Re: Markdown, tables and CSV

[BPJ <bpj-J3H7GcXPSITLoDKTGw+V6w@public.gmane.org>]

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While I appreciate the intent behind the suggestion to use protocols like
this i still think that a pseudo-attribute 'format' which can/will be
discarded is preferable to pseudo-protocols because (1) if you are going to
use a URL rather than a path most include files will properly have a
`file://` URL and (2) in principle it should be possible to include a
markdown/csv/whatever file from a remote location, and in that case there
will be a different protocol like http or ftp. thus something like this is
safer, more robust, and clearer:

    ![file description or caption](path/or/url){format=markdown}

torsdag 26 maj 2016 skrev Sergio Correia <sergio.correia-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>:

> A bit late to the party, but:
>
> 1) An alternative to using extensions to indicate the required action
> would be to use protocols.
> For instance, this example pandoc filter:
>
> http://scorreia.com/software/panflute/guide.html#calling-external-programs
>
> Thus, you can do
>
> [Caption of the Table](csv://some/path.csv)
>
> Or maybe
>
> [some/path.md](include://)
>
>
>
> 2) For tables, I would also suggest to take a look at this filter:
>
> http://scorreia.com/software/panflute/guide.html#yaml-code-blocks
>
> It allows markdown like this:
>
> Some text
>
> ~~~ csv
> title: Some Title
> has-header: True
> ---
> Col1, Col2, Col3
> 1, 2, 3
> 10, 20, 30
> ~~~
>
> More text
>
>
> This combines pure CSV with options set up in YAML, so you can add
> captions and customize the table.
>
> Since the CSV is handled by python's CSV library, it is quite powerful.
> Also, complex things like selecting a subset of rows/cols, or adding
> format, could be done in 1-2 lines of code. If you are interested, shoot me
> an email and I can add a more complex working example.
>
> Cheers,
> S
>
>
> On Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at 7:18:10 AM UTC-7, Frank Colcord wrote:
>>
>> I'd like to second this proposal. As a simple Pandoc user, these would be
>> very helpful:
>>
>>
>>     ![an image](foo.jpg)
>>
>>     ![an include](foo.txt)
>>
>>     ![a csv to be rendered as a table](foo.csv)
>>
>> thanks for all the development.
>>
>> Frank
>>
>> On Friday, May 20, 2016 at 6:55:10 PM UTC+1, jgabriele wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Martin,
>>>
>>> There's also [issue 553](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/553
>>> <https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fjgm%2Fpandoc%2Fissues%2F553&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHFocHh8P3j2zM42EMAMvPZ-kfuPA>
>>> ).
>>>
>>> Personally, I think I like (from that issue thread) anton-k's original
>>> idea:
>>>
>>>     ![an image](foo.jpg)
>>>
>>>     ![an include](foo.txt)
>>>
>>>     ![a csv to be rendered as a table](foo.csv)
>>>
>>> (that is, based on filename extension)
>>>
>>> Those seem sensible, symmetrical, easy to remember, and I think fit well
>>> with what pandoc already does (`![]()` is already like an include).
>>>
>>> As for a syntax to allow writing your csv data right into your md file,
>>> ... Pandoc already supports a generous number of table formats that are
>>> pretty easy to type. And for larger tables that you might be tempted to
>>> copy/paste in, might be better easier to bang-include them (as in,
>>> `![]()`), rather than muck up your pretty markdown file with a giant bunch
>>> of csv data. :)
>>>
>>> -- John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 20, 2016, at 05:38 AM, Martin Fenner wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear group,
>>>
>>> The topic of CSV support in Pandoc has come up several times on this
>>> list, includes this thread from 2014:
>>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/pandoc-discuss/kBdJU_JktzI
>>>
>>> Since last year I work for an organisation that frequently deals with
>>> tabular data (and helped organize CSVconf earlier this month), and I have
>>> done some thinking on how CSV could fit into Pandoc. I see two important
>>> use cases:
>>>
>>> * CSV reader that converts to tables in HTML, docx, latex, etc.
>>> * CSV has a format to describe tables in markdown
>>>
>>> For the first use case I wrote a hack for the Jekyll blogging platform
>>> this week that turns CSV files into markdown grid tables format that is
>>> then processed by Pandoc (https://github.com/datacite/jekyll-csvy). I
>>> would rather use Pandoc with a CSV reader, but my Haskell isn't good enough
>>> to write one. But for now I can generate blog posts directly from CSV
>>> files. Other people have done similar things with Pandoc and CSV.
>>>
>>> For the second use case I see a clear advantage of CSV over the various
>>> attempts to format tables in markdown (simple_tables, multiline_tables,
>>> grid_tables, pipe_tables). Everyone (and many tools) understands the CSV
>>> format, and you can do most of the things with CSV that the other table
>>> formats allow (multi-column formats and column alignment are a bit
>>> trickier). This has been done before using Pandoc filters, but I think a
>>> Pandoc "csv_tables" Pandoc extension would make this easier for the casual
>>> user. Using the grid_tables example from the Pandoc documentation, this
>>> could look like this:
>>>
>>> : Sample csv table.
>>>
>>> ,,,
>>> Fruit,Price,Advantages
>>> Bananas,$1.34,- built-in wrapper\n- bright color
>>> Oranges,$2.10, - cures scurvy\n- tasty
>>> ,,,
>>>
>>> I like three commas on a new line to indicate the start and end of a
>>> table, but that is of course open for discussion. The format is much easier
>>> to read and edit for humans compared to grid tables, the only tricky bit is
>>> maybe the \n for multiline columns. I would think we could add metadata to
>>> the fenced table blog similar to code blocks, e.g.
>>>
>>> ,,,{ #mytable .numberRows }
>>>
>>> One challenge with CSV is that it is an ill-defined format somewhat
>>> similar to markdown before CommonMark. It may make things easier to only
>>> support a specific CSV variant (e.g. comma as separator, header required,
>>> comment lines not allowed).
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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