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NANY 2015 Release: MarkdownBuddy

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wraith808:
NANY 2015 Release Information
Application NameMarkdownBuddyShort DescriptionTool for viewing the parsed version of a markdown documentSupported OSesWindows 7 (Should work in Vista/8 also, but untested)Web Pagehttp://thinkshui.net/software/markdownbuddy/Setup FilePortableDescriptionMarkdown has taken off in a big way, and I use it in everything from publishing posts on websites to documentation in my code to writing fiction.  I love the descriptive nature of the formatting, and that all of the files are in plain text!  In many cases, however, I like to write in different barebones tools- but I can't see how it looks when it's formatted without opening it in some other editor.  I like the editors that have the real-time preview, but my favorite ones to write in don't have that facility.

On the mac, there is a application called Marked.  It is a Markdown Previewer. Now, you might think as I did- what is the use in having something that's not an editor?  It just previews?  But after you get further into markdown and the various tools out there, it quickly becomes evident that such a tool is invaluable if not essential.
FeaturesImplemented

* Allows you to pick a file to be previewed
* Allows the preview to be refreshed manually
* Allow the export of the parsed document (HTML or PDF)
* Specify an opacity of the window
* Allow the changing of the background of the window
* Allow the user to choose to update the document when it is saved
Planned

* Allow the user to specify whether the window should always be on top or not
* Allow the changing of options in the parsing of the documentScreenshotsScreencastplaceholderDocumentationplaceholderInstallationWith .NET 4.5 installed, unzip application to location and run.UninstallingDelete application install location.
NotesRequires .NET 4.5.


Original Precis:

I've gotten into Markdown in a big way, and one thing that I miss from my mac when I'm writing on windows is Marked.  So just like last year when I did the overlay tool from a tool that I found on the Mac, I'm going to do something similar to Marked for Windows.

From the Marked site:
Marked is a previewer for Markdown files. Use it with your favorite text editor and it updates every time you save. With robust features for previewing, reviewing and exporting beautiful documents, you can work in plain text while reveling in rich formatting.

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dr_andus:
Sounds good!  :Thmbsup:

I don't have a Mac, so I don't know how Marked works exactly. I'd tried a number of Markdown editors/viewers in Windows and none of them worked for me. The main issue is that their Table of Contents tend to be limited (e.g. they only get displayed in a certain part of the window or only temporarily, so you can't write and look at it simultaneously). For this reason I write in WriteMonkey, which does have a good repositionable TOC (the "jumps" feature). Then I use Gingko to convert the Markdown text to a .docx file, and then I do the rest of the work in MS Word.

So, would your previewer work with WriteMonkey (.NET 4.0 framework)?

wraith808:
it should work with anything.  Basically, whatever file you have up, I'd hook into the filesystemwatcher for that particular file, and when it is changed (i.e. saved), I'd re-render it.  That way you can use any editor... and still have the benefit of preview as you go.

That's the idea, anyway.

wraith808:
Original Post updated with Alpha Release, and name changed to MarkdownBuddy.

wraith808:
Updated to add PDF export (which took the project from less than 200k to 30MB(!?!)).  I'm using the Pechkin wrapper around the wkhtmltox0.dll- which is the largest part.  I might look into other export engines.  Also thinking about adding HTML export.  Since it's rendered in HTML anyway... I figure I might as well.

UPDATE: Added HTML Export.  Need feedback on whether its confusing- instead of putting some dropdown or something, I just used the expedient of the selected file filter, i.e. if you choose PDF in the save dialog, it will export in PDF- otherwise it's HTML.

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