NAME

Pod::WikiDoc - Generate Pod from inline wiki style text

VERSION

This documentation refers to version 0.18.

SYNOPSIS

In a source file, Pod format-block style:

=begin wikidoc

• POD FORMAT-BLOCK STYLE

         Write documentation with bold, ~italic~ or {code}
         markup.  Create a link to [Pod::WikiDoc].
         Substitute for user-defined %%KEYWORD%%.
 
             Indent for verbatim paragraphs
 
         * bullet
         * point
         * list
 
         0 sequentially
         0 numbered
         0 list
 
         = end wikidoc

In a source file, wikidoc comment-block style:

         ### = WIKIDOC COMMENT-BLOCK STYLE
         ###
         ### Optionally, [Pod::WikiDoc] can extract from
         ### specially-marked comment blocks

Generate Pod from wikidoc, programmatically:

         use Pod::WikiDoc;
         my $parser = Pod::WikiDoc->new( { 
             comment_blocks => 1,
             keywords => { KEYWORD => "foo" },
         } );
         $parser->filter( 
             { input => "my_module.pm", output => "my_module.pod" }
         );

Generate Pod from wikidoc, via command line:

$ wikidoc -c my_module.pm my_module.pod

DESCRIPTION

Pod works well, but writing it can be time-consuming and tedious. For example, commonly used layouts like lists require numerous lines of text to make just a couple of simple points. An alternative approach is to write documentation in a wiki-text shorthand (referred to here as wikidoc) and use Pod::WikiDoc to extract it and convert it into its corresponding Pod as a separate ".pod" file.

Documentation written in wikidoc may be embedded in Pod format blocks, or, optionally, in specially marked comment blocks. Wikidoc uses simple text-based markup like wiki websites to indicate formatting and links. (See "WIKIDOC MARKUP", below.)

Pod::WikiDoc processes text files (or text strings) by extracting both existing Pod and wikidoc, converting the wikidoc to Pod, and then writing the combined document back to a file or standard output.

Summary of major features of Pod::WikiDoc:

• Extracts and converts wikidoc from Pod format blocks or special wikidoc comment blocks
• Extracts and preserves existing Pod
• Provides bold, italic, code, and link markup
• Substitutes user-defined keywords
• Automatically converts special symbols in wikidoc to their Pod escape equivalents, e.g. E<lt>, E<gt>
• Preserves other Pod escape sequences, e.g. E<euro>

In addition, Pod::WikiDoc provides a command-line utility, wikidoc, to simplify wikidoc translation.

See the Pod::WikiDoc::Cookbook for more detailed usage examples, including how to automate ".pod" generation when using Module::Build.

INTERFACE
"new"

$parser = Pod::WikiDoc->new( \%args );

Constructor for a new Pod::WikiDoc object. It takes a single, optional argument: a hash reference with the following optional keys:

• "comment_blocks": if true, Pod::WikiDoc will scan for wikidoc in comment blocks. Default is false.
• "comment_prefix_length": the number of leading sharp (#) symbols to denote a comment block. Default is 3.
• "keywords": a hash reference with keywords and values for keyword substitution

"convert"

my $pod_text = $parser->convert( $input_text );

Given a string with valid Pod and/or wikidoc markup, filter/translate it to Pod. This is really just a wrapper around "filter" for working with strings rather than files, and provides similar behavior, including adding a 'Generated by' header.

"filter"

$parser->filter( \%args );

Filters from an input file for Pod and wikidoc, translating it to Pod and writing it to an output file. The output file will be prefixed with a 'Generated by' comment with the version of Pod::WikiDoc and timestamp, as required by perlpodspec.

"filter" takes a single, optional argument: a hash reference with the following optional keys:

• "input": a filename or filehandle to read from. Defaults to STDIN.
• "output": a filename or filehandle to write to. If given a filename and the file already exists, it will be clobbered. Defaults to STDOUT.

"format"

my $pod_text = $parser->format( $wiki_text );

Given a string with valid Pod and/or wikidoc markup, filter/translate it to Pod. Unlike "convert", no 'Generated by' comment is added. This function is used internally by Pod::WikiDoc, but is being made available as a public method for users who want more granular control of the translation process or who want to convert wikidoc to Pod for other creative purposes using the Pod::WikiDoc engine.

WIKIDOC MARKUP

Pod::WikiDoc uses a wiki-style text markup, called wikidoc. It is heavily influenced by Kwiki. Like other wiki markup, it has both block and inline elements, which map directly to their Pod equivalents.

Block elements include:

• Headers
• Verbatim text
• Bullet lists
• Numbered lists
• Ordinary paragraphs

Block elements should be separated by a blank line (though Pod::WikiDoc will do the right thing in many cases if you don't).

Inline elements include:

• Bold
• Italic
• Code
• Link
• Escape code
• Keywords

All text except that found in verbatim text, code markup or keywords is transformed to convert special Pod characters to Pod escape code markup: E<lt>, E<gt>, E<sol>, E<verbar>. Inline markup can be escaped with a backslash (\). Including a literal backslash requires a double-backslash (\\).

Headers
Headers are indicated with one or more equals signs followed by whitespace in the first column. The number of equals signs indicates the level of the header (the maximum is four). Headers can not span multiple lines.

• header level 1

== header level 2

Verbatim text
Verbatim text is indicated with leading whitespace in each line of text, just as with Pod.

#<--- first column

sub verbatim {}

Bullet lists
Bullet lists are indicated with an asterisk in the first column followed by whitespace. Bullet lists can span multiple lines. Lines after the first should not have an asterisk or be indented.

• First item in the list
• Second item in the list on multiple lines
• Third item in the list

Numbered lists
Numbered lists work just like numbered lists, but with a leading 0 followed by whitespace.

         0 First item in the list
         0 Second item in the list
         on multiple lines
         0 Third item in the list

Ordinary paragraphs
Ordinary paragraphs consist of one or more lines of text that do not match the criteria of other blocks. Paragraphs are terminated with a empty line.

         This is an ordinary paragraph that
         spans multiple lines.

Bold markup
Bold text is indicated by bracketing with asterisks. Bold markup must begin at a whitespace boundary, the start of a line, or the inside of other markup.

This shows bold text.

Italic markup
Italic text is indicated by bracketing with tildes. Italic markup must begin at a whitespace boundary, the start of a line, or the inside of other markup.

This shows ~italic~ text.

Code markup
Code (monospaced) text is indicated by bracketing with matched braces. Code markup must begin at a whitespace boundary, the start of a line, or the inside of other markup. Brackets should nest properly with code.

         This shows {code} text.  It can surround text
         with brackets like this: { $data{ $id } }

Link markup
Link text is indicated by bracketing with square brackets. As with Pod, link text may include a vertical bar to separate display text from the link itself. Link markup must begin at a whitespace boundary, the start of a line, or the inside of other markup.

         This is an ordinary [Pod::WikiDoc] link.
         This is a [way to ~markup~ links|Pod::WikiDoc] with display text
         Hypertext links look like this: [http://www.google.com/]

Escape code markup
Pod-style escape text is passed through as normal to support international or other unusual characters.

This is the euro symbol: E<euro>

Keyword markup
Text surrounded by double-percent signs is treated as a keyword for expansion. The entire expression will be replaced with the value of the keyword from the hash provided when the parser is created with "new()". If the keyword is unknown or the value is undefined, the keyword will be passed through unchanged.

This is version %%VERSION%%

DIAGNOSTICS

• "Error: Argument to convert() must be a scalar"
• "Error: Argument to filter() must be a hash reference"
• "Error: Argument to format() must be a scalar"
• "Error: Argument to new() must be a hash reference"
• "Error: Class method new() can't be called on an object"
• "Error: Couldn't open input file 'FILENAME'"
• "Error: Couldn't open output file 'FILENAME'"
• "Error: 'input' parameter for filter() must be a filename or filehandle"
• "Error: 'output' parameter for filter() must be a filename or filehandle"

INCOMPATIBILITIES

• Default prefix length for wikidoc comment-blocks conflicts with Smart::Comments. Change the "comment_prefix_length" argument to "new" in Pod::WikiDoc or the level of 'smartness' in Smart::Comments to avoid the conflict.
• Module::Build before 0.28 does not look in external ".pod" files to generate a "README" with the "create_readme" option or to find a module abstract. Set the abstract manually in the "Build.PL" file with the "dist_abstract" option.

BUGS

Please report bugs or feature requests using the CPAN Request Tracker. Bugs can be submitted using the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Pod-WikiDoc>

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

AUTHOR

David A. Golden (DAGOLDEN)

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2005, 2006, 2007 by David A. Golden

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at <http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>

Files produced as output though the use of this software, including generated copies of boilerplate templates provided with this software, shall not be considered Derivative Works, but shall be considered the original work of the Licensor.

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.