julianstirling / openscad_docsgen

A processor for generating Mardown code documentation from comments in OpenSCAD source files.

OpenSCAD Documentation Generator

This package generates wiki-ready GitHub flavored markdown documentation pages from in-line source code comments. This is similar to Doxygen or JavaDoc, but designed for use with OpenSCAD code. Example images can be generated automatically from short example scripts.

Documentation about how to add documentation comments to OpenSCAD code can be found at https://github.com/revarbat/openscad_docsgen/blob/main/WRITING_DOCS.md

Installing openscad-docsgen

The easiest way to install this is to use pip:

% pip3 install openscad-docsgen

To install directly from these sources, you can instead do:

% python3 setup.py build install

Using openscad-docsgen

The simplest way to generate documentation is:

% openscad-docsgen -m *.scad

Which will read all of .scad files in the current directory, and writes out documentation for each .scad file to the ./docs/ dir. To write out to a different directory, use the -D argument:

% openscad-docsgen -D wikidir -m *.scad

To write out an alphabetical function/module index markdown file, use the -i flag:

% openscad-docsgen -i *.scad

To write out a Table of Contents markdown file, use the -t flag:

% openscad-docsgen -t *.scad

To write out a CheatSheet markdown file, use the -c flag. In addition, you can specify the project name shown in the CheatSheet with the -P PROJECTNAME argument:

% openscad-docsgen -c -P "My Foobar Library" *.scad

A Topics index file can be generated by passing the -I flag:

% openscad-docsgen -I *.scad

You can just test for script errors more quickly with the -T flag (for test-only):

% openscad-docsgen -m -T *.scad

By default, the target output profile is to generate documentation for a GitHub Wiki. You can output for a more generic Wiki with -p wiki:

% openscad-docsgen -ticmI -p wiki *.scad

Configuration File

You can also make more persistent configurations by putting a .openscad_docsgen_rc file in the directory you will be running openscad-docsgen from. It can look something like this:

DocsDirectory: WikiDir/
TargetProfile: githubwiki
ProjectName: The Foobar Project
GeneratedDocs: Files, ToC, Index, Topics, CheatSheet
IgnoreFiles:
  foo.scad
  std.scad
  version.scad
  tmp_*.scad
PrioritizeFiles:
  First.scad
  Second.scad
  Third.scad
  Fourth.scad
DefineHeader(BulletList): Side Effects
DefineHeader(Table;Headers=Anchor Name|Position): Extra Anchors

For an explanation of the syntax and the specific headers, see: https://github.com/revarbat/openscad_docsgen/blob/main/WRITING_DOCS.md

External Calling

Here's an example of how to use this library, to get the parsed documentation data:

import openscad_docsgen as docsgen
from glob import glob
from pprint import pprint
dgp = docsgen.DocsGenParser(quiet=True)
dgp.parse_files(glob("*.scad"))
for name in dgp.get_indexed_names():
    data = dgp.get_indexed_data(name)
    pprint(name)
    pprint(data["description"])

The data for an OpenSCAD function, module, or constant generally looks like:

{
    'name': 'Function&Module',  // Could also be 'Function', 'Module', or 'Constant'
    'subtitle': 'line_of()',
    'body': [],
    'file': 'distributors.scad',
    'line': 43,
    'aliases': ['linear_spread()'],
    'topics': ['Distributors'],
    'usages': [
        {
            'subtitle': 'Spread `n` copies by a given spacing',
            'body': ['line_of(spacing, <n>, <p1=>) ...']
        },
        {
            'subtitle': 'Spread copies every given spacing along the line',
            'body': ['line_of(spacing, <l=>, <p1=>) ...']
        },
        {
            'subtitle': 'Spread `n` copies along the length of the line',
            'body': ['line_of(<n=>, <l=>, <p1=>) ...']
        },
        {
            'subtitle': 'Spread `n` copies along the line from `p1` to `p2`',
            'body': ['line_of(<n=>, <p1=>, <p2=>) ...']
        },
        {
            'subtitle': 'Spread copies every given spacing, centered along the line from `p1` to `p2`',
            'body': ['line_of(<spacing>, <p1=>, <p2=>) ...']
        },
        {
            'subtitle': 'As a function',
            'body': [
                'pts = line_of(<spacing>, <n>, <p1=>);',
                'pts = line_of(<spacing>, <l=>, <p1=>);',
                'pts = line_of(<n=>, <l=>, <p1=>);',
                'pts = line_of(<n=>, <p1=>, <p2=>);',
                'pts = line_of(<spacing>, <p1=>, <p2=>);'
            ]
        }
    ],
    'description': [
        'When called as a function, returns a list of points at evenly spread positions along a line.',
        'When called as a module, copies `children()` at one or more evenly spread positions along a line.',
        'By default, the line will be centered at the origin, unless the starting point `p1` is given.',
        'The line will be pointed towards `RIGHT` (X+) unless otherwise given as a vector in `l`,',
        '`spacing`, or `p1`/`p2`.',
    ],
    'arguments': [
        'spacing = The vector giving both the direction and spacing distance between each set of copies.',
        'n = Number of copies to distribute along the line. (Default: 2)',
        '---',
        'l = Either the scalar length of the line, or a vector giving both the direction and length of the line.',
        'p1 = If given, specifies the starting point of the line.',
        'p2 = If given with `p1`, specifies the ending point of line, and indirectly calculates the line length.'
    ],
    'see_also': ['xcopies()', 'ycopies()'],
    'examples': [
        ['line_of(10) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(10, n=5) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of([10,5], n=5) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(spacing=10, n=6) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(spacing=[10,5], n=6) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(spacing=10, l=50) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(spacing=10, l=[50,30]) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(spacing=[10,5], l=50) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(l=50, n=4) sphere(d=1);'],
        ['line_of(l=[50,-30], n=4) sphere(d=1);'],
        [
            'line_of(p1=[0,0,0], p2=[5,5,20], n=6) '
            'cube(size=[3,2,1],center=true);'
        ],
        [
            'line_of(p1=[0,0,0], p2=[5,5,20], spacing=6) '
            'cube(size=[3,2,1],center=true);'
        ],
        [
            'line_of(l=20, n=3) {',
            '    cube(size=[1,3,1],center=true);',
            '    cube(size=[3,1,1],center=true);',
            '}'
        ],
        [
            'pts = line_of([10,5],n=5);',
            'move_copies(pts) circle(d=2);'
        ]
    ],
    'children': [
        {
            'name': 'Side Effects',
            'subtitle': '',
            'body': [
                '`$pos` is set to the relative centerpoint of each child copy.',
                '`$idx` is set to the index number of each child being copied.'
            ],
            'file': 'distributors.scad',
            'line': 88
        }
    ]
}