Plugins: Support shorthand syntax processing

[jamos-tay]

What is the purpose of this pull request? (put "X" next to an item, remove the rest)

• [X] New feature

Fixes #492

What is the rationale for this request?

We want to be able to support shorthand syntax for certain elements.

What changes did you make? (Give an overview)

Have a feature that transpiles shorthand syntax into proper Markbind syntax before processing.

The current implementation is just a proof of concept. Better to migrate this function to external plugin once #474 is merged.

We can generalize this plugin so other shorthands can be added easily as well. I'm thinking we can handle these all together since they are too small to warrant their own functions/plugins.

Something like this perhaps?

{
  'panel>span[heading]' : (ele) => // modify ... ,
}

[yamgent]

{ 'panel>span[heading]' : (ele) => // modify ... , }

So this is going to be specified by the user in the site configuration file? If code is involved, seems better to have it in a .js file.

[jamos-tay]

Oh yeah, js plugin definitely. I'm just suggesting we have some kind of framework that can be generalized to different syntax transformations.

[yamgent]

I'm just suggesting we have some kind of framework that can be generalized to different syntax transformations.

Understand the point, my question originated because you mentioned the following:

We can generalize this plugin so other shorthands can be added easily as well. I'm thinking we can handle these all together since they are too small to warrant their own functions/plugins.

Will look forward to your actual implementation.

[jamos-tay]

Reviving this PR now that #474 is merged.

Moved to shorthandSyntax plugin.

---

This plugin is kind of empty right now. I'm not sure if it's worth exposing to public (documenting as a plugin) at the moment. How about:

Add a mechanism for 'always-run' plugins i.e. without having to include it in plugins. The way I see it plugins are good for two things:

• Allowing users to enable/disable features
• Keeping the code base clean

This was made as a plugin more for the sake of keeping the code base clean, users are unlikely to need to disable it. Having it always on saves the user from having to add it in every time.

This can also be applied to other features that should be always enabled, such as

• Anchors
• Reading page variables from outer (Allow accessing page variables from outside #682)
• Popovers (Simplify popover and tooltip syntax #551)

[yamgent]

Add a mechanism for 'always-run' plugins i.e. without having to include it in plugins.

As mentioned by Prof in #474 (comment) perhaps this can be enabled by default and allow the user to disable it if necessary.

We can then adjust the documentation as necessary then.

But for now the PR is sound and can actually be incorporated into the codebase. 👍

[jamos-tay]

Waiting on #702 so this can be converted to always-on

[jamos-tay]

Sorry for late update. Plugin has been converted to default (always on) and rebased.

[yamgent]

Propose a merge commit message.

[jamos-tay]

How's this?

Plugins: Shorthand syntax processing

Certain MarkBind elements such as panels require a lot of boilerplate 
HTML to be written in the .md file, which is tedious. We would like to 
have syntax shorthands for such element to make it easier for the 
site author.

Let's create a plugin that can convert shorthand syntaxes into proper 
MarkBind syntax simply, which serves as a framework for more of these
to be added.

[yamgent]

Revised your commit message to use <span heading> as an example:

Plugins: Support shorthand syntax processing (#495)

Certain MarkBind elements such as panels require a lot of boilerplate 
HTML to be written in the .md file, which is tedious. We would like to 
have syntax shorthands for such element to make it easier for the 
site author, so that, for example, instead of writing:

    <panel>
        <span slot="header" class="card-title">
            Heading
        </span>
    </panel>

Authors can write this instead to achieve the same effect:

    <panel>
        <span heading>
            Heading
        </span>
    </panel>

Let's create a plugin that can convert shorthand syntaxes into proper 
MarkBind syntax simply, which serves as a framework for more of these
to be added.