DevDoc with Markdown View?

[RealNerd]

Hi, I have zero experience creating workflow but do have programming experience (C & C++). I was reversing a way to get devdoc indexing and getting database (DB). The motivation behind it is that, I dont own dash (yearly subscription) and looking for a free alternative that run within Alfred with markdown preview . It is similar to nvim-devdoc, which gets the DB using curl and converts html to markdown.

 

 

## Curl Request:

// JSON NOOB HERE


const find 	= `c`;
const indexUrl 	= `/index.json`
const dbUrl 	= `/db.json`
const devdocUrl = `https://documents.devdocs.io/`;

// Get index
const rawHTML = app.doShellScript(`curl -sL '${devdocUrl}${find}${indexUrl}'`);

// Get db
const rawHTMLL = app.doShellScript(`curl -sL '${devdocUrl}${find}${dbUrl}'`);

 

## HTML to Markdown

Taken from nvim-devdoc (transpiler.lua)

local normalize_html = function(str)
  local symbol_map = {
    ["&lt;"] = "<",
    ["&gt;"] = ">",
    ["&amp;"] = "&",
    ["&quot;"] = '"',
    ["&apos;"] = "'",
    ["&nbsp;"] = " ",
    ["&copy;"] = "©",
    ["&ndash;"] = "–",
  }

  for key, value in pairs(symbol_map) do
    str = str:gsub(key, value)
  end

  return str
end

local tag_mappings = {
  h1 = { left = "# ", right = "\n\n" },
  h2 = { left = "## ", right = "\n\n" },
  h3 = { left = "### ", right = "\n\n" },
  h4 = { left = "#### ", right = "\n\n" },
  h5 = { left = "##### ", right = "\n\n" },
  h6 = { left = "###### ", right = "\n\n" },
  span = {},
  nav = {},
  header = {},
  div = { left = "\n", right = "\n" },
  section = { right = "\n" },
  p = { right = "\n\n" },
  ul = { right = "\n" },
  ol = { right = "\n" },
  dl = { right = "\n" },
  dt = { right = "\n" },
  figure = { right = "\n" },
  dd = { left = ": " },
  pre = { left = "\n```\n", right = "\n```\n" },
  code = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  samp = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  var = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  kbd = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  mark = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  tt = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  b = { left = "`", right = "`" },
  strong = { left = "**", right = "**" },
  i = { left = "_", right = "_" },
  s = { left = "~~", right = "~~" },
  em = { left = "_", right = "_" },
  small = { left = "_", right = "_" },
  sup = { left = "^", right = "^" },
  blockquote = { left = "> " },
  summary = { left = "<", right = ">" },

  -- TODO: Handle these correctly
  math = { left = "```math\n", right = "\n```" },
  annotation = { left = "[", right = "]" },
  semantics = {},
  mspace = { left = " " },
  msup = { right = "^" },
  mfrac = { right = "/" },
  mrow = {},
  mo = {},
  mn = {},
  mi = {},

  br = { right = "\n" },
  hr = { right = "---\n\n" },
}

local inline_tags = {
  "span",
  "a",
  "strong",
  "em",
  "abbr",
  "code",
  "tt",
  "i",
  "s",
  "b",
  "sub",
  "sup",
  "mark",
  "small",
  "var",
  "kbd",
}

local skipable_tags = {
  "input",
  "use",
  "svg",
  "button",

  -- exceptions, (parent) table -> child
  "tr",
  "td",
  "th",
  "thead",
  "tbody",
}

local monospace_tags = {
  "code",
  "tt",
  "samp",
  "kbd",
}

 

Would like the forum advice turning this into a plugin!

Edited April 20 by RealNerd
Grammar

[protonymus]

I think the difficult part is converting HTML to the Markdown flavor compatible with Alfred. For a first test, I tried using pandoc, but it failed. 

[protonymus]

You may also have a look at Search ALL the Docs!

[zeitlings]

On 4/22/2024 at 6:48 PM, protonymus said:

I think the difficult part is converting HTML to the Markdown flavor compatible with Alfred. For a first test, I tried using pandoc, but it failed. 

 

I played with this yesterday and the results were rather disappointing. The most limiting factor is the lack of support for markdown tables in Alfred's Text View. Syntax highlighting would also make a big difference. There were a lot of inconsistencies with pandoc, mostly around the broken tables. Html2md, a Go cli tool, produced slightly better and more consistent results, which are still messy when thrown at the Text View as it is now. 

 

Here's another alternative I found without markdown view that holds up well: alfred-devdocs.

[pseudometa]

Search All the Docs! now searches all the devdocs (though it does not open them locally, but opens the respective devdocs site). Otherwise, it's a far more simple and stable implementation than alfred-devdocs.