Terracotta Warrior

Named after the sculptures of soldiers buried in the tomb of the (in)famous Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. Current estimates put the number of sculptures at over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots (each with 4 horses) and 150 cavalry horses. No two sculptures were exactly identical.

terracotta-warrior generates fake data. It does the usual bells and whistles that other fake data generators offer (random selections from arrays, random number ranges, yada), with a couple of bonus features:

• Support for randomized punctuation. This makes things a lot more… realistic when you're generating paragraphs of text. See that ellipse there?
• LaTeX/MathJax equations. Exactly as advertised. terracotta-warrior generates fake terms, coefficients, and LaTeX commands, then strings them up to form a fake equation.
• Markdown content. This includes itemized and enumerated lists, quotes, and markup for fake images, as well as combinations thereof.

To top things off, everything was designed to be customizable and swappable. Allergic to Lorem Ipsum? Provide your own word list! Generating data for a different language? Provide your own character list! Your MathJax deployment doesn't use $$ delimiters? Provide your own!

Usage

Install as you would any Node package:

npm install --save terracotta-warrior

Feel free to use --save-dev instead of --save if you are using terracotta-warrior to mock data only in development.

To get started, require terracotta-warrior, then initialize the factories which you need:

var tw = require('terracotta-warrior');

// Create a common random generator for all our factories
var re = new tw.RandEngine();

var tf = new tw.TextFactory({ engine: re });        // Titles and Paragraphs
var uf = new tw.UserFactory({ engine: re });        // User Profiles
var ef = new tw.EquationFactory({ engine: re });    // LaTeX Equations
var mf = new tw.MarkdownFactory({ engine: re });    // Markdown Content

RandEngine

The RandEngine namespace provides functions that assist with the creation and selection of random variables. In order to ensure reproducibility of the data generated, it overwrites Math.random() internally with a seeded RNG from David Bau's excellent seedrandom package. He didn't pay me to say this, but do buy him a beer if you can.

Constructor

The constructor for RandEngine has two configuration parameters, shown here with their default values:

var opts = {
    imgProviderUrl: '//lorempixel.com', // Image provider URL
    seed: 4                             // A number or string of your choice
}

var re = new tw.RandEngine(opts);

Methods

The following methods are available:

re.randFullNumber(size);
re.randRange(min, max);
re.randBoolean();
re.randImage(width, height, category);

• randFullNumber(size) generates a number with size digits, and with padding zeros in front. For example, size=3 could give you 009. If no input is provided, size defaults to 3.
• randRange(min, max) generates an integer x such that min ≤ x ≤ max. For example, min = 1 and max = 3 could give you 2. If min and max are the same number, x will always be that number as well. If max is smaller than min, they will be swapped at runtime to ensure that the function is always monotonically increasing. If no input is provided, min defaults to 0 and max defaults to 1.
• randBoolean() generates either a true or false boolean value.
• randImage(width, height, category) generates a random image of size width and height using the image provider described by imgProviderUrl. If either the width or height is not specified, it defaults to a value of 500px. If the category is not specified, it is not used.

TextFactory

The TextFactory namespace provides functions that assist with the generation of text in various forms. It starts from a single character and builds up to a full paragraph.

Constructor

The constructor for TextFactory has six configuration parameters, shown here with their default values:

var opts = {
    engine: new RandEngine(),           // An instance of RandEngine
    charList: ['a', 'b', ...],          // Letters in the English alphabet 
    wordList: ['lorem', 'ipsum', ...],  // Lorem Ipsum words
    endingPuncList: ['.', '?', '!'],    // End of sentence punctuation
    enhancedPunctuation: false,         // Use additional punctuation
    puncList: [',', ';', ' -', ':']     // Inter-word punctuation
}

var tf = new tw.TextFactory(opts);

Enabling enhanced punctuation will cause the generator to output "fancy" typographic elements such as em-dashes and ellipses. This is disabled by default because not all typesetting/display systems render these punctuation correctly.

Methods

The following methods are available:

tf.randLetter();
tf.randWord();
tf.randTitle(size);
tf.randSentence(size, puncSpacing, widowThreshold);
tf.randParagraph(size);

• randLetter() returns a letter chosen at random from the character list.
• randWord() returns a word chosen at random from the word list.
• randTitle(size) generates a title of length size. If size is not specified, it defaults to a random value between 3 and 10. The first character in the title will be capitalized.
• randSentence(size, widowThreshold) generates a sentence of length size, with the guarantee that punctuation will not appear widowThreshold words before the end of the sentence. If no input is specified, size defaults to a random value between 10 and 25, and widowThreshold defaults to a value of 5. Punctuation is inserted randomly every 11 to 15 words.
• randParagraph(size) generates a paragraph with size number of sentences. If size is not specified, it defaults to a random value between 4 and 10.

UserFactory

The UserFactory namespace provides functions that assist with the generation of data related to a user. This factory currently doesn't do much, but that will change in the next major update.

Constructor

The constructor for UserFactory has three configuration parameters, shown here with their default values:

var opts = {
    engine: new RandEngine(),           // An instance of RandEngine
    firstNameList: [...]                // A list of first names
    lastNameList: [...]                 // A list of last names
}

var uf = new tw.UserFactory(opts);

The default values for firstNameList and lastNameList can be found in src/UserFactory.js. They are omitted here for brevity.

Methods

The following methods are available:

uf.randUsername();
uf.randAvatarUrl();

• randUsername(size) generates a username by combining a random entry from firstNameList, a random entry from lastNameList, and a number of size digits, in that order. If size is not specified, it defaults to 3.
• randAvatarUrl(width, height) generates a URL to an image avatar. This is actually a wrapper for randImage from the RandEngine namespace with category = 'abstract'. If width and height are not specified, they each default to 500px.

EquationFactory

The EquationFactory namespace provides functions that generate equations written in LaTeX.

Constructor

The constructor for EquationFactory has thirteen configuration parameters, shown here with their default values:

var opts = {
    engine: new RandEngine(),           // An instance of RandEngine
    tf: new TextFactory(),              // An instance of TextFactory
    integralOperator: '\\int\\!',       // The operator used for integration
    trigOperators: [...],               // The operators used for trigonometry
    fracOperator: '\\frac',             // The operator for a fraction
    numOperators: ['+', '-'],           // Numerical operators
    equalityOperators: [...],           // Equality operators
    superOperator: '^',                 // Superscript operator
    subOperator: '_',                   // Subscript operator
    tradMathDispEnv: ['$$', '$$'],      // LaTeX math display environment
    tradMathInlineEnv: ['$', '$'],      // LaTeX math inline environment
    modernMathDispEnv: ['\[', '\]'],    // LaTeX math display environment
    modernMathInlineEnv: ['\(', '\)']   // LaTeX math inline environment
}

var ef = new tw.EquationFactory(opts);

The default values for trigOperators and fracOperators can be found in src/EquationFactory.js. They are omitted here for brevity.

Methods

The following methods are available:

ef.randTerm(size);
ef.randExpression(size, sorted);
ef.randFrac();
ef.randIntegral(type);
ef.randExpression(size);
ef.wrapMath(eqn, opts);

• randTerm(size) generates a term made from size number of variables. The variables are sorted by alphabetical order, and if two identical variables are generated, they are combined with the appropriate coefficients. For example, this function guarantees that the output will be 7ax^2, rather than 7axx. If size is not specified, it defaults to to a random number between 2 and 4.
• randExpression(size, sorted) generates an expression containing size random terms. Terms will be joined using the numerical operators specified in the configuration settings. sorted is true by default, and causes terms to appear in alphabetical order. If size is not specified, it defaults to a random number between 3 and 5.
• randFrac() generates a fraction using the fraction operator specified in the configuration settings. The numerator and denominator of the fraction will be random expressions.
• randIntegral(type) generates an integral using the integral operator specified in the configuration settings. type determines the type of integrand. If type = 'exp', the integrand will be a random expression. If type = 'frac', the integrand will be a random fraction. If it is not one of these two options, or if it is not specified, the integrand will be either a random expression or random fraction with equal likelihood.
• randEquation(size) generates an equation with size expressions joined using the equality operators defined in the configurations settings. If size is not specified, it defaults to a value between 3 and 6.
• wrapMath(eqn, opts) is a helper function that wraps the string eqn in LaTeX/MathJax compatible environment wrappers. opt has the following properties:

var opts = {
    style: 'traditional' | 'modern',
    mode: 'display' | 'inline'
}

The first option for each property above is the default option. The style selection switches between the `trad*Env` and `modern*Env` delimiters as defined in the configuration settings. The mode selection switches between the `*DispEnv` and `*InlineEnv` delimiters as defined in the configuration settings.

MarkdownFactory

The MarkdownFactory namespace provides functions that assist with the generation of rich-text data that compiles correctly in Markdown.

Constructor

The constructor for MarkdownFactory has five configuration parameters, shown here with their default values:

var opts = {
    engine: new RandEngine(),           // An instance of RandEngine
    tf: new TextFactory(),              // An instance of TextFactory
    ef: new EquationFactory(),          // An instance of EquationFactory
    itemSyntax: '- ',                   // The delimiter for itemized lists
    enumSyntax: '* ',                   // The delimiter for enum lists
    quoteSyntax: '> '                   // The delimiter for quotes
}

var mf = new tw.MarkdownFactory(opts);

Methods

The following methods are available:

mf.randImageMarkup(width, height);
mf.randItemSize(size);
mf.randEnumList(size);
mf.randQuote();
mf.randContent(size, noConsecutive);

• randImageMarkup(width, height) generates markup encapsulating a random image and random alt text. The dimensions of the image are given by width and height. Both values default to 500px if not specified.
• randItemList(size) generates markup for an itemized list of random text with size entries. If size is not specified, it defaults to a random value between 3 and 5.
• randEnumList(size) generates markup for an enumerated list of random text with size entries. If size is not specified, it defaults to a random value between 3 and 5.
• randQuote() generates markup for a block-quote containing a random sentence.
• randContent(size, noConsecutive) generates size paragraphs of random content (i.e. a random image, itemized list, enumerated list, quote, or plain text). If size is not specified, it defaults to a random value between 3 and 7. noConsecutive is false by default. If set to true, it guarantees that consecutive items will be different (e.g. there will not be an itemized list, followed by an itemized list again).

Bug Tracking and Feature Requests

Have a bug or a feature request? Please open a new issue.

Before opening any issue, please search for existing issues and read the Issue Guidelines, written by Nicolas Gallagher.

Contributing

Please submit all pull requests against *-wip branches. If you have something that everyone can use, I'll be more than glad to add it with the appropriate attribution and credits. If it's something really specific that only you will need, it's probably better (and easier) if you fork and implement it locally :).

Author

Kenneth Lim

• http://kenlimmj.com
• http://twitter.com/kenlimmj
• http://github.com/kenlimmj

Copyright and License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Kenneth Lim

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.