Templated Generator

Templated generator is a utility, that allows users generate files from templates with embedded template entries that could be edited and automatically transformed, saving time that would be otherwise spend on manually editing generic documents.

The project includes python module, available on pypi, for use inside python scripts, cli and gui applications to edit template entries and quickly generate documents.

Template entries

Generally, template entries are stringified and enclosed in double curly brackets valid JSON objects. Here is an example:

{{{"id": "total", "title": "Total cost", "value": "2500", "post": [{"fn": "append", "args": [" U.S. Dollars"]}], "group": "primary", "order": "1"}}}

Minimal template entry contains id and value properties. Entry ids can be not unique and for each entry, the value specified once as replacement will be substituted and transforms (for respective entry) will be applied. This allows to edit value associated with id encountered multiple times over multiple templates only once. For instance loaded templates can contain:

{{{"id": "total", "value": "2500", "post": [{"fn": "append", "args": [" U.S. Dollars"]}]}}}
{{{"id": "total", "value": "2500", "post": [{"fn": "append", "args": ["$"]}]}}}
{{{"id": "total", "value": "2500"}}}

In GUI application all three will be represented by one input with default value of "2500". Given replacements dictionary (for cli and using as module) of { "total": "42" }, or if input in this field equals "42" (for gui application), these will be represented in generated documents as

42 U.S. Dollars
42$
42

Notes:

• when creating templates in Microsoft Office disable smart quotes since only straight quotation marks are allowed in template entries
• for template entries to be correctly imported and substituted in MS/Open office documents, whole template entry string, for instance {{{"id": "total", "value": "2500"}}}, must have consistent formatting

Entry object properties

property name	type	required	description
id	string	yes	id used to reference entry in replacements
title	string	no	human-readable title that will be used to represent entry field in tempgen gui
value	string	yes	default value that will be used as replacement if no changes are made
pre	array of objects	no	array of transform objects that will be applied to value property before it becomes available for editing
post	array of objects	no	array of transform objects that will be applied to value property on generated document save
group	string	no	group tag name, entries with equal group property value will be grouped together in tempgen gui
order	string	no	order number, used to determine entry position among other group entries in tempgen gui, entries with lower order value will appear earlier
autocomplete	object	no	specifies which suggestions should be displayed on user input in entry representation in tempgen_gui

Transform object properties

Transforms available by default are listed here . These are functions, that are applied on "value" property sequentially either

• when template is loaded, if transform is in "pre" list
• when generated document is being saved, if transform is in "post" list

Transforms are provided with value (from entry) automatically, additional arguments could be provided via "args" array. Note: When using as a module, one can easily modify the dictionary by changing tempgen instance 'transforms' attribute

property name	type	required	description
fn	string	yes	name of transform function
args	array of strings	no	additional arguments, provided after value

Autocomplete object properties

property name	type	required	description
external	string	no	full name of json file (must be in the same directory as the template it is referenced from) containing array of autocomplete suggestion strings, used to fill data property
data	array of strings	no	list of values that will be used in as suggestions for entry value in tempgen gui

Getting Started

Tempgen GUI/CLI standalone executables

• Download latest tempgen_gui/tempgen_cli release
• Unpack archive to any directory
• Run tempgen_gui/tempgen_cli binary

Installation as module

To install from pypi:

pip install tempgen

Usage as module

from tempgen.module import Tempgen

t = Tempgen() # create new independent tempgen instance

t.transforms.keys() # get list of supported transforms, you can add new on the fly, by setting t.transforms dictionary key to desired function name and value to this function
# dict_keys(['append', 'inverted_date', 'ru_date_month_as_string_year', 'ru_monetary_string_replace', 'ru_monetary_as_string', 'ru_monetary_ending_append'])

t.parsers.keys() # get list of supported file extensions, refer to documentation on how to add new extensions support
# dict_keys(['.docx', '.xlsx', '.md', '.txt', '.odt', '.ods'])

t.load_template(absolute_path_to_template) # parse template

t.get_templates() # get list of loaded templates

t.get_fields() # get reference to parsed entries

t.save_result(absolute_path_to_template, target_name_without_extension, { "id_from_template_text": "desired value" })

Supported extensions

• docx
• xlsx
• md
• txt
• odt
• ods

Development

Environment setup

1. Install Python 3.7+
2. Install virtualenv

   pip install virtualenv

3. Clone this project
4. From project directory, run

   virtualenv .env

   Note: This will create a virtual environment using the Python version that virtualenv was run with (which will be the version it was installed with). To use a specific Python version, run:

   virtualenv --python=<path_to_other_python_version> .env
   # For example, this might look like
   virtualenv --python=/usr/bin/python3.6 .env

5. Assuming you are using the bash shell, run:

   source .env/bin/activate

   For other shells, see the other activate.* scripts in the .env/bin/ directory. If you are on Windows, run:

   .env\Scripts\activate.bat

6. Install all of the required packages using

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Module/cli/gui code running

With virtual environment active, execute one of the following commands from src project directory:

python -m tempgen
python -m tempgen_cli
python -m tempgen_gui

Testing

This project uses pytest and mostly relies on snapshot testing. To trigger tests run

pytest

optionally with -vv and -s flags for verbosity and prints. Note: After each code modification that presumes expected generated output file changes, update snapshots by running

pytest --snapshot-update

Creating portable executables

This project employs pyinstaller to create binaries. To generate executables from sources on your PC:

1. Enter the virtual environment (run source .env/bin/activate or OS/shell equivalent).
2. Run the following command to create bundles with binaries for tempgen_cli and tempgen_gui in project's dist directory

   python package.py

Generated archives will be placed in artifacts directory

Packaging module

Run the following command to package tempgen module:

python -m pip install --upgrade build
python -m build

Generated archive and .whl package will be placed in dist directory.

Generating documentation

Run the following command to generate updated documentation from collected docstrings and place it in docs directory:

pdoc src\tempgen --output-dir docs -d numpy

Contributions

PR are always welcome!