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MDNBanter

Removes repetitive work of creating MDN markup and text. Much of the work of creating a new MDN reference page is in creating boilerplate such as headings, specification tables, and standardized intro text. Once this is created API specific content must be added to the boilerplate. A significant portion of that content is duplicated between one or more pages of the API.

The current version only handles JavaScript APIs.

Note: This project was recently forked from MDN Helper. This is to avoid any intellectual property entanglements created by my departure from Google.

Installation

  1. Install node.js, version 12 or later.

  2. Clone this repository.

    git clone https://github.com/jpmedley/MDNBanter.git

  3. Change to the MDNBanter directory and run npm install.

  4. Enter npm run update-data to download data files needed for the build, find, and report commands. This script will run automatically on first use if it has been more than twenty-four hours since its last run.

Ubuntu on Windows

When node is installed on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), WSL2 2204.3.49.0, npm.cmd is invoked using a script file (npm.psl) rather than being invoked directly. At least one command line flag is consumed by the script file before the command line is passed to npm.cmd. (See Scripts arguments starting with -- are removed)

For example, for a search such as the following, the -p flag will not be passed to npm.cmd. Get around this by adding the following alias to your `.bashrc' file:

alias npm="npm --"

Usage

From within the MDNBanter direcory:

npm run <command> [<arguments>] -- [<flags>]

Commands

build

Searches for APIs with filenames matching the provided string, prompts you to select a specific interface, builds a JSON file for the Browser compatibility Database, and boilerplate pages formatted for publishing on MDN.

Syntax: build idl _searchString_ -- [(-i | --interactive)] [(-b | --bcdOnly)]

For detailed instructions, see Building MDN Pages.

report

Builds several types of reports. This has several syntaxes.

Syntax: report chrome -- [(-f | --flags)] [(-i | --interfaces-only)] [(-o | --origin-trials)] [(-r | --reportinglist) _reportingList_] [(-a | --all)]

Generates a csv file listing Chrome APIs that are lacking an MDN page. Use -f or --flags to include APIs behind a flag. Use -i or --interfaces-only run a report containing only interfaces. Use -o or --origin-trials to include APIs currently in a Chrome origin trial. Use -w or --reportinglist report on a specific list of interfaces. Use -a or --all to run a report that lists all IDL members whether documented or not.

Syntax: report urls -- [(-c | --category) _category_]

Generates a csv listing BCD entries that are lacking a corresponding MDN page. _category_ must be one of 'api', 'css', 'html', 'javascript', or 'svg'. If you don't enter one of these values, you will be prompted for one of them.

Syntax: report bcd -- [(-c | --category) _category_] [(-b | --browsers) _browsers_]

Generates a csv listing BCD entries where the browser value is either null or missing.

  • _category_ must be one of 'api', 'css', 'html', 'javascript', or 'svg'. If you don't enter one of these values, you will be prompted for one of them.
  • _browsers_ must be a comma-separated list of browsers. If you don't enter any browsers or one of the provided browser names is not valid, you will be prompted to select browsers from a list.

clean

Deletes selected folders from the *path/to*/MDNBanter/out/ directory.

Syntax: clean

find

Searches for interfaces matching the provided string, prompts you to select a specific file, then displays the Chrome IDL file for that interface. (For an explanation of why it uses Chrome, see Data Sources, below.)

Syntax: find idl _searchString_ -- [(-p | --ping)]

Flag:

-p or --ping: (Optional) Pings the MDN pages for the interface members and display whether they exist.

header

Creates pages for the provided HTTP header and directive names names. The results are written to the *path/to*/MDNBanter/out/ directory. To build directive plages only, exclude the -H or --header flag.

Syntax: header -- -n headerName [(-H | --header)] [(-d | --directive) directiveName]

Flags:

-n: The name of the header being documented. This flag provides the header's name for use in directive pages. It does not create an interface page.

At least one of the following:

  • -H or --header: (Optional) Indicates that a header page should be created. If this flag is absent only directive pages will be created.
  • -d or --directive: (Optional) The name of a directive being documented. This flag may be repeated as needed.

interface

Creates one or more individual boilerplates for JavaScript platform APIs. The results are written to the *path/to*/MDNBanter/out/ directory. The syntax description makes this look more complicated than it is. This can be summarized as interface -n _interfaceName_ followed by commands for one or more individual pages. For example, the following would create a boilerplate for a property:

npm run interface -n CSSTransformValue -p length

Note that this command cannot create multiple pages of the same time in a single command. For example, to create boilerplates for two properties, you would need to run the command twice.

Syntax: interface -n interfaceName [-l] [-r] [-c] [(-e | --event) eventName] [(-h | --handler) handlerName] [(-m | --method) methodName] [(-p | --property) propertyName] [(-w | --writefiles)

Flags:

-n: The name of the interface being documented. This flag provides the interface's name for use in member pages. It does not create an overview, interface, or constructor page.

At least one of the following:

  • -l or --landing: (Optional) Indicates that a landing page should be created.
  • -r or --reference: (Optional) Indicates that an interface reference page should be created.
  • -c: (Optional) Indicates that a constructor page should be created.
  • -it: (Optional) Indicates that pages for the functions of the iterable IDL type will be created, specifically entries(), forEach(), keys(), and values().
  • -mp: (Optional) Indicates that pages for the functions of the maplike IDL type will be created.
  • -mr: (Optional) Indicates that pages for the functions of the readonly maplike IDL type will be created.
  • -e or --event: (Optional) Indicates that an event page should be created with the specified name. This flag may be repeated as needed.
  • -h or --handler: (Optional) Indicates that an event handler page should be created with the specified name. This flag may be repeated as needed.
  • -m or --method: (Optional) Indicates that a method page should be created with the specified name. This flag may be repeated as needed.
  • -p or --property: (Optional) Indicates that a property page should be created with the specified name. This flag may be repeated as needed.
  • - or --writefiles: (Optional) The pages will not be created interactively, but will be written directly to the output directory.

update-data

Downloads a new set of IDL files for use by the build, find, and report commands. This command will run automatically either daily or weekly depending on the value set in your config file. Use -s or --sooner to update data sooner.

help

Prints help text to the console.

Examples

Create an interface page only

node index.js interface -n Widget -i

Create an interface page and a constructor page

node index.js interface -n Widget -i -c

Create a method page without its interface

node index.js interface -n Widget -m "doStuff()"

Create an interface page and two members

node index.js interface -n Widget -m "doStuff()" -p isReady

configuration

When installed, no configuration is needed. Instructions are provided for a few options that you may want to change.

Data Sources

MDNBanter uses Chrome as its starting point because of the ease of reading API surfaces from its source code as compared to other browsers and because Chrome is often the first browser to implement new web platform features. (If you know of an easily downloaded data set that is a reliable proxy for the features of another browser, please contact me at the email address in my GitHub profile.)

MDNBanter does not use data in web platform specs because working out which version of a spec to use as a starting point is not something that can be done algorithmically. Also, this tool was created to assist with new web platform features. For such featues, the first implementation may not include every feature described in a spec. Those unimplemented features can and do go through design changes before implementation.

If you need to document a new feature that was implemented by a browser other than Chrome, see Documenting New Features.

Contributing

We'd love to accept your patches and contributions. See our contributing page for instructions on how.