docnado

A rapid documentation tool to blow you away.

Docnado makes it easy to start and maintain a Markdown documentation project. Store your own data your own way.

Basic Features

Docnado renders an adapted Markdown to provide:

• Images, Video, YouTube links, CSV tables.
• Code highlighting.
• File download blocks.
• Lists and Tables.
• Document defined template selection.
• Document Meta-data.
• Auto-generated index sidebar.

Docnado can:

• Output documents as insecure HTML on a localhost.
• Output documents as PDF files via the HTML server.
• Create a static set of HTML files that contain the documentation and related resources.

Advanced Features

• Automatically find broken reference links in the generated HTML
• Automatically find orphan files (i.e. images) that are not referenced by generated HTML

Usage

Basic usage with the default template:

python -m pip install docnado --upgrade
mkdir docs
vim docs/home.md # then add some documentation
docnado

Advanced usage with a custom templates and styles:

python -m pip install docnado --upgrade
docnado --new # copies sample style and docs into working directory
docnado # run the server

Getting Started

If you are running from the script:

python docnado.py                       # start a server on localhost:5000

python docnado.py -h                    # list argument help

python docnado.py --html                # freeze the server into a static site as a set of HTML files
                                        # this will exit with -1 if there was a problem parsing any file

python docnado.py --pdf                 # generate a set of pdf files for each .md file - won't pull through
                                        # static resource files like with the --html command

python docnado.py --nav-limit           # include certain document trees only based on a comma separated list of
                                        # nav strings. e.g. Tooling,Document

python docnado.py --new                 # copy default templates and sample docs into the working directory
                                        # and update the config too, only if they don't already exist

python docnado.py --new-force           # copy default templates and sample docs into the working directory
                                        # and update the config too, this will overwrite any existing docs or
                                        # configs.

python docnado.py --dirs                # display all the different directories Docnado will use to generate
                                        # the documentation

python docnado.py --generate-meta DIR   # generate metadata for markdown files in the specified directory

python docnado.py --find-orphans        # display unreferenced media assets in the documentation

python docnado.py --find-broken-links   # display external broken links in the documentation

python docnado.py --port PORTNUMBER     # specify a port for Docnado to accept requests on

python docnado.py --host HOSTADDRESS    # set the docnado development server to listen on a specified IP address.
                                        # use '0.0.0.0' to listen on all available IPs

Writing Documentation

Documents are managed using meta-data at the top of each document. Documents can select which template they present themselves with. Documents must end in lowercase .md. For example: mydocument.md.

Environment Variables

• DN_FLASK_DEBUG flag for enabling or disabling flask debug. Defaults to TRUE.
• DN_RELOAD_ON_CHANGES flag for reloading the server when a file changes. Defaults to TRUE.
• DN_WKHTMLTOPDF the path to the WkHTMLtoPDF binary. Defaults to wkhtmltopdf_0.12.5.exe.
• DN_DOCS_DIR the path to the directory that contains the documents. Defaults to docs.
• DN_STYLE_DIR the path to the directory that contains the style templates and resources. Defaults to style.
• DN_PROJECT_LOGO the path to the project logo PNG file. Defaults to logo.png in the current working directory.

Development

Virtual Environment

python -m virtualenv env
env/Scripts/activate.bat # or the bash equivalent
pip install -r requirements.txt

python docnado.py # with options

pip install flake8
flake8 docnado.py --max-line-length=120

WkHTMLtoPDF

To enable PDF output, WkHTMLtoPDF must be set in the config DN_WKHTMLTOPDF or wkhtmltopdf_0.12.5.exe placed in working directory.

This build uses version 0.12.5. Get it from here: https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html

SCSS

The default theme is built using SCSS.

The SASSC compiler can be found here: http://libsass.ocbnet.ch/installer/ Usage: sassc style/static/default.scss style/static/default.css

If you want it to auto-watch, run as admin from this directory, and remember to disable your browser cache:

pip install watchdog
watchmedo shell-command --patterns="*.scss" --recursive --command='echo "${watch_src_path}" && sassc style/static/default.scss style/static/default.css' .

Style

We use flake8 docnado.py --max-line-length=110 to static check the code.

Rebuilding the Package

PyPi

python -m pip install --user --upgrade setuptools wheel twine
python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel

python -m twine upload dist/*

Executable

env\Scripts\activate.bat
pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller docnado.py

Roadmap

We are requesting pull-requests for the following features:

• Test cases and CI steps
• Responsive design in default template.
• Generate a large PDF file made from multiple documents (including table of contents with page numbers).
• Gravatar print CSS / absent internet in the default theme.
• Examples of Python extensions and SCSS extensions.
• New template themes.