Provided by: tcllib_1.21+dfsg-1_all bug

NAME

       doctools::idx::export::json - JSON export plugin

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require doctools::idx::export::json  ?0.1?

       package require textutil::adjust

       export serial configuration

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       This package implements the doctools keyword index export plugin for the generation of JSON markup.

       This is an internal package of doctools, for use by the higher level management packages handling keyword
       indices, especially doctools::idx::export, the export manager.

       Using  it  from a regular interpreter is possible, however only with contortions, and is not recommended.
       The proper way to use this functionality is through the  package  doctools::idx::export  and  the  export
       manager objects it provides.

API

       The API provided by this package satisfies the specification of the docidx export plugin API version 2.

       export serial configuration
              This command takes the canonical serialization of a keyword index, as specified in section Keyword
              index  serialization  format,  and  contained  in  serial,  the  configuration,  a dictionary, and
              generates JSON markup encoding the index.  The created string is then returned as  the  result  of
              the command.

JSON NOTATION OF KEYWORD INDICES

       The  JSON  format  used  for  keyword  indices is a direct translation of the Keyword index serialization
       format, mapping Tcl dictionaries as JSON objects and Tcl lists as JSON  arrays.   For  example,  the  Tcl
       serialization

              doctools::idx {
                label {Keyword Index}
                keywords {
                   changelog  {changelog.man cvs.man}
                   conversion {doctools.man docidx.man doctoc.man apps/dtplite.man mpexpand.man}
                   cvs        cvs.man
                }
                references {
                   apps/dtplite.man {manpage dtplite}
                   changelog.man    {manpage doctools::changelog}
                   cvs.man          {manpage doctools::cvs}
                   docidx.man       {manpage doctools::idx}
                   doctoc.man       {manpage doctools::toc}
                   doctools.man     {manpage doctools}
                   mpexpand.man     {manpage mpexpand}
                }
                title {}
              }

       is equivalent to the JSON string

              {
                  "doctools::idx" : {
                      "label"      : "Keyword Index",
                      "keywords"   : {
                          "changelog"  : ["changelog.man","cvs.man"],
                          "conversion" : ["doctools.man","docidx.man","doctoc.man","apps\/dtplite.man","mpexpand.man"],
                          "cvs"        : ["cvs.man"],
                      },
                      "references" : {
                          "apps\/dtplite.man" : ["manpage","dtplite"],
                          "changelog.man"     : ["manpage","doctools::changelog"],
                          "cvs.man"           : ["manpage","doctools::cvs"],
                          "docidx.man"        : ["manpage","doctools::idx"],
                          "doctoc.man"        : ["manpage","doctools::toc"],
                          "doctools.man"      : ["manpage","doctools"],
                          "mpexpand.man"      : ["manpage","mpexpand"]
                      },
                      "title"      : ""
                  }
              }

CONFIGURATION

       The JSON export plugin recognizes the following configuration variables and changes its behaviour as they
       specify.

       boolean indented
              If  this  flag  is  set  the  plugin will break the generated JSON code across lines and indent it
              according to its inner structure, with each key of a dictionary on a separate line.

              If this flag is not set (the default), the whole JSON object will be written  on  a  single  line,
              with minimum spacing between all elements.

       boolean aligned
              If  this  flag  is  set  the  generator  ensures  that the values for the keys in a dictionary are
              vertically aligned with each other, for a nice table effect. To make this work this  also  implies
              that indented is set.

              If  this  flag  is  not  set  (the default), the output is formatted as per the value of indented,
              without trying to align the values for dictionary keys.

       Note that this plugin ignores the standard configuration variables user, format, file, and map and  their
       values.

KEYWORD INDEX SERIALIZATION FORMAT

       Here  we  specify  the  format used by the doctools v2 packages to serialize keyword indices as immutable
       values for transport, comparison, etc.

       We distinguish between regular and canonical serializations. While a keyword index may have more than one
       regular serialization only exactly one of them will be canonical.

       regular serialization

              [1]    An index serialization is a nested Tcl dictionary.

              [2]    This dictionary holds a single key, doctools::idx, and its  value.  This  value  holds  the
                     contents of the index.

              [3]    The contents of the index are a Tcl dictionary holding the title of the index, a label, and
                     the keywords and references. The relevant keys and their values are

                     title  The value is a string containing the title of the index.

                     label  The value is a string containing a label for the index.

                     keywords
                            The  value  is  a Tcl dictionary, using the keywords known to the index as keys. The
                            associated values are lists containing the identifiers of the references  associated
                            with that particular keyword.

                            Any reference identifier used in these lists has to exist as a key in the references
                            dictionary, see the next item for its definition.

                     references
                            The value is a Tcl dictionary, using the identifiers for the references known to the
                            index  as  keys.  The  associated values are 2-element lists containing the type and
                            label of the reference, in this order.

                            Any key here has to be associated with at least one keyword, i.e. occur in at  least
                            one  of  the  reference  lists  which are the values in the keywords dictionary, see
                            previous item for its definition.

              [4]    The type of a reference can be one of two values,

                     manpage
                            The identifier of the reference is interpreted as symbolic file name,  referring  to
                            one of the documents the index was made for.

                     url    The identifier of the reference is interpreted as an url, referring to some external
                            location, like a website, etc.

       canonical serialization
              The  canonical  serialization of a keyword index has the format as specified in the previous item,
              and then additionally satisfies the constraints below, which make it unique among all the possible
              serializations of the keyword index.

              [1]    The keys found in all the nested Tcl dictionaries are sorted in ascending dictionary order,
                     as generated by Tcl's builtin command lsort -increasing -dict.

              [2]    The references listed for each keyword of the  index,  if  any,  are  listed  in  ascending
                     dictionary  order  of their labels, as generated by Tcl's builtin command lsort -increasing
                     -dict.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and  other  problems.   Please
       report  such  in  the  category  doctools  of the Tcllib Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].
       Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments  can  be  made  by
       going  to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most button
       in the secondary navigation bar.

KEYWORDS

       JSON, doctools, export, index, serialization

CATEGORY

       Text formatter plugin

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2009-2019 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>

tcllib                                                 0.1                     doctools::idx::export::json(3tcl)