Custom tableofcontents directive maxdepth setting

[ZviBaratz]

Hi all 👋

I am trying to create a book formatted as a PhD thesis. My current toc structure is:

# Table of contents
format: jb-book
root: front
chapters:
# - file: acknowledgements
- file: abstract
- file: content
  options:
    numbered: true
  sections:
  - file: chapters/introduction
  - file: chapters/goals
  - file: chapters/methods
  - file: chapters/results
  - file: chapters/discussion
  - file: chapters/bibliography

and content.md contains:

# Contents

```{tableofcontents}
```

I would like to be able to set the maxdepth of the displayed table of contents, but can't seem to find any way to access it.
Any help resolving this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for all your great work!

[choldgraf]

cc @AakashGfude - do you know if it's possible to pass the other Sphinx toctree directive options to the tableofcontents directive, so that things like depth can be controlled?

[ZviBaratz]

Also, is there any way to combine both chapters and parts in a single toc tree (i.e. to replace content in the given example with a nested parts section)?

[chrisjsewell]

Yep, if I remember correctly, you just add it in your _toc.yml:

# Table of contents
format: jb-book
root: front
chapters:
# - file: acknowledgements
- file: abstract
- file: content
  options:
    numbered: true
    maxdepth: 2
  sections:

then tableofcontents is just setting a "placeholder" of where to put the generated toctree (rather than hiding it).

Note, the full implmentation is in: https://github.com/executablebooks/sphinx-external-toc

[ZviBaratz]

Hi @chrisjsewell, thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, I did try that, but the tree is still rendered with one level. Should I open an issue?

My _toc.yml file is:

# Table of contents
format: jb-book
root: front
chapters:
# - file: acknowledgements
- file: abstract
- file: content
  options:
    numbered: true
    maxdepth: 4
  sections:
  - file: lists
  - file: chapters/introduction
  - file: chapters/goals
  - file: chapters/methods
  - file: chapters/results
  - file: chapters/discussion
  - file: chapters/bibliography

content.md is:

# Contents

<hr>

```{tableofcontents}
```

and the result is:

[chrisjsewell]

Yep if you could open an issue that would be great cheers

[ZviBaratz]

Issue opened in executablebooks/sphinx-external-toc#59, thanks 🙏