sphinx-autoapi/README.rst

Sphinx AutoAPI
==============

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.. warning:: This is a pre-release version. Some or all features might not work yet.

Sphinx AutoAPI aims to provide "autodoc" or "javadoc" style documentation for Sphinx.
The aim is to support all programming languages,
be easy to use,
and not require much configuration.

AutoAPI is a parse-only solution for both static and dynamic languages.
This is in contrast to the traditional `Sphinx autodoc <http://sphinx-doc.org/ext/autodoc.html>`_,
which is Python-only and uses code imports.

Full documentation can be found on `Read the Docs <http://sphinx-autoapi.readthedocs.org>`_.

Contents
--------

.. toctree::
   :caption: Main
   :glob:
   :maxdepth: 2

   config
   templates

.. toctree::
   :caption: API
   :glob:
   :maxdepth: 2

   design

Basic Workflow
--------------

Sphinx AutoAPI has the following structure:

* Configure directory to look for source files
* Serialize those source files, using language-specific tooling
* Map the serialized data into standard AutoAPI Python objects
* Generate RST through Jinja2 templates from those Python objects

This basic framework should be easy to implement in your language of choice.
All you need to do is be able to generate a JSON structure that includes your API and docs for those classes, functions, etc.

Install
-------

First you need to install autoapi:

.. code:: bash

    pip install sphinx-autoapi

Then add it to your Sphinx project's ``conf.py``:

.. code:: python

    extensions = ['autoapi.extension']

    # Document Python Code
    autoapi_type = 'python'
    autoapi_dirs = ['path/to/python/files', 'path/to/more/python/files']

    # Or, Document Go Code
    autoapi_type = 'go'
    autoapi_dirs = 'path/to/go/files'

AutoAPI will automatically add itself to the last TOCTree in your top-level
``index.rst``.

This is needed because we will be outputting rst files into the ``autoapi``
directory.  This adds it into the global TOCTree for your project, so that it
appears in the menus.

We hope to be able to dynamically add items into the TOCTree, and remove this
step.  However, it is currently required.

See all available configuration options in :doc:`config`.

Setup
-----

.NET
~~~~

The .NET mapping utilizes the tool `docfx`_. To install ``docfx``, first
you'll need to `install a .NET runtime on your system <ASP.NET Installation>`_.

The docfx tool can be installed with::

    dnu commands install docfx

By default, ``docfx`` will output metadata files into the ``_api`` path. You
can configure which path to output files into by setting the path in your
`docfx configuration file`_ in your project's repository. For example:

.. code:: json

    {
      ...
      "metadata": [{
        ...
        "dest": "docs/_api",
        ...
      }]
    }

.. note::
    The ``dest`` configuration option is required to output to the ``docs/``
    path, where autoapi knows to search for these files.

With a working ``docfx`` toolchain, you can now add the configuration options
to enable the .NET autoapi mapper. In your ``conf.py``:

.. code:: python

    extensions = ['autoapi.extension']
    autoapi_type = 'dotnet'
    autoapi_dirs = ['..']

This configuration assumes your ``conf.py`` is in a ``docs/`` path, and will use
your parent path ('..') to search for files to pass to ``docfx``. Unless you
specify a custom pattern, using the ``autoapi_patterns`` option,
``sphinx-autoapi`` will assume a list of file names to search.

First, a ``docfx.json`` file will be searched for. If this file exists, it will
be used, regardless of whether you have other file patterns listed. Otherwise,
any file matching ``['project.json', 'csproj', 'vsproj']`` will be searched for.

.. _`docfx`: https://github.com/dotnet/docfx
.. _`ASP.NET Installation`: http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/getting-started/index.html
.. _`docfx configuration file`: https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/docfx.exe_user_manual.html#3-docfx-json-format

Customize
---------

All of the pages that AutoAPI generates are templated with Jinja2 templates.
You can fully customize how pages are displayed on a per-object basis.
Read more about it in :doc:`templates`.

Design
------

Read more about the deisgn in our :doc:`design`.

Currently Implemented
---------------------

* Python (2 only -- Epydoc doesn't support Python 3)
* .NET
* Go
* Javascript

Adding a new language
---------------------

Adding a new language should only take a couple of hours,
assuming your language has a tool to generate JSON from API documentation.

The steps to follow:

* Add a new Mapper file in `mappers/`. It's probably easiest to copy an existing one, like the Javascript or Python mappers.
* Implement the :py:func:`create_class` and :py:func:`read_file` methods on the :py:class:`SphinxMapperBase`.
* Implement all appropriate object types on the :py:class:`PythonMapperBase`
* Add a test in the `tests/test_integration.py`, along with an example project for the testing.
* Include it in the class mapping in `mappers/base.py` and `extension.py`