Haddocks, -[Text.Pandoc.Class](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Class.html) +As you can see from the Haddocks, [Text.Pandoc.Class] exports many auxiliary functions that can be used in any instance of `PandocMonad`. For example: @@ -156,14 +153,17 @@ section, we could do this: writeRST def doc ``` +Note that `PandocIO` is an instance of `MonadIO`, so you can +use `liftIO` to perform arbitrary IO operations inside a pandoc +conversion chain. + # Options The first argument of each reader or writer is for options controlling the behavior of the reader or writer: `ReaderOptions` for readers and `WriterOptions` -for writers. These are defined in -[Text.Pandoc.Options](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Options.html). It is a good idea to study these -options to see what can be adjusted. +for writers. These are defined in [Text.Pandoc.Options]. It is +a good idea to study these options to see what can be adjusted. `def` (from Data.Default) denotes a default value for each kind of option. (You can also use `defaultWriterOptions` @@ -184,13 +184,13 @@ Some particularly important options to know about: 2. `readerExtensions` and `writerExtensions`: These specify the extensions to be used in parsing and rendering. - Extensions are defined in [Text.Pandoc.Extensions](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Extensions.html). + Extensions are defined in [Text.Pandoc.Extensions]. # Builder Sometimes it's useful to construct a Pandoc document programatically. To make this easier we provide the -module [Text.Pandoc.Builder](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types/docs/Text-Pandoc-Definition.html) in `pandoc-types`. +module [Text.Pandoc.Builder] `pandoc-types`. Because concatenating lists is slow, we use special types `Inlines` and `Blocks` that wrap a `Sequence` of @@ -292,36 +292,99 @@ main = do Voila! You've written the letter without using Word and without looking at the data. -# Templates and other data files - -readDataFile - -getTemplate +# Data files + +Pandoc has a number of data files, which can be found in the +`data/` subdirectory of the repository. These are installed +with pandoc (or, if pandoc was compiled with the +`embed_data_files` flag, they are embedded in the binary). +You can retrieve data files using `readDataFile` from +Text.Pandoc.Class. `readDataFile` will first look for the +file in the "user data directory" (`setUserDataDir`, +`getUserDataDir`), and if it is not found there, it will +return the default installed with the system. +To force the use of the default, `setUserDataDir Nothing`. + +# Templates + +Pandoc has its own template system, described in the User's +Guide. To retrieve the default template for a system, +use `getDefaultTemplate` from [Text.Pandoc.Templates]. +Note that this looks first in the +`templates` subdirectory of the user data directory, allowing +users to override the system defaults. If you want to disable +this behavior, use `setUserDataDir Nothing`. + +To render a template, use `renderTemplate'`, which takes two +arguments, a template (String) and a context (any instance +of ToJSON). # Handling errors and warnings -Text.Pandoc.Error -Text.Pandoc.Logging -getLog -verbosity +`runIO` and `runPure` return an `Either PandocError a`. All errors +raised in running a `PandocMonad` computation will be trapped +and returned as a `Left` value, so they can be handled by +the calling program. To see the constructors for `PandocError`, +see the documentation for [Text.Pandoc.Error]. + +To raise a `PandocError` from inside a `PandocMonad` computation, +use `throwError`. + +In addition to errors, which stop execution of the conversion +pipeline, one can generate informational messages. +Use `report` from [Text.Pandoc.Class] to issue a `LogMessage`. +For a list of cosntructors for `LogMessage`, see +[Text.Pandoc.Logging]. Note that each type of log message +is associated with a verbosity level. The verbosity level +(`setVerbosity`/`getVerbosity`) determines whether the report +will be printed to stderr (when running in `PandocIO`), but +regardless of verbosity level, all reported messages are stored +internally and may be retrieved using `getLog`. # Walking the AST -Text.Pandoc.Walk for AST transformations +It is often useful to walk the Pandoc AST either to extract +information (e.g., what are all the URLs linked to in this +document?, do all the code samples compile?) or to transform a +document (e.g., increase the level of every section header, +remove emphasis, or replace specially marked code blocks with +images). To make this easier and more efficient, `pandoc-types` +includes a module [Text.Pandoc.Walk]. + walk and query, with examples -(don't bother mentioning syb) +including RawBlock # Filters -Filters: see filters.md +These make it easy for users to add their own transformations. +two types: json and lua. +Filters: see filters.md, lua-filters.md applyFilters, applyLuaFilters from Text.Pandoc.App. # Creating a PDF Text.Pandoc.PDF +makePDF (and note relevant parts of WriterOptions, +writerPdfArgs) +Actually: why not add writePdfEngine instead of having +this as a parameter? Or, make both parameters of makePDF. +Present hybrid makes no sense. +Should pdfengine be an enumerated type? # Creating a front-end +to write a gui front end: Text.Pandoc.App +TODO: pandoc-servant? + +[Text.Pandoc.Definition]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types/docs/Text-Pandoc-Definition.html +[Text.Pandoc.Walk]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types/docs/Text-Pandoc-Walk.html +[Text.Pandoc.Class]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Class.html +[Text.Pandoc.Options]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Options.html +[Text.Pandoc.Extensions]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Extensions.html +[Text.Pandoc.Builder]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-types/docs/Text-Pandoc-Definition.html +[Text.Pandoc.Templates]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Templates.html +[Text.Pandoc.Logging]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Logging.html +[Text.Pandoc.Error]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc/docs/Text-Pandoc-Error.html |