How to convert a Markdown string to HTML using Java

A detailed guide on how to convert a Markdown string to HTML in Java using the `commonmark` library.

In this article, we will explore how to use the commonmark library in Java to efficiently convert a Markdown string into HTML.

Java code:

import org.commonmark.node.Node;
import org.commonmark.parser.Parser;
import org.commonmark.renderer.html.HtmlRenderer;

public class MarkdownToHtml {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Markdown string
        String markdown = "# Welcome to Java\nThis is an example of converting Markdown to HTML.";

        // Use CommonMark to parse the Markdown string
        Parser parser = Parser.builder().build();
        Node document = parser.parse(markdown);

        // Convert the Markdown string to HTML
        HtmlRenderer renderer = HtmlRenderer.builder().build();
        String html = renderer.render(document);

        // Print the converted HTML string
        System.out.println(html);
    }
}

Detailed explanation:

1. import org.commonmark.node.Node;: Imports the required classes from the commonmark library for parsing Markdown.
2. Parser parser = Parser.builder().build();: Creates a Parser object to parse the Markdown string.
3. Node document = parser.parse(markdown);: Parses the Markdown string into a Node object.
4. HtmlRenderer renderer = HtmlRenderer.builder().build();: Creates an HtmlRenderer object to convert Markdown to HTML.
5. String html = renderer.render(document);: Converts the Node object into an HTML string.
6. System.out.println(html);: Prints the converted HTML string.

System Requirements:

• JDK 8 or higher
• commonmark 0.18.0 library

How to install the libraries needed to run the Java code above:

Add the following dependency to your pom.xml if you are using Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.commonmark</groupId>
    <artifactId>commonmark</artifactId>
    <version>0.18.0</version>
</dependency>

If you're not using Maven, you can download the library from CommonMark GitHub.

Tips:

• Make sure to verify your Markdown string before converting to avoid formatting issues.
• The commonmark library is a powerful and easy-to-use tool for Markdown conversion.