On 6 September 2010 17:24, Johan Hake <[email protected]> wrote: > On Monday September 6 2010 08:13:44 Anders Logg wrote: >> On Mon, Sep 06, 2010 at 08:08:10AM -0700, Johan Hake wrote: >> > On Monday September 6 2010 05:47:27 Anders Logg wrote: >> > > On Mon, Sep 06, 2010 at 12:19:03PM +0200, Kristian Ølgaard wrote: >> > > > > Do we have any functionality in place for handling documentation >> > > > > that should be automatically generated from the C++ interface and >> > > > > documentation that needs to be added later? >> > > > >> > > > No, not really. >> > > >> > > ok. >> > > >> > > > > I assume that the documentation we write in the C++ header files >> > > > > (like Mesh.h) will be the same that appears in Python using >> > > > > help(Mesh)? >> > > > >> > > > Yes and no, the problem is that for instance overloaded methods will >> > > > only show the last docstring. >> > > > So, the Mesh.__init__.__doc__ will just contain the Mesh(std::str >> > > > file_name) docstring. >> > > >> > > It would not be difficult to make the documentation extraction script >> > > we have (in fenics-doc) generate the docstrings module and just >> > > concatenate all constructor documentation. We are already doing the >> > > parsing so spitting out class Foo: """ etc would be easy. Perhaps that >> > > is an option. >> > >> > There might be other overloaded methods too. We might try to setle on a >> > format for these methods, or make this part of the 1% we need to handle >> > our self. >> >> ok. Should also be fairly easy to handle. > > Ok. > >> > > > > But in some special cases, we may want to go in and handle >> > > > > documentation for special cases where the Python documentation >> > > > > needs to be different from the C++ documentation. So there should >> > > > > be two different sources for the documentation: one that is >> > > > > generated automatically from the C++ header files, and one that >> > > > > overwrites or adds documentation for special cases. Is that the >> > > > > plan? >> > > > >> > > > The plan is currently to write the docstrings by hand for the entire >> > > > dolfin module. One of the reasons is that we rename/ignores >> > > > functions/classes in the *.i files, and if we we try to automate the >> > > > docstring generation I think we should make it fully automatic not >> > > > just part of it. >> > > >> > > If we can make it 99% automatic and have an extra file with special >> > > cases I think that would be ok. >> > >> > Agree.
Yes, but we'll need some automated testing to make sure that the 1% does not go out of sync with the code. Most likely the 1% can't be handled because it is relatively important (definitions in *.i files etc.). >> > > > Also, we will need to change the syntax in all *example* code of the >> > > > docstrings. Maybe it can be done, but I'll need to give it some more >> > > > careful thought. We've already changed the approach a few times now, >> > > > so I really like the next try to close to our final implementation. >> > > >> > > I agree. :-) >> > > >> > > > > Another thing to discuss is the possibility of using Doxygen to >> > > > > extract the documentation. We currently have our own script since >> > > > > (I assume) Doxygen does not have a C++ --> reST converter. Is that >> > > > > correct? >> > > > >> > > > I don't think Doxygen has any such converter, but there exist a >> > > > project http://github.com/michaeljones/breathe >> > > > which makes it possible to use xml output from Doxygen in much the >> > > > same way as we use autodoc for the Python module. I had a quick go at >> > > > it but didn't like the result. No links on the index pages to >> > > > function etc. So what we do now is better, but perhaps it would be a >> > > > good idea to use Doxygen to extract the docstrings for all classes >> > > > and functions, I tried parsing the xml output in the >> > > > test/verify_cpp_ >> > > > ocumentation.py script and it should be relatively >> > > > simple to get the docstrings since these are stored as attributes of >> > > > classes/functions. >> > > >> > > Perhaps an idea would be to use Doxygen for parsing and then have our >> > > own script that works with the XML output from Doxygen? >> > >> > I did not know we allready used Doxygen to extract information about >> > class structure from the headers. >> >> I thought it was you who implemented the Doxygen documentation extraction? > > Duh... I mean that I did not know we used it in fenics_doc, in > verify_cpp_documentation.py. We don't. I wrote this script to be able to test the documentation in *.rst files against dolfin. Basically, I parse all files and keep track of the classes/functions which are defined in dolfin and try to match those up against the definitions in the documentation (and vise versa) to catch missing/obsolete documentation. >> > What are the differences between using the XML from Doxygen to also >> > extract the documentation, and the approach we use today? >> >> Pros (of using Doxygen): >> >> - Doxygen is developed by people that presumably are very good at >> extracting docs from C++ code >> >> - Doxygen might handle some corner cases we can't handle? Definitely, and we don't have to maintain it. >> Cons (of using Doxygen): >> >> - Another dependency > > Which we already have. > >> - We still need to write a script to parse the XML > > We should be able to ust the xml parser in docstringgenerator.py. > >> - The parsing of /// stuff from C++ code is very simple > > Yes, and this might be just fine. But if it grows we might consider using > Doxygen. But some cases are not handled correctly already (nested classes etc.) so I vote for Doxygen. > Would it be possible to setle on a format of the extracted documentation which > we use as input to generate reST documentation. It would make it easier to do > a switch to Doxygen XML whenever we figure this is needed, ie we just switch > the backend of the documentation parser. This will probably be a good idea, even if we start with Doxygen since the xml output might change in format so we can easily adapt. Kristian > Johan > >> -- >> Anders > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~fenics Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~fenics More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
