RefractTrack Markdown Formatting: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:46, 11 September 2026

Formatting Text

Anywhere you can type a longer note — task descriptions, comments, bug details — RefractTrack supports a small set of simple formatting shortcuts, so you can add structure without needing a rich-text toolbar. There's also a help button right next to these fields in the app if you ever need a quick reminder.

Structuring a block of text

Type this	To get
A line starting with #	A heading
A line starting with ##	A smaller heading
A line starting with - or *	A bullet point
A line starting with 1.	A numbered list item
Two spaces of indent	Nests a list item under the one above
Triple backticks around a block, with a language name	A code block, with color highlighting for that language (see below)

Supported code languages

Code blocks get color highlighting for a good range of the languages game teams actually use — just type one of the names below right after the opening triple backticks. Closely related languages share the same highlighting, so you don't need an exact match: any of the names in a row below works for that whole group.

Languages	Type any of these
C#, Java, C, C++	csharp, cs, c#, java, c, cpp, c++
JSON, YAML, CSS	json, yaml, yml, css
JavaScript, TypeScript	javascript, js, typescript, ts
GDScript, Python	gdscript, gd, python, py
XML, HTML	xml, html
SQL	sql

Any other (or no) language name still works fine — it just shows up as a plain, uncolored code block.

Formatting a word or phrase

Type this	To get
bold	bold
italic	italic
++underline++	underlined text

Live preview

As you type in a description or comment box, a live preview shows exactly how the formatted text will look — no guessing, and no need to save first to check.

Task codes link themselves

You never need to manually link to another task. Just type its code — like FE-12 — anywhere in a description or comment, and RefractTrack automatically turns it into a clickable link, as long as it's a real task you have permission to see. You can see this in action in the description on the Tasks page's example screenshot.

Related pages

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== Markdown Formatting ==
+== Formatting Text ==
-Free-text fields (task descriptions, comments, bug fields) support a small, purpose-built markdown subset — not a full CommonMark implementation. A help modal in the app documents this for end users; this page is the reference version.
+Anywhere you can type a longer note — task descriptions, comments, bug details — RefractTrack supports a small set of simple formatting shortcuts, so you can add structure without needing a rich-text toolbar. There's also a help button right next to these fields in the app if you ever need a quick reminder.
-=== Block-level syntax ===
+=== Structuring a block of text ===
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Syntax !! Result
+! Type this !! To get
 |-
-| <code><nowiki># Heading</nowiki></code> || Heading (rendered as <code><nowiki><h4></nowiki></code>)
+| A line starting with # || A heading
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>## Heading</nowiki></code> || Smaller heading (rendered as <code><nowiki><h5></nowiki></code>)
+| A line starting with ## || A smaller heading
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>- item</nowiki></code> or <code><nowiki>* item</nowiki></code> || Bullet list item
+| A line starting with - or * || A bullet point
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>1. item</nowiki></code> || Numbered list item
+| A line starting with 1. || A numbered list item
 |-
-| Two spaces of indent per level || Nests list items
+| Two spaces of indent || Nests a list item under the one above
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>```lang ... ```</nowiki></code> || Fenced code block, with optional single-line syntax highlighting for <code><nowiki>csharp</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>json</nowiki></code>
+| Triple backticks around a block, with a language name || A code block, with color highlighting for that language (see below)
-|-
-| (blank line not required) || Plain lines are joined with line breaks
 |}
-Mixing list markers at the same nesting depth (e.g. switching from <code><nowiki>-</nowiki></code> to <code><nowiki>1.</nowiki></code> mid-list) closes the old list and opens a new one of the new type at that depth, matching how most lightweight markdown parsers behave.
+=== Supported code languages ===
-=== Inline syntax ===
+Code blocks get color highlighting for a good range of the languages game teams actually use — just type one of the names below right after the opening triple backticks. Closely related languages share the same highlighting, so you don't need an exact match: any of the names in a row below works for that whole group.
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Syntax !! Result
+! Languages !! Type any of these
+|-
+| C#, Java, C, C++ || csharp, cs, c#, java, c, cpp, c++
+|-
+| JSON, YAML, CSS || json, yaml, yml, css
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>**bold**</nowiki></code> || '''bold'''
+| JavaScript, TypeScript || javascript, js, typescript, ts
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>*italic*</nowiki></code> || ''italic''
+| GDScript, Python || gdscript, gd, python, py
 |-
-| <code><nowiki>++underline++</nowiki></code> || underlined text
+| XML, HTML || xml, html
+|-
+| SQL || sql
 |}
-=== Code blocks and syntax highlighting ===
+Any other (or no) language name still works fine — it just shows up as a plain, uncolored code block.
-Fenced code blocks (<code><nowiki>```</nowiki></code>) support an optional language tag right after the opening fence (e.g. <code><nowiki>```csharp</nowiki></code>). Syntax highlighting is a hand-rolled, best-effort, line-by-line regex highlighter for <code><nowiki>csharp</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>json</nowiki></code> — not a real tokenizer, so it can occasionally be fooled by a keyword-looking substring inside an already-highlighted token. This is an accepted trade-off in exchange for no additional dependencies. Comments are only recognized within a single line; there is no multi-line comment tracking.
+=== Formatting a word or phrase ===
-=== Task-code auto-linking ===
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Type this !! To get
+|-
+| <nowiki>**bold**</nowiki> || '''bold'''
+|-
+| <nowiki>*italic*</nowiki> || ''italic''
+|-
+| <nowiki>++underline++</nowiki> || underlined text
+|}
+=== Live preview ===
-Anywhere rendered markdown text contains something matching a task-code pattern (<code><nowiki>PREFIX-123</nowiki></code>, e.g. <code><nowiki>FE-12</nowiki></code>), RefractTrack automatically checks whether it resolves to a real task and, if so, turns it into a link to that task's detail page. If the viewer doesn't have permission to view tasks, or the code doesn't resolve to a real task, it's left as plain text.
+As you type in a description or comment box, a live preview shows exactly how the formatted text will look — no guessing, and no need to save first to check.
-=== Live preview ===
+=== Task codes link themselves ===
-The task form and comment box include a live preview panel (<code><nowiki>js/markdown-preview.js</nowiki></code>) that renders the same markdown subset client-side as you type. This preview logic is kept in byte-for-byte lockstep with the server-side renderer — any change to the server-side markdown rendering rules should be mirrored here to avoid the preview drifting from what actually gets saved and displayed.
+You never need to manually link to another task. Just type its code — like ''FE-12'' — anywhere in a description or comment, and RefractTrack automatically turns it into a clickable link, as long as it's a real task you have permission to see. You can see this in action in the description on the [[RefractTrack_Tasks|Tasks]] page's example screenshot.
 === Related pages ===
 * [[RefractTrack_Tasks|Tasks]]
-* [[RefractTrack_Comments_and_Activity_Log|Comments and Activity Log]]
+* [[RefractTrack_Comments_and_Activity_Log|Comments and Activity]]
+[[Category:RefractTrack]]

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