Question for create md files from extra vars

[alanlivio]

I know that mkdcos-macros-plugin enable the use of the extra variables from the mkdocs.yaml

extra:
   data_for_page1
   data_for_page2

Such variables can be in existing markdown files, e.g., page.md uses extra.data_for_page1 and page2.md uses extra.data_for_page2.

I am wondering if it is possible to use such variables to make mkdcos create the page1.md/page2.md files itself.

[fralau]

You mean, dynamically generating new markdown pages? 🤔

Interesting idea. Is the number of pages variable or static? Could you perhaps elaborate on your use case?

[alanlivio]

You mean, dynamically generating new markdown pages? 🤔

Yes. But defined from some yaml.

Interesting idea. Is the number of pages variable or static? Could you perhaps elaborate on your use case?

I think that may depend on the list of extra variables.
Image the next mkdocs.yaml and I will create one page for each given icon/url.

extra:
   new_pages: 
      -  icon: "<url>"
         url: "<url>"
      -  icon: "<url>"
         url: "<url>"

[fralau]

Perhap it is possible to use mkdocs-macros for this, but I had not thought about it.

To avoid "reinventing the wheel", I would look at solutions that have already been implemented. For a dynamic behavior with a variable number pages, I would rather use an existing plugin: awesome pages. Would it do what your are expecting?

[alanlivio]

Hi @fralau. Thank you for the discussion.
I checked awesome-pages and it does more ordering/organzing pages from from .md files but not create them.
I still think that it will be a nice feature for the mkdocs-macros.

[fralau]

I am not saying that I hold the truth: but I would apply a separation of concerns., by generating your pages before launching the mkdocs build command.

If we consider the document generation process, I would do it this way:

flowchart LR
   A[Generate\nmarkdown pages] --> F
   subgraph mkdocs
   F[awesomepages] --> B[macros] --> C[render pages] --> D[serve/build]
   end

Loading

You could generate pages containing macros commands, so that they could be converted later in the process.

Integrating the two in a single script would be easy.

[alanlivio]

Hi @fralau thanks for the didactic explanation. I really appreciate that. I will evaluate it in my scenario.