Re: [Python-markdown-discuss] validating syntax of user input

[Waylan L. <wa...@gm...>]

Gordon,

AFAIK there is no Markdown validator. Markdown parsers generally are
expected to be able to take any text string and parse it. Of course,
if the input is not valid markdown syntax, the returned result will
not be as expected - but the end user should be able to see the
undesired results and make edits. This is a feature, not a bug.
Perhaps you need to implement a preview step for your users for this
purpose.

BTW, our markdown parser should never choke on any input text. If
you're aware of input which raises an error, that is a bug (please
file a report [1]). The parser should just be passing unrecognized
syntax through unmodified. Of course, the parser may misinterpret
non-markdown syntax as markdown syntax which results in odd output.
That is not a bug - just bad input which should be edited in the
preview stage. I suggest testing some questionable input on numerous
markdown implementations  using Babelmark [2] to see what I mean.

If you want to filter out specific types of input that normally would
get passed through (and our "safe mode" won't cover it), you should be
looking for a separate filtering library - which could either filter
before or after the markdown parser. See bleach [3] as an example.

[1]: http://github.com/waylan/Python-Markdown/issues
[2]: http://babelmark.bobtfish.net
[3]: http://github.com/jsocol/bleach

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 5:48 PM, gordon pendleton <wgo...@gm...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am adding the Markdown markup language as an option for user input into my
> web app.  I need to be able to validate the syntax of user submitted content
> to ensure the markup will render properly before accepting the submission.
> How can I verify that the input contains valid Markdown syntax?  I did not
> see any error reporting mechanisms I could hook into in the code.  How
> should I go about this?
>
> Thanks,
> Gordon
>
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Waylan Limberg