Automatically create a file with the correct header and filename for SWC teacher instruction.

swc_blog.R

require("yaml")
require("lubridate")

#' Make a correct SWC blog post
#' 
#' Automatically formats the necessary YAML header for a
#' Software Carpentry Teacher training blog post. Writes
#' this header to a file with the correct name. The file is
#' created in your current working directory.
#' 
#' @param firstname Your first name, capitalized as you
#'   prefer
#' @param surname Your surname, capitalized as you prefer
#' @theme_code Short character string, supplied by Greg
#'   Wilson, indicating the theme of the posts. e.g. "mcq"
#' @title Your blog post title.
#' @tags character vector of tags
swc_post <- function(firstname, surname, theme_code, title, tags){
  today <- Sys.Date()
  today_char <- as.character(today)
  
  mo <- month(today)
  yr <- year(today)
  dy <- day(today)
  #/yyyy/mm/forename-surname-mcq/
  my_post <- paste(tolower(firstname),
                   tolower(surname),
                   theme_code,
                   sep = "-")  
    
  link <- paste(yr, mo, my_post, sep = "/")
  
  frntmatter <- list(data = today_char, 
                     round = "Round 12",
                     title = title,
                     author = paste(firstname, surname),
                     permalink = link,
                     tags = tags)
  
  header <- paste("---", as.yaml(frntmatter), "---", 
                  "Markdown text goes here", sep = "\n")
  
  #yyyy-mm-dd-forename-surname.md
  filename <- paste(yr, mo, dy, tolower(firstname), tolower(surname),sep = "-")
  writeLines(header, paste0(filename, ".md"))
}

swc_post(firstname = "Andrew", 
         surname = "MacDonald", 
         theme_code = "mcq", 
         title = "TITLE", tags = c("foo", "bar"))