PlantUML Extension for Python-Markdown

This plugin implements a block extension which can be used to specify a PlantUML diagram which will be converted into an image and inserted in the document.

Syntax:

    ::uml:: [format="png|svg"] [classes="class1 class2 ..."] [alt="text for alt"]
      PlantUML script diagram
    ::end-uml::

Example:

    ::uml:: format="png" classes="uml myDiagram" alt="My super diagram"
      Goofy ->  MickeyMouse: calls
      Goofy <-- MickeyMouse: responds
    ::end-uml::

Options are optional, but if present must be specified in the order format, classes, alt. The option value may be enclosed in single or double quotes.

Installation

You need to install PlantUML (see the site for details) and Graphviz 2.26.3 or later. The plugin expects a program plantuml in the classpath. If not installed by your package manager, you can create a shell script and place it somewhere in the classpath. For example, save te following into /usr/local/bin/plantuml (supposing PlantUML installed into /opt/plantuml):

    #!/bin/bash
    java -jar /opt/plantuml/plantuml.jar ${@}

For Gentoo Linux there is an ebuild at http://gpo.zugaina.org/dev-util/plantuml/RDep: you can download the ebuild and the files subfolder or you can add the zugaina repository with layman (reccomended).

To use the plugin with Python-Markdown you have two choices:

• copy the file plantuml.py in the extensions folder of Python-Markdown. For example, for Python 2.7 you must do:

  $ sudo cp plantuml.py /usr/lib/python27/site-packages/markdown/extensions/

• copy the file somewhere in your home. A good choice may be the user-site path, for example (bash syntax):

  $ export INSTALLPATH="`python -m site --user-site`/plantuml-markdown"
  $ mkdir -p "$INSTALLPATH"
  $ cp plantuml.py "$INSTALLPATH/mdx_plantuml.py"
  $ export PYTHONPATH="$INSTALLPATH"

  You must export PYTHONPATH before running markdown_py, or you can put the definition in ~/.bashrc.

After installed, you can use this plugin by activating it in the markdownm_py command. For example:

markdown_py -x plantuml mydoc.md > out.html