Lua Utils module: add function blocks_to_inlines (#4799)

Exposes a function converting which flattenes a list of blocks into a
list of inlines. An example use case would be the conversion of Note
elements into other inlines.

doc/lua-filters.md

@@ -1438,6 +1438,37 @@ Lua functions for pandoc scripts.
 This module exposes internal pandoc functions and utility
 functions.
 
+[`blocks_to_inlines (blocks[, sep])`]{#utils-blocks_to_inlines}
+
+:   Squash a list of blocks into a list of inlines.
+
+    Parameters:
+
+    `blocks`:
+    :   List of blocks to be flattened.
+
+    `sep`:
+    :   List of inlines inserted as separator between two
+        consecutive blocks; defaults to `{ pandoc.Space(),
+        pandoc.Str'¶', pandoc.Space()}`.
+
+    Returns:
+
+    -   ({[Inline][#Inline]}) List of inlines
+
+    Usage:
+
+        local blocks = {
+          pandoc.Para{ pandoc.Str 'Paragraph1' },
+          pandoc.Para{ pandoc.Emph 'Paragraph2' }
+        }
+        local inlines = pandoc.utils.blocks_to_inlines(blocks)
+        -- inlines = {
+        --   pandoc.Str 'Paragraph1',
+        --   pandoc.Space(), pandoc.Str'¶', pandoc.Space(),
+        --   pandoc.Emph{ pandoc.Str 'Paragraph2' }
+        -- }
+
 [`hierarchicalize (blocks)`]{#utils-hierarchicalize}
 
 :   Convert list of blocks into an hierarchical list. An

src/Text/Pandoc/Lua/Module/Utils.hs

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import Text.Pandoc.Lua.Util (addFunction, popValue)
 import qualified Data.Digest.Pure.SHA as SHA
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BSL
 import qualified Foreign.Lua as Lua
+import qualified Text.Pandoc.Builder as B
 import qualified Text.Pandoc.Filter.JSON as JSONFilter
 import qualified Text.Pandoc.Shared as Shared
 
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ import qualified Text.Pandoc.Shared as Shared
 pushModule :: Maybe FilePath -> Lua NumResults
 pushModule mbDatadir = do
   Lua.newtable
+  addFunction "blocks_to_inlines" blocksToInlines
   addFunction "hierarchicalize" hierarchicalize
   addFunction "normalize_date" normalizeDate
   addFunction "run_json_filter" (runJSONFilter mbDatadir)
@@ -57,6 +59,14 @@ pushModule mbDatadir = do
   addFunction "to_roman_numeral" toRomanNumeral
   return 1
 
+-- | Squashes a list of blocks into inlines.
+blocksToInlines :: [Block] -> Lua.Optional [Inline] -> Lua [Inline]
+blocksToInlines blks optSep = do
+  let sep = case Lua.fromOptional optSep of
+              Just x -> B.fromList x
+              Nothing -> Shared.defaultBlocksSeparator
+  return $ B.toList (Shared.blocksToInlinesWithSep sep blks)
+
 -- | Convert list of Pandoc blocks into (hierarchical) list of Elements.
 hierarchicalize :: [Block] -> Lua [Shared.Element]
 hierarchicalize = return . Shared.hierarchicalize

src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs

@@ -94,6 +94,8 @@ module Text.Pandoc.Shared (
                      -- * for squashing blocks
                      blocksToInlines,
                      blocksToInlines',
+                     blocksToInlinesWithSep,
+                     defaultBlocksSeparator,
                      -- * Safe read
                      safeRead,
                      -- * Temp directory
@@ -757,12 +759,19 @@ blocksToInlinesWithSep sep =
   mconcat . intersperse sep . map blockToInlines
 
 blocksToInlines' :: [Block] -> Inlines
-blocksToInlines' = blocksToInlinesWithSep parSep
-  where parSep = B.space <> B.str "¶" <> B.space
+blocksToInlines' = blocksToInlinesWithSep defaultBlocksSeparator
 
 blocksToInlines :: [Block] -> [Inline]
 blocksToInlines = B.toList . blocksToInlines'
 
+-- | Inline elements used to separate blocks when squashing blocks into
+-- inlines.
+defaultBlocksSeparator :: Inlines
+defaultBlocksSeparator =
+  -- This is used in the pandoc.utils.blocks_to_inlines function. Docs
+  -- there should be updated if this is changed.
+  B.space <> B.str "¶" <> B.space
+
 
 --
 -- Safe read

test/Tests/Lua.hs

@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ tests = map (localOption (QuickCheckTests 20))
     assertFilterConversion "pandoc.utils doesn't work as expected."
       "test-pandoc-utils.lua"
       (doc $ para "doesn't matter")
-      (doc $ mconcat [ plain (str "hierarchicalize: OK")
+      (doc $ mconcat [ plain (str "blocks_to_inlines: OK")
+                     , plain (str "hierarchicalize: OK")
                      , plain (str "normalize_date: OK")
                      , plain (str "pipe: OK")
                      , plain (str "failing pipe: OK")

test/lua/test-pandoc-utils.lua

@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
 utils = require 'pandoc.utils'
 
+-- Squash blocks to inlines
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+function test_blocks_to_inlines ()
+  local blocks = {
+    pandoc.Para{ pandoc.Str 'Paragraph1' },
+    pandoc.Para{ pandoc.Emph 'Paragraph2' }
+  }
+  local inlines = utils.blocks_to_inlines(blocks, {pandoc.LineBreak()})
+  return #inlines == 3
+    and inlines[1].text == "Paragraph1"
+    and inlines[2].t == 'LineBreak'
+    and inlines[3].content[1].text == "Paragraph2"
+end
+
 -- hierarchicalize
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 function test_hierarchicalize ()
@@ -110,6 +124,7 @@ end
 
 function Para (el)
   return {
+    pandoc.Plain{pandoc.Str("blocks_to_inlines: " .. run(test_blocks_to_inlines))},
     pandoc.Plain{pandoc.Str("hierarchicalize: " .. run(test_hierarchicalize))},
     pandoc.Plain{pandoc.Str("normalize_date: " .. run(test_normalize_date))},
     pandoc.Plain{pandoc.Str("pipe: " .. run(test_pipe))},