code-to-essay

The library essay is a code generator from a readme file but this library is a reverse operation.

Inspiration

I used eassy and made a simple project that can generate many code files of javascript (ES7). That can create a good document because you can update code and docs in the same time. I would like to create a converter from code files structure into readme. It will be also created by essay after convert them.

• essay: https://github.com/dtinth/essay

Getting started

1. Install this library

npm i -g code-to-essay

1. Write a pathname with prefix c2e: in your README.md

c2e:src/main.js

1. Convert them with command

c2e

1. Setting your project follow essay format (https://github.com/dtinth/essay)

Now, the project could be generated by essay.

Implementation

main.js will start first when you call c2e build.

// main.js
#!/usr/bin/env node
import { getTextFromFile, writeFileFromText } from './file'
import { convertLinesToContexts } from './converter'
const README = getTextFromFile(`./README.md`)
const lines = README.split('\n')
const newContexts = convertLinesToContexts(lines)
const newDocs = newContexts.join('\n')
writeFileFromText(newDocs, './README.md')

converter.js is a module that contains

• isCode check this line is start with c2e: that mean This line is code, right ?
• convertCodeToContext convert code c2e: to context (code and block)
• convertLineToContext pass line as params and return the correct context
• convertLinesToContexts convert all lines to contexts (array)

// converter.js
import { getTextFromFile, writeFileFromText } from './file.js'
 
const isCode = (line) => {
  return line.indexOf('c2e:') === 0
}
 
const convertCodeToContext = (line) => {
  const pathname = line.split(':').pop()
  const header = `// ${pathname}`
  const code = getTextFromFile(pathname)
  const end = "\`\`\`"
  const start = end + 'js'
  const context = [start, header, code, end].join('\n')
  return context
}
 
const convertLineToContext = (line) => {
  return isCode(line) ? convertCodeToContext(line) : line
}
 
export const convertLinesToContexts = (lines) => {
  const contexts = lines.map((line) => {
    const context = convertLineToContext(line)
    return context
  })
  return contexts
}

file.js is a module that contains

• getTextFromFile receive pathname and return text
• writeFileFromText receive text and pathname as params and write file

// file.js
import { resolve, join } from 'path'
import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from 'fs'
 
const projectPath = resolve()
 
export const getTextFromFile = (pathname) => {
  console.log("%s %s", "Reading", pathname)
  return readFileSync(join(projectPath, pathname), 'utf-8')
}
 
export const writeFileFromText = (text, pathname) => {
  console.log("%s %s", "Writing", pathname)
  return writeFileSync(join(projectPath, pathname), text, 'utf-8')
}