Support for splitting {{autogenerated}} tags to allow modular template files

[moritzmeister]

Hi!

I really like this "plugin", first of all because it formats code signatures nicely and because of its simplicity.

I was looking for a way to be able to split up the {{autogenerated}} tag, in order to allow for additional content in between API documentation. However, I couldn't find a way. I made some minor changes to accomodate for this use case and this is a draft.

My intention was not to break your way of using it. However, the way I am doing it right now for the old case with a single {{autogenerated}} tag is not optimal, as I am reading and writing the file multiple times. The tag with the double curly brackets is not optimal from a python perspective as it as a special meaning in python string. I saw other plugins using tags like ![mkapi](<package.module.object>)

Basically, the identifier of the object to be documented becomes the {{tag}} in the template markdown file, a markdown file now might look like this:

## The XYZ package

{{xyz.def}}

Some extra content here.

!!! example
    ```python
    import xyz

{{xyz.asd}}

If you like this feature, I am happy to continue working on it and make it compliant to your way of doing things :)
That's why I also haven't added tests for the changes I made yet.

Let me know what you think!

[gabrieldemarmiesse]

Thank you for the pull request! It's true that this lib lacked a more powerful way of declaring templates, it's long overdue

I Really like your idea of putting arbitrary identifiers :) I'm not so fond of putting the name of the object the user wants to insert as ID. With this lib, we really aim at flexibility from the user side. And the user might want to declare multiple object in the same tag. For example it's not compatible with the functions get_methods or get_functions.

What I would propose, if you're ready to implement it is to allow arbitrary strings to be IDs in the template. To refer to them in the autogen.py, we need a way to specify the tag ID and the file name as the dict key. Something like that seems flexible and intuitive:

# This is a markdown template

{{pretty_tag}}

some text

{{another_pretty_tag_name}}

#autogen.py 

pages = {
    ("./templates/my_file.md", "pretty_tag") : get_methods("my_object"),
    ("./templates/my_file.md", "another_pretty_tag_name") : "some_module.some_function_to_document",
}

By default, if a tuple is not used as the key, we assume that we use the old behavior (no template or {{autogenerated}} tag).

In this way we would be backward compatible, flexible and intuitive. Would you be ready to implement it? Or if you want to challenge this proposal and make another one, feel free :)

[moritzmeister]

Glad you think it's a nice addition to make the tags more flexible. And I agree with you that my proposal is not the way to do it, I didn't fully think it through, just wanted to get my idea across.

I am happy to work with you on making this proper. Will have to do it on the weekend though.

Your proposal makes sense with the possibility to define "pretty tags", just from an API perspective to make it a bit easier for the user, e.g. less typing, I would propose moving the tag from the tuple to the objects to be documented, so the user doesn't have to duplicate the template path for every tag within the same template:

#autogen.py 

pages = {
    "./templates/my_file.md": {
        "pretty_tag": get_methods("my_object"),
        "another_pretty_tag_name": "some_module.some_function_to_document"
    },
    "./templates/other_file.md": get_methods("my_other_object")
}

This way the user has to group together content also in the definition which belongs to the same template. If no dictionary is provided as value, instead a list or single value we can default to the old behaviour. Also it avoids situations where a user specifies a custom tag for a certain template, but in another line defines the same template without custom tag:

# undesired behaviour

pages = {
    ("./templates/my_file.md", "pretty_tag") : get_methods("my_object"),
    ("./templates/my_other_file.md", "pretty_tag") : get_methods("my_other_object"),
    ("./templates/my_other_file.md", "pretty_tag") : get_methods("my_other_object"),
    "./templates/my_file.md": "some_module.some_function_to_document",
}

What do you think?

[gabrieldemarmiesse]

I like your proposal which uses dicts as values, it make the core more readable by grouping things together :) if you'd be so kind as to implement it and add tests, I'll gladly merge it

[moritzmeister]

Hey @gabrieldemarmiesse,

sorry for the long wait. I finally got around implementing this :)

My last commit reverts the previous implementation and updates it according to the desired functionality, that we discussed. It is still missing tests for the added functionality, but since we wanted to keep the old behaviour unchanged, the existing tests should not fail.

Just wanted you to have a look at the implementation first, to avoid having to rewrite tests, I will add tests for the added if-branches, once you reviewed the implementation :)

Looking forward to your review.

Update: Just noticed that GitHub shows some changes which I seem to have pulled in from master. Don't let them confuse you :)