A WIP script to add markdown functionality to DrawBot.

drawbotMarkdown.py

import re 

sampleText = '''
A spectre is haunting [Europe](www.robofont.com) — the spectre of **communism**. All the __powers of old Europe have__ entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of **communism**, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact:

I. **Communism** is *already acknowledged* by all _European_ powers to be itself a power.

II. It _is high time that **Communists** should openly, in the_ face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party itself.

To this end, **Communists** of various nationalities have [assembled](www.google.com) in London and sketched the following ~~manifesto~~, to be published in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.
'''

# ------------------------------------------------------------

def inTextRange(number, ranges):
    for r in ranges:
        if r[0] <= number <= r[1]:
            return True
    return False
            
def drawbotMarkdown(text, textColor, fontAttr):
    fontFile, fontSize = fontAttr
    
    TOKENS = ["*", "_", "~", "[", "]", "(", ")"]
    
    #regex searches
    BOLD = re.finditer(r'\*\*.*?\*\*|\_\_.*?\_\_', text, re.DOTALL)
    ITAL = [t for t in re.finditer(r'\*.*?\*|\_.*?\_', text, re.DOTALL) if t.group() != "**" or t.group() != "__"]
    STRK = re.finditer(r'~~.*?~~', text, re.DOTALL)

    BOLD_RANGE = [p.span() for p in BOLD]
    ITAL_RANGE = [i.span() for i in ITAL]
    STRK_RANGE = [s.span() for s in STRK]
    
    markdown = FormattedString()
    for ii, letter in enumerate(text):
        weight = 60
        slant = 0
        p = False
        url = False
        if inTextRange(ii, BOLD_RANGE):
            if letter in TOKENS:
                p = True
            else:
                weight = 150
        if inTextRange(ii,ITAL_RANGE):
            if letter in TOKENS:
                p = True
            else:
                slant = -8                
                
        if not p:
            markdown.append(letter, fill=textColor, font=fontFile, fontSize=fontSize, fontVariations=dict(wght=weight, slnt=slant))
    return markdown


# ------------------------------------------------------------


ff = "IBMPlexMono-Thin" # this is a VF
    
newPage(1000,1000)
md = drawbotMarkdown(sampleText,(1,0,0,1),(ff, 20))
textBox(md, (10,10, 518, 1000))