Magic text

To support easy embedding of non-native content within SVGs like videos, iframes or custom metadata, Slidie provides the ‘magic’ text feature.

A magic text box is an ordinary SVG text box whose first line is @@@ (three ‘at’ signs). The remainder of the text box’s contents is interpreted as a TOML document and must define exactly one value.

As an example, both of the following are valid magic text values: both define a single top-level value – video – though in the latter case that value contains a complex datastructure with multiple sub-values.

@@@
video = "http://example.com/example.mp4"

@@@
# A more complex example...
[video]
url = "http://example.com/example.mp4"
start = 12.3
mute = true

Magic text boxes are removed from slides during rendering and do not appear in the output. As a result they can be placed wherever is convenient on a slide.

Tip

If you want to create a text box in your slide whose first line is @@@ without it being interpreted as magic text, add a trailing space to the first line. It will not be visible in the resulting document but will prevent Slidie treating it as magic text.

See also

See the following supported magic-text-based functions:

Video

Uses the video magic text value.

Creating <iframe> elements

Uses the iframe magic text value.

Metadata

Various magic text values may be used to define document and slide metadata, including name, author and date.

Warning

Unrecognised top-level magic text values are silently ignored. If your magic text is not working as intended, look out for typos!

This is purely an artefact of a lazy implementation in Slidie and may one day be addressed…

Magic rectangles

In some cases (such as videos and iframes), a magic text definition must be associated with a rectangular region on a slide. To do this you should group a placeholder SVG rectangle or image object with the magic text box.

Warning

Only SVG rectangles (<rect>) and images (<image>) are supported as placeholders. For example, a <path> defining a rectangle is not suitable.

Warning

Take care to put the placeholder and magic text alone within their group. Slidie will produce an error if other elements are included.

In supported output formats, both the magic text and associated placeholder will be removed and replaced with the desired non-native object. In other formats, the placeholder will be shown instead (though the magic text will still be removed). This allows you to produce slides which render sensibly in several output formats.