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> And, is anyone doing this--in .NET or Java--on a
> regular basis?
Part of my daily work.
> If I want to generate user documentation from .NET
> comments ... how would I go about it? Is Ndoc a good
> start?
Ndoc is what we use. It works very well.
> I have some XML skills and the like, but have not
> done
> this before. So, rather than reinvent the wheel, I'd
> like to steal some ideas from yours.
You don't need XML skills to do this but it helps.
Here's how Ndoc works (in a nutshell):
Within VisualStudio.Net you have the option of
programming in a big range of languages (VB, J++, C++,
C#, and more). But, the end result seems to be a
collection of C# files.
Within these files, the developers are commenting
their code with two types of comments:
* internal (line commenting with two slashes "\\")
* documentation (line commenting with three slashes
"\\\")
It is the doc comment you want to worry about.
Within the doc comment you have the ability (mandatory
for Ndoc) to use XML elements to tag your content
(<summary>, <remarks>, <example>, <see also>, <para>,
etc.).
When the developer environment is built, the build
directory contains C# assemblies (exe's, dll's, etc.,
and yes I know the punctuation's wrong) and you have
XML doc files. These XML doc files are exported by the
build, not Ndoc, and contain all the \\\ comments from
the code, as long as they are validly marked up with
the proper XML elements.
Now, you run Ndoc over the dll's and the xml's. What
Ndoc does is dig into the dlls' metadata, spider the
constructs, and lay out a inheritance roadmap of
sorts. Then, it goes into the associated XML files to
pull content into the roadmap. Finally, it spits out
the output you specified it to.
That's it. In a nutshell. Let me know if you need more
info. I could talk on this for days and have been told
I do so even in my sleep. ;)
- Goober
=====
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)
"As soon as you hear the phrase "studies show",
immediately put a hand on your wallet and cover your groin."
-- Geoff Hart
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