Generate json/yaml data

[TheNetAdmin]

I think it would be great if metrics can generate a json or yaml data file containing all the info used to generate the svg file. In this way, we can reuse metrics' data for other purposes.

I guess there is such a data structure when metrics is generating the svg file, so maybe just dump that into a json file? This is just my elementary guess.

[lowlighter]

It's already possible to output json data 🙂
You can even test it online like metrics.lecoq.io/github-username?config.output=json

Here's all supported output formats:

metrics/source/plugins/core/metadata.yml

Lines 194 to 206 in f38f905

	# Metrics output format
	config_output:
	description: Output image format
	type: string
	default: auto
	values:
	- auto # Defaults to template default
	- svg
	- png # Does not support animations
	- jpeg # Does not support animations and transparency
	- json # Outputs a JSON file instead of an image
	- markdown # Outputs a Markdown file instead of an image
	- markdown-pdf # Outputs a Markdown file as PDF instead of an image

Note that resulting json scheme is not always consistant between versions (some stuff get moved around) so be sure to tag a version when reusing these data somewhere else.

Also, the output still depends on which plugins are enabled, so if you want to collect data from a specific plugin, it is still required to enable it and to configure it

[TheNetAdmin]

Aha, this is awesome! Didn't know that. Great work!