in implicit function style (a la Geoff) the first comment refers to the return value. In colon style, an exclamation mark allows a typename to be directly used as a 'tag'. The word 'optional' is only issued if we have either nil or a type

ldoc/doc.lua

@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ known_tags._code_types = {
    script = true
 }
 
+known_tags._module_info = {
+   'copyright','release','license','author'
+}
+
 local see_reference_handlers = {}
 
 
@@ -80,6 +84,7 @@ function doc.project_level(tag)
    return known_tags._project_level[tag]
 end
 
+-- is it a project level tag containing code?
 function doc.code_tag (tag)
    return known_tags._code_types[tag]
 end
@@ -94,6 +99,10 @@ function doc.class_tag (tag)
    return tag == 'type' or tag == 'factory'
 end
 
+function doc.module_info_tags ()
+   return List.iter(known_tags._module_info)
+end
+
 
 -- annotation tags can appear anywhere in the code and may contain of these tags:
 known_tags._annotation_tags = {
@@ -523,10 +532,21 @@ function Item:finish()
             comments:append(comment)
          end
       end
+      self.modifiers['return'] = self.modifiers['return'] or List()
+      self.modifiers[field] = self.modifiers[field] or List()
       -- not all arguments may be commented: we use the formal arguments
       -- if available as the authoritative list, and warn if there's an inconsistency.
       if self.formal_args then
          local fargs = self.formal_args
+         if not self.ret and fargs.return_comment then
+            local retc = fargs.return_comment
+            local type,rest = retc:match '([^:]+):(.*)'
+            if type then
+               self.modifiers['return']:append{type=type}
+               retc = rest
+            end
+            self.ret = List{retc}
+         end
          if #fargs ~= 0 then
             local pnames, pcomments = names, comments
             names, comments = List(),List()
@@ -554,7 +574,6 @@ function Item:finish()
                      comment = comment:gsub('^%-+%s*','')
                      local type,rest = comment:match '([^:]+):(.*)'
                      if type then
-                        if not self.modifiers[field] then self.modifiers[field] = List() end
                         self.modifiers[field]:append {type = type}
                         comment = rest
                      end
@@ -624,7 +643,6 @@ function Item:type_of_ret(idx)
 end
 
 
-
 function Item:warning(msg)
    local file = self.file and self.file.filename
    if type(file) == 'table' then pretty.dump(file); file = '?' end

ldoc/html.lua

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ local stringx = require 'pl.stringx'
 local template = require 'pl.template'
 local tools = require 'ldoc.tools'
 local markup = require 'ldoc.markup'
+local doc = require 'ldoc.doc'
 local html = {}
 
 
@@ -34,6 +35,21 @@ local function cleanup_whitespaces(text)
    return table.concat(lines, "\n")
 end
 
+local function get_module_info(m)
+   local info = {}
+   for tag in doc.module_info_tags() do
+      local val = m.tags[tag]
+      if type(val)=='table' then
+         val = table.concat(val,',')
+      end
+      tag = stringx.title(tag)
+      info[tag] = val
+   end
+   if next(info) then
+      return info
+   end
+end
+
 local escape_table = { ["'"] = "&apos;", ["\""] = "&quot;", ["<"] = "&lt;", [">"] = "&gt;", ["&"] = "&amp;" }
 
 function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
@@ -105,6 +121,10 @@ function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
    function ldoc.typename (tp)
       if not tp or tp == '' then return '' end
       local optional
+      -- ?<type> is short for ?nil|<type>
+      if tp:match("^%?") and not tp:match '|' then
+         tp = '?|'..tp:sub(2)
+      end
       local tp2 = tp:match("%?|?(.*)")
       if tp2 then
          optional = true
@@ -123,7 +143,7 @@ function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
       if #types > 1 then names = names.." or "..types[#types] end
       if optional then
          if names ~= '' then
-          names = "optional "..names
+            if #types == 1 then names = "optional "..names end
          else
             names = "optional"
         end
@@ -139,6 +159,7 @@ function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
    local css = ldoc.css
    ldoc.output = args.output
    ldoc.ipairs = ipairs
+   ldoc.pairs = pairs
 
    -- in single mode there is one module and the 'index' is the
    -- documentation for that module.
@@ -147,9 +168,10 @@ function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
       ldoc.kinds_allowed = {module = true, topic = true}
    end
    ldoc.root = true
+   ldoc.module.info = get_module_info(ldoc.module)
    local out,err = template.substitute(module_template,{
       ldoc = ldoc,
-      module = ldoc.module
+      module = ldoc.module,
     })
    ldoc.root = false
    if not out then quit("template failed: "..err) end
@@ -185,6 +207,7 @@ function html.generate_output(ldoc, args, project)
       for m in modules() do
          ldoc.module = m
          ldoc.body = m.body
+         m.info = get_module_info(m)
          if ldoc.body and m.postprocess then
             ldoc.body = m.postprocess(ldoc.body)
          end

ldoc/html/ldoc_ltp.lua

@@ -100,6 +100,15 @@ return [==[
 #     end -- for
     </ul>
 #   end -- if usage
+#   if module.info then
+    <h3>Info:</h3>
+    <ul>
+#     for tag, value in ldoc.pairs(module.info) do
+        <li><strong>$(tag)</strong>: $(value)</li>
+#     end
+    </ul>
+#   end -- if module.info
+
 
 # if not ldoc.no_summary then
 # -- bang out the tables of item types for this module (e.g Functions, Tables, etc)

ldoc/parse.lua

@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ function parse_at_tags(text)
    return preamble,tag_items
 end
 
-local colon_tag = '%s*(%a+):%s'
+--local colon_tag = '%s*(%a+):%s'
+local colon_tag = '%s*(%S-):%s'
 local colon_tag_value = colon_tag..'(.*)'
 
 function parse_colon_tags (text)
@@ -58,7 +59,13 @@ function parse_colon_tags (text)
    while line do
       local tag, rest = line:match(colon_tag_value)
       follows, line = tools.grab_while_not(lines,colon_tag)
-      append(tag_items,{tag, rest .. '\n' .. follows})
+      local value = rest .. '\n' .. follows
+      if tag:match '^[%?!]' then
+         tag = tag:gsub('^!','')
+         value = tag .. ' ' .. value
+         tag = 'tparam'
+      end
+      append(tag_items,{tag, value})
    end
    return preamble,tag_items
 end
@@ -235,7 +242,7 @@ local function parse_file(fname, lang, package, args)
             else
                item_follows, is_local, case = lang:item_follows(t,v,tok)
             end
-            if item_follows or comment:find '@'then
+            if item_follows or comment:find '@' or comment:find ': ' then
                tags = extract_tags(comment)
                if doc.project_level(tags.class) then
                   module_found = tags.name

ldoc/tools.lua

@@ -282,19 +282,19 @@ function M.get_parameters (tok,endtoken,delim)
 
    if not ltl or not ltl[1] or #ltl[1] == 0 then return args end -- no arguments
 
-   local function set_comment (idx,tok)
-      local text = stringx.rstrip(value_of(tok)) --
-      local current_comment = args.comments[args[idx]]
-      if current_comment then
-        text = text:match("%s*%-%-+%s*(.*)")
-        args.comments[args[idx]] = current_comment .. " " .. text
-      else
-        args.comments[args[idx]] = text
-      end
+   local function strip_comment (text)
+      return text:match("%s*%-%-+%s*(.*)")
    end
 
-   local function fetch_comment (tl)
-      return
+   local function set_comment (idx,tok)
+      local text = stringx.rstrip(value_of(tok))
+      text = strip_comment(text)
+      local arg = args[idx]
+      local current_comment = args.comments[arg]
+      if current_comment then
+        text = current_comment .. " " .. text
+      end
+      args.comments[arg] = text
    end
 
    for i = 1,#ltl do
@@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ function M.get_parameters (tok,endtoken,delim)
                   set_comment(i-1,tl[j])
                   j = j + 1
                end
+            else -- first comment however is for the function return comment!
+               args.return_comment = strip_comment(value_of(tl[i]))
+               j = j + 1
             end
             if #tl > 1 then
                args:append(value_of(tl[j]))

tests/styles/dof.lua

@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-print(arg,DOOFUS)

tests/styles/four.lua

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+------------
+-- Yet another module.
+-- @module four
+-- Description can continue after simple tags, if you
+-- like
+-- @author bob, james
+-- @license MIT
+-- @copyright InfoReich 2013
+
+--- a function with typed args.
+-- Note the the standard tparam aliases
+-- @string name person's name
+-- @int age
+-- @treturn string
+function one (name,age)
+end
+
+--- second useless function.
+-- If you hate @ tags, you can use colons.
+-- Optional type specifiers are allowed in this format.
+-- As an extension, '?' is short for '?|'.
+-- Note how these types are rendered!
+-- string: name
+-- int: age
+-- ?person2: options
+-- treturn: ?table|string
+function two (name,age,options)
+end
+
+--- third useless function.
+-- Can always put comments inline, may
+-- be multiple.
+-- note that first comment is refers to return
+function three ( -- person:
+    name, -- string: person's name
+    age  -- int:
+        -- not less than zero!
+)
+
+--- an implicit table.
+-- Again, we can use the comments
+person = {
+    name = '', -- string: name of person
+    age = 0, -- int:
+}
+
+--- an explicit table.
+-- Can now use tparam aliases in table defns
+-- @string name
+-- @int age
+-- @table person2
+
+--- explicit table in colon format.
+-- Note how '!' lets you use a type name directly.
+-- string: surname
+-- string: birthdate
+-- !person2: options
+-- table: person3