ccdoc help 2004/09/29 Copyright (C) 1998-2004 by Joe Linoff.
For more information see http://ccdoc.sourceforge.net or http://www.joelinoff.com/ccdoc.
Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................... 1 Phase Independent Switches ........................ 2 Parse Phase ....................................... 3 Index Phase ....................................... 4 Output Phase ...................................... 5 Running the Program ............................... 6 Comment Directives ................................ 7 Comment Format .................................... 8 Package Help ...................................... 9
1 Introduction
This program analyzes C++ declarations and produces HTML documentation.
It has three basic operating phases: Parse, Index and Output. Each phase is described in more detail below.
Phase Description ====== ========================================== Parse Parse C++ declarations and ccdoc comments. Index Generate cross references. Output Generate HTML output.
Phases are defined by the switches that are used on the command line. Multiple phases can be specified in a single run. The phases are described in the following sections. Each section describes the phase specific switches and presents some usage examples.
After the phases have been discussed there is a section on flow which describes different usage models and, following that, there is a summary of the ccdoc comment directives.
2 Phase Independent Switches
This section presents the switches that can be used in any phase or, as is the case with -h, no phase.
Switch Description ============ ====================================================== -args Dump the command line arguments. This is enabled automatically in verbose (-v) mode.
-cid Deprecated. Same as -verbose.
-ctf <file> Deprecated. Same as -db.
-db <file> The name of the ccdoc database.
-h,-help Displays the extensive on-line help and exits. The on-line covers the different program phases, the comment directives and the program switches.
-log <file> All information output by the program is also sent to the specified log file. Multiple log files can be specified. By default all output is sent to cout.
-nocout Turn off output to cout. This is used to test the help output without displaying anything to the console.
-putenv <env> Set an environment variable from the command line. This is useful for setting up regression tests in scripts on various platforms.
-[no]v Turn verbose mode on or off. The default is off.
-version Report the program version. The version contains the program name, the version, the revision, the release date and the compilation id. Here is an example of what -version reports: % ccdoc -version ccdoc v08r41 2004/09/29 bin_opt_msvc_MSWin32-multi-thread-4.0
-[no]vf Turn db verbose format mode on or off. The default is on because it speeds up the writing significantly and is only slightly larger. This switch enables verbose mode in the database file to make things easier to read for debugging.
-[no]warn Turn warnings on or off. The default is on. ============ ======================================================
Here is an example that shows how to output this help information to a log file:
% ccdoc -log help.log -h
3 Parse Phase
During the parse phase C++ files are parsed to find declarations and ccdoc comments. These entities are tokenized and stored into the database specified by the -db switch. The parse phase is specified by the -pkg switch or the presence of source files on the command line.
When new files are parsed, the indexing information from previous runs is lost.
Switch Description ================== ================================================== -[no]cdsm Turn on or off the creation of default special members for classes. Specifically this tells ccdoc to create (or not create) entries for default constructors, copy constructors, destructors and copy operators if they were not explicitly defined in the class. The default is -cdsm.
-db <file> The name of the ccdoc database.
-D<name>[=<value>] Define a macro and, optionally, define its value.
-[no]doxygen Enable limited doxygen compatibility mode. The default is -doxygen. This switch specifies that @file blocks are ignored.
Some other doxygen compatible syntax is already supported whether this switch is specified or not, namely: the @endlink directive, the single line suffix comment forms (//!< and ///<) and the multiple line suffix comment forms (/*!< and /**<).
This allows users more flexibility in converting between doxygen and ccdoc.
-files <list> Designates a file that contains the list of files to parse.
-[no]jdsds Enable javadoc short description syntax. This causes ccdoc to conform to the javadoc specification for processing short descriptions.
This is the new default behavior as of r24.
A javadoc short description is terminated by a period followed by a space, tab, newline or tag (directive).
If -nojdsds is specified, the old-style ccdoc short description handling is enabled. That is, short descriptions are terminated by a blank line.
-pkg <name> Define the package name for the entities in the source files. If no package is specified a default name is used or the @pkg <name> directive in the ccdoc comment is used. Children (like class methods) inherit the package from their parent.
-[no]tcms Turn on or off the processing of template class methods that are defined outside of the class declaration.
-U<name> Undefine a macro. ================== ==================================================
Here is an example that shows how multiple header files are parsed from different source directories into a common database.
ccdoc -db /tmp/ccdoc.db -pkg Utilities project/utils/export/*.h ccdoc -db /tmp/ccdoc.db -pkg Parser project/parser/export/*.h
4 Index Phase
During the index phase ccdoc analyzes the database to find associations between related entities. For example, if class Child derives from class Parent, this phase will find Parent and link it to the Child record so that a link can be generated during the output phase. The index phase is specified by the -index switch.
If the index phase is not run, the output will contain no links.
Switch Description ============== =============================== -db <file> The name of the ccdoc database.
-index Generate the indices. ============== ===============================
Here is a use-case that shows how generate an index for a database.
ccdoc -db /tmp/ccdoc.db -index
5 Output Phase
During the output phase, ccdoc generates HTML from the database. This phase is optional. A user could develop their db reader and output any another format (like XML). The output phase is specified by the -htm or the -html switch.
After this phase is run, a top level file called ccdoc.<root>.pkg.html will exist in the specified html path.
Switch Description ================== ====================================================== -bg <color> The background color. The default is the default for the browser.
-db <file> The name of the ccdoc database.
-dospaths The file paths contain backslashes that need to be converted to forwards slashes for HTML.
-htm <prefix>, -html <prefix> The HTML path prefix. This is used to designate the path where the HTML files will be stored. The directory suffix must be included if this is a directory path. Always use a forward slash to separate directories, even when you are running under a DOS window, because the HTTP path hierarchy separator is a forward slash.
-fg <color> Same as -fgtext.
-fgtext <color> The foreground text color. The default is the default for the browser.
-fglink <color> The foreground link color. The default is the default for the browser.
-fgvlink <color> The foreground vlink color. The default is the default for the browser. These are used links.
-header <file> The HTML used for the customized header just after the <body> stmt. This is where clients insert their own custom information on each page. See the -meta command for information on how to insert meta variables in the <head> section.
-imageurl <URL>, -imgurl <URL> The URL that describes of the GIF images. This version of ccdoc does not use images so this switch has no effect.
-[no]macros Deprecated. Same as -[no]rptmac.
-maxpathlen <num> Maximum file path size. The default is 128. When the file path size exceeds the limit, the file name is truncated and a checksum is added to guarantee that the file name is unique. If maxpathlen is set to zero, no limit checking is performed.
-meta <file> The HTML used for the customized header just after the <head> stmt. This is where clients insert their own custom information for meta variables on each page. If -meta is specified, ccdoc will not generate the the http-equiv meta variable for HTML 4.01 compliance and it will ignore the -rptctcs.
-[no]private Deprecated. Same as -[no]rptpri.
-[no]protected Deprecated. Same as -[no]rptpro.
-[no]public Deprecated. Same as -[no]rptpub.
-root <name> Change the name of the root package from 'root' to something else.
-rootfile <name> Change the top level output file name from <prefix>ccdoc.root.pkg.html to whatever the user wants. This can be used to create the ccdoc.index.html file by specifying: -rootfile ccdoc.index.html. This switch allows you to completely specify the path. The -html prefix is ignored.
-rootpurl <URL> -rooturl <URL> The hyperlink for the parent of the root package. Setting this allows the generated HTML to seamlessly integrate to a higher level document by providing a back link to the users parent page.
-[no]rptcfuns Report comments for undocumented namespaces. When -rptcfuns is specified, all related namespaces comments are reported. This includes namespaces that do not contain ccdoc comments which can be somewhat busy. When -norptcfuns is specified, only related namespaces with ccdoc comments are reported. The only exception is when none of the namespaces have ccdoc comments. In that case, only the first undocumented namespace is reported (for backward compatibility). The default is -norptcfuns.
-[no]rptcsd Report class summary details. When -rptcsd is specified, the class summary page reports type, access and short description information. When -norptcsd is specified the class summary page only reports the names. The default is -rptcsd.
-[no]rptcsi <num> The class summary indent switch. Define the indent level of each entry in the class summary report and the contents column. The default indent level is 4.
-rptctcs <string> Allow the user to specify the Content-Type char set. This allows international languages to be supported. The default char set is \"iso-8859-1\". This switch is ignored if the -meta switch is specified.
-rptdefa <string> Set the default string for the author field in top level entities. The default is \"unascribed\".
-rptdefasd <string> Set the default string for the automatically generated short description field in top level entities. The default is \"automatically generated\".
-rptdefsd <string> Set the default string for the short description field in top level entities. The default is \"undocumented\".
-rptdefv <string> Set the default string for the version field in top level entities. The default is \"unknown\".
-[no]rptdpa If the package author is not specified, report the author as unascribed. The default is -norptdpa which tells ccdoc to ignore authors on packages unless they are explicitly specified.
-[no]rptdpd If the package description is not specified, report the description as unknown. The default is -norptdpd which tells ccdoc to ignore descriptions on packages unless they are explicitly specified.
-[no]rptdpv If the package version is not specified, report the version as unknown. The default is -norptdpv which tells ccdoc to ignore version on packages unless they are explicitly specified.
-[no]rptfwcf The fixed width code font switch. Use a fixed width font when reporting code fragments. The default is -norptfwcf.
-[no]rpthpc Report package contents hierarchically like the the class summary page. The default is -rpthpc.
-[no]rptim Report all inherited methods as though they were defined locally. The default is -rptim.
-[no]rptmac Report macros. Default is -norptmac because there can be large numbers of guards in header files. If a system is designed with ccdoc in mind, the header guards can be surrounded by ccdoc guards (#ifndef __ccdoc__) which would make this data more useful.
-[no]rptmac1 Report macros heuristically. This means that ccdoc attempts to filter out header guards and windows DLLIMPORT/DLLEXPORT macros by filtering out macro names with the prefixes: dll_, DLL_, include_, INCLUDE_, included_, INCLUDED_ and the suffixes: dll, _DLL, _h, _H, _hh, _HH, _include, _INCLUDE, _included, _INCLUDED, _included_, _INCLUDED_.
The default is -norptmac1. When this switch is enabled, it also enables -rptmac. This is a better choice than -rptmac.
-rptmlci <num> Maximum length of the content ids. This switch is used to avoid strange looking tables of content when the id is very long.
When the string exceeds this length, only the first <num> characters are printed followed by .. to indicate truncation.
The default length is 32. A value of zero means don't impose the limit. If no inherited from column exists, the value of the -rptmlcifi is added to make this field bigger.
-rptmlcifi <num> Maximum length of the contents \"inherited from\" column id. This switch is used to avoid strange looking tables of content when the parent id is very long.
When the string exceeds this length, only the first <num> characters are printed followed by .. to indicate truncation.
The default length is 32. A value of zero means don't impose the limit.
-[no]rptpri Report private items. The default is -norptpri.
-[no]rptpro Report protected items. The default is -norptpro.
-[no]rptpub Report public items. The default is -rptpub.
-[no]rptsci Report the class information in sorted order. The default is -rptsci. If -norptsci is specified the class contents and details are not sorted.
-[no]rptsrc Report the source information for each entity in the table of contents. This causes an additional column to be added to the table. The default is -norptsrc because this information is already reported for each entity in its description. It exists to provide debugging support for when no description is generated.
-[no]rpttyp Report typedefs. Default is -rpttyp.
-[no]rptun Report unions. Default is -rptun.
-sourceurl <URL>, -srcurl <URL> The URL where the source files can be found. If this is specified, hyperlinks are created for Source entries.
-trailer <file> The HTML used for the customized trailer.
-[no]typedefs Deprecated. Same as -[no]rpttyp.
-[no]unions Deprecated. Same as -[no]rptun. ================== ======================================================
Here is a use case that shows how to generate HTML:
ccdoc -db ccdoc.db -html webdocs/ -imgurl images/ \\ -trailer custom_trailer.html \\ -root MyProject -rooturl myproj.htm
6 Running the Program
This section presents some example flows to help you understand how to use the program more effectively.
6.1 Simple Flow
This is the simplest flow. You run all three phases at the same time.
% ## UNIX: % ccdoc \\ -db webdocs/ccdoc.db \\ -pkg simple \\ *.h \\ -index \\ -rootfile webdocs/index.html \\ -html webdocs/
> REM DOS > ccdoc -db webdocs/ccdoc.db -pkg simple *.h -index -rootfile webdocs/index.html -html webdocs/
Note that it forces the top level html file to be named index.html which is convenient for most browsers.
6.2 Typical Flow
This is the typical for a usage for a system with multiple packages. Each phase is run separately.
% ### Phase 1a - Parse % ccdoc -db typical.db -pkg typical.utils work/utils/src/*.h % # Don't report missing default constructors. % ccdoc -db typical.db -pkg -nocdsm typical.liba work/liba/src/*.h % # Define a macro that is used for my documentation. % ccdoc -db typical.db -pkg \\ -DMY_CCDOC_EXTERNAL typical.libb \\ work/libb/src/*.h
% ### Phase 1b - Parse root level documentation % ccdoc -db typical.db -pkg typical typical.txt
% ### Phase 2 - Index % ccdoc -db typical.db -index
% ### Phase 3 - Output %ccdoc \\ -db typical.db \\ -html webdocs/ \\ -rootfile webdocs/index.html \\ -srcurl work/ \\ -trailer custom.htm
7 Comment Directives
This section presents a brief overview of the ccdoc comment syntax.
The directives are summarized in the table below.
Id Directive Quick Summary == ============= ===================================================== 1 /** .. */ Encloses a javadoc style ccdoc comment. 2 /**< .. */ Encloses a doxygen style suffix ccdoc comment. 3 /*!< .. */ Encloses a doxygen style suffix ccdoc comment. 4 //@{ .. //@} Encloses a ccdoc comment for C++ style line comments. 5 //@- Single line suffix C++ style comment form. 6 ///< Same as //@- (doxygen compatible). 7 //!< Same as //@- (doxygen compatible). 8 /**@#-*/ Turn off ccdoc token parsing. 9 /**@#+*/ Turn on ccdoc token parsing. 10 /**@#=<ch>*/ Insert <ch> into the input stream. 11 {@link...} The in-line link specification. 12 @@ Translate HTML special characters for code fragments. 13 @$ Same @link. 14 @author Specify an author. 15 @deprecated Describes the alternatives to use. 16 @exception Deprecated, same as @throws. 17 @link,@endlink Generate a hyperlink to a ccdoc entity. 18 @param Document a function or class method parameter. 19 @pkg Specifies the name of a package. 20 @pkgdoc This comment documents a specific package. 21 @pkgdoctid Redefine the output title id for a pkgdoc. 22 @return Deprecated, same as @returns. 23 @returns Documents the return value from a method or function. 24 @see Add a hyperlink entry to the See section. 25 @since When this became available. 26 @suffix This is a suffix comment. 27 @throws Document an exception. 28 @todo Describes todo information. 29 @version The entity version.
Each directive is described in more detail in the following subsections.
7.1 /** .. */
Indicates javadoc style ccdoc comment that is associated with the next C++ statement (prefix style comment).
A simple example is shown below:
/** * This is the brief description that shows up in the table * of contents. * This is where the longer description starts. * @author A. Programmer * @version 1.0 */ void function(int a);
7.2 /**< .. */
Indicates the beginning of a ccdoc style comment that is associated with the previous C++ statement (suffix style comment).
A simple example is shown below:
void function(int a); /**< * This is the brief description that shows up in the table * of contents. * This is where the longer description starts. * @author A. Programmer * @version 1.0 */
7.3 /*!< .. */
Indicates the beginning of a ccdoc style comment that is associated with the previous C++ statement (suffix style comment).
A simple example is shown below:
void function(int a); /*!< * This is the brief description that shows up in the table * of contents. * This is where the longer description starts. * @author A. Programmer * @version 1.0 */
7.4 //@{ .. //@}
Specifies that a ccdoc comment is being specified using the '//' comment form as shown below:
// ================================================ //@{ // This is a ccdoc comment. //@} // ================================================ int foo();
This pragma must exist by itself on the line.
7.5 //@-
Specifies the single line suffix C++ style comment form. This for is useful for abbreviated comments. Here is an example:
class Point3D { public: int p1; //@- The x coordinate. int p2; //@- The y coordinate. int p3; //@- The z coordinate. };
You can only specify a single line so directives other than \"{@link .. }\" and \"@link .. @endlink\" are not supported.
7.6 ///<
Specifies the single line suffix C++ style comment form that is compatible with doxygen. This for is useful for abbreviated comments. Here is an example:
class Point3D { public: int p1; ///< The x coordinate. int p2; ///< The y coordinate. int p3; ///< The z coordinate. };
You can only specify a single line so directives other than \"{@link .. }\" and \"@link .. @endlink\" are not supported.
7.7 //!<
Specifies the single line suffix C++ style comment form that is compatible with doxygen. This for is useful for abbreviated comments. Here is an example:
class Point3D { public: int p1; //!< The x coordinate. int p2; //!< The y coordinate. int p3; //!< The z coordinate. };
You can only specify a single line so directives other than \"{@link .. }\" and \"@link .. @endlink\" are not supported.
7.8 /**@#-*/
Turn off ccdoc token parsing. Unlike #ifndef __ccdoc__ this directive can be inserted anywhere. It is especially useful for excluding portions of code that confuse ccdoc. Here is an example of how to use it:
/**@#-*/ #ifndef FOO insert random junk to generate a compiler error. #endif /**@#+*/
This could also be done using the #ifndef pragma as follows:
#ifndef __ccdoc__ #ifndef FOO insert random junk to generate a compiler error. #endif #endif
7.9 /**@#+*/
Turn ccdoc token processing back on. See 7.10 for usage details.
7.10 /**@#=<ch>*/
Insert a token into the ccdoc input stream to make parsing easier without affecting the source code. This directive is typically used to \"fix\" macro instantiations that are not terminated by semi-colons as shown in the following example:
7.10.1 This will confuse ccdoc. #define M(a) a=1; M M class XX;
7.10.2 This will not confuse ccdoc because we insert semi-colons. #define M(a) a=1; M /**@#=;*/ M /**@#=;*/ class XX;
7.10.3 Neither will this because we prep it out. #define M(a) a=1; #ifdef __ccdoc__ M M #endif class XX;
7.10.4 Or this because we put in redundant semi-colons. #define M(a) a=1; M; M; class XX;
7.11 {@link <entity> <name>}
This is very similar to the @link directive except that it can be embedded inside comment lines. Like @link, it tells ccdoc to generate a hyperlink to a ccdoc entity. Unlike @link the arguments are not optional.
You must specify both the entity and the link name.
You must not embed white space in the '{@link' specification. For example, '{ @ link' is not valid.
Any number of link specifications are allowed on a single line.
Invalid {@link...} specifications are output as simple text.
The example below shows how it is used:
/** * Look at {@link #fct this} for more information, * you can also look at {@link #fct1 this} or {@link #fct2 this}. */ void fct3();
The <entity> is the ccdoc entity to link to. The <name> is the user name of the link. It can consist of one or more tokens. Leading white space is ignored.
There is a special case for operators. The example below shows how to specify an {@link ..} directive for an operator.
/** * This is the same as the {@link #operator== equals operator} * for this class. * @param obj The object to compare to for equality. * @returns True if they are equal or false otherwise. * @see #operator== */ bool is_equal(const Class& obj) const;
Note that there are no spaces between the operator keyword and the operator tokens.
7.12 @@ <line>
Translate HTML special characters for creating code fragments.
Convert '<' to \"<\" , '>' to \">\" and '&' to \"&\". This is useful for inserting code fragments. Here is an example of how you would use this directive in a comment:
/** * Here is an example of how to use this directive. *<blockquote> *<pre> *@@ for(int i=0;i<10 && j>3;++i,--j) { *@@ cout << j << \" \" << i << endl; *@@ } *</pre> *</blockquote> */
7.13 @$ <entity> [<name>]
Same as @link. See section 7.20 for detailed information.
7.14 @author <name>
Specifies the author. To specify multiple authors add multiple directives as shown below.
/** * There are numerous authors. * @author Foo Bar * @author Spam Wombat */
If an author is not specified for a package or a class, an entry is generated to an \"unascribed\" author.
If there is more than one author, the best practice is to list them chronologically from most recent to earliest.
7.15 @deprecated <description>
Specifies that this interface has been deprecated. You should specify what to use as an alternative. The example below shows how to use this directive.
/** * Get the system time. * @returns The system time. * @deprecated Use get_time_as_string to avoid memory bloat. */ const char* get_time();
7.16 @exception <name> <description>
Deprecated. See @throws for usage information.
7.17 @link <entity> [<name>] .. [@endlink]
Generate a hyperlink to a ccdoc entity anywhere in the the code without generating an entry in the See section.
Here is an example of how it is used:
/** * This class is closely associated with * @link Utils::Foo my class * and with this @link Utils::Spam my class @endlink and * with @link Utils::Wombat link to wombat * because they both do bar stuff. */
The <entity> is the ccdoc entity to link to. The <name> is the user name of the link. It can consist of one or more tokens. Leading white space is ignored.
If the link name is not specified, the <entity> name is used.
The @endlink is optional. Note that in the wombat case, the string \"link to wombat\" is the link text.
7.18 @param <name> <description>
Describes a parameter to a function. There should be one @param directive for each argument. The example below shows how to use this.
/** * This function does stuff. * @param name The name of the object. The description * will span multiple lines until another directive or * the end of the comment is found. * @param aname Another name. */ void do_something(const char* name,const char* x);
Beware! Ccdoc does not verify that the parameters are valid so it is possible to input invalid parameters. Ccdoc does not verify that the parameter names are the same either as in the example above: aname should be x (or vice-versa).
The contents of an @param directive can span multiple lines. All lines following an @param directive are included until another ccdoc directive (other than @link and @@) is encountered. The example below shows how this works:
/** * This shows how @param can span multiple lines. * @param p1 This parameter can have a *@@ value < 10 and > 0. If the value * is out of range, an exception is thrown. * @returns The associated record. */
7.19 @pkg <name>
Specifies the name of the current package. All entities in the file from the directive onward are associated with the package. This pragma can be overridden from the command line by the -pkg switch.
There is a special package called @null that can be used to specify that the contents of a file are not associated with any package. This is typically used in the file (or files) that contain the package documentation. Typically these are not C++ header files.
The example below shows how to define the package directive.
/**@pkg Stuff.Utils */
/**@pkg Stuff::Utils */
// This file is not part of any package. /**@pkg @null*/
Dots '.' or double colons '::' are used to separate hierarchical sub-packages.
Package documentation is generated using the @pkgdoc directive as shown in the next section.
7.20 @pkgdoc <path> [<url>]
Specifies that the current ccdoc comment is associated with a package NOT a C++ entity.
This directive can be used to define the documentation in the top package by specifying '@top' as the <name>. The old form: [ROOT] is still accepted.
Dots '.' or double colons '::' are used to separate hierarchical sub-packages.
If the <url> argument is specified, ccdoc uses that as the link. This is useful for inserting custom pages into the ccdoc document hierarchy but it puts a significant burden on the user to make sure that links to other ccdoc generated files are valid.
The following example shows how to document several packages.
// This file is not part of any package. /**@pkg @null*/
/** * This is the documentation for the top of * the documentation tree. * @author The Build Team * @version 1.1 * @pkg @top */
/** * This is the top level package for MyProject. * * It does lots of useful things and contains * many other packages. * @author Ms. MyProject * @version 1.0 * @pkgdoc MyProject */
/** * This package contains the I/O utilities for * MyProject. * * This is the detailed information about the * I/O utilities package. * @author Mr. IO_Utilities * @version 1.1 * @pkgdoc MyProject::IO_Utilities */
/** * This package contains the string utilities for * MyProject. * * This is the detailed information about the * string utilities package. * @author Mr. String_Utilities * @version 1.2 * @pkgdoc MyProject.String_Utilities http://mysite/String_Utilities.html */
It is important to note that the implicit top level package is implied for @pkgdoc paths.
7.21 @pkgdoctid <name>
This directive must be specified after @pkgdoc. If it isn't a warning will be generated and the directive will be ignored.
It allows you to redefine the pkgdoc title id. Normally when a package name is specified the title on the page is \"package <name>\". With this directive you can change the \"package\" string to anything you like.
It was added because some users would like to define different semantics for different packages, for example: some package might be subsystems, others might be modules and still others might really be packages. With this directive you can change the name in the generated HTML file to better reflect package semantics in your environment.
The example below shows how to define three packages: A, B and C. A is the top level, B and C are children. A will be reported as a \"system\", B will be reported as a \"module\" and C will be reported as a \"subsystem\".
/** * @pkgdoc A ../doc/A.html * @pkgdoctid system */ /** * @pkgdoc A::B ../doc/A.B.html * @pkgdoctid module */ /** * @pkgdoc A::C ../doc/A.C.html * @pkgdoctid subsystem */
7.22 @return <description>
Deprecated, same as @returns.
7.23 @returns <description>
Describes the return value from a function. If there is no return value, do not use @returns. Ccdoc does not verify that you documented the return value correctly. Here is an example of how it is used.
/** * Get the global value. * @returns The global value. */ static int get_global_value();
The contents of an @returns directive can span multiple lines. All lines following an @returns directive are included until another ccdoc directive (other than @link and @@) is encountered. The example below shows how this works:
/** * This shows how @returns can span multiple lines. * @returns *@@ Return true if the value is < max or false if the value is >= max. * For more information about the value click *@link utils::value here @endlink . */
7.24 @see <entity> [<number>]
Associate an entity in the ccdoc database with the entity currently being described.
It tells ccdoc to generate a hyperlink to a named entity in the database. If there are multiple entities with the same name, as is the case with overloaded functions, specify the number of the one that you want ccdoc to use. The number should be between 0 and the number of duplicate entities minus 1. If no number is specified, the first occurrence is used. The example below shows how to use this directive.
There is an alternate form that allows the user to specify a url for the entity. This allows hyperlinks to objects that ccdoc doesn't know about. It is useful for adding links to documents.
There is another alternative form that allows the user to specify in the current scope using a '#' prefix. This is convenient for describing method relations within a class.
Packages are not specified in the @see <entity> specification because they can be changed at run-time. Ccdoc searchs for all C++ entities that match the specification in all packages.
/** * Generate three links, one to the class named Foo, * the second to the second overloaded method * Spam in the Bar class and the third to a document * called wombat at the specified URL. * @see Foo * @see Bar::Spam 2 * @see <a href=wombat.html>wombat</a> */
There is a special case for operators. The example below shows how to specify an @see link to an operator.
/** * This is the same as the {@link #operator== equals operator} * for this class. * @param obj The object to compare to for equality. * @returns True if they are equal or false otherwise. * @see #operator== */ bool is_equal(const Class& obj) const;
Note that there are no spaces between the operator keyword and the operator tokens.
7.25 @since <version>
This is entity has only been available since the specified version. Ccdoc does not impose any syntax requirements on the version string so you can use anything you want.
The example below shows how to use this directive.
/** * This is a new function. * It does really new stuff. * @author Foo Bar * @version 1.0 * @since v1.2 Built: 2001/10/01 */ void fct();
7.26 @suffix
This is a suffix style comment, that is, it is attached to the preceding statement rather than the following statement as shown in the example below:
class Foo { public: /** * This is the traditional prefix comment form. */ void traditional_comment_form();
//@{ // This is an alternate prefix comment form. //@} void alt_prefix_comment_form();
void traditional_suffix_comment_form(); //@{ // This is the new suffix comment // form that some folks have requested. // @suffix //@}
void alt1_suffix_comment_form(); /**< * This is a doxygen compatible suffix comment * form that some folks have requested. */
void alt2_suffix_comment_form(); /*!< * This is a doxygen compatible suffix comment * form that some folks have requested. */
void alt3_suffix_comment_form(); //@- Short comment. void alt4_suffix_comment_form(); ///< Short comment. void alt5_suffix_comment_form(); //!< Short comment. };
The alternative forms (1,2,4,5) are generally preferred for doxygen compatibility.
7.27 @throws <name> <description>
Specifies that this exception can be thrown by the method. If the <name> specifies a class in the ccdoc databse, a hyperlink is added. The example below shows hows to this directive.
/** * This function does stuff. * * Here is more detail about the stuff * it does. * @param name The name of the object. * @returns The object. * @exception Exception_NullParameter Is thrown * if name is NULL. */ SomeObject GetObject(const char* name);
The contents of an @exception directive can span multiple lines. All lines following an @exception directive are included until another ccdoc directive (other than @link and @@) is encountered. The example below shows how this works:
/** * This shows how @exception can span multiple lines. * @exception Port::Exception Is thrown when the program * runs out of disk space. */ void use_disk_space();
7.28 @todo <description>
Specifies that there are additional things things to be done to this interface or its implementation. The example below shows how to use this directive.
/** * Get the full file by name if it exists. * @param out The output file name. * @param in The input file name. * @returns The full file name of the first file that matches * the name parameter. If no match is found, an empty * string is returned. * @author Foo * @version 1.0 * @todo Support wild cards in the input name. */ void get_full_file_name(string& out,const string& in);
7.29 @version <id>
Specifies the version of the entity. If this directive is not specified for classes, functions or packages, \"unknown\" is reported.
8 Comment Format
The basic comment format is as follows:
Format Description ======================== =================================== /** Start of comment. * <brief description> The brief description is terminated * by a period followed by a tab, space * or newline or it is termined by a * directive. This complies with the * javadoc syntax. * * In older versions of ccdoc the brief * description was termined by a blank * line. This behavior can be re-enabled * by specifying the phase 1 -nojdsds * switch. * First blank (all w/s) line. * * <full description> Any number of lines with blanks. */ End of comment. <C++ entity> The entity that the comment is associated with (unless it is a pkgdoc comment). ======================== ===================================
Each blank line, other than the first one, is treated as a an HTML paragraph (<p>). The first blank line separates the brief description from the full description in -nojdsds mode otherwise it is ignored.
Ccdoc directives can be embedded anywhere in either description but they must be the first entity on the line.
The full description is optional.
The leading asterisk on each line is optional.
8.1 The simplest possible comment
The example below shows the simplest possible comment forms.
/**Get the age of an employee.*/ unsigned int age(const char* name);
//@{ Get the birthdate of an employee. //@} unsigned int birthdate(const char* name);
unsigned num_items(); //@- The number of items. unsigned num_items1(); ///< The number of items. unsigned num_items2(); //!< The number of items. unsigned num_items3(); /**< The number of items. */ unsigned num_items4(); /*!< The number of items. */
8.2 A more reasonable example.
The example below shows a more complete example for the function in 8.1. As you can see, it assumes that age is part of a class or a namespace called Employee.
/** * Get an employees age. * This function is not thread safe because it * uses statically initialized data. * * If the age of the employee is not known, return * the value 0. The example below shows how to use * this function. * <blockquote> * <pre> *@@ #include <iostream> *@@ #include \"Employee.h\" *@@ int main(int,char**) { *@@ cout << \"John Doe's age is\" *@@ << Employee::age(\"John Doe\") *@@ << endl; *@@ return 0; *@@ } * </pre> * </blockquote> * @param name The name of the employee. * @returns The age of the employee or zero if the * age if the employee is not known. * @see Employee * @throws MyExceptions::NullArgException * if the name argument is NULL. * @todo Modify this function to accept a std::string * reference argument to avoid having to check * for a NULL argument. */ unsigned int age(const char* name); 8.3 Alternative comment form 1
Ccdoc allows you to use the C++ single line comment form in several ways. In this form you specify the beginning and ending of a comment by using the standard form and prepending the '//'s as shown below:
///** // * This is a simple comment. // */ int simple;
8.4 Alternative comment form 2
This form allows you do away with the multi-line comment form entirely by specifying the ccdoc comments using begin and end directives as shown in the example below:
// ================================================ //@{ // This is a simple comment for foo that uses the // new single line comment form. //@} // ================================================ int foo();
8.5 Alternative comment form 3 (suffix)
This form allows you to specify complex ccdoc comments for the previous C++ statement as shown in the example below:
int foo(); //@{ // This is a simple comment for foo(). // @suffix //@}
int foo1(); /**< * This is a simple comment for foo1(). */
int foo2(); /*!< * This is a simple comment for foo2(). */
8.6 Alternative comment form 4 (single line, suffix)
Specifies the single line suffix C++ style comment form. This for is useful for abbreviated comments. Here is an example:
class Point3D { public: int p1; //@- The x coordinate. int p2; ///< The y coordinate. int p3; //!< The z coordinate. };
You can only specify a single line so most directives are not supported. The only supported directives are {@link .. } and @link .. @endlink.
9 Package Help
This section describes how to link to ccdoc comments from your documentation tree. The root level file is ccdoc.root.pkg.html. The 'root' package name can be changed using the -root <name> switch.
In the previous system the root level file was called ccdoc.index.html. That behavior can be mimic'ed by using the -rootfile ccdoc.index.html switch.
Here is an example that shows how to create documentation for a system:
% cat src/rootdoc.txt <<END /** * This is the root level documentation. * @author The Team * @version 1.2 * @pkgdoc @root */ END % ccdoc -db sys.db \\ -pkg system \\ -html web/ \\ -rooturl http://system/index.html \\ -srcurl http://system/src/ \\ src/rootdoc.txt \\ src/*.h
Here is another example that shows how to create documentation for a system with a ccdoc.index.html root file:
% cat src/rootdoc.txt <<END /** * This is the root level documentation. * @author The Team * @version 1.2 * @pkgdoc @root */ END % ccdoc -db sys.db \\ -pkg system \\ -html web/ \\ -rootfile web/ccdoc.index.html \\ -rooturl http://system/index.html \\ -srcurl http://system/src/ \\ src/rootdoc.txt \\ src/*.h
Note that the root file: \"http://system/index.html\" is NOT generated by ccdoc.
Also note that the -srcurl tells the browser where to find the source code.
Each generated documentation file will have a link named 'Home' to the root url 'http://system/index.html'.
The http://system/index.html can have a link to web/ccdoc.root.pkg.html to access the ccdoc documentation.
************************************************************************ ** HELPFUL HINTS ** ** ** ** To capture this message in an output file called help.log, ** ** run this command as: ** ** ** ** ccdoc -log help.log -nocout -h ** ** ** ** If you just want to know how to run ccdoc, see section 6 of this ** ** help message. ** ** ** ** If you just want to see some comment examples, see section 8 of ** ** this help message. ** ** ** ************************************************************************