# edoc

### MODULE

edoc

### MODULE SUMMARY

EDoc - the Erlang program documentation generator.

### DESCRIPTION

EDoc - the Erlang program documentation generator.

This module provides the main user interface to EDoc.

- EDoc User Manual
- Running EDoc

### DATA TYPES

`edoc_module()`
  The EDoc documentation data for a module, expressed as an XML document in XMerL format. See the file edoc.dtd for details.
`filename() = filename() (see module //kernel/file)`
`package() = atom() | string()`
`proplist() = [term()]`
`syntaxTree() = syntaxTree() (see module //syntax_tools/erl_syntax)`

### EXPORTS

`application(Application::atom()) -> ok`

Equivalent to application(Application, []).

`application(Application::atom(), Options::proplist()) -> ok`

Run EDoc on an application in its default app-directory. See application/3 for details.

See also: application/1.

`application(Application::atom(), Dir::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> ok`

Run EDoc on an application located in the specified directory. Tries to automatically set up good defaults. Unless the user specifies otherwise:

- The `doc` subdirectory will be used as the target directory, if it exists; otherwise the application directory is used.
- The source code is assumed to be located in the `src` subdirectory, if it exists, or otherwise in the application directory itself.
- The subpackages option is turned on. All found source files will be processed.
- The `include` subdirectory is automatically added to the include path. (Only important if preprocessing is turned on.)

See run/3 for details, including options.

See also: application/2.

`file(Name::filename()) -> ok`

This function is deprecated: See file/2 for details.

Equivalent to file(Name, []).

`file(Name::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> ok`

This function is deprecated: This is part of the old interface to EDoc and is mainly kept for backwards compatibility. The preferred way of generating documentation is through one of the functions application/2, packages/2 and files/2.

Reads a source code file and outputs formatted documentation to a corresponding file.

Options:

`{dir, filename()}`
  Specifies the output directory for the created file. (By default, the output is written to the directory of the source file.)
`{source_suffix, string()}`
  Specifies the expected suffix of the input file. The default value is `".erl"`.
`{file_suffix, string()}`
  Specifies the suffix for the created file. The default value is `".html"`.

See get_doc/2 and layout/2 for further options.

For running EDoc from a Makefile or similar, see edoc_run:file/1.

See also: read/2.

`files(Files::[filename() | {package(), [filename()]}]) -> ok`

Equivalent to packages(Packages, []).

`files(Files::[filename() | {package(), [filename()]}], Options::proplist()) -> ok`

Runs EDoc on a given set of source files. See run/3 for details, including options.

`get_doc(File::filename()) -> {ModuleName, edoc_module()}`

Equivalent to get_doc(File, []).

`get_doc(File::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> {ModuleName, edoc_module()}`

Types:

`ModuleName = atom()`

Reads a source code file and extracts EDoc documentation data. Note that without an environment parameter (see get_doc/3), hypertext links may not be correct.

Options:

`{def, Macros}`
  - `Macros` = `Macro | [Macro]`
  - `Macro` = `{Name::atom(), Text::string()}`
  Specifies a set of EDoc macro definitions. See Inline macro expansion for details.
`{hidden, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, documentation of hidden functions will also be included. The default value is `false`.
`{private, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, documentation of private functions will also be included. The default value is `false`.
`{todo, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, To-Do notes written using `@todo` or `@TODO` tags will be included in the documentation. The default value is `false`.

See read_source/2, read_comments/2 and edoc_lib:get_doc_env/4 for further options.

See also: get_doc/3, layout/2, read/2, run/3, edoc_extract:source/5.

`get_doc(File::filename(), Env::edoc_env() (see module edoc_lib), Options::proplist()) -> {ModuleName, edoc_module()}`

Types:

`ModuleName = atom()`

Like get_doc/2, but for a given environment parameter. `Env` is an environment created by edoc_lib:get_doc_env/4.

`layout(Doc::edoc_module()) -> string()`

Equivalent to layout(Doc, []).

`layout(Doc::edoc_module(), Options::proplist()) -> string()`

Transforms EDoc module documentation data to text. The default layout creates an HTML document.

Options:

`{layout, Module::atom()}`
  Specifies a callback module to be used for formatting. The module must export a function `module(Doc, Options)`. The default callback module is edoc_layout; see edoc_layout:module/2 for layout-specific options.

See also: file/2, layout/1, read/2, run/3.

`packages(Packages::[package()]) -> ok`

Equivalent to packages(Packages, []).

`packages(Packages::[package()], Options::proplist()) -> ok`

Runs EDoc on a set of packages. The `source_path` option is used to locate the files; see run/3 for details, including options. This function automatically appends the current directory to the source path.

`read(File::filename()) -> string()`

Equivalent to read(File, []).

`read(File::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> string()`

Reads and processes a source file and returns the resulting EDoc-text as a string. See get_doc/2 and layout/2 for options.

See also: file/2.

`read_comments(File) -> [comment()]`

Equivalent to read_comments(File, []).

`read_comments(File::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> [comment()]`

Types:

`{Line, Column, Indentation, Text}`
`Line = integer()`
`Column = integer()`
`Indentation = integer()`
`Text = [string()]`

Extracts comments from an Erlang source code file. See the module erl_comment_scan(3) for details on the representation of comments. Currently, no options are avaliable.

`read_source(Name::File) -> [syntaxTree()]`

Equivalent to read_source(File, []).

`read_source(File::filename(), Options::proplist()) -> [syntaxTree()]`

Reads an Erlang source file and returns the list of "source code form" syntax trees.

Options:

`{preprocess, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, the source file will be read via the Erlang preprocessor (`epp`). The default value is `false`. `no_preprocess` is an alias for `{preprocess, false}`.
  Normally, preprocessing is not necessary for EDoc to work, but if a file contains too exotic definitions or uses of macros, it will not be possible to read it without preprocessing. Note: comments in included files will not be available to EDoc, even with this option enabled.
`{includes, Path::[string()]}`
  Specifies a list of directory names to be searched for include files, if the `preprocess` option is turned on. Also used with the `@headerfile` tag. The default value is the empty list. The directory of the source file is always automatically appended to the search path.
`{macros, [{atom(), term()}]}`
  Specifies a list of pre-defined Erlang preprocessor (`epp`) macro definitions, used if the `preprocess` option is turned on. The default value is the empty list.

See also: erl_syntax(3), get_doc/2.

`run(Packages::[package()], Files::[filename() | {package(), [filename()]}], Options::proplist()) -> ok`

Runs EDoc on a given set of source files and/or packages. Note that the doclet plugin module has its own particular options; see the `doclet` option below.

Also see layout/2 for layout-related options, and get_doc/2 for options related to reading source files.

Options:

`{app_default, string()}`
  Specifies the default base URI for unknown applications.
`{application, App::atom()}`
  Specifies that the generated documentation describes the application `App`. This mainly affects generated references.
`{dir, filename()}`
  Specifies the target directory for the generated documentation.
`{doc_path, [string()]}`
  Specifies a list of URI:s pointing to directories that contain EDoc-generated documentation. URI without a `scheme://` part are taken as relative to `file://`. (Note that such paths must use `/` as separator, regardless of the host operating system.)
`{doclet, Module::atom()}`
  Specifies a callback module to be used for creating the documentation. The module must export a function `run(Cmd, Ctxt)`. The default doclet module is edoc_doclet; see edoc_doclet:run/2 for doclet-specific options.
`{exclude_packages, [package()]}`
  Lists packages to be excluded from the documentation. Typically used in conjunction with the `subpackages` option.
`{file_suffix, string()}`
  Specifies the suffix used for output files. The default value is `".html"`. Note that this also affects generated references.
`{new, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, any existing `edoc-info` file in the target directory will be ignored and overwritten. The default value is `false`.
`{packages, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, it it assumed that packages (module namespaces) are being used, and that the source code directory structure reflects this. The default value is `true`. (Usually, this does the right thing even if all the modules belong to the top-level "empty" package.) `no_packages` is an alias for `{packages, false}`. See the `subpackages` option below for further details.
  If the source code is organized in a hierarchy of subdirectories although it does not use packages, use `no_packages` together with the recursive-search `subpackages` option (on by default) to automatically generate documentation for all the modules.
`{source_path, [filename()]}`
  Specifies a list of file system paths used to locate the source code for packages.
`{source_suffix, string()}`
  Specifies the expected suffix of input files. The default value is `".erl"`.
`{subpackages, bool()}`
  If the value is `true`, all subpackages of specified packages will also be included in the documentation. The default value is `false`. `no_subpackages` is an alias for `{subpackages, false}`. See also the `exclude_packages` option.
  Subpackage source files are found by recursively searching for source code files in subdirectories of the known source code root directories. (Also see the `source_path` option.) Directory names must begin with a lowercase letter and contain only alphanumeric characters and underscore, or they will be ignored. (For example, a subdirectory named `test-files` will not be searched.)

See also: application/2, files/2, packages/2.

### AUTHORS

Richard Carlsson - support@erlang.ericsson.se

edoc 0.7.3
Copyright © 1991-2007 Ericsson AB