Feature Request: Use description frontmatter from single page in steps shortcode.

[zigmd]

Use case:

Let's say there's a list page like this and "Step 1", "Step 2", and "Step 3" are individual pages.

Under each individual page, there's text "This is the first step.", "This is the second step.", etc.

It would be very useful if "This is the first step." can be retrieved from the description front matter of the single page step-1.md.

If possible, please include a condition in the "steps" shortcode, to retrieve the description from the single page, if its available.

[imfing]

Gotcha, I think this can be approached in this way.

Say we include a shortcode layouts/shortcodes/readFile.html (example):

{{% steps %}}

{{% readFile "step1.md" %}}

{{% readFile "step2.md" %}}

{{% readFile "step3.md" %}}

{{% /steps %}}

which in effect will be equivalent to:

{{% steps %}}

### Step 1

This is the first step.

### Step 2

This is the second step.

### Step 3

This is the third step.

{{% /steps %}}

and if you only want to read the description from the frontmatter, then you can create a similar shortcode layouts/shortcodes/readDescription.html which does the similar thing

[zigmd]

That's a good idea! I'll work on the readDescription.html shortcode and submit a PR soon.

In my opinion, a shortcode like readFile.html may be too verbose as its reading the entire file, and may not fit well with Hextra as it's a documentation theme.

The readDescription shortcode will fit in very well with the steps. The use case I have in mind is if sections are big enough to contain a dedicated document (like step1.md, step2.md), and there are many such sections, then pulling in the description will be useful.

[imfing]

Thanks for the proposal and I appreciate your thought.
While the readDescription.html shortcode would work for the steps, it seems to address a very specific use case.
I'm planning to focus more on broader functionality such as readFile, which I believe will have more general applicability.

However, feel free to share the readDescription.html you create here, as it could be useful for others who have similar requirements.

[zigmd]

You're right - the use case for readDescription.html is very limited.