Can an extension contribute more than one project?

[ijlyttle]

I am putting together an extension for my company; my goal is to be able to write a single extension, so that I can keep all the css, assets, etc. together. In other words, I'd like to define html and revealjs formats, and be able to apply the html format to either a website or book project.

I'm reading the documentation on extensions for project types, and I see this example:

title: Lexdocs Project
author: Lexcorp, Inc.
version: 1.0.0
quarto-version: ">=1.2.0"
contributes:
  project:
    project:
      type: website
    website:
      sidebar: 
        contents: auto
        search: true
        style: docked
        background: light
        logo: lexcorp.png
      page-footer: |
        "Copyright 2022, Lexcorp, Inc." 
    format: lexdocs-html
  formats:
    html:
      theme: [default, theme.scss]
      code-overflow: wrap
      code-line-numbers: true
      filters:
        - filter.lua

This has the basis for most of what I'm trying to do. I can see where I can define an additional format by adding a revealjs element to format.

What I can't see is how to add a book project, i.e. I can't see how to fit it into the schema. Is this possible, or would I need to define a separate extension?

Of course I could be thinking about this all wrong; any guidance is very welcome. Thanks!

[cderv]

👋 @ijlyttle

Some context about Extensions that you may already know, but just in case.

• Format extensions will allow you to define custom formats that you can use in any other type of project, like website or books.

• Project type extensions are way to inherit directly from a quarto project. They allow to define in it custom formats too.

• Starter template are simpler and allow to start a new project from witin a template (that could use some extension for custom format or project type)

It is possible you don't need a project type extension if the only think you need to tweak if the HTML and Revealjs format, including for single document in your company. You can do those in a single Custom formats extensions. This extension can then be used in any book or website project by setting the format to this custom one.

What I can't see is how to add a book project, i.e. I can't see how to fit it into the schema. Is this possible, or would I need to define a separate extension?

I believe you will indeed need to project type extension: one for book and one for website if you want to offer extension that tweak the default setting for these types of project. If you don't need to tweak the settings of project (or if a starter template for both of them is enough) then you can have effectively only one single custom format extension to use.

Otherwise, one thing I am unsure and should be tested (possibly a feature request) is : can you effectively use your custom format extension to be embed in your Project type extension ? 🤔

Hope it helps

[ijlyttle]

Thanks @cderv 🤗

I will have to examine more carefully to see if I can include a format and a project in the same extension - I know I can include multiple formats and shortcodes. Perhaps it could be nice to package projects alongside.

I have to confess that I find Quarto so expansive that I resort to "trying stuff to see what works", then dreaming of the day when I can make sense of it all :)

Perhaps this could result in a feature request - at the risk of repeating myself, I think I have figure out better what feature I might be requesting 🤓

[cderv]

Waiting for the feature request then ! 😄