PSKOV-201905

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04. Language	Education	Not available

In this document we create "dynamic" pages like blog posts.

Estimated completion time: 20 minutes.

Table of contents

01. Blog
02. Investigate cfg file
03. Investigate item templates of the blog
04. Investigate preview templates
05. Investigate index (summary) templates
06. Investigate pagination templates
07. Investigate Markdown files
08. Launch LFSA and generate the site
09. Summary

01. Blog

So, you have your web site in both English and Russian. You start to feel the need to constantly share your thoughts with the world as blog posts.

You set on to create the following directory structure:

cfg
en/blog/
- item.template
- index.template
- preview.template
- pagination.template
- pagination.prev.template
- pagination.next.template
- 1885.md
- 1886.01.md
- 1886.02.md
- 1887.01.md
- 1887.02.md
- 1888.md
- 1896.md
- 1899.md
en/page/
- item.template
- about.md
- cv.md
ru/blog/
- item.template
- index.template
- preview.template
- pagination.template
- pagination.prev.template
- pagination.next.template
- 1885.md
- 1886.01.md
- 1886.02.md
- 1887.01.md
- 1887.02.md
- 1888.md
- 1896.md
- 1899.md
ru/page/
- item.template
- about.md
- cv.md

Let's look at the contents of these files closer.

02. Investigate `cfg` file

cfg file has the following contents:

input = en/page;ru/page;en/blog;ru/blog
item = item.template
preview = preview.template
index = index.template
paginationPrev = pagination.prev.template
paginationNext = pagination.next.template
paginationPrevNext = pagination.template
previewSize = 200
previewEnding = . . .
previewsPerPage = 3
previewPageBaseName = index

Apart from already used input and item keys, we have quite a lot of new ones. Let's break them down:

Key	Description
`preview`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate HTML previews out of the first `previewSize` (approximately) characters of Markdown files
`index`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate HTML index (summary) files to host previews
`paginationPrev`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by the last index (summary) file
`paginationNext`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by the first index (summary) file
`paginationPrevNext`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by index (summary) files except the ones at the beginning and at the end
`previewSize`	How many characters (approximately) to take out of a Markdown file to generate an HTML preview
`previewEnding`	String to use at the end of HTML previews
`previewsPerPage`	Number of HTML previews hosted by single index (summary) file
`previewsPageBaseName`	Index (summary) file base name

In our case:

we restrict previews to 200 characters in size (approximately)
we use . . . string at the end of each preview
index (summary) files host 3 previews maximum
index (summary) files are saved as index.html, index2.html, index3.html, etc.

03. Investigate item templates of the blog

en/blog/item.template contents:

- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -
<body>
    <div id="header">
        <strong>Serov</strong>
        <a href="../../en/blog/index.html">Blog</a>
        <a href="../../en/page/about.html">About me</a>
        <a href="../../en/page/cv.html">CV</a>
        <div id="lang">
            <a href="../../en/blog/PSKOV_ITEM_URL">EN</a>
            <a href="../../ru/blog/PSKOV_ITEM_URL">RU</a>
        </div>
    </div>
    <center>
        <h1>In the blog...</h1>
        <div class="contents">
            <h2 class="itemTitle">
                <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">PSKOV_ITEM_TITLE</a>
            </h2>
            <p class="itemDate">PSKOV_ITEM_DATE</p>
PSKOV_ITEM_CONTENTS
        </div>
        <div id="footer">
            This sample web site has been generated by <a href="http://opengamestudio.org/pskov">PSKOV</a>.
        </div>
    </center>
</body>
- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -

ru/blog/item.template contents:

- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -
<body>
    <div id="header">
        <strong>Серов</strong>
        <a href="../../ru/blog/index.html">Блог</a>
        <a href="../../ru/page/about.html">Обо мне</a>
        <a href="../../ru/page/cv.html">Резюме</a>
        <div id="lang">
            <a href="../../en/blog/PSKOV_ITEM_URL">EN</a>
            <a href="../../ru/blog/PSKOV_ITEM_URL">RU</a>
        </div>
    </div>
    <center>
        <h1>В блоге...</h1>
        <div class="contents">
            <h2 class="itemTitle">
                <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">PSKOV_ITEM_TITLE</a>
            </h2>
            <p class="itemDate">PSKOV_ITEM_DATE</p>
PSKOV_ITEM_CONTENTS
        </div>
        <div id="footer">
            Этот пример сайта сгенерирован <a href="http://opengamestudio.org/pskov">ПСКОВОМ</a>.
        </div>
    </center>
</body>
- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -

Note: beginning and ending were collapsed for brevity.

As you can see, both files look similar to item.template files we saw before.

The changes include:

new URLs to reference pages in page directory and first index (summary) file in blog directory
title is now referenced inside contents section as a link to complete page
date is referenced to highlight relationship among different blog posts in time

Date reference uses new PSKOV_ITEM_DATE constant:

PSKOV constant	Description
`PSKOV_ITEM_DATE`	Provides date from `Date:` part of page's header section

04. Investigate preview templates

en/blog/preview.template contents:

<div class="contents">
    <h2 class="itemTitle">
        <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">PSKOV_ITEM_TITLE</a>
    </h2>
    <p class="itemDate">PSKOV_ITEM_DATE</p>
PSKOV_PREVIEW
    <div class="itemMore">
        <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">Continue reading</a>
    </div>
</div>

ru/blog/preview.template contents:

<div class="contents">
    <h2 class="itemTitle">
        <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">PSKOV_ITEM_TITLE</a>
    </h2>
    <p class="itemDate">PSKOV_ITEM_DATE</p>
PSKOV_PREVIEW
    <div class="itemMore">
        <a href="PSKOV_ITEM_URL">Читать дальше</a>
    </div>
</div>

Previews have no <head>, <body>, and similar full page HTML tags. Previews represent sections inserted into index (summary) files.

Preview itself is referenced by PSKOV_PREVIEW constant:

PSKOV constant	Description
`PSKOV_PREVIEW`	Provides contents from a Markdown file limited by `previewSize` characters (approximately)

05. Investigate index (summary) templates

en/blog/index.template contents:

- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -
<body>
    <div id="header">
        <strong>Serov</strong>
        <a href="../../en/blog/index.html">Blog</a>
        <a href="../../en/page/about.html">About me</a>
        <a href="../../en/page/cv.html">CV</a>
        <div id="lang">
            <a href="../../en/blog/PSKOV_INDEX_URL">EN</a>
            <a href="../../ru/blog/PSKOV_INDEX_URL">RU</a>
        </div>
    </div>
    <center>
        <h1>Blog</h1>
PSKOV_PREVIEWS
PSKOV_PAGINATION
        <div id="footer">
            This sample web site has been generated by <a href="http://opengamestudio.org/pskov">PSKOV</a>.
        </div>
    </center>
</body>
- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -

ru/blog/index.template contents:

- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -
<body>
    <div id="header">
        <strong>Серов</strong>
        <a href="../../ru/blog/index.html">Блог</a>
        <a href="../../ru/page/about.html">Обо мне</a>
        <a href="../../ru/page/cv.html">Резюме</a>
        <div id="lang">
            <a href="../../en/blog/PSKOV_INDEX_URL">EN</a>
            <a href="../../ru/blog/PSKOV_INDEX_URL">RU</a>
        </div>
    </div>
    <center>
        <h1>Блог</h1>
PSKOV_PREVIEWS
PSKOV_PAGINATION
        <div id="footer">
            Этот пример сайта сгенерирован <a href="http://opengamestudio.org/pskov">ПСКОВОМ</a>.
        </div>
    </center>
</body>
- - - - Collapsed for brevity - - - -

Notes:

beginning and ending were collapsed for brevity
PSKOV_INDEX_URL constant is used to provide language selection

Index (summary) files are used to host previews.

Here are new PSKOV constants explained:

PSKOV constant	Description
`PSKOV_INDEX_URL`	Provides generated page's file name: `<previewsPageBaseName><id>.html`
`PSKOV_PREVIEWS`	Provides a combination of `PSKOV_PREVIEW` sections
`PSKOV_PAGINATION`	Provides pagination section to navigate index (summary) pages

06. Investigate pagination templates

Pagination templates represent sections used to navigate index (summary) pages.

There are free pagination templates:

Pagination template	Description
prev	Is used for the last index (summary) page because we can only go backwards
next	Is used for the first index (summary) page because we can only go forward
both	Is used for intermediate index (summary) pages because we can either go backwards, or forward

Let's look at English pagination templates:

en/blog/pagination.prev.template contents:

<p>Page PSKOV_PAGE_ID of PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT</p>
<p>
    <a href="PSKOV_PREV_PAGE_URL">« Newer</a>
</p>

en/blog/pagination.next.template contents:

<p>Page PSKOV_PAGE_ID of PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT</p>
<p>
    <a href="PSKOV_NEXT_PAGE_URL">Older »</a>
</p>

en/blog/pagination.template contents:

<p>Page PSKOV_PAGE_ID of PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT</p>
<p>
    <a href="PSKOV_PREV_PAGE_URL">« Newer</a>
    <a href="PSKOV_NEXT_PAGE_URL">Older »</a>
</p>

Russian counterparts look similar. Here's ru/blog/pagination.template contents:

<p>Страница PSKOV_PAGE_ID из PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT</p>
<p>
    <a href="PSKOV_PREV_PAGE_URL">« Новее</a>
    <a href="PSKOV_NEXT_PAGE_URL">Старее »</a>
</p>

Here are new PSKOV constants we used:

PSKOV constant	Description
`PSKOV_PAGE_ID`	Provides index (summary) page id starting from `1`
`PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT`	Provides total number of index (summary) pages generated
`PSKOV_PREV_PAGE_URL`	Provides previous index (summary) page file name
`PSKOV_NEXT_PAGE_URL`	Provides next index (summary) page file name

07. Investigate Markdown files

Markdown files represent blog posts and they look almost like Markdown files for pages. Here's en/blog/1885.md contents:

 Title: Bullocks
 Date: 1885
 Slug: 1885.01.bullocks

 ![Bullocks][bullocks]

 I've been painting "Bullocks" sketch while I was staying in Odessa at Kuznetsov's in 1885.

 [bullocks]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Walentin_Aleksandrovich_Serov_Bullocks.jpg

Date is used to sort blog posts by date in ascending order:

Header constant	Description
`Date:`	Provides value for `PSKOV_ITEM_DATE` constant when generating HTML out of Markdown

08. Launch LFSA and generate the site

Launch LFSA so that it points to directory with the files we just observed:

$ /path/to/lfsa-201905.py /path/to/dir/03.Blog

Generate the site:

Go to Tool page
Press Generate button
Open generated en/blog/index.html or ru/blog/index.html from the site's directory locally
Navigate index (summary) pages to make sure everything works fine

09. Summary

You have successfully generated a web site with "constant" and "dynamic" pages. Check out the result.

Introduced PSKOV constants include:

PSKOV constant	Description
`PSKOV_ITEM_DATE`	Provides date from `Date:` part of page's header section
`PSKOV_PREVIEW`	Provides contents from a Markdown file limited by `previewSize` characters (approximately)
`PSKOV_INDEX_URL`	Provides generated page's file name: `<previewsPageBaseName><id>.html`
`PSKOV_PREVIEWS`	Provides a combination of `PSKOV_PREVIEW` sections
`PSKOV_PAGINATION`	Provides pagination section to navigate index (summary) pages
`PSKOV_PAGE_ID`	Provides index (summary) page id starting from `1`
`PSKOV_PAGES_COUNT`	Provides total number of index (summary) pages generated
`PSKOV_PREV_PAGE_URL`	Provides previous index (summary) page file name
`PSKOV_NEXT_PAGE_URL`	Provides next index (summary) page file name

Introduced configuration keys include:

Key	Description
`preview`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate HTML previews out of the first `previewSize` (approximately) characters of Markdown files
`index`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate HTML index (summary) files to host previews
`paginationPrev`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by the last index (summary) file
`paginationNext`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by the first index (summary) file
`paginationPrevNext`	Points to an HTML template file that is used to generate pagination section used by index (summary) files except the ones at the beginning and at the end
`previewSize`	How many characters (approximately) to take out of a Markdown file to generate an HTML preview
`previewEnding`	String to use at the end of HTML previews
`previewsPerPage`	Number of HTML previews hosted by single index (summary) file
`previewsPageBaseName`	Index (summary) file base name

Introduced header constants include:

Header constant	Description
`Date:`	Provides value for `PSKOV_ITEM_DATE` constant when generating HTML out of Markdown

This was the final document to make you proficient in generating static sites with PSKOV. If you like what we do, support us by joining our group at Twitter, Facebook, or VK.

Now use PSKOV to generate your very own web site!

Education: 05. Blog