NDoc
Encyclopedia
NDoc is a code documentation generator
for the Common Language Infrastructure
. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License
.
file produced by compiling the source code. The other is a pre-generated XML
documentation file, usually produced by parsing
the source code for special comments (C# compilers from .NET Framework
and Mono
support this using the "/doc" command-line argument).
The assembly file is queried using reflection
to obtain the list of class
es, method
s, etc. The XML file is parsed for the documentation text.
NDoc supports several different output formats, including CHM
, MSDN
-style web pages, and Javadoc
-style web pages. NDoc also comes with a graphical user interface
to ease the generation process.
version 2.0. Although there are internal alpha versions that support .NET 2.0, , there is very little activity on the NDoc project. The developer of NDoc, Kevin Downs, has said that he is not working on NDoc anymore due to lack of funding and threats against him, and that he is willing to hand over administration of the project..
More recently, Kim Christensen picked up the ball and continues development of the original NDoc as NDoc3
Documentation generator
A documentation generator is a programming tool that generates documentation intended for programmers or end users , or both, from a set of specially commented source code files, and in some cases, binary files....
for the Common Language Infrastructure
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
How it works
NDoc uses two sources to generate documentation. The first is an assembly.NET assembly
In the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
file produced by compiling the source code. The other is a pre-generated XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
documentation file, usually produced by parsing
Parsing
In computer science and linguistics, parsing, or, more formally, syntactic analysis, is the process of analyzing a text, made of a sequence of tokens , to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar...
the source code for special comments (C# compilers from .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
and Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
support this using the "/doc" command-line argument).
The assembly file is queried using reflection
Reflection (computer science)
In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program can observe and modify its own structure and behavior at runtime....
to obtain the list of class
Class (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a class is a construct that is used as a blueprint to create instances of itself – referred to as class instances, class objects, instance objects or simply objects. A class defines constituent members which enable these class instances to have state and behavior...
es, method
Method (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine associated with a class. Methods define the behavior to be exhibited by instances of the associated class at program run time...
s, etc. The XML file is parsed for the documentation text.
NDoc supports several different output formats, including CHM
Microsoft Compressed HTML Help
Microsoft Compiled HTML Help is a Microsoft proprietary online help format. It was introduced as the successor to Microsoft WinHelp with the release of Windows 98, and is still supported in Windows 7.-History:...
, MSDN
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
-style web pages, and Javadoc
Javadoc
Javadoc is a documentation generator from Sun Microsystems for generating API documentation in HTML format from Java source code.The "doc comments" format used by Javadoc is the de facto industry standard for documenting Java classes. Some IDEs, such as Netbeans and Eclipse automatically generate...
-style web pages. NDoc also comes with a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
to ease the generation process.
Limitations and future development
The latest release version of NDoc does not support .NET Framework.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
version 2.0. Although there are internal alpha versions that support .NET 2.0, , there is very little activity on the NDoc project. The developer of NDoc, Kevin Downs, has said that he is not working on NDoc anymore due to lack of funding and threats against him, and that he is willing to hand over administration of the project..
More recently, Kim Christensen picked up the ball and continues development of the original NDoc as NDoc3
See also
- DoxygenDoxygenDoxygen is a documentation generator for multiple programming languages.Doxygen is a tool for writing software reference documentation. The documentation is written within code, and is thus relatively easy to keep up to date...
- a mature document generation tool that can also build class diagrams and produce documentation from many other languages. - Sandcastle — a similar application by MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. - Sandcastle Help File Builder — a freeware GUI front-end for Sandcastle that provides Ndoc-like features.
- Comparison of documentation generators
External links
- Official website of NDoc
- Website of NDoc3, official successor to NDoc
- NDoc 2005 and NDoc Reloaded — forkFork (software development)In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
s of NDoc