Events

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Events
Using Events
Event Handler Structure
All DocPad events receive two arguments (both optional):
1.opts, a simple object containing any options that the event provides
2.next, a completion callback
DocPad's events are fired in a synchronous (or serial) fashion. In other words, when the first event runs until finished, then the next event fires and runs until finished, and so on.
Asynchronous code, however, has no implicit guarantees about the order of execution. It will fire the first event, and may then immediately fire the second event while the first is still running.
That's why asynchronous code requires callbacks. When the first event is done, it will run the callback function it was invoked with. It's the callback's job to signal when it's okay to proceed to the next event.
Node.js itself is built for asynchronous execution, so it's pretty common for Node.js programs to run asynchronously.
Since DocPad's events are run synchronously, omitting the next callback is perfectly valid (even encouraged) if you're using DocPad in your own synchronous code. (Of course, you're free to write in whatever style works best for you! If you enjoy coding in the asynchronous style, the next callback is available for you.)
Inside your Configuration File
You can bind to events in your DocPad configuration file by adding them to the events property.
Example: Let's use a docpad.coffee configuration file. Binding to the serverExtend event would look like so:
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docpadConfig =
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​
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    # =================================
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    # DocPad Events
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​
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    # Here we can define handlers for events that DocPad fires
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    # You can find a full listing of events on the DocPad Wiki
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    events:
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​
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        # Server Extend
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        # Used to add our own custom routes to the server before the docpad routes are added
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        serverExtend: (opts) ->
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            # Extract the server from the options
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            {server} = opts
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            docpad = @docpad
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​
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            # Perform our server extensions
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            # ...
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​
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# Export our DocPad Configuration
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module.exports = docpadConfig
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The context (what this/@ points to) of event handlers is a shared object between the event handlers that contains only the docpad instance variable.
Inside your Plugins
You can bind to events inside your DocPad plugin by just adding the event handler directly to your plugin's definition. As such, binding to the render event to render from one extension to the other would look like so:
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# Export Plugin
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module.exports = (BasePlugin) ->
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    # Define Plugin
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    class RenderPlugin extends BasePlugin
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        # ...
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​
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        # Render some content synchronously
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        render: (opts) ->
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            # Prepare
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            {inExtension,outExtension,content} = opts
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            docpad = @docpad
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​
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            # Perform our rendering
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            # ...
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The context (what this/@ points to) of event handlers in your plugin will be your plugin's instance.
Available Events
Sorted by their flow of execution within DocPad
extendCollections
Called each time the configuration for DocPad reloads. Called after most of the configuration has loaded and when it is time to extend our collections.
Use to create additional collections.
Examples:
​Partials Plugin​
extendTemplateData
Called each time the configuration for DocPad reloads. Called after most of the configuration has loaded and when it is time to extend our template data.
Options:
templateData the object to inject your additions to
Use to inject new template data variables and helpers into the template data.
Examples:
​Services Plugin​
​Feedr Plugin​
docpadLoaded
Called each time the configuration for DocPad reloads. Called before docpadReady as we have to load the configuration in order to be ready.
docpadReady
Called once DocPad when DocPad is now ready to perform actions which is once it has finished initializing and loading its configuration. Partnered with the docpadDestroy event.
consoleSetup
Called once the command line interface for DocPad has loaded.
Options:
consoleInterface the console interface instance we are using
commander the instance of commander we are using
Use to extend the console interface with additional commands.
Examples:
​GitHub Pages Plugin​
populateCollectionsBefore
Called just before we start to insert dynamic files into the database. Called before each generation, just before the generateBefore event. Partnered with the populateCollections event.
populateCollections
Called just after we've inserted dynamic files into the collections. Called before each generation, just before the generateBefore event. Partnered with the populateCollectionsBefore event.
Use this for inserting your dynamic files into the database.
Examples:
​Tumblr Importer Plugin​
generateBefore
Called just before we start generating your project. Partnered with the generateAfter event.
Options:
reset whether or not this is a partial- (false) or full-regeneration (true)
server Deprecated; use getServer() API method instead
parseBefore
Deprecated/removed since DocPad v6.58.0. See issue #736 for information.
parseAfter
Deprecated/removed since DocPad v6.58.0. See issue #736 for information.
conextualizeBefore
Called just before we start to contextualize all the files. Partnered with the contextualizeAfter event. Contextualizing is the process of adding layouts and awareness of other documents to our document.
Options:
collection the collection we are working with
templateData Deprecated; use extendTemplateData event instead
contextualizeAfter
Called just after we've finished contextualize all the files. Partnered with the conextualizeBefore event. Contextualizing is the process of adding layouts and awareness of other documents to our document.
Options:
collection the collection we are working with
templateData Deprecated; use extendTemplateData event instead
renderBefore
Called just before we start rendering all the files. Partnered with the renderAfter event.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we are about to render
templateData the template data that will be provided to the documents
renderCollectionBefore
Triggered before a render collection is about to be rendered. Added by Bruno Heridet with Pull Request #608.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we are about to render
renderPass which render pass is this render collection for?
renderCollectionAfter
Triggered before a render collection is about to be rendered. Added by Bruno Heridet with Pull Request #608.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we are about to render
renderPass which render pass is this render collection for?
render
Called per document, for each extension conversion.
Use to render one extension to another.
Options:
inExtension the extension we are rendering from
outExtension the extension we are rendering to
templateData the template data that we will use for this document's rendering
file the model instance for the document we are rendering
content the current content that this document contains, you shall overwrite this option with any updates you do
Notes: The file blah.html.md.eco will call trigger this event twice. The first time for the eco to md conversion. The second time for the md to htmlconversion.
Example: You would check the inExtension and outExtension options to make sure we only apply our rendering for the desired extension conversions. To apply the rendering, we would write our result back to opts.content. For example here is a render event handler that will convert the content of files to upper case when named like file.txt.captialize|uppercase|upper:
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render: (opts) ->
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    # Prepare
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    {inExtension,outExtension,templateData,file,content} = opts
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    docpad = @docpad
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​
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    # Render if applicable
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    if inExtension in ['capitalize','uppercase','upper'] and outExtension in ['txt']
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        opts.content = content.toUpperCase() # your conversion to be saved
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renderDocument
Called per document, after all the extensions have been rendered.
Use to perform transformations to the entire document.
Options:
extension the resulted extension for our document
templateData the template data that we will use for this document's rendering
file the model instance for the document we are rendering
content the current content that this document contains, you shall overwrite this option with any updates you do
Notes: It is also called for each of the layout rendering for the document, as well as for each render pass, as such care should be taken with ensuring your transformation does not re-transform an already transformed part.
Example: The Pygments Plugin more or less uses this event to search for all <code> HTML elements that have the CSS class highlight (e.g., <code class="highlight">) and replaces the element with one that has been syntax highlighted by the popular pygments syntax highlighting engine.
renderAfter
Called just just after we've rendered all the files. Partnered with the renderBefore event.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we've rendered
writeBefore
Called just before we start writing all the files. Partnered with the writeAfter event.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we are about to write
templateData the template data that was provided to the documents
writeAfter
Called just just after we've wrote all the files. Partnered with the writeBefore event.
Options:
collection a query-engine collection containing the models we are about to render
generateAfter
Called just after we've finished generating your project. Partnered with the generateBefore event.
generated
Called just after the initial generation has completed.
serverBefore
Called just before we start setting up the server. Partnered with the serverAfter event.
serverExtend
Called just while we are setting up the server, and just before the DocPad routes are applied.
Use to extend the server with routes that will be triggered before the DocPad routes.
Options:
server and serverExpress are the Express.js server instance we are using
serverHttp is the raw Node.js HTTP server we are using
express is the Express module we are using
serverAfter
Called just after we finished setting up the server.
Use to extend the server with routes that will be triggered after the DocPad routes.
Options:
server and serverExpress are the Express.js server instance we are using
serverHttp is the raw Node.js HTTP server we are using
express is the Express module we are using
docpadDestroy
Called when it is time for DocPad to shutdown. Partnered with the docpadReady event.
Use this to shutdown anything inside your plugins, close all connections, file system handlers, files, etc.