API

A rivt file is a Python text file (.py) importing the rivtlib API:

import rivtlib.rvapi as rv

The rvapi.py module provides 7 API functions:

API	Name	Purpose
rv.R	Run	Run shell commands
rv.I	Insert	Insert static resources
rv.V	Values	Calculate values
rv.T	Tools	Run Python functions
rv.D	Docs	Write docs
rv.S	Skip	Skip section
rv.Q	Quit	Exit rivt

The first four functions (R I V T) are content functions - they generate doc content. Content functions evaluate the triple-quoted string argument (rivt-string) to a formatted utf-8 text string and outputs it to the terminal. The output is a doc section, unless the section heading is explicitly suppressed.

The last three functions (D S Q) are process functions - they process sections without generating content. When the Doc function is called the entire rivt file is evaluated and a doc is output in the specified format - text, PDF or HTML.

API functions may be run interactively as cells in a notebook IDE (e.g. VSCode), using the standard cell decorator # %%. They are evaluated top to bottom, similar to a Python script, and may be combined in any order as long as variables and expressions are previously defined.

The syntax for each rivt-string is