nested directive container not working properly

[lab9fr]

Initial checklist

• I read the support docs
• I read the contributing guide
• I agree to follow the code of conduct
• I searched issues and discussions and couldn’t find anything (or linked relevant results below)

Affected package

mdast-util-directive

Steps to reproduce

parsing this markdown :

:::outside

:::inside
Hello
:::

:::inside
World
:::

:::

Actual behavior

the first closing pattern ::: closes the inside and outside containers instead of just the last one opened

So they are nested, but only one container can be nested in an another one, the "World" container isn't in the outside container as expected

Expected behavior

the closing pattern should only close one container, not several at a time and only the deepest (latest) one opened.

Runtime

No response

Package manager

No response

Operating system

No response

Build and bundle tools

No response

[wooorm]

Why? Your proposal breaks some use cases. Why is it better than those use cases?

[lab9fr]

Hello @wooorm,

Thanks for the quick response.
I'm curious about the use cases it would break.

For us, it makes the container directive difficult to use, because you can't put one inside an another and expect them to act as html containers, one closing tag for one opening tag and several siblings existing inside a container.

For example, we'd like to use the container to create a tabs component :

:::tabs

:::tab[tab1]
Hello
:::

:::tab[tab2]
World
:::

:::

We have a workaround for this specific case, but it seems to me this is closer to the way html works.

May be it would be an another type of directive, like a 4th level ?

Thanks

[ChristianMurphy]

Also see the discussion in micromark/micromark-extension-directive#8

[wooorm]

Sure you can put them inside each other:

::::tabs

:::tab[tab1]
Hello
:::

:::tab[tab2]
World
:::

::::

https://github.com/micromark/micromark-extension-directive#syntax

Fenced code works the same. You can nest several things in markdown by using more markers around less markers

[lab9fr]

Thank you for your responses and the link to the discussion. It helped clarify the matter.

I do see one drawback with this hierarchical nesting approach: the container needs to be aware of its contents to determine the appropriate level.

Taking the tab example again, if each tab's content is externalized into separate markdown files (which is something we’re planning to do), it might become challenging to identify the correct level to use.

Thanks.

[wooorm]

Yep. That’s indeed one of the aspects of this. But you will see it in many languages, such as Rust strings too. Markdown is often very context dependent.

Though, your argumentation about externalizing into separate files is of no consequence.
To do that, you will work with ASTs. For that we provide the tools. Those tools automatically do what you need.