doc updates

This commit is contained in:
steve donovan 2013-08-25 14:28:57 +02:00
parent 149ded81fc
commit 89cb20d752
3 changed files with 108 additions and 66 deletions

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@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
project='LDoc'
title='LDoc documentation'
description='A Lua documentation tool'
format='discount'
file='ldoc.lua'
dir='out'
readme='doc/doc.md'

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@ -6,5 +6,11 @@ backtick_references=false
file='../ldoc.lua'
dir='../out'
readme='doc.md'
examples = {'../tests/styles/colon.lua','../tests/styles/four.lua','../tests/example/mylib.c'}
examples = {
'../tests/styles/colon.lua',
'../tests/styles/four.lua',
'../tests/styles/three.lua',
'../tests/example/mylib.c',
'../tests/moonscript/List.moon',
}

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@ -205,6 +205,21 @@ and 'return' can be specified multiple times, whereas a type tag like 'function'
occur once in a comment. The basic rule is that a single doc comment can only document one
entity.
Since 1.3, LDoc allows the use of _colons_ instead of @.
--- a simple function.
-- string name person's name
-- int: age age of person
-- !person: person object
-- treturn: ?string
-- function check(name,age)
However, you must either use the `--colon` flag or set `colon=true` in your `config.ld`.
In this style, types may be used directly if prefixed with '!' or '?' (for type-or-nil)
(see @{colon.lua})
By default, LDoc will process any file ending in '.lua' or '.luadoc' in a specified
directory; you may point it to a single file as well. A 'project' usually consists of many
modules in one or more _packages_. The generated `index.html` will point to the generated
@ -288,10 +303,13 @@ The link text can be changed from the default by the extended syntax `@{\ref|tex
You can also put references in backticks, like `\`stdvars\``. This is commonly used in
Markdown to indicate code, so it comes naturally when writing documents. It is controlled by
the configuration variable `backtick_references`; the default is `true` if you use Markdown
in your project, but can be specified explicitly in your `config.ld`.
the configuration variable `backtick_references` or the `backtick` format;
the default is `true` if you use Markdown in your project, but can be specified explicitly
in `config.ld`.
### Custom @see References
To quote such references so they won't be expanded, say @{\\ref}.
#### Custom @see References
It's useful to define how to handle references external to a project. For instance, in the
[luaposix](https://github.com/luaposix/luaposix) project we wanted to have `man` references
@ -321,13 +339,46 @@ a simple matter of building up the appropriate URL. The function is expected to
return _link text_ and _link source_ and the patterns are checked before LDoc tries to resolve
project references. So it is best to make them match as exactly as possible.
## Module Tags
LDoc requires you to have a module doc comment. If your code style requires
license blocks that might look like doc comments, then set `boilerplate=true` in your
configuration and they will be skipped.
This comment does not have to have an explicit `@module` tag and LDoc continues to
respect the use of `module()`.
There are three types of 'modules' (i.e. 'project-level'); `module`, a library
loadable with `require()`, `script`, a program, and `classmod` which is a class
implemented in a single module.
There are some tags which are only useful in module comments: `author`,`copyright`,
`license` and `release`. These are presented in a special **Info** section in the
default HTML output.
The `@usage` tag has a somewhat different presentation when used in modules; the text
is presented formatted as-is in a code font. If you look at the script `ldoc` in
this documentation, you can see how the command-line usage is shown. Since coding
is all about avoiding repetition and the out-of-sync issues that arise,
the `@usage` tag can appear later in the module, before a long string. For instance,
the main script of LDoc is [ldoc.lua](https://github.com/stevedonovan/LDoc/blob/master/ldoc.lua)
and you will see that the usage tag appears on line 36 before the usage string
presented as help.
`@export` is another module tag that is usually 'detached'. It is for supporting
modules that wish to explicitly export their functions @{three.lua|at the end}.
In that example, both `question` and `answer` are local and therefore private to
the module, but `answer` has been explicitly exported. (If you invoke LDoc with
the `-a` flag on this file, you will see the documentation for the unexported
function as well.)
## Sections
LDoc supports _explicit_ sections. By default, the implicit sections correspond to the pre-existing
types in a module: 'Functions', 'Tables' and 'Fields' (There is another default section
'Local Functions' which only appears if LDoc is invoked with the `--all` flag.) But new
sections can be added; the first mechanism is when you define a new type (say 'macro'). Then a new
section ('Macros') is created to contain these types.
sections can be added; the first mechanism is when you @{Adding_new_Tags|define a new type}
(say 'macro'). Then a new section ('Macros') is created to contain these types.
There is also a way to declare ad-hoc sections using the `@section` tag.
The need occurs when a module has a lot of functions that need to be put into logical
@ -351,9 +402,9 @@ sections.
A section doc-comment has the same structure as a normal doc-comment; the summary is used as
the new section title, and the description will be output at the start of the function
details for that section.
details for that section; the name is not used, but must be unique.
In any case, sections appear under 'Contents' on the left-hand side. See the
Sections appear under 'Contents' on the left-hand side. See the
[winapi](http://stevedonovan.github.com/winapi/api.html) documentation for an example of how
this looks.
@ -374,7 +425,7 @@ A specialized kind of section is `type`: it is used for documenting classes. The
end
(In an ideal world, we would use the word 'class' instead of 'type', but this would conflict
with the LuaDoc usage.)
with the LuaDoc `class` tag.)
A section continues until the next section is found, `@section end`, or end of file.
@ -382,7 +433,12 @@ You can put items into an implicit section using the @within tag. This allows yo
adjacent functions in different sections, so that you are not forced to order your code
in a particular way.
Sometimes a module may logically span several files. There will be a master module with name
With 1.4, there is another option for documenting classes, which is the top-level type
`classmod`. It is intended for larger classes which are implemented within one module,
and the advantage that methods can be put into sections.
Sometimes a module may logically span several files, which can easily happen with large
There will be a master module with name
'foo' and other files which when required add functions to that module. If these files have
a @submodule tag, their contents will be placed in the master module documentation. However,
a current limitation is that the master module must be processed before the submodules.
@ -416,38 +472,10 @@ can define an alias for it, such as 'p'. This can also be specified in the confi
LDoc will also work with C/C++ files, since extension writers clearly have the same
documentation needs as Lua module writers.
LDoc allows you to attach a _type_ to a parameter or return value
--- better mangler.
-- @tparam string name
-- @int max length
-- @treturn string mangled name
function strmangler(name,max)
...
end
`int` here is short for `tparam int` (see @{Tag_Modifiers})
It's common for types to be optional, or have different types, so the type can be like
'?int|string' which renders as '(int or string)', or '?int', which renders as
'(optional int)'.
LDoc gives the documenter the option to use Markdown to parse the contents of comments.
Since 1.3, LDoc allows the use of _colons_ instead of @.
--- a simple function.
-- string name person's name
-- int: age age of person
-- !person: person object
-- treturn: ?string
-- function check(name,age)
However, you must either use the `--colon` flag or set `colon=true` in your `config.ld`.
In this style, types may be used directly if prefixed with '!' or '?' (for type-or-nil)
(see @{colon.lua})
LDoc allows you to attach a _type_ to a parameter or return value with `tparam` or `treturn`,
and gives the documenter the option to use Markdown to parse the contents of comments.
You may also include code examples which will be prettified, and readme files which will be
rendered with Markdown and contain prettified code blocks.
## Adding new Tags
@ -542,16 +570,17 @@ As always, explicit tags can override this behaviour if it is inappropriate.
LDoc can process C/C++ files:
@plain
/***
Create a table with given array and hash slots.
@function createtable
@param narr initial array slots, default 0
@param nrec initial hash slots, default 0
@return the new table
*/
static int l_createtable (lua_State *L) {
....
```c
/***
Create a table with given array and hash slots.
@function createtable
@param narr initial array slots, default 0
@param nrec initial hash slots, default 0
@return the new table
*/
static int l_createtable (lua_State *L) {
....
```
Both `/**` and `///` are recognized as starting a comment block. Otherwise, the tags are
processed in exactly the same way. It is necessary to specify that this is a function with a
@ -568,6 +597,13 @@ the docs from the separate files. For this, use `merge=true`.
See @{mylib.c} for the full example.
## Moonscript Support
1.4 introduces basic support for [Moonscript](http://moonscript.org). Moonscript module
conventions are just the same as Lua, except for an explicit class construct.
@{list.moon} shows how `@classmod` can declare modules that export one class, with metamethods
put explicitly into a separate section.
## Basic Usage
For example, to process all files in the 'lua' directory:
@ -631,13 +667,14 @@ more features than the pure Lua version, such as PHP-Extra style tables.
- [lunamark](http://jgm.github.com/lunamark/), another pure Lua processor, faster than
markdown, and with extra features (`luarocks install lunamark`).
You can request the processor you like with `format = 'markdown|discount|lunamark'`, and
You can request the processor you like with `format = 'markdown|discount|lunamark|plain|backticks'`, and
LDoc will attempt to use it. If it can't find it, it will look for one of the other
markdown processors; the original `markdown.lua` ships with LDoc, although it's slow
for larger documents.
Even with the default of 'plain' some minimal processing takes place, in particular empty lines
are treated as line breaks. If 'process_backticks=true` then backticks will be
are treated as line breaks. If the 'backticks' formatter is used, then it's equivalent to
using 'process_backticks=true` in `config.ld` and backticks will be
expanded into documentation links like `@{\ref}` and converted into `<code>ref</code>`
otherwise.
@ -847,17 +884,18 @@ The line in the `config.ld` that enables this is:
examples = {'examples', exclude = {'examples/slow.lua'}}
That is, all files in the `examples` folder are to be pretty-printed, except for `slow.lua`
which is meant to be called from one of the examples. Now a see-reference to `testu.lua`
resolves to 'examples/testu.lua.html'.
which is meant to be called from one of the examples.
To link to an example, use a reference like `@{\testu.lua}`
which resolves to 'examples/testu.lua.html'.
Examples may link back to the API documentation, for instance the example `input.lua` has a
`@{\spawn_process}` inline reference.
By default, LDoc uses a built-in Lua code 'prettifier'. See-references are allowed in comments,
and also in code if they're enclosed in backticks.
By default, LDoc uses a built-in Lua code 'prettifier'. Reference links are allowed in comments,
and also in code if they're enclosed in backticks. Lua and C are known languages.
[lxsh](https://github.com/xolox/lua-lxsh)
can be used (available from LuaRocks) if you want support for C as well. `pretty='lxsh'` will
can be used (available from LuaRocks) if you want something more powerful. `pretty='lxsh'` will
cause `lxsh` to be used, if available.
## Readme files
@ -906,6 +944,11 @@ The _sections_ of a document (the second-level headings) are also references. Th
particular section can be refered to as `@{\doc.md.Resolving_References_in_Documents}` - the
rule is that any non-alphabetic character is replaced by an underscore.
Any indented blocks are assumed to be Lua, unless their first line is `@plain`. New
with 1.4 is github-markdown-style fenced code blocks, which start with three backticks
optionally followed by a language. The code continues until another three backticks
is found: the language can be `c`,'cpp' or `cxx` for C/C++, anything else is Lua.
## Tag Modifiers
Ay tag may have _tag modifiers_. For instance, you may say