Proper way to add LaTeX (with markdown-it-texmath and katex) to nodebb-plugin-markdown

alfazaz

Hello !

I succeeded in adding LaTeX on my nodebb forum but my solution is bad for maintenance (all plugin I found to do that had defaults so I made my own work)... I think there is a greater/more elegant way ; here is the reason for this message .

Here is my method for now :

I forked nodebb-plugin-markdown (named it nodebb-plugin-markdown-YA).
I added into package.json these dependencies : katex and markdown-it-texmath.
I copied katex.min.css from katex to nodebb-plugin-markdown-YA/public/less/katex.min.less.
I copied "fonts" dir from katex to "nodebb/public".
I changed nodebb-plugin-markdown/index.js (bof, bof... ). Here is the diff between nodebb-plugin-markdown/index.js and nodebb-plugin-markdown-YA/index.js :

2a3,6
> // YA add-on for LaTeX (markdown-it-texmath + katex)
> var katex = require('katex');
> var MarkdownItTexmath = require('markdown-it-texmath').use(katex);
> 
52c56,57
<                       href: nconf.get('relative_path') + '/plugins/nodebb-plugin-markdown/styles/' + (Markdown.config.highlightTheme || 'railscasts.css'),
---
> //  YA change for LaTeX (markdown-it-texmath + katex) - plugin renamed !
>                       href: nconf.get('relative_path') + '/plugins/nodebb-plugin-markdown-YA/styles/' + (Markdown.config.highlightTheme || 'railscasts.css'),
115c120,123
<                       parser = new MarkdownIt(_self.config);
---
> //  YA change for LaTeX (markdown-it-texmath + katex)
> //                    parser = new MarkdownIt(_self.config);
>                         parser = new MarkdownIt(_self.config).use(MarkdownItTexmath, {"delimiters" : 'dollars'});
> 
236a245,246
> //  YA change for LaTeX (markdown-it-texmath + katex)
> //  checkboxes make some bad things with LaTeX so desactivate it
238,241c248,251
<               parser.use(require('markdown-it-checkbox'), {
<                       divWrap: true,
<                       divClass: 'plugin-markdown',
<               });
---
> //            parser.use(require('markdown-it-checkbox'), {
> //                    divWrap: true,
> //                    divClass: 'plugin-markdown',
> //            });

Is there a greater way to do these things keeping nodebb-plugin-markdown unchanged and installed ? I can write another plugin to apply my changes (add LaTeX with markdown-it-texmath and katex and remove markdown-it-checkbox use) but is it really possible and, if yes, with which hooks ?

It would be really simpler for maintenance (and also more beautiful... )...

Thanks in advance for help !

alfazaz

Precision : step to disable markdown-it-checkbox in code is now not necessary since the following change made by @julianlam in nodebb-plugin-markdown...

https://github.com/julianlam/nodebb-plugin-markdown/issues/108