Using sniprun to render plantuml diagrams

[Piotr1215]

EDIT: spinrun -> sniprun

I would like to use sniprun to render a PlantUML diagram and link the resulting *.png file or ascii right below the code fence block with the diagram content.

Has anyone figured out if it's possible and how to do it?

[michaelb]

It's 'sniprun' haha

outputting a png is definitely not supported, and to even embed it in your terminal would require support and special integration with that terminal application.

ASCII is in the realm of the possible. Do you know of any (command-line) application that converts a file containing a valid plantulm diagram into some ascii representation ?

If so, the Generic interpreter can most likely be configured to use that.

In addition, if you don't like sniprun's display modes (which may not be a perfect fit for displaying ascii figures), you may have to write your own output code using the API display mode

Good luck

[michaelb]

v1.3.15 is out with plantUML support :-)

[Piotr1215]

Thank you! It works without any additional config. There is a small glitch, after executing :SpinRun a test PlantUML markdown snippet:

```plantuml
@startuml
Alice -> Bob: Authentication Request
Bob --> Alice: Authentication Response

Alice -> Bob: Another authentication Request
Alice <-- Bob: Another authentication Response
@enduml
```

getting this:

It disappears on file reload or :SnipClose

[michaelb]

Thank you! It works without any additional config. There is a small glitch, after executing :SpinRun a test PlantUML markdown snippet:

```plantuml
@startuml
Alice -> Bob: Authentication Request
Bob --> Alice: Authentication Response

Alice -> Bob: Another authentication Request
Alice <-- Bob: Another authentication Response
@enduml
```

getting this:

It disappears on file reload or :SnipClose

Nice :-)
Oh haha it's not a glitch, it's the VirtualText display mode: sniprun defaults to displaying with the 'Classic' (in the command area) and the 'VirtualTextOk' (successful results display over this 1-line space). For plantuml however, this is quite ill-suited. Defining the 'display' key in your configuration will overwrite the default with whatever mode you fancy
https://michaelb.github.io/sniprun/sources/display_modes.html#available-display-modes

Also, if you want the whole snippet to be sent and not just Alice->Bob, you can run with the cursor either on @startuml or the markdown code bloc marker

[Piotr1215]

Ah, that makes sense. Both the terminal and classic settings work here pretty well.

Thank you for implementing the PlantUML runner and for the great plugin, I'm sure I've just scratched the surface with my use case.

A bit off-topic, but it's great to see a remote plugin mixing rust and lua. I've been playing with the idea of creating a kind of neovim slides plugin similar to lookatme or slides, but fully encapsulated in neovim. Looking at you repo, rust might be a neat idea for the project!

[michaelb]

Ah, that makes sense. Both the terminal and classic settings work here pretty well.

Thank you for implementing the PlantUML runner and for the great plugin, I'm sure I've just scratched the surface with my use case.

A bit off-topic, but it's great to see a remote plugin mixing rust and lua. I've been playing with the idea of creating a kind of neovim slides plugin similar to lookatme or slides, but fully encapsulated in neovim. Looking at you repo, rust might be a neat idea for the project!

I'd lie if I'd say it's like walking on a red carpet. The tooling has evolved somewhat since I created sniprun (we now have a supposedly nicer async rpc framework 'nvim-rs') but overall the examples/docs are scarse.

Rust(+lua) luckily struck a good balance of complexity (of the tools) versus the needs of sniprun itself (in terms of overall structure, maintainability, expendability, reliability etc..)
At the time lua was barely a thing (🦕), and VimScript clearly wasn't gonna cut it past a couple hundred lines of code. While if I had to redo it now, I still would choose to do so in Rust, for a plugin smaller in scope 'pure' Lua would probably be my go-to