Markup Language, Grid-Based (MLGB)
parses sheets into a JSON.
MLGB grammer is defined recursively.
input of MLGB is a list of list of string.
by parsing top-left corner of input, the MLGB type is determined.
if first grid of first row is empty string, a special MLGB vlaue, No value is returned.
if first row of input contains:
- only one element;
- first grid with non-empty string and second grid with empty string
the value is "Literal JSON value", which means: if the string itself is a valid JSON, parser will return as its JSON value. else, it would be the string as it is.
string FALSE will be parsed as JSON value false.
string TRUE will be parsed as JSON value true.
"1" will be parsed as string 1 instead of number 1, using similar value to represent number string.
"" will be parsed as empty string, instead of No value.
if first grid of first row is not - or #, it will be parsed as a JSON object.
if first grid of first row is -, MLGB parser will scan through first column, if not all non-empty string are -, it will be parsed as a JSON object.
first, an empty result JSON object will be constructed.
then, scan through the first column of input. when a non-empty string is found, it is considered as a MLGB JSON-Object key.
let i_this and i_next be the index of row of this non-empty string and next non-empty string,
the MLGB value of (zero-index) range of row [i_this, i_next) and column of [1, last_column] will be the value of this key.
the key is a dot(.)-separated key representing the path of JSON object. as a special case, solely one dot (.) representing the current path.
One solely dot is very useful in some cases, more examples to be presented here.
value of three dots must be a valid JSON-Object value, and it would be merged with current return object. unless, the whole JSON-Object will be parsed as a No value.
if the JSON-Object value is No value, the key will not be added to the current result object.
if the key is already exists in result object, the value of this key will be overwritten.
if all non-empty values in first columns are -, it is parsed as a JSON array.
a JSON-Array is parsed similarly to JSON-Object. A No value element will not be appended to a JSON-array.
if first grid of first row is #, it will be parsed as a "MLGB-Sharp".
...tbc
- 找左上角的#块，将整个区域分割成四块
- 找行的分块索引
- 找列的分块索引，找的时候顺便找出折叠边，具体方法：按列-行的顺序找非空的单元格，当找到#时发现折叠边，折叠边1.不能是第一行，2.找#所在行的上一行，向右找第一个非空块，以#为左上边，第一个非空块为右边，整个列的底边为底边，将这一块放入折叠边块。与此同时，找列分块索引时跳过折叠边放入的所有列。
- 按行列分块索引，将右下块分割，并将折叠边加入，求值
- 将右下块插入到转置后的列块，将转置后的列块插入到行块，对行块求值，结束。
Prepend __ to any keys in object or items (-) in array, the key or item will be not parsed. This is useful to prevent intermediate variables from being exported.
Json in the first sheet will be used.
A folder containing several spreadsheets or folders can be parsed as a Json object. There're 2 ways to merge Json across files.
-
(Default) An object will be returned, which contains each file's Json as value. The key is name of file.
__and.can be used. -
A list will be returned, which contains each sheet as item in list in order. the list is sorted alphabetically.
__and.can be used. appending[]to file's name to denote this approach.
MLGB resource could be registered to a MLGB server with key, which could be accessed by API externally. MLGB server parses MLGB folder or spreadsheet to Json object.
There're 2 kinds of link pointing to another part of file or rest of Internet in MLGB.
-
Link to another sheet in current spreadsheet file
->{sheetname} -
Link to other part of Internet The general grammar is
->((//{endpoint})/{key})/{path}
endpoint: the URL which MLGB server provides, can be omitted when refering to resource in the same server
key: the key registered in server, could be omitted when refering to resource in the same key
path: path to your part of Json.
Note that link in 2. always starts with a /, and always starts with // when pointing to other servers.
MLGB has no plan to support XML.