I'm currently extracting this AngularJS viewer app from the main smartdown distribution. So the docs below assume that this source is located as a subdirectory of the Smartdown source tree, which is no longer the case. Rather, this app now includes the Smartdown NPM module as a dependency, and also copies the SimpleSiteExample/ from Smartdown so that it can be served via smartdown.site. This is a transitional form of the breakup.

Although Smartdown will eventually have all of its source code published and licensed under an open source license, it is currently in a rapid development phase and I'm just one person (so far), so I haven't nailed down all the niceties of a proper open source project. In order to effectively beta-test this software, however, I am making available many of the tools and examples as well as the compiled and bundled Smartdown library via npm and via https://unpkg.com/smartdown/docs/lib/. The npm smartdown module contains the source necessary to render a site similar to the Simple Viewer Site described above.

The examples in Smartdown Site Gallery can be run by using an HTTP server and basing the server's root such that / refers to your downloaded smartdown/docs/ directory. This same directory is served via GitHub Pages at Smartdown Gallery.

In order to test locally, you will need an HTTP server and will need to arrange for it to deliver smartdown/docs as /, to correspond with the expectations of GitHub Pages.

I do my testing using the wonderful and light http-server. The configuration I use is something like:

  cd smartdown/   # This is the root of the working directory
  http-server --cors -c-1 docs/    # Enable CORS, disable caching

You can then open your browser to http://127.0.0.1:8080/gallery/ to see the example.

If you want to run http-server from a different root directory, then you may need to adjust the line in /gallery/index.html from:

  <base href="/">

to something that points to the smartdown/docs/ directory when expressed via your web server.

The easiest way to play with smartdown is to include the JS and CSS via a CDN. I'm currently using unpkg.com to distribute the compiled smartdown NPM module and its assets via CDN.

To use smartdown in a modern web application that has been through a bundler like browserify or webpack, you can install via npm and then require('smartdown') in your application's bundle file (e.g., app.js or whatever file contains your require statements and application initialization).

npm install smartdown --save

Unit tests are currently not working, but once they are fixed...

npm test

This lightweight web application is intended to be deployed as a static single-page website, where the site can then be used to view and render Smartdown files easily.

The app has a few preloaded Smartdown examples.

A local Smartdown file can be viewed through the app by using the 'Load File' button or by dragging and dropping a file onto the dropzone

A remote Smartdown file can be loaded via URL.

Note that if the remote file is hosted on a website that does not support CORS, then the request will be rejected. Such files can be copied locally and then viewed that way, however.

The smartdown-viewer app is designed so that the URL pointing to the app can be amended with an optional url parameter that points to a Smartdown file, subject to the same restrictions as Load URL above. For example, suppose this app is hosted on http://smartdown.site and a desired Smartdown file is hosted on http://www.example.com/MySmartdownFile.md. Then the following URL will launch the smartdown-viewer app and cause it to load and render the specified file:

http://smartdown.site/#http://www.example.com/MySmartdownFile.md

This is what I use, you may get lucky with slightly older/newer versions.

• Node 18.16.0
• npm '9.5.1

Tested on MacOSX Safari, Chrome and FireFox. Requires some form of http-server. npm run dev will invoke the WebPack server for auto-bundling during development, and this is sufficient for demo purposes.

cd smartdown/ # If you aren't already there
npm install
npm run build

cd site/
npm run dev
open http://localhost:8080/webpack-dev-server/smartdown-viewer # On MacOSX
# Alternatively, point your browser to:
#   http://localhost:8080/webpack-dev-server/smartdown-viewer
#