Add support for mscgen

[oddhack]

I have a bunch of MSC (Message Sequence Chart) files to include in my document, and the 'mscgen' converter installed which can turn them into SVG or other output formats. Would it be straightforward to plug a new input format into asciidoctor-diagram?

[pepijnve]

Would it be straightforward to plug a new input format into asciidoctor-diagram?

Absolutely. Most of the code is shared between the various diagram types. The amount of CLI tool specific code is very small, so adding additional ones is straightforward.

First you need to create the block and block macro processors (see https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor-diagram/blob/master/lib/asciidoctor-diagram/shaape/extension.rb)
Then add a file for your new diagram type that registers the processors when it is required (see https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor-diagram/blob/master/lib/asciidoctor-diagram/shaape.rb)
Finally, require that file from asciidoctor-diagram.rb so that it is available when the main asciidoctor-diagram file is required (see https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor-diagram/blob/master/lib/asciidoctor-diagram.rb)

Is this something you would like to contribute or is this more a request to add support for mscgen? If you have some time to work on this available, I would be happy to merge a PR for this.

[pepijnve]

I had some free time this evening so I went ahead and integrated support for mscgen.

[oddhack]

Nice! Thanks very much - I will give it a try soon.

[vinipsmaker]

Could the comment #167 (comment) be converted into a HACKING.adoc file and be included in the repo?