NAME

dapper - A publishing tool for static websites.

SYNOPSIS

Dapper allows you to transform simple text files into static websites. By installing the App::Dapper Perl module, an executable named dapper will be available to you in your terminal window. You can use this executable in a number of ways:

    # Initialize the current directory with a fresh skeleton of a site
    $ dapper init

    # Build the site
    $ dapper build

    # Serve the site locally at http://localhost:8000
    $ dapper serve

    # Rebuild the site if anything (source, layout dirs; config file) changes
    $ dapper watch

    # Get help on usage and switches
    $ dapper -h

    # Print the version
    $ dapper -v

Additionally, Dapper may be used as a perl module directly from a script. Examples:

    use App::Dapper;

    # Create a Dapper object
    my $d = App::Dapper->new();

    # Initialize a new website in the current directory
    $d->init();

    # Build the site
    $d->build();

    # Serve the site locally at http://localhost:8000
    $d->serve();

DESCRIPTION

Dapper helps you build static websites. To get you started, you can use the dapper init command to initialize a directory. After running this command, the following directory structure will be created:

    _config.yml
    _layout/
        index.html
    _source/
        index.md

In that same directory, you may then build the site using the dapper build command, which will combine the source files and the layout files and place the results in the output directory (default: _output). After you build the default site, you'll then have the following directory structure:

    _config.yml
    _layout/
        index.html
    _source/
        index.md
    _output/
        index.html

To see what your website looks like, run the dapper serve command which will spin up a development webserver and serve the static files located in the output directory (default: _output) at http://localhost:8000.

Now, let's walk through each file:

_config.yml

The configuration file is a YAML file that specifies key configuration elements for your static website. The default configuration file is as follows:

    ---
    name : My Site

If you want to use a separate source, layout, or output directory, you may specify it in this file. For instance:

    ---
    name : My Site
    source : _source
    layout : _layout
    output : _output

All of the configurations in this file are available in layout templates, based on the Liquid template system. For instance, name in the configuration file may be used in a template as follows:

    {{ site.name }}
_source/index.md

A sample markdown file is available in the _source directory. Contents:

    ---
    layout: index
    title: Welcome
    ---

    Hello world.

There are a few things to note about this file:

1. There is a YAML configuration block at the start of the file.
2. The layout configuration specifies which layout to use.
3. The index layout indicates that _layout/index.html should be used.
4. The title configuration is the name of the post/page. It is optional.
5. All of the configurations may be used in the corresponding layout file.
    <!-- Example use of "name" in a layout file -->
    <h1>{{ page.name }}</h1>
_layout/index.html

Layout files are processed using the Liquid template system. The initial layout file that is given after you run the dapper init command, is this:

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
    <html>
    <head>
      <title>{{ page.title }}</title>
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
    </head>

    <body>

    {{ page.content }}

    </body>
    </html>

The main content of the text file that is being rendered with this template is available using {{ page.content }}.

Definitions specified in the _config.yml file can be referenced under the "site" namespace (e.g. {{ site.name }}. Definitions specified in the YAML portion of text files can be referenced under the "page" namespace (e.g. {{ page.title }}.

_output/index.html

The output file that is created is a mix of the input file and the layout that is specified by the input file. For the default site, the following output file is created:

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
    <html>
    <head>
      <title>Welcome</title>
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
    </head>

    <body>

    <p>Hello world.</p>

    </body>
    </html>

Dapper provides a number of optional command line switches:

Options

-s, --source=source directory

Specify the directory containing source files to process. If this command line option is not present, it defaults to "_source".

-o, --output=output directory

Specify the directory to place the output files in. If this command line option is not present, it defaults to "_output".

-l, --layout=layout directory

Specify the directory containing source files to process. If this command line option is not present, it defaults to "_layout".

-c, --config=config file

Specify the config file name to use. If this command line option is not present, it defaults to "_config.yml".

-p, --port=port

Specify the port to use for the serve command. This option is only used for the serve command. If this command line option is not present, it defaults to "8000".

-h

Get help on available commands and options.

-v

Print the version and exit.

AUTHOR

Mark Benson, <markbenson at vanilladraft.com>

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-text-dapper at rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=App-Dapper. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc App::Dapper

You can also look for information at:

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2002-2014 Mark Benson

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.