Taeluf.com

Code Scrawl

Code Scrawl is a documentation generator. You write .src.md files and call buit-in functions with @‌verbs() within, including @‌template(template_name) to load several built-in templates. You can create custom extensions and templates for your own projects, or to generate documentation for using a library you made.

Also generate full API documentation of PHP classes. AST Generation uses taeluf/lexer, which can be extended to support other languages, but as of May 2023, there are no clear plans to do this.

Features

  • Integrated AST generation to automatically copy+paste specific parts of source code, thanks to @easy_link(tlf, php/lexer)
  • Several builtin verbs and templates
  • Extend with custom verbs and templates.

Deprecation Warning:

  • v1.0 will stop using hidden directories like .docsrc/ and instead use docsrc/. The defaults.json file will be changed to accomodate in v1.0
  • v1.0 will use dir src/ instead of code/ as a default directory to scan. (currently also scans test/, which will not change)

Install

@template(php/composer_install, taeluf/code-scrawl)

Configure

Create a file .config/scrawl.json or scrawl.json in your project root. Defaults:

@file(src/defaults-no-comments.json)

Default Configs / File Structre

Note: Instructions updated to use non-hidden directories, but the default.json file still uses hidden directories. This inconsistency will be fixed in v1.0

  • config/scrawl.json: configuration file
  • docsrc/*.src.md: documentation source files (from which your documentation is generated)
  • docs/: generated documentation output
  • src/*, and test/*: Code files to scan
  • doctemplate/*.md.php and CodeScrawl/src/Template/*.md.php: re-usable templates
  • scrawl-bootstrap.php: Runs at start of $scrawl->run() and $this is the $scrawl instance.

Usage

Overview:

  • Execute with vendor/bin/scrawl from your project root.
  • Write files like docsrc/README.src.md
  • Use Markdown Verbs (mdverb) to load documentation and code into your .src.md files: @‌file(src/defaults.json) would print the content of src/defaults.json
  • Use the @‌template mdverb to load a template: @‌template(php/compose_install, taeluf/code-scrawl) to print composer install instructions
  • Use the @‌ast mdverb to load code from the AST (Asymmetric Syntax Tree): @‌ast(class.\Tlf\Scrawl.docblock.description) to print directly or @‌ast(class.\Tlf\Scrawl, ast/class) to use an ast template.
  • Write special @‌codeverbs in comments in code source files to export docblocks and code.
  • Extend it! Write custom templates and @‌mdverb handlers
  • Write custom md verb handlers (see 'Extension' section below)
  • Write custom templates (see 'Extension' section below)
  • Use an ASCII Non-Joiner character after an @ sign, to write a literal @‌at_sign_with_text and not execute the verb handler.

Write Documents: Example

Write files in your docsrc folder with the extension .src.md. Example, from @see_file(docsrc/README.src.md)

This would display the ## Install instructions and ## Configure instructions as above

# Code Scrawl
Intro text

## Setup 
### Install
@‌template(php/compose_install, taeluf/code-scrawl)

### Configure
Create a file `.config/scrawl.json` or `scrawl.json` in your project root. Defaults:
‌```json
@‌file(src/defaults.json)
‌```

@‌MdVerbs List

Write these in your markdown source files for special functionality
@template(Scrawl/MdVerbs)

Template List

Templates can be loaded with @‌template(template_name, arg1, arg2), except ast/* templates (see below for those).

Each template contains documentation for how to use it & what args it requres. @template(Scrawl/Templates)

@‌ast() Templates (Asymmetric Syntax Tree)

Example: @‌ast(class.\Tlf\Scrawl.docblock.description) to print directly or @‌ast(class.\Tlf\Scrawl, ast/class) to use an ast template.

@‌CodeVerbs Exports (from code in scan dirs)

In a docblock, write @‌export(Some.Key) to export everything above it.

In a block of code (or literally anywhere), write // @‌export_start(Some.Key) then // @‌export_end(Some.Key) to export everything in between.

See @see_file(test/run/SrcCode.php) for examples

Extensions

Templates: Write a custom template

Look at existing templates in @see_file(doctemplate/) or @see_file(src/Template) for examples.

Verb Handlers: Write a custom verb handler

In your scrawl-bootstrap.php file, do something like:

@file(test/input/run-cli/scrawl-bootstrap.php)

PHP Extensions

Create a class that implements \Tlf\Scrawl\Extension. See file @see_file(src/Extension.php). You can class YourExt extends \Tlf\Scrawl\DoNothingExtension as a base class and then only override the methods you need.

In your config.json, set "ScrawlExtensions": ["Your\\Fully\\Qualified\\ClassName"], with as many extension classes as you like.

Architecture

  • Tlf\Scrawl: Primary class that run()s everything.
  • \Tlf\Scrawl->run(): generate api/* files. Load all php classes. scan code files. Scan .src.md files & output .md files.
    • file set as file.bootstrap is require()d at start of run() to setup additional mdverb handlers and (eventually) other extensions. Default is scrawl-bootstrap.php
  • Tlf\Scrawl\Ext\MdVerbs: Instantiated during run() prior to scanning documentation source files. When an @‌mdverb(arg1,arg2) is encounter in documentation source file, a handler ($mdverbs->handlers['mdverb']) is called with string arguments like $handler('arg1', 'arg2'). Extend it by adding a callable to $scrawl->mdverb_ext->handlers.
    • Tlf\Scrawl\Ext\MdVerb\MainVerbs: Has functions for simple verb handlers like @‌file, @‌template. Adds each function as a handler to the MdVerbs class.
    • \Tlf\Scrawl\Ext\MdVerb\Ast: A special mdverb handler that loads ASTs from the lexer and passes it to a named (or default) template.
  • Tlf\Scrawl\FileExt\Php: The only AST extension currently active. It is a convenience class that wraps the Lexer so it is easily called by Scrawl. It is called to setup ASTs by class.ClassName... on $scrawl. Call $scrawl->get('ast', 'class.ClassName...'). It is called to generate the api/* documentation files.
  • INACTIVE CLASS Tlf\Scrawl\Ext\Main simply copies the project_root/.docrsc/README.src.md to project_root/README.md
  • Tlf\Scrawl\FileExt\ExportDocBlock and ExportStartEnd handle the @‌export() tag in docblocks and the @‌export_start()/@‌export_end() tags.
  • \Tlf\Scrawl\Utility\DocBlock: Convenience class for extracting docblocks from files.
  • \Tlf\Scrawl\Utility\Main: Class with some convenience functions
  • \Tlf\Scrawl\Utility\Regex: Class to make regex matching within a file more abstract & object oriented. (it's not particularly good)

More Info

  • Run withOUT the cli: Some of the configs require absolute paths when running through php, rather than from the cli. An example is in @see_file(test/run/Integrate.php) under method testRunFull()
  • @‌literal: Displaying a literal @‌literal in an md source file can be done by putting a @hard_link(https://unicode-explorer.com/c/200C, Zero Width Non-Joiner) after the arroba (@). You can also use a backslash like so: @\literal, but then the backslash prints
  • All classes in this repo: @see_file(docs/ClassList.md)
  • $scrawl has a get/set feature. In a template, you can get an ast like $scrawl->get('ast.Fully\Qualified\ClassName'). Outside a template, you can use the Php class (@see_file(src/Ext/Php.php)) to get an ast from a file or string.
  • the deleteExistingDocs config has a bit of a sanity check to make sure you don't accidentally delete your whole system or something ...