super-powered code blocks with title & links

[LeonB]

I really like the fenced code block thingy of Octopress:

     ``` ruby Example code
    do_somethin()

Which generates a _figure_ & _figcaption_ element. The three backticks functionality of redcarpet (for example) doesn't use the extra parameters.

What would be a nice way to implement this in middleman(-syntax)?

[Original bugreport](https://github.com/middleman/middleman/issues/708)

[bhollis]

I think the best would be to have an option that turns it on, and then you can generate the extra markup.

[LeonB]

What I think it should do: first pass it through the code-block parser and then pass it on to the markdown parser. Is there a way in middleman to achieve this?

[bhollis]

Check out the source for middleman-syntax - it plugs into redcarpet to control how it produces markup for code blocks, so you can just produce something different.

[LeonB]

I've already looked at block_code() but this won't get triggered when you put something after the language of you code block. Like this:

     ``` python test
        for i in stuff:
             i.do()

[LeonB]

I've tried using the redcarpet codespan() and that worked for this:

    ``` python raaarrrrr
    for i in stuff:
        i.do()
          do_something_else()

But not for this (the extra break):

          for i in stuff:
              i.do()

          do_something_else()

I think I've exhausted my options :smiley: So the only option I see left is something of a pre-parser before redcarpet/markdown (that's the way they do it in octopress).

[bhollis]

Sounds good.

[LeonB]

OK, great :smile: But I have no idea how to even start beginning to implement this in middleman. Do you have any pointers?

[bhollis]

Not really... just poke through the source. I don't think we currently have any hook to pre-process files, so you might have to add one.

[LeonB]

Is there a way to call a template helper from the code? I have access to the app variable and I want to call the code() method from middleman-syntax.

[LeonB]

I've got it ready! How should this be integrated? Or should I keep it as a separate extension?

[bhollis]

I have some minor tweaks I want to make to how your before_content and after_content hooks work, but after that, if you can write form it into a pull request where it's integrated with middleman-syntax, I'd be happy to ship it with the main syntax gem. I'd love to see some tests too, but since I don't have them for the gem itself yet...

[bhollis]

OK, I've changed the callbacks - they now look like this:

before_render(template_source, path, locals, template_class)

And the callback should return the modified source (or nil if it doesn't want to modify anything).

I tried out your extension locally w/ some tweaks, and one thing I think you forgot is to mix your render_code_block method into the Middleman RedCarpet renderer - I never got the <figure> element in my output.

[LeonB]

I'll have a look at it. What is an easy way to use the version from git? I've always used the gems.

[bhollis]

You can just put this in your Gemfile:

gem "middleman", :git => "http://github.com/middleman/middleman"

[LeonB]

I've updated the backtick code block. It works for me with the new syntax.

I converted the render_code_block method from a static one and mixed it in. I don't really understand why but did it nonetheless.

If I have a little time this weekend I'l look into writing tests.

[bhollis]

Ping? I've written tests for this repo now, if you need an example.

[bhollis]

Please open a PR for this feature when you've gotten it finished.