xref: /freebsd/contrib/libxo/doc/field-roles.rst (revision 8ddb146abcdf061be9f2c0db7e391697dafad85c)
1
2.. index:: Field Roles
3.. _field-roles:
4
5Field Roles
6~~~~~~~~~~~
7
8Field roles are optional, and indicate the role and formatting of the
9content.  The roles are listed below; only one role is permitted:
10
11  === ============== =================================================
12  R   Name           Description
13  === ============== =================================================
14  C   color          Field has color and effect controls
15  D   decoration     Field is non-text (e.g., colon, comma)
16  E   error          Field is an error message
17  G   gettext        Call gettext(3) on the format string
18  L   label          Field is text that prefixes a value
19  N   note           Field is text that follows a value
20  P   padding        Field is spaces needed for vertical alignment
21  T   title          Field is a title value for headings
22  U   units          Field is the units for the previous value field
23  V   value          Field is the name of field (the default)
24  W   warning        Field is a warning message
25  [   start-anchor   Begin a section of anchored variable-width text
26  ]   stop-anchor    End a section of anchored variable-width text
27  === ============== =================================================
28
29::
30
31    EXAMPLE:
32        xo_emit("{L:Free}{D::}{P:   }{:free/%u} {U:Blocks}\n",
33                free_blocks);
34
35When a role is not provided, the "*value*" role is used as the default.
36
37Roles and modifiers can also use more verbose names, when preceded by
38a comma::
39
40    EXAMPLE:
41        xo_emit("{,label:Free}{,decoration::}{,padding:   }"
42                "{,value:free/%u} {,units:Blocks}\n",
43                free_blocks);
44
45.. index:: Field Roles; Color
46.. _color-role:
47
48The Color Role ({C:})
49+++++++++++++++++++++
50
51Colors and effects control how text values are displayed; they are
52used for display styles (TEXT and HTML)::
53
54    xo_emit("{C:bold}{:value}{C:no-bold}\n", value);
55
56Colors and effects remain in effect until modified by other "C"-role
57fields::
58
59    xo_emit("{C:bold}{C:inverse}both{C:no-bold}only inverse\n");
60
61If the content is empty, the "*reset*" action is performed::
62
63    xo_emit("{C:both,underline}{:value}{C:}\n", value);
64
65The content should be a comma-separated list of zero or more colors or
66display effects::
67
68    xo_emit("{C:bold,inverse}Ugly{C:no-bold,no-inverse}\n");
69
70The color content can be either static, when placed directly within
71the field descriptor, or a printf-style format descriptor can be used,
72if preceded by a slash ("/"):
73
74   xo_emit("{C:/%s%s}{:value}{C:}", need_bold ? "bold" : "",
75           need_underline ? "underline" : "", value);
76
77Color names are prefixed with either "fg-" or "bg-" to change the
78foreground and background colors, respectively::
79
80    xo_emit("{C:/fg-%s,bg-%s}{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}{C:reset}\n",
81            fg_color, bg_color, cost);
82
83The following table lists the supported effects:
84
85  =============== =================================================
86   Name           Description
87  =============== =================================================
88   bg-XXXXX       Change background color
89   bold           Start bold text effect
90   fg-XXXXX       Change foreground color
91   inverse        Start inverse (aka reverse) text effect
92   no-bold        Stop bold text effect
93   no-inverse     Stop inverse (aka reverse) text effect
94   no-underline   Stop underline text effect
95   normal         Reset effects (only)
96   reset          Reset colors and effects (restore defaults)
97   underline      Start underline text effect
98  =============== =================================================
99
100The following color names are supported:
101
102  ========= ============================================
103   Name      Description
104  ========= ============================================
105   black
106   blue
107   cyan
108   default   Default color for foreground or background
109   green
110   magenta
111   red
112   white
113   yellow
114  ========= ============================================
115
116When using colors, the developer should remember that users will
117change the foreground and background colors of terminal session
118according to their own tastes, so assuming that "blue" looks nice is
119never safe, and is a constant annoyance to your dear author.  In
120addition, a significant percentage of users (1 in 12) will be color
121blind.  Depending on color to convey critical information is not a
122good idea.  Color should enhance output, but should not be used as the
123sole means of encoding information.
124
125.. index:: Field Roles; Decoration
126.. _decoration-role:
127
128The Decoration Role ({D:})
129++++++++++++++++++++++++++
130
131Decorations are typically punctuation marks such as colons,
132semi-colons, and commas used to decorate the text and make it simpler
133for human readers.  By marking these distinctly, HTML usage scenarios
134can use CSS to direct their display parameters::
135
136    xo_emit("{D:((}{:name}{D:))}\n", name);
137
138.. index:: Field Roles; Gettext
139.. _gettext-role:
140
141The Gettext Role ({G:})
142+++++++++++++++++++++++
143
144libxo supports internationalization (i18n) through its use of
145gettext(3).  Use the "{G:}" role to request that the remaining part of
146the format string, following the "{G:}" field, be handled using
147gettext().
148
149Since gettext() uses the string as the key into the message catalog,
150libxo uses a simplified version of the format string that removes
151unimportant field formatting and modifiers, stopping minor formatting
152changes from impacting the expensive translation process.  A developer
153change such as changing "/%06d" to "/%08d" should not force hand
154inspection of all .po files.
155
156The simplified version can be generated for a single message using the
157"`xopo -s $text`" command, or an entire .pot can be translated using
158the "`xopo -f $input -o $output`" command.
159
160   xo_emit("{G:}Invalid token\n");
161
162The {G:} role allows a domain name to be set.  gettext calls will
163continue to use that domain name until the current format string
164processing is complete, enabling a library function to emit strings
165using it's own catalog.  The domain name can be either static as the
166content of the field, or a format can be used to get the domain name
167from the arguments.
168
169   xo_emit("{G:libc}Service unavailable in restricted mode\n");
170
171See :ref:`i18n` for additional details.
172
173.. index:: Field Roles; Label
174.. _label-role:
175
176The Label Role ({L:})
177+++++++++++++++++++++
178
179Labels are text that appears before a value::
180
181    xo_emit("{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", cost);
182
183.. index:: Field Roles; Note
184.. _note-role:
185
186The Note Role ({N:})
187++++++++++++++++++++
188
189Notes are text that appears after a value::
190
191    xo_emit("{:cost/%u} {N:per year}\n", cost);
192
193.. index:: Field Roles; Padding
194.. _padding-role:
195
196The Padding Role ({P:})
197+++++++++++++++++++++++
198
199Padding represents whitespace used before and between fields.
200
201The padding content can be either static, when placed directly within
202the field descriptor, or a printf-style format descriptor can be used,
203if preceded by a slash ("/")::
204
205    xo_emit("{P:        }{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", cost);
206    xo_emit("{P:/%30s}{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", "", cost);
207
208.. index:: Field Roles; Title
209.. _title-role:
210
211The Title Role ({T:})
212+++++++++++++++++++++
213
214Title are heading or column headers that are meant to be displayed to
215the user.  The title can be either static, when placed directly within
216the field descriptor, or a printf-style format descriptor can be used,
217if preceded by a slash ("/")::
218
219    xo_emit("{T:Interface Statistics}\n");
220    xo_emit("{T:/%20.20s}{T:/%6.6s}\n", "Item Name", "Cost");
221
222Title fields have an extra convenience feature; if both content and
223format are specified, instead of looking to the argument list for a
224value, the content is used, allowing a mixture of format and content
225within the field descriptor::
226
227    xo_emit("{T:Name/%20s}{T:Count/%6s}\n");
228
229Since the incoming argument is a string, the format must be "%s" or
230something suitable.
231
232.. index:: Field Roles; Units
233.. index:: XOF_UNITS
234.. _units-role:
235
236The Units Role ({U:})
237+++++++++++++++++++++
238
239Units are the dimension by which values are measured, such as degrees,
240miles, bytes, and decibels.  The units field carries this information
241for the previous value field::
242
243    xo_emit("{Lwc:Distance}{:distance/%u}{Uw:miles}\n", miles);
244
245Note that the sense of the 'w' modifier is reversed for units;
246a blank is added before the contents, rather than after it.
247
248When the XOF_UNITS flag is set, units are rendered in XML as the
249"units" attribute::
250
251    <distance units="miles">50</distance>
252
253Units can also be rendered in HTML as the "data-units" attribute::
254
255    <div class="data" data-tag="distance" data-units="miles"
256         data-xpath="/top/data/distance">50</div>
257
258.. index:: Field Roles; Value
259.. _value-role:
260
261The Value Role ({V:} and {:})
262+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
263
264The value role is used to represent the a data value that is
265interesting for the non-display output styles (XML and JSON).  Value
266is the default role; if no other role designation is given, the field
267is a value.  The field name must appear within the field descriptor,
268followed by one or two format descriptors.  The first format
269descriptor is used for display styles (TEXT and HTML), while the
270second one is used for encoding styles (XML and JSON).  If no second
271format is given, the encoding format defaults to the first format,
272with any minimum width removed.  If no first format is given, both
273format descriptors default to "%s"::
274
275    xo_emit("{:length/%02u}x{:width/%02u}x{:height/%02u}\n",
276            length, width, height);
277    xo_emit("{:author} wrote \"{:poem}\" in {:year/%4d}\n,
278            author, poem, year);
279
280.. index:: Field Roles; Anchor
281.. _anchor-role:
282
283The Anchor Roles ({[:} and {]:})
284++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
285
286The anchor roles allow a set of strings by be padded as a group,
287but still be visible to xo_emit as distinct fields.  Either the start
288or stop anchor can give a field width and it can be either directly in
289the descriptor or passed as an argument.  Any fields between the start
290and stop anchor are padded to meet the minimum width given.
291
292To give a width directly, encode it as the content of the anchor tag::
293
294    xo_emit("({[:10}{:min/%d}/{:max/%d}{]:})\n", min, max);
295
296To pass a width as an argument, use "%d" as the format, which must
297appear after the "/".  Note that only "%d" is supported for widths.
298Using any other value could ruin your day::
299
300    xo_emit("({[:/%d}{:min/%d}/{:max/%d}{]:})\n", width, min, max);
301
302If the width is negative, padding will be added on the right, suitable
303for left justification.  Otherwise the padding will be added to the
304left of the fields between the start and stop anchors, suitable for
305right justification.  If the width is zero, nothing happens.  If the
306number of columns of output between the start and stop anchors is less
307than the absolute value of the given width, nothing happens.
308
309.. index:: XOF_WARN
310
311Widths over 8k are considered probable errors and not supported.  If
312XOF_WARN is set, a warning will be generated.
313