pollen/scribblings/formats.scrbl

157 lines
7.1 KiB
Racket

This file contains invisible Unicode characters!

This file contains invisible Unicode characters that may be processed differently from what appears below. If your use case is intentional and legitimate, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal hidden characters.

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters that may be confused with others in your current locale. If your use case is intentional and legitimate, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to highlight these characters.

#lang scribble/manual
@(require scribble/eval pollen/render pollen/world (for-label racket (except-in pollen #%module-begin) pollen/world sugar pollen/pagetree))
@(define my-eval (make-base-eval))
@(my-eval `(require pollen pollen/file))
@title{File formats}
@section{Source formats}
@defmodulelang*[(pollen/pre pollen/markdown pollen/markup pollen/ptree)]
The Pollen language is divided into variants, or @italic{dialects}, that are tailored to suit each of the core source formats.
These dialects can be invoked one of two ways: either by invoking a specific dialect in the first line of the file (also known as the @tt{#lang} line), or by using the generic @tt{#lang pollen} as the first line, and then the correct dialect will be automatically selected based on the source file extension.
If the @tt{#lang} line specifies a dialect different from the one specified by the file extension, the @tt{#lang} line will take precedence.
For ease of use, the behavior of the Pollen language departs from the standard Racket language in several ways. The differences are noted below.
@subsection{Command syntax using }
Commands must start with the special lozenge character @litchar{}. Other material is interpreted as plain text. See @secref["reader"] for more.
@bold{How is this different from Racket?} In Racket, everything is a command, and plain text must be quoted.
@subsection{Any command is valid}
There are no undefined commands in Pollen. If a command has not already been defined, it's treated as a tag function. See @secref["reader"] for more.
@bold{How is this different from Racket?} In Racket, if you try to treat an identifier as a function before defining it with @racket[define], you'll get an error.
@subsection{Standard exports}
By default, every Pollen source file exports two identifiers, which you can access by using the source file with @racket[require]:
@racket[doc] contains the output of the file. The type of output depends on the source format (documented below).
@racket[metas] is a hash of keyvalue pairs with extra information that is extracted from the source. These @racket[metas] will always contain the key @racket['here-path], which returns a string representation of the full path to the source file. Beyond that, the only @racket[metas] are the ones that are specified within the source file (see the source formats below for more detail on how to specify metas).
@margin-note{The Pollen rendering system relies on these two identifiers, but otherwise doesn't care how they're generated. Meaning, the code inside your Pollen source file could be @tt{#lang racket} or @tt{#lang whatever}. As long as you manually @racket[provide] those two identifiers and follow the usual file-naming convention, your source file will be usable.}
@bold{How is this different from Racket?} In Racket, you must explicitly @racket[define] and then @racket[provide] any values you want to export.
@subsection{Custom exports}
Any value or function that is defined within the source file using @racket[define] is automatically exported.
@bold{How is this different from Racket?} In Racket, you must explicitly @racket[provide] any values you want to export. Unlike Racket, every Pollen source file impliedly uses @racket[(provide (all-defined-out))].
@subsection{The @filepath{directory-require.rkt} file}
If a file called @filepath{directory-require.rkt} exists in the same directory with a source file, it's automatically imported when the source file is compiled.
@bold{How is this different from Racket?} In Racket, you must explicitly import files using @racket[require].
@subsection{Preprocessor (@(format ".~a" world:preproc-source-ext) extension)}
Invoke the preprocessor dialect by using @code{#lang pollen/pre} as the first line of your source file, or by using @code{#lang pollen} with a file extension of @code{@(format ".~a" world:preproc-source-ext)}. These forms are equivalent:
@racketmod[#:file "sample.css.pp" pollen
_...source...
]
@racketmod[#:file "sample.css" pollen/pre
_...source...
]
When no dialect is explicitly specified by either the @tt{#lang} line or the file extension, Pollen will default to using the preprocessor dialect. For instance, this file will be treated as preprocessor source:
@racketmod[#:file "test.yyz" pollen
_...source...
]
Of course, you're better off specifying the preprocessor dialect explicitly rather than relying on this default behavior.
The output of the preprocessor dialect, provided by @racket['doc], is plain text.
@subsection{Markdown (@(format ".~a" world:markdown-source-ext) extension)}
Invoke the Markdown dialect by using @code{#lang pollen/markdown} as the first line of your source file, or by using @code{#lang pollen} with a file extension of @code{@(format ".~a" world:markdown-source-ext)}. These forms are equivalent:
@racketmod[#:file "sample.txt.pmd" pollen
_...source...
]
@racketmod[#:file "sample.txt" pollen/markdown
_...source...
]
The output of the Markdown dialect, provided by @racket[doc], is a tagged X-expression.
@subsection{Markup (@(format ".~a" world:markup-source-ext) extension)}
Invoke the Pollen markup dialect by using @code{#lang pollen/markup} as the first line of your source file, or by using @code{#lang pollen} with a file extension of @code{@(format ".~a" world:markup-source-ext)}. These forms are equivalent:
@racketmod[#:file "about.html.pm" pollen
_...source...
]
@racketmod[#:file "about.html" pollen/markup
_...source...
]
The output of the Pollen markup dialect, provided by @racket[doc], is a tagged X-expression.
@subsection{Pagetree (@(format ".~a" world:pagetree-source-ext) extension)}
Invoke the pagetree dialect by using @code{#lang pollen/ptree} as the first line of your source file, or by using @code{#lang pollen} with a file extension of @code{@(format ".~a" world:pagetree-source-ext)}. These forms are equivalent:
@racketmod[#:file "main.ptree" pollen
_...source...
]
@racketmod[#:file "main.rkt" pollen/ptree
_...source...
]
The output of the pagetree dialect, provided by @racket[doc], is a @racket[pagetree?] that is checked for correctness using @racket[validate-pagetree].
@section{Utility formats}
These aren't source formats because they don't contain a @tt{#lang pollen} line. But for convenience, they get special handling by the Pollen project server.
@subsection{Scribble (@(format ".~a" world:scribble-source-ext) extension)}
Scribble files are recognized by the project server and can be compiled and previewed in single-page mode.
@subsection{Null (@(format ".~a" world:null-source-ext) extension)}
Files with the null extension are simply rendered as a copy of the file without the extension, so @filepath{index.html.p} becomes @filepath{index.html}.
This can be useful you're managing your project with git. Most likely you'll want to ignore @filepath{*.html} and other file types that are frequently regenerated by the project server. But if you have isolated static files  for instance, a @filepath{index.html} that doesn't have source associated with it  they'll be ignored too. You can cure this problem by appending the null extension to these static files, so they'll be tracked in your source system without actually being source files.