--- /dev/null
+I would like to use ikiwiki to build a static site which needs some transformations to be made on binary assets. A simple example is to translate a .odp presentation to .pdf using (e.g.) unoconv. If I add a new .odp attachment, or push one into the repo, I want the corresponding .pdf to appear in the generated site. What's the right place to hook in to do this?
+
+I've made an experimental prototype which hooks into needsbuild, builds the pages then and there, and at the same time removes them from the list of pages to be built.
+
+~~~
+sub needsbuild {
+ my $files=shift;
+ my $nfiles=[];
+ foreach my $f (@$files) {
+ if ($f =~ /\.odp$/) {
+ my $g = $f;
+ $g =~ s/\.odp$/\.pdf/;
+ debug("building $f to $g");
+ will_render($f, $g);
+ if (system("unoconv","-f","pdf","-o",IkiWiki::dirname("$config{destdir}/$g"),srcfile($f)) != 0) {
+ error("unoconv: failed to translate $f to $g");
+ }
+ }
+ else {
+ push @$nfiles, $f;
+ }
+ };
+ return $nfiles;
+}
+~~~
+
+It appears to work, but is this the right way to do it, bearing in mind ikiwiki's dependency tracking and the like? And is the usage of will_render() correct?
+
+[[BrianCandler]]