Inline R code in _extension.yml elements, possible?

[ramiromagno]

Description

Hi!,

I am trying to develop a Quarto Journal Template, or actually, trying to learn on how to do that :)

It seems I cannot include inline R code to be executed in the _extension.yml? Do you confirm? Or am I doing something wrong?

Look at the copy-year element:

title: Wiley's New Journal Design (NJD) Latex Authoring Template
author: Ramiro Magno
version: 1.0.0
quarto-required: ">=1.3.0"
contributes:
  formats:
    common:
      toc: true
      filters:
        - wiley-njd.lua
    pdf:
      documentclass: WileyNJDv5
      classoption: [AMA, Times1COL]
      template: wiley-njd-template.tex
      cite-method: natbib
      article-type: ""
      received: "Date Month Year"
      revised: "Date Month Year"
      accepted: "Date Month Year"
      journal: "Journal"
      volume: "00"
      copy-year: "Last update : `r Sys.Date()`"
      present-address: ""
      abbreviations-note: ""
      template-partials:
        - "partials/title.tex"
        - "partials/biblio.tex"
      format-resources:
        - wiley-njd-v5/WileyNJDv5.cls
        - wiley-njd-v5/LETTERSP.STY
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-AMA.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-AMS.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-APA.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-APS.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-Chicago.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-Harvard.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-MLA.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-MPS.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-Vancouver.bst
        - wiley-njd-v5/wileyNJD-WCMS.bst
    html:
      css: styles.css

in the generated PDF I get:

[mcanouil]

Syntax `r ` is not officially supported in YAML by Quarto.
The supported syntax is !expr 'code'.

Quarto has a date features why not use it?
See https://quarto.org/docs/reference/dates.html.

[cderv]

@ramiromagno This syntax using !expr only works inside R code chunks

You won't be able to use it in _quarto.yaml or _extension.yml

[ramiromagno]

Could you please provide a concrete example? Because I've tried:

copy-year: !expr 'date()'

and

copy-year: !expr 'r date()'

and both yield true in the generated PDF:

And in the intermediate latex file I can confirm that:

\copyyear{true}

The reason why I don't use something like date instead of my own custom copy-year:

---
date: 03/07/2005
date-format: "YYYY"
---

is because then I would not be able to use date element except as the year of the date. It would be nice if I could have different dates and format them individually:

---
birth-date: 03/07/2005
birth-date-format: "DD MM YYYY"
graduation-date: 03/07/2005
graduation-date-format: "YYYY"
---

but as far as I understand that is not possible.

[cderv]

!expr won't work that way - it is for R code chunks only as a backward compatible feature with how knitr is working (#6222 (reply in thread))

[ramiromagno]

Thanks for the clarification!