print-lib

What it does

Print a GitHub repository's code as .docx or .pdf files.

Why?

When diving into a codebase, I like to have physical copies of the source code. It's easier on my eyes - especially after a long day of programming screen time.

Before, I'd manually copy and paste the content of a code file into MS Word, attach page numbers and a title (filename), and then convert it into pdf (using Word or online tools, etc.). Not much of an issue at all. Until the file count grew. Even repeating those steps for more than a few files felt ... hard-coded.

This is my attempt to automate the menial process. Of course, screen time is inevitable to a programmer (and non-coders alike). So, this solution may seem like a drop in the ocean, but hopefully more folks will come to appreciate physical source code study.

Installation

1. $ npm install print-lib
2. $ pip install -r node_modules/print-lib/requirements.txt

Requirements

• python >= 3.8
• Nodejs >= 14
• MS Word installed on local machine (needed for .pdf conversion)

Example

const { printLib } = require("print-lib");

(async () => {

  const url = "https://github.com/Zen-cronic/scope-logger/tree/main/src";

  await printLib({
    link: url,
    linkType: "recursive",
    auth: process.env.API_ACCESS_TOKEN,
    userAgent: "Zen-cronic",
    convertTo: "pdf",
  });
})();

Output:

Prints 3 directories in the root:

1. The code files in code

2. The .docx files in word

3. The .pdf files in pdf (This is optional; see the Configuring Options section )

Configuring options

All are required.

1. link <string>: A valid github repository url

2. linkType <"file"|"dir"|"recursive">: The type of the content represented by the link.

   • A. file: A single source code file. For example, the link represents index.js only.

   • B. dir: All the files in the given directory. Ignores files in sub-directories.

   • C. recursive: Recursively traverse all files in a given directory, including sub-directories.

3. auth: The GitHub API token needed to make the requests to fetch repository content. Without this, the rate limit is very low. Fine-grain access tokens are recommended. Check the Resources section for more information.

4. userAgent: Your GitHub username or the name of your GitHub App.

5. convertTo <"word"|"pdf">: The stage of the file conversions.

   • A. word: Generate .docx files from the files in code directory. Works cross-platform.

   • B. pdf: Generate .pdf files from the files in word directory. Only available on machines with MS Word installed. Therefore, it cannot be used on linux. If your local machine is not running on Windows or MacOS and this option is set, it fallbacks to word.

Dependencies

• 0 javascript/nodejs dependency!
• python-docx for .docx conversion
• docx2pdf for .pdf conversion

Test

Uses dynamic imports in testing with jest. Therefore, the --experimental-vm-modules flag must be set.

$ npm run test:dynamic

Resources

• GitHub Content API
• GitHub API rate limit