DocServe

A tool for quick and easy Markdown project documentation.

DocServe 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.

DocServe can be used as a server to:

• Output documents as insecure HTML on a localhost.
• Output documents as PDF files via the HTML server.

DocServe can also:

• Create a static set of HTML files that contain the documentation and related resources.

Basic usage with the default template:

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

Basic usage with a custom template:

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

Roadmap

We are requesting pull-requests for the following features:

• Clearer heading CSS. H1 and H2 are confusing.
• Test cases and CI steps
• Reload on new files.
• Windows EXE bundle for non-developer use.
• 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.

Getting Started

If you are running from the script:

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

python docserve.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 docserve.py --port                # specify a port for docserve to accept requests on

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

python docserve.py --find-orphans        # display unreferenced media assets in the documentation
python docserve.py --find-broken-links   # display external broken links in the documentation

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

• DS_FLASK_DEBUG flag for enabling or disabling flask debug. Defaults to TRUE.
• DS_FLASK_CHANGERELOAD flag for reloading the server when a file changes. Defaults to TRUE. If set, this forces DS_FLASK_DEBUG to TRUE.
• DS_WKHTMLTOPDF the path to the WkHTMLtoPDF binary. Defaults to wkhtmltopdf_0.12.5.exe.
• DS_DOCS_DIR the path to the directory that contains the documents. Defaults to docs.
• DS_STYLE_DIR the path to the directory that contains the style templates and resources. Defaults to style.
• DS_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 docserve.py # with options

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

WkHTMLtoPDF

To enable PDF output, WkHTMLtoPDF must be set in the config DS_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 docserve.py --max-line-length=110 to static check the code.

Rebuilding the Package

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

python -m twine upload dist/*