dhis2-docs-builder

This is the build source for the DHIS2 documentation site.

Building the documentation

Requirements and setup

Python3 is required (tested with python 3.7, 3.8, 3.9)
Pango 1.x (debian: libpango1.0-0)
Cairo (debian: python3-cairo)

Setup the environment

source setup_venv

This will setup the virtual environment, and download the necessary dependencies. Then,

source venv/bin/activate

to activate the environment

Simple live preview of your working document

Because the DHIS2 documentation renders the markdown in a specific way, most markdown editors will not show you exactly how it will look on the documentation site. However, once you have the build environment set up above, it is possible to build just your file and get an accurate view of how it will be rendered. It is also possible to see the results of changes you make in real-time.

A small script has been added to this repository to support this, simply pass the target file to that script:

./preview.sh <path/to/your/markdown/file.md>

This will utilise the serve feature of mkdocs to built your document to server the document on a local URL (usually http://127.0.0.1:8000/en/) that you can view in your browser. Simply go to the serve URL and click on the Preview tab at the top to see your document fully rendered.

While the preview process is running, as you save changes to the markdown, the document will be re-built and the page updated.

When you are finished, kill the preview process with CTRL-C.

Build full documentation

The build system is based on mkdocs. In it's simplest form, to build the full documentation site, in your environment, you simply need to perform:

mkdocs build

In addition to standard mkdocs processing, this performs the following steps:

Pull any referenced repositories into the ./tmp/github/ folder (if they don't already exist there)
Copy any referenced files (and linked images) from those repositories into the ./docs/ folder
Generates the documentation into the ./target folder.

Custom builds

By default the configuration is taken from the ./mkdocs.yml file, but you can specify a different file with the --config-file argument. E.g.

mkdocs build --config-file mkdocs_slim.yml

builds the documents defined in mkdocs_slim.yml, which is a slimmed-down set of documents for testing the basic functionality of the site.

If you wish to check the results of building your own documents, I would recommend to make a copy of mkdocs_slim.yml and add your own content to the nav section (see #managing-content)

Managing content

The content of the documentation build is defined fully in the nav section of the configuration file (mkdocs.yml by default).

The structure is something like the following:

nav:
  - Home: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/home.md, master)'
  - Use:
      Use: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/index.md, master)'
      User guide:
        alt__DHIS core version 2.35:
          What is DHIS2?: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/what-is-dhis2.md,2.35)'
          Collecting data:
            - Data Entry: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/using-the-data-entry-app.md,2.35)'
          Tracking individual level data:
            - Capture: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/using-the-capture-app.md,2.35)'
            - Event Capture: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/using-the-event-capture-app.md,2.35)'
            - Tracker Capture: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/using-the-tracker-capture-app.md,2.35)'
        alt__DHIS core version 2.34:
          - What is DHIS2?: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/what-is-dhis2.md,2.34)'
          ...
      Optional Apps:
        Action Tracker App:
          alt__App version 1.0:
            - Dashboard and Demo Server:
              - Introduction: '@github(hisptz/unicef-apps-docs,src/commonmark/en/content/action_tracker/at-app-introduction.md, master)'
              - Browsing: '@github(hisptz/unicef-apps-docs,src/commonmark/en/content/action_tracker/at-app-browsing.md, master)'
  - Implement:
      Implement: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/implementation/index.md, master)'
      Implementer guide:
        - A quick guide to DHIS2 implementation: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/implementation/a-quick-guide-to-dhis2-implementation.md, master)'
        - Conceptual Design Principles: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/implementation/conceptual-design-principles.md, master)'
        ...

Tip

When modifying the structure it is an advantage to use an editor that can "fold" the yaml code at different levels.

There are a few things that are special about this configuration. They are explained in the following sections.

File references

mkdocs usually refers to file paths under the ./docs/. Our implementation starts with an empty ./docs/ folder and populates it from files in remote github repositories or local paths.

Remote GitHub repositories:

To reference a file in a GitHub repository, we use the following syntax:
```
@github(<GitHub-repo>,<path-to-file>,<GitHub-branch>)
```
This syntax is used for all of the files in the core documentation build.
Local paths

To reference a local file, we can use the following syntax:
```
@file(<path-to-file>)
```
This is particularly useful when testing how a markdown file will be rendered in the final documentation. Simply use this syntax to reference the file you are working on, and it will be pulled into the build (with any linked images).

Note

Files are only copied to ./docs/ if they don't already exist so, when making changes to a file, you should remove it from the ./docs/ folder prior to rebuilding. You can of course simply clean the entire folder: rm -rf ./docs/*.

Folder structure

mkdocs uses the path of the files in the ./docs/ folder to determine the folder structure of the generated documentation. We begin with an empty folder, and populate it with the same structure as the nav section of the configuration file, but with the following modifications:

"Home" is a special page and is used for the home.html file in the root of the site
the alt__ prefix is a special marker for something we call alternates, and is remove from the folder name.

Folder names are "slugified"; that is, they are converted into html friendly paths, so

- Use:
    User guides:
      alt__DHIS core version 2.35:
        Collecting data:
          - Data Entry: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/commonmark/en/content/user/using-the-data-entry-app.md,2.35)'

becomes: use/user-guides/dhis-core-version-235/collecting-data/data-entry.html

Alternates

Alternates are a mechanism we have introduced to allow independent versioning of documentation throughout the site.

Alternates are indicated with the prefix alt__ in the nav structure
Alternates can be used from the second navigation level onwards.
- The first level is used for the top (tabs) menu for the site. Alternates at the second level are displayed as dropdown options in the navigation tabs. This is used for the "Topics" section in the core documentation.
Alternates at levels 3 and below are hidden from the side navigation, but appear as selections at the top of the page (generally used for versions of the current document, or set of documents).
Alternates cannot be mixed with "normal" folders; if one entry has an "alt__" prefix, all siblings must have the prefix too. It is, however, OK to have no siblings.
Alternates can be nested. This can be useful if a particular document is applicable to more than one version; such as a specific DHIS2 version AND a specific App version. Alternates are not limited to versions, but can be used for any categories that you wish to display as "alternatives" for a given document.

Probably the easiest way to understand Alternates is to compare the mkdocs.yml configuration with the DHIS2 Docs site.

Maintaining parts of the site structure in other locations

It is possible to maintain sub-structures in other locations by using the @github or @file references to point to a .yml file instead of a .md file.

The .yml file follows the same structure as the master nav section, and basically describes the content that will replace the reference. Probably the easiest way to understand this is with some examples.

Examples

Let us assume we want to maintain the contents and structure of "Data Entry" in a repository called data-entry, on the master branch. We could set up the reference from the master file like so:

- Use:
    User guides:
      alt__DHIS core version 2.35:
        Collecting data:
          - Data Entry: '@github(dhis2/data-entry, src/index.yml, 2.35)'

The file in this example is called src/index.yml but could be any valid path and filename. However, it must have the extension .yml.

If you wish to simply replace the reference with a single file:

Set the contents of src/index-yml to include the relative file path:

'my_data_entry_file.md'

This is the equivalent of

- Use:
    User guides:
      alt__DHIS core version 2.35:
        Collecting data:
          - Data Entry: '@github(dhis2/data-entry, src/my_data_entry_file.md, 2.35)'`

in the master file

Alternatively, you can create an arbitrary level of structure:

Set the contents of src/index-yml to include the structure as you would in the master .yml:

# Page references (references to markdown files) are relative to this .yml file

- Section One: 'section1.md'
# complex structure are allowed to create pages at different levels of navigation
- Section Two:
    Sub-Section One:
      Page One: 'SS1/page1.md'
      Page Two: 'SS1/page2.md'
    Sub-Section Two:
      Page One: '../another/location/SS2page1.md' # <-- relative paths are supported
- Section Three: 'section3.md'
# combine .md's into a single page called "Combined Doc" by specifying the files in a list
- Combined Doc:
  - 'monitoring.md'
  - 'SMS-reporting.md'
# Nest another @github (can be `.md` or another `.yml`)
- Nested Github: '@github(dhis2/dhis2-docs, src/sysadmin/sysadmin.yml,2.35)' 
# Nest another local .yml file 
- Nested Local File: '@file(index2.yml)'  # another local .yml flie
# Try to avoid circular references. There is some protection built into the document generation, 
# but duplication of content will make document searches less effective
- Circular Refs: '@file(index.yml)'  # <-- don't reference the current file again! :)

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