fenced_divs with preformatted text (source code)

[lifeisfoo]

I'm using fenced_divs to wrap code blocks in order to match a custom style in the output file (markdown->docx).

::: {custom-style="MyCodeStyle"}
function hello() {  
    console.log("world");  
}
:::

Pandoc reads that block as a paragraph, so spaces are removed.

    {
      "t": "Div",
      "c": [
        ["", [], [["custom-style", "MyCodeStyle"]]],
        [
          {
            "t": "Para",
            "c": [
              { "t": "Str", "c": "function" },
              { "t": "Space" },
              { "t": "Str", "c": "hello()" },
              { "t": "Space" },
              { "t": "Str", "c": "{" },
              { "t": "LineBreak" },
              { "t": "Str", "c": "console.log(" },
              {
                "t": "Quoted",
                "c": [{ "t": "DoubleQuote" }, [{ "t": "Str", "c": "world" }]]
              },
              { "t": "Str", "c": ");" },
              { "t": "LineBreak" },
              { "t": "Str", "c": "}" }
            ]
          }
        ]
      ]
    },

Is there a way to force pandoc fenced_divs to behave like a code block producing an output like this?

    {
      "t": "CodeBlock",
      "c": [
        ["", [], []],
        "function hello() {  \n    console.log(\"world\");  \n}  "
      ]
    }

I saw this solution but I would like to avoid converting all spaces to non breaking ones.

[jgm]

Why not put it in a code block and attach the custom style to that?

``` {custom-style="MyCodeStyle"}
function hello() {  
    console.log("world");  
}
```

[lifeisfoo]

Thank you @jgm.
I was not aware of this. Reading the doc this is something not obvious.

The AST now contains the custom style but it is not present in the final docx (the style used is the default "Source Code").

    {
      "t": "CodeBlock",
      "c": [
        [
          "",
          [],
          [
            ["custom-style", "MyCodeStyle"]
          ]
        ],
        "function hello() {  \n    console.log(\"world\");  \n}  "
      ]
    },

[jgm]

OK, maybe custom styles only work with certain elements; I had forgotten the details.
Unfortunately you can't apply multiple styles in Word.

[jgm]

You could try something like

::: {custom-style="MyCodeStyle"}
`function hello() {`\
`    console.log("world");`\
`}`\
:::

[lifeisfoo]

It seems that spaces are being trimmed even with this.

    {
      "t": "Div",
      "c": [
        ["", [], [["custom-style", "MyCodeStyle"]]],
        [
          {
            "t": "Para",
            "c": [
              { "t": "Code", "c": [["", [], []], "function hello() {"] },
              { "t": "LineBreak" },
              { "t": "Code", "c": [["", [], []], "console.log(\"world\");"] },
              { "t": "LineBreak" },
              { "t": "Code", "c": [["", [], []], "}"] },
              { "t": "LineBreak" }
            ]
          }
        ]
      ]
    },

If there is no way of achieving this, I will end up using the plain code block as you suggested in the first reply adapting the "Source Code" style in the reference doc (not my preferred choice since I depend on third party styles/template).

In some cases, forcing the use of a single style when dealing with preformatted text could be limiting.
Having the support for custom-style in Code Blocks will add coherence in pandoc's features (since they are very similar to fenced divs).

[jgm]

Yeah, I forgot that the default markdown will trim spaces at the beginning and end of code spans. Commonmark won't do that, though. With commonmark_x:

[ Div
    ( "" , [] , [ ( "custom-style" , "MyCodeStyle" ) ] )
    [ Para
        [ Code ( "" , [] , [] ) "function hello() {"
        , LineBreak
        , Code ( "" , [] , [] ) "    console.log(\"world\");"
        , LineBreak
        , Code ( "" , [] , [] ) "}"
        , Str "\\"
        ]
    ]
]

Note: the "single style" constraint is not from pandoc, it's from Word. Word's styles don't cascade like in CSS. We could support custom-style in code blocks, but that would mean not using the SourceCode style, so your custom style would have to reproduce what it does.

[jgm]

From the manual:

If you define a div or span with the attribute custom-style,
pandoc will apply your specified style to the contained elements (with
the exception of elements whose function depends on a style, like
headings, code blocks, block quotes, or links).

In Word, everything (except a table) is a paragraph; headings and code blocks and block quotes just differ in style. That's why we don't apply custom styles to code blocks.