Markdoc
A markdown to html converter with sequence diagram and flowchart support. Generating documents including diagrams has advantages:
- Docs can be checked into version control like source code, and can compare changes effectively as it is all text
- Making and updating diagrams using drawing software is slow
It converts markdown codeblocks for diagrams using Graphviz and plotutils. Pseudocode to Graphviz is inspired by this gist. Pseudocode is converted to dot file and then Graphviz's dot
program converts it to vector image. Sequence diagram uses sequence.pic
macros from umlgraph to convert sequence diagram code to plotutls' pic format. Plotutils' pic2plot
program generates vector image from the pic.
System requirements
- Ruby 1.9.2 and up
- Graphviz (tested with dot version 2.38.0)
- Plotutils (tested with pic2plot 2.6)
OS X
$ brew install graphviz plotutils
Linux (deb)
$ apt-get install graphviz plotutils
Installing
$ gem install markdoc
For bundler add gem markdoc
to your Gemfile.
Usage
$ markdoc document.md > document.html
Generated html includes inline svg diagrams, eliminating need for attached image files. It provides 3 executables:
markdoc
converts markdown document to htmlpseudo2svg
converts pseudocode to svg image (see below for pseudocode format)sequence2svg
converts sequence diagram spec to svg image(see below for sequence diagram spec format)
Pseudocode blocks
Currently it supports only if/else
branch logic, but you can achieve a lot with it.
if ConditionN
Action-A
Action-B
else
Action-C
end
Include codeblock with pseudo
language in your markdown.
```pseudo visit registration page enter email address if new user fill in registration form submit if validation error fix registration form review the fix submit else submit end else enter password if password wrong ask password again else good to go end confirm account info end confirm registration info ```
Or you could compile individual pseudocode to vector image. Below is generated by:
$ pseudo2svg examples/example.pseudo > examples/flowchart.svg
Sequence diagram
Include codeblock with sequence
language in your markdown. Sequence diagram starts with actor declaration(becomes symbol of man), then object declaration(becomes big rectangles with vertical lifeline), then follows messages. Message format is:
A -> B : Label
- Arrow from A to B with Label over it. Arrows work either way, so it is equivalent toB <- A : Label
A <~ B : Label
- Dashed arrow representing return message. Also works for other direction. so it is same asB ~> A : Label
C : Label
- Message to C itself. Actually it is same asC -> C : Label
```sequence Student = Actor P = Partner Site App = Web App Api = Reg API Student -> P : Choose course(S) P -> Api : Issue key for(S) P <~ Api : Registration key(K) P -> App : Register with key(K) Student <~ App : Registration form Student -> App : Fill the form(F) App : Save the form(F) App -> Api : Register(K, F) # New API Api : Create course App <~ Api : Course details(C) App : Save(C) Student <~ App : Show course summary Student -> Api : Click study button Student <~ Api : Show mypage ```
Or you could compile individual sequence diagram to vector image. Below is generated by:
$ sequence2svg examples/example.sequence > examples/sequence.svg
Others
When printing docs you might want to break pages at specific line. You can use this markup for that:
<p class="page-break"><!-- break --></p>
See examples/doc.md for complete example.
Contributing
Fork the repo, and send a pull request. I promise I will merge almost all PR's as soon as you don't break existing behaviour. ;) More than welcome if you implement other diagram types. Please add a bit of test for your implementation if you add a feature.
Boring legal stuff
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) Lkhagva Ochirkhuyag, 2015
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.