



FPDoc  :

Free  Pascal  code  documenter:  Reference  manual

==============================================================================================================================

                                                                             Reference manual for FPDoc

                                                                                         Document version 2.6

                                                                                              December 15, 2011



Micha"el Van Canneyt
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Contents



1    Introduction                                                                                                           4

     1.1    About this document            .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .     4

     1.2    About FPDoc            .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .     4

     1.3    Getting more information.             .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .     5


2    Compiling and Installing  FPDoc                                                                                        6

     2.1    Compiling       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .  .     @

     2.2    Installation       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .  .     @


3    FPDoc usage                                                                                                            8

     3.1    fpdoc    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .  .   @

     3.2    FPDoc command-line options reference                      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *     9

            3.2.1     auto-index      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .     9

            3.2.2     auto-toc     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .     9

            3.2.3     charset    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .     9

            3.2.4     content      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    10

            3.2.5     css-file   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    10

            3.2.6     default-page      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    10

            3.2.7     descr    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .  .    1@

            3.2.8     footer     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    11

            3.2.9     footer-date       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    11

            3.2.10    format     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    11

            3.2.11    help     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .  .    1@

            3.2.12    hide-protected         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    11

            3.2.13    html-search       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    12

            3.2.14    image-dir       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    12

            3.2.15    image-url       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    12

            3.2.16    import     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    12

            3.2.17    index-colcount         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    13

            3.2.18    index-file      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    13

            3.2.19    input      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    13



                                                              1

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CONTENTS_______*
 *___



           3.2.20    lang     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    13

           3.2.21    latex-highlight        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    14

           3.2.22    make-searchable           .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    14

           3.2.23    other-files     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    14

           3.2.24    output     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    14

           3.2.25    package       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    15

           3.2.26    show-private         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    15

           3.2.27    toc-file   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    15

           3.2.28    warn-no-node         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    15

    3.3    makeskel      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .  .    1@

           3.3.1     introduction       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    15

    3.4    Makeskel option reference             .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    16

           3.4.1     descr    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    16

           3.4.2     disable-arguments           .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    16

           3.4.3     disable-errors       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    16

           3.4.4     disable-function-results         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    16

           3.4.5     disable-override       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    16

           3.4.6     disable-private        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    16

           3.4.7     disable-protected         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    16

           3.4.8     disable-seealso        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    17

           3.4.9     emitclassseparator          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    17

           3.4.10    help     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    17

           3.4.11    input      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    17

           3.4.12    lang     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    17

           3.4.13    output     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    17

           3.4.14    package       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    17

           3.4.15    update     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    17


4    The description file                                                                                                 19

    4.1    Introduction       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .  .    19

    4.2    Element names and cross-referencing                  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *    22

           4.2.1     Element name conventions              .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.    22

           4.2.2     Cross referencing:  the link tag             .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 *   22

    4.3    Tag reference        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    23

           4.3.1     Overview        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .  .    23

           4.3.2     b :  format bold       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    25

           4.3.3     caption :  Specify table caption             .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 *   25

           4.3.4     code :  format as pascal code              .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *    25

           4.3.5     descr :  Descriptions          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    25

           4.3.6     dd :  definition data.         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    26



                                                                  2

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           4.3.7     dl :  definition list.      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    26

           4.3.8     dt :  definition term.         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    26

           4.3.9     element :  Identifier documentation                  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *  27

           4.3.10    errors :  Error section.         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    27

           4.3.11    fpdoc-description :  Global tag                 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 *   27

           4.3.12    i :  Format italics       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    28

           4.3.13    img :  include image           .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    28

           4.3.14    li :  list element     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    28

           4.3.15    link :  Cross-reference          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    29

           4.3.16    module :  Unit reference              .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.    29

           4.3.17    ol :  Numbered list.        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    29

           4.3.18    p :  Paragraph         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    30

           4.3.19    package :  Package reference               .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *    30

           4.3.20    pre :  Insert text as-is         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    31

           4.3.21    printshort :  insert short description               .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *  31

           4.3.22    remark :  format as remark               .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.    31

           4.3.23    seealso :  Cross-reference section              .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 *   32

           4.3.24    short :  Short description            .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.    32

           4.3.25    table :  Table start        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    33

           4.3.26    td :  Table cell       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    33

           4.3.27    th :  Table header          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    34

           4.3.28    topic :  Topic section         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*
 *  .    34

           4.3.29    tr :  table row      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    34

           4.3.30    u :  Format underlined           .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    35

           4.3.31    ul :  bulleted list       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    35

           4.3.32    url :  Hyperlink       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .    35

           4.3.33    var :  variable      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .  .    36

           4.3.34    version :  version info          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . *
 * .    36


5    Generated output files.                                                                                              37

    5.1    HTML output          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    37

    5.2    Latex output         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    38

    5.3    CHM output           .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *
 *.  .  .    38



                                                                  3




Chapter   1



Introduction



1.1         About  this  document


This  is  the  reference  manual  for  FPDoc,  a  free  documentation  tool  for  Pascal  units.   It
describes the usage of  FPDoc and how to write documentation with it.

It attempts to be complete, but the tool is under continuous development, and so there may
be some slight differences between the documentation and the actual program.  In case of
discrepancy,  the  sources  of  the  tool  are  the  final  reference.  A  README  or  CHANGES  file
may be provided, and can also give some hints as to things which have changed.  In case of
doubt, these files or the sources are authoritative.



1.2         About  FPDoc


FPDoc is a tool that combines a Pascal unit file and a description file in XML format and
produces reference documentation for the unit.  The reference documentation contains doc-
umentation for all of the identifiers found in the unit's interface section.  The documentation
is fully cross-referenced, making it easy to navigate.  It is also possible to refer to other doc-
umentation sets written with FPDoc, making it possible to maintain larger documentation
sets for large projects.

Contrary  to  some  other  documentation  techniques,  FPDoc  does  not  require  the  presence
of formatted comments in the source code.  It takes a source file and a documentation file
(in XML format) and merges these two together to a full documentation of the source.  This
means that the code doesn't get obfuscated with large pieces of comment, making it hard to
read and understand.

FPDoc is package-oriented, which means that it considers units as part of a package.  Doc-
umentation for all units in a package can be generated in one run.

At the moment of writing, the documentation can be generated in the following formats:


HTML         Plain  HTML.  Javascript  is  used  to  be  able  to  show  a  small  window  with  class
        properties or class methods, but the generated HTML will work without JavaScript as
        well.  Style sheets are used to do the markup, so the output can be customised.

XHTML          As HTML, but using a more strict syntax.

LaTeX       LaTeX files, which can be used with the fpc.sty file which comes with the Free Pascal
        documentation.  From  this  output,  PDF  documents  can  be  generated,  and  with  the
        use of latex2rtf, RTF or Winhelp files.  Text files can also be generated.



                                                              4

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Text    plain  ascii  text  files.   No  cross-referencing  exists.   Other  than  that  it  resembles  the
       LaTeX output in it's structure.

Man     Unix man pages.  Each function/procedure/method identifier is a man page.  Constants
       are on a separate page, as are types, variables and resourcestrings.

CHM       HTML files compressed into a .chm file using lzx compression.

RTF     Linear RTF files.


Note that pascal program files cannot be parsed by fpdoc, it is therefor impossible to create
documentation for a program.  Only units are supported.



1.3         Getting  more  information.


If the documentation doesn't give an answer to your questions, you can obtain more infor-
mation on the Internet, on the Free Pascal Website:

http://www.freepascal.org/

It contains links to download all FPDoc related material.

Finally, if you think something should be added to this manual (entirely possible), please do
not hesitate and contact me at michael@freepascal.org          .



                                                                  5




Chapter   2



Compiling   and   Installing   FPDoc



2.1         Compiling


In order to compile FPDoc, the following things are needed:


    1.  The fpdoc sources.  These can be downloaded from the FPDoc website.

    2.  The  Free  Pascal  compiler  sources.   FPDoc  uses  the  scanner  from  the  Free  Pascal
        comiler to scan the source file.

    3.  The FCL units (or their sources) should be installed.

    4.  fpcmake is needed to create the makefile for fpdoc.  It comes with Free Pascal,  so if
        Free Pascal is installed, there should be no problem.

    5.  To make new internationalisation support files, rstconv must be installed, and the GNU
        gettext package.


Links to download all these programs can be found on the FPDoc website.

When the fpdoc sources have been unzipped, the Makefile must be generated.  Before gen-
erating the makefile,  the location of the compiler source directory should be indicated.  In
the  Makefile.fpc  file,  which  has  a  windows  ini  file  format,  locate  the  fpcdir  entry  in  the
defaults section:


fpcdir=../..


and change it so it points to the top-level Free Pascal source directory.

After that, running fpcmake will produce the Makefile, and running make should produce 2
executables:  fpdoc and makeskel.



2.2         Installation


When installing from sources, a simple


make  install
cd  intl
make  install



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should completely install the documentation tool.

When installing from a archive with the binaries, it should be sufficient to copy the binaries
to a directory in the PATH.

To  have  fpdoc  available  in  several  languages,  the  language  files  should  be  installed  in  the
following directory on Unix systems:


/usr/local/share/locale/XX/LC_MESSAGES/


or


/usr/share/locale/XX/LC_MESSAGES/


Depending on the setup.  Here XX should be replaced by the locale identifier.



                                                                  7




Chapter   3



FPDoc   usage



3.1         fpdoc


Using  FPDoc  is  quite  simple.   It  takes  some  command-line  options,  and  based  on  these
options,  creates  documentation.  The  command-line  options  can  be  given  as  long  or  short
options, as is common for most GNU programs.

In principle, only 2 command-line options are needed:


package       This specifies the name of the package for which documentation must be created.
        Exactly one package option can be specified.

input     The name of a unit file for which documentation should be generated.  This can be a
        simple filename, but can also contain some syntax options as they could be given to the
        Free Pascal scanner.  More than one input option can be given,  and documentation
        will be generated for all specified input files.


Some examples:


fpdoc  --package=fcl  --input=crt.pp


This will scan the crt.pp file and generate documentation for it in a directory called fcl.


fpdoc  --package=fcl  --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  classes.pp'


This will scan the file classes.pp,  with the DEBUG symbol defined,  the scanner will look for
include files in the ../inc directory, and OBJFPC-mode syntax will be accepted.

(for more information about these options, see the Free Pascal compiler user's guide)

With the above commands, a set of documentation files will be generated in HTML format
(this  is  the  standard).  There  will  be  no  description  of  any  of  the  identifiers  found  in  the
unit's interface section, but all identifiers declarations will be present in the documentation.

The actual documentation (i.e.  the description of each of the identifiers) resides in a descrip-
tion file, which can be specified with the descr option:


fpdoc  --package=fcl  --descr=crt.xml  --input=crt.pp


This will scan the crt.pp file and generate documentation for it, using the descriptions found
in the filecrt.xml file.  The documentation will be written in a directory called fcl.



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fpdoc  --package=fcl  --descr=classes.xml  "
         --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  classes.pp'


All  options  should  be  given  on  one  line.  This  will  scan  the  file  classes.pp,  with  the  DEBUG
symbol defined, the scanner will look for include files in the ../inc directory, and OBJFPC-mode
syntax will be accepted.

More than one input file or description file can be given:


fpdoc  --package=fcl  --descr=classes.xml  --descr=process.xml  "
         --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  classes.pp'  "
         --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  process.pp'


Here, documentation will be generated for 2 units:  classes and process

The format of the description file is discussed in the next chapter.

Other formats can be generated, such as latex:


fpdoc  --format=latex  --package=fcl  "
         --descr=classes.xml  --descr=process.xml"
         --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  classes.pp'  "
         --input='-I../inc  -S2  -DDebug  process.pp'


This will generate a LaTeX file called fcl.tex, which contains the documentation of the units
classes and process.  The latex file contains no document preamble, it starts with a chap-
ter  command.  It  is  meant  to  be  included  (using  the  LaTeX  include  command)  in  a  latex
document with a preamble.

The output of  FPDoc can be further customised by several command-line options, which
will be explained in the next section.



3.2         FPDoc  command-line  options  reference


In this section all FPDoc command-line options are explained.



3.2.1        auto-index

This option generates an index of all the types including objects, classes, their methods and
enums,  sorted  alphabhetically.  Methods  of  classes  and  objects  will  appear  as  subitems  of
their  class.  If  used  in  combination  with  -index-file  this  option  will  be  used  instead.  This
option only applies to the chm backend.



3.2.2        auto-toc

This option generates a Table of Contents that displays all classes, objects and routines in
several  ways.  If  used  in  combination  with  -toc-file  this  option  will  be  used  instead.  This
option only applies to the chm backend.



3.2.3        charset

This option can be used to specify the character set to be used for the HTML backend.  It
is simply inserted in the HTML tree.  The default character set is iso-8859-1

For example



                                                                  9

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--charset=UTF8


will result in an UTF8 specification of the content attribute of the meta tag in the generated
HTML file:


<meta  content="text/html;  charset=UTF8"  http-equiv="Content-Type">



3.2.4        content

This  option  tells  FPDoc  to  generate  a  content  file.   A  content  file  contains  a  list  of  all
the possible anchors (labels) in the generated documentation file, and can be used to create
cross-links in documentation for units in other packages, using the counterpart of the content
option, the import option (section 3.2.16  , page 12 ).



3.2.5        css-file

This option only applies to the chm backend.  Use this option to set the css file used to style
the html when the html is rendered by a viewer.



3.2.6        default-page

This  option  only  applies  to  the  chm  backend.  The  default  page  to  load  when  the  chm  is
opened  by  a  viewer.   Using  this  option  does  not  include  a  file  but  instead  specifies  a  file
you have included using -other-files.  You only need to use this option if you have used the
-other-files option and included a page you wish to use instead of the default page.



3.2.7        descr

This option specifies the name of a description file that contains the actual documentation
for the unit.  This option can be given several times,  for several description files.  The file
will be searched relative to the current directory.  No extension is added to the file, it should
be a complete filename.

If the filename starts with an 'at' sign @, then it is interpreted as a text file which contains a
list of filenames, one per line.  Each of these files will be added to the list of description files.

The  nodes  in  the  description  files  will  be  merged  into  one  big  tree.  This  means  that  the
documentation can be divided over multiple files.  When merging the description files, nodes
that  occur  twice  will  end  up  only  once  in  the  big  node  tree:  the  last  node  will  always  be
the  node  that  ends  up  in  the  parse  tree.  This  means  that  the  order  of  the  various  input
commands or the ordering of the files in the file list is important.

Examples:


--descr=crt.xml


will tell FPDoc to read documentation from crt.xml, while


--descr=@fcl.lst


will tell FPDoc to read filenames from fcl.lst; each of the filenames found in it will be added
to the list of files to be scanned for descriptions.



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3.2.8        footer

This option tells the HTML engine to include the file indicated by this option as the footer
of  each  generated  HTML  page.  The  file  is  assumed  to  contain  a  valid  XHTML  fragment.
The contents of the file will be inserted in the HTML tree.

Example:


--footer=footer.xml


Where footer.xml contains for example:


<hr/>
<i>Date  generated  :  June  1,  2008</i>


This option is mutually exclusive with the footer-date option.



3.2.9        footer-date

This option tells the HTML engine to generate a footer for each page containing the current
date.  The  optional  format  argument  can  be  used  to  specify  the  format  of  the  date.  The
format  must  be  a  formatting  string  as  understoof  by  the  FormatDateTime  function  in  the
sysutils unit.

For example


--footer-date='mmm  dd  yyyy'


This option is mutually exclusive with the footer option.



3.2.10         format

Specifies the output format in which the documentation will be generated.  Currently,  the
following formats are known:


htm     Plain HTML with 8.3 conforming filenames.

html     HTML with long filenames.

xhtml      XHTML with long filenames.

latex     LaTex, which uses the fpc.sty style used by the Free Pascal documentation.

xml-struct        Structured XML.

chm     Compressed HTML.



3.2.11         help

Gives a short copyright notice.



3.2.12         hide-protected

By default, the documentation will include descriptions and listings of protected fields and
methods  in  classes  or  objects.   This  option  changes  this  behaviour;  if  it  is  specified,  no
documentation will be generated for these methods.  Note that public methods or properties
that refer to these protected methods will then have a dangling (i.e.  unavailable) link.



                                                                 11

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3.2.13         html-search

This option can be used when generating HTML documentation, to specify an url that can
be used to search in the generated documentation.  The URL will be included in the header
of each generated page with a Search caption.  The option is ignored for non-html output
formats.

FPDoc does not generate a search page, this should be made by some external tool.  Only
the url to such a page can be specified.

Example:


--html-search=../search.html



3.2.14         image-dir

This option tells the backend where the images are located.  By default, a directory images
is assumed.  A path using forward slashes must be provided.

Example:


--image-dir=pictures/



3.2.15         image-url

This option tells the HTML backend where the images are located:  the argument must be
an absolute URL. By default, the images are assumed to be in a images directory below the
package directory.  Note that the URL must be absolute, i.e.  if it is provided, the link to the
image will be composed from the argument of this option with the filename.

Example:


--image-url=http://www.mysite.org/docs/pictures/



3.2.16         import

Import a table of contents file, generated by FPDoc for another package with the content
option (section 3.2.4  , page 10 ).  This option can be used to refer to documentation nodes in
documentation sets for other packages.  The argument consists of two parts:  a filename, and
a link prefix.

The filename is the name of the file that will be imported.  The link prefix is a prefix that will
be made to each HTML link; this needs to be done to be able to place the files in different
directories.

Example:


--import=../fcl.cnt,../fcl


This will read the file fcl.cnt in the parent directory.  For HTML documentation, all links to
items in the fcl.cnt file, the link will be prepended with ../fcl.

This allows a setup where all packages have their own subdirectory of a common documen-
tation directory, and all content files reside in the main documentation directory, as e.g.  in
the following directory tree:


/docs/fcl
        /fpdoc



                                                                 12

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        /fpgui
        /fpgfx
        /fpimg


The file fcl.cnt would reside in the docs directory.  Similarly, for each package a contents file
xxx.cnt could be places in that directory.  Inside the subdirectory,  commands as the above
could be used to provide links to other documentation packages.

Example:


--import=../fcl.cnt,ms-its:fcl.chm::/


As in the previous example this will read the file fcl.cnt in the parent directory.  But all links
to items in the fcl.cnt file, will be prepended with ms-its:fcl.chm::/.  This is how chm's are
crosslinked.

Note that for Latex documentation, this option is ignored.



3.2.17         index-colcount

For  the  HTML  backend,  this  option  can  be  used  to  specify  the  number  of  columns  that
should be used when generating an identifier index page.  By default, 3 columns are used.

Example:


--index-colcount=4


Will use 4 columns instead.



3.2.18         index-file

Use  this  option  to  specify  a  local  file  to  include  and  use  as  the  index.  This  file  is  in  the
sitemap format.  You can use the unit chmsitemap in your programs to read and write this
type of file.  Usually this file ends with .hhk.  This option only applies to the chm backend.



3.2.19         input

This  option  tells  FPDoc  what  input  file  should  be  used.   The  argument  can  be  just  a
filename, but can also be a complete compiler command-line with options that concern the
scanning of the Pascal source: defines, include files, syntax options, as they would be specified
to the Free Pascal compiler when compiling the file.  If a complete command is used, then it
should be enclosed in single or double quotes, so the shell will not break them in parts.

It  is  possible  to  specify  multiple  input  commands;  they  will  be  treated  one  by  one,  and
documentation will be generated for each of the processed files.



3.2.20         lang

Select the language for the generated documentation.  This will change all header names to
the  equivalent  in  the  specified  language.  The  documentation  itself  will  not  be  translated,
only the captions and headers used in the text.

Currently, valid choices are


de   German.



                                                                 13

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 *___



fr  French.

nl  Dutch.


Example:


--lang=de


Will select German language for headers.

The language files should be installed correctly for this option to work.  See the section on
installing to check whether the languages are installed correctly.



3.2.21         latex-highlight

Switches on an internal latex syntax highlighter.  This is not yet implemented.  By default,
syntax highlighting is provided by the syntax package that comes with Free Pascal.



3.2.22         make-searchable

This option generates an index of all the *.htm* files added in the chm, including files added
with the -other-files option so that a full text search is possible.  This option only applies to
the chm backend.



3.2.23         other-files

This option specifies a text file with one filename per line to be included in the chm.  You
can include any type of file you want; it does not have to be a html file.  For instance you
can include images that you have linked to in the xml descr files.  The files should be in a
subfolder of the working directory and within their own folder to avoid naming conflicts with
the auto generated files.  This option only applies to the chm backend.



3.2.24         output

This  option  tells  FPDoc  where  the  output  file  should  be  generated.   How  this  option  is
interpreted depends on the format that is used.  For latex, this is interpreted as the filename
for the tex file.  For chm, this is interpreted as the output filename.  For all other formats, this
is interpreted as the directory where all documentation files will be written.  The directory
will be created if it does not yet exist.

The filename or directory name is interpreted as relative to the current directory.

Example:


--format=html  --output=docs/classes


will generate HTML documentation in the directory docs/classes.


--format=latex  --output=docs/classes.tex


will generate latex documentation in the file docs/classes.


--format=chm  --output=docs.chm


will generate chm documentation in the file docs.chm.



                                                                 14

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 *___



3.2.25         package

This  option  specifies  the  name  of  the  package  to  be  used.  The  package  name  will  also  be
used as a default for the output option (section 3.2.24  , page 14 ).



3.2.26         show-private

By default, no documentation is generated for private methods or fields of classes or objects.
This option causes FPDoc to generate documentation for these methods and fields as well.



3.2.27         toc-file

Use  this  option  to  specify  a  local  file  to  include  as  a  the  Table  of  Contents.  The  table  of
contents is in the sitemap format and usually ends in .hhc.  You can use the unit chmsitemap
in your programs to read and write files of this type.  This option only applies to the chm
backend of  FPDoc.



3.2.28         warn-no-node

If this option is given, then fpdoc will emit a warning if it cannot find a documentation node
for some identifier.  This can be used to see whether the description files are up-to-date, or
whether they must be updated.



3.3         makeskel



3.3.1        introduction

The makeskel tool can be used to generate an empty description file for a unit.  The descrip-
tion file will contain an element node for each identifier in the interface section of the Pascal
unit.

It's usage is quite straightforward:  the name of an input file (one or more) must be specified
(as for FPDoc), an output file, and the name of a package:


makeskel  --package=rtl  --input=crt.pp  --output=crt.xml


This will read the file crt.pp and will create a file crt.xml which contains empty nodes for all
identifiers found in crt.pp, all in a package named rtl.

The input option can be given more than once, as for the fpdoc command:


makeskel  --input='-Sn  system.pp'  --input=crt.pp  --output=rtl.xml


As  can  be  seen,  the  input  option  can  contain  some  compiler  options,  as  is  the  case  for
FPDoc.  The above command will process the files system.pp and crt.pp, and will create
element tags for the identifiers in both units in the file rtl.xml.

The output of  makeskel is a valid, empty description file.  It will contain a module tag for
each unit specified, and each module will have element tags for each identifier in the unit.

Each element tag will by default contain short, descr, errors and seealso tags, but this
can be customised.



                                                                 15

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3.4         Makeskel  option  reference


The output of makeskel can be customised using several options, which are discussed below.



3.4.1        descr

When in update mode (section 3.4.15  , page 17 ), this opion can be used to add an existing
documentation file, as for fpdoc.  Nodes that are already in one of the existing documentation
files will not be written to the output file.



3.4.2        disable-arguments

By default, for each function or procedure argument, a element tag will be generated.  This
option disables this behaviour:  no element tags will be generated for procedure and function
arguments.



3.4.3        disable-errors

If this option is specified, no errors tag will be generated in the element nodes.  By default
all element tags contain a errors node.

The errors tag is ignored when it is not needed; Normally, an errors tag is only needed for
procedure and function elements.



3.4.4        disable-function-results

If this option is specified,  then no element tag will be generated for function results.  By
default, makeskel will generate a result node for each function in the interface section.  The
result  node  is  used  in  the  documentation  to  document  the  return  value  of  the  function
under a separate heading in the documentation page.  Specifying this option suppresses the
generation of the element tag for the function result.



3.4.5        disable-override

If this option is specified, then no element tags will be generated for methods that override
a  method  in  a  parent  class.   This  means  that  the  fpdoc  engine  will  refer  to  the  parent
implementation for the documentation of the inherited method (provided it can find a parent
implementation).



3.4.6        disable-private

If  this  option  is  specified,  then  no  element  tags  will  be  generated  for  private  methods  or
fields of classes or objects.  The default behaviour is to generate nodes for private methods
or fields.  It can be used to generate a skeleton for end-user and developer documentation.



3.4.7        disable-protected

If this option is specified, then no element tags will be generated for protected and private
methods or fields of classes or objects.  The default is to generate nodes for protected methods
or fields.  If this option is given, the option --disable-private is implied.  It can be used
to generate end-user-only documentation for classes.



                                                                 16

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3.4.8        disable-seealso

If this option is specified, no seealso tag will be generated in the element nodes.  By default
all element tags contain a seealso tag.



3.4.9        emitclassseparator

When this option is specified, at the beginning of the elements for the documentation of a
class, a comment tag is emitted which contains a separator text.  This can be useful to sep-
arate documentation of different classes and make the description file more understandable.



3.4.10         help

Makeskel emits a short copyright notice and exits when this option is specified.



3.4.11         input

This option is identical in meaning and functionality as the input option for FPDoc.  (sec-
tion  3.2.19  ,  page  13 )  It  specifies  the  Pascal  unit  source  file  that  will  be  scanned  and  for
which a skeleton description file will be generated.  Multiple input options can be given, and
element tags will be written for all the files, in one big output file.



3.4.12         lang

This option is used to specify the language for messages emitted by makeskel.  The supported
languages are identical to the ones for FPDoc:


de   German.

fr  French.

nl   Dutch.



3.4.13         output

This option specifies the name of the output file.  A full filename must be given, no extension
will be added.  If this option is omitted, the output will be sent to standard output.

When  using  update  mode,  the  output  file  name  should  not  appear  in  the  list  of  existing
documentation files.  The makeskel program will do some elementary checks on this.



3.4.14         package

This option specifies the package name that will be used when generating the skeleton.  It is
a mandatory option.



3.4.15         update

This option tells makeskel to create an update file:  it will read description files (section 3.2.7  ,
page 10 ) and will only create documentation nodes for identifiers which do not yet have a
documentation  node  in  the  read  documentation  files.  The  output  file  in  this  case  can  be
merged with one (or more) of the documentation files:  it's name should not appear in the



                                                                 17

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list of existing documentation files.  The makeskel program will do some elementary checks
on this.



                                                                 18




Chapter   4



The   description   file



4.1         Introduction


The description file is a XML document, which means that it is a kind of HTML or SGML
like format, however it is more structured than HTML, making it easier to parse - and makes
it easier to connect or merge it with a Pascal source file.  Since the allowed syntax uses a
lot of HTML tags, this makes it easy to write code for those that are familiar with writing
HTML.

More information about the XML format, SGML and HTML can be found on the website
of the W3 (World Wide Web) consortium:  http://www.w3.org/

The remaining of this chapter assumes a basic knowledge of tags, their attributes and markup
language, so these terms will not be explained here.

The minimal documentation file would look something like this:


<?xml  version="1.0"  encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<fpdoc-description>
<package  name="fpc">
<module  name="Classes">
</module>
</package>
</fpdoc-description>


The header xml tag is mandatory, and indicates that the file contains a documentation XML
document.

Inside the document, one or more top-level fpdoc-descriptions tags may appear.  Each of
these tags can contain one or more package tags, which must have a name  attribute.  The
name attribute will be used by fpdoc to select the documentation nodes.

Inside a package tag, one or more module tags may appear.  there should be one module
tag  per  unit  that  should  be  documented.  The  value  of  the  name  attribute  of  the  module
should be the name of the unit for which the module tag contains the documentation.  The
value of the name attribute is case insensitive, i.e.


<module  name="CRT">


can be used for the documentation of the crt unit.

As it is above, the documentation description does not do much.  To write real documenta-
tion, the module tag must be filled with the documentation for each identifier that appears



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in the unit interface header.

For each identifier in the unit interface header, the module should contain a tag that docu-
ments the identifier:  this is the element tag.  The name attribute of the element tag links the
documentation to the identifier:  the name  attribute should have as value the fully qualified
name of the identifier in the unit.

For example, to document the type


Type
   MyEnum  =  (meOne,meTwo,meThree);


an element tag called myenum should exist:


<element  name="myenum">
</element>


But also for each of the three enumerated values an element tag should exist:


<element  name="myenum.meOne">
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meTwo">
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meThree">
</element>


As it can be seen, the names of the identifiers follow a hierarchical structure.  More about
this in the next section.

Now the tags for the types are present, all that should be done is to fill it with the actual
description.  For this, several tags can be placed inside a element tag.  The most important
tag is the descr tag.  The contents of the descr tag will be used to describe a type, function,
constant or variable:


<element  name="myenum">
<descr>
The  MyEnum  type  is  a  simple  enumeration  type  which  is  not
really  useful,  except  for  demonstration  purposes.
</descr>
</element>


A  second  important  tag  is  the  short  tag.   It  should  contain  a  short  description  of  the
identifier,  preferably  a  description  that  fits  on  one  line.   The  short  tag  will  be  used  in
various overviews, at the top of a page in the HTML documentation (a synopsis) or will be
used instead of the descr tag if that one is not available.  It can also be used in different
other cases:  For instance the different values of an enumeration type will be laid out in a
table, using the short description:


<element  name="myenum.meOne">
<short>The  first  enumeration  value</short>
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meTwo">
<short>The  second  enumeration  value</short>
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meThree">
<short>The  third  enumeration  value</short>
</element>



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This will be converted to a table looking more or less like this:

 meOne           The first enumeration value
 meTwo           The second enumeration value
 meThree         The third enumeration value

For functions and procedures, a list of possible error conditions can be documented inside a
errors tag.  This tag is equivalent to the descr tag, but is placed under a different heading
in the generated documentation.

Finally, to cross-reference between related functions, types or classes, a seealso tag is also
introduced.  This will be used to lay out a series of links to related information.  This tag
can only have sub-tags which are link tags.  For more about the link tag, see link (29 ).

If a certain identifier has appeared only in a certain version of a library, then this information
can be specified in a version tag, see version (36 ) for more information.

The following example illustrates the use:


<element  name="myenum">
<descr>
The  MyEnum  type  is  a  simple  enumeration  type  which  is  not
really  useful,  except  for  demonstration  purposes.
</descr>
<version>The  myenum  type  appeared  in  version  2.1</version>
</element>


When documenting methods or properties, it is possible to let the fpdoc engine refer to the
parent method when it generates an overview of methods or properties.  There are 2 ways of
achieving this:


    1.  Do not include an element tag

    2.  Specify  the  link  attribute,  with  the  name  of  the  parent  method  which  contains  the
        documentation, as in the following example:


        <element  name="TParent.SomeMethod">
        </element


        <element  name="TChild.SomeMethod"  link="TParent.SomeMethod"/>


        this  can  be  used  to  speed  up  the  search  for  the  parent  implementation,  or  to  skip
        several parent classes.


To add a section or page of documentation that is not directly related to a single identifier
in a unit,  a topic tag can be used.  This tag can appear inside a package or module tag,
and can contain a short or descr tag.  The contents of the short tag will be used for the
title of the section or page.  In on-line formats, a short list of related topics will appear in
the package or module page, with links to the pages that contain the text of the topics.  In
a linear format, the topic sections will be inserted before the description of all identifiers.

If the topic appears in a package tag, then it can be nested:  2 levels of topics may be used.
This is not so for topics inside a module:  they can not be nested (the level of nesting in a
linear documentation format is limited).

The following is an example of a valid topic tag:


<module  name="CRT">
<topic  name="UsingKeyboard">



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<short>Using  the  keyboard  functions</short>
<descr>
To  use  the  keyboard  functions  of  the  CRT  unit,  one...
</descr>
</topic>


Topic nodes can be useful to add 'how to' sections to a unit, or to provide general IDE help.



4.2         Element  names  and  cross-referencing



4.2.1        Element  name  conventions

As mentioned in the previous section, the element tag's name  attribute is hierarchical.  All
levels in the hierarchy are denoted by a dot (.)  in the name attribute.

As shown in the previous example,  for an enumerated type,  the various enumeration con-
stants can be documented by specifying their name as enumname.constname.  For example,
given the type


Type
    MyEnum  =  (meOne,meTwo,meThree);


The various enumeration values can be documented using the element names MyEnum.meOne,
MyEnum.meTwo and MyEnum.meThree:


<element  name="myenum.meOne">
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meTwo">
</element>
<element  name="myenum.meThree">
</element>


Note  that  the  casing  of  the  name  attribute  need  not  be  the  same  as  the  casing  of  the
declaration.

This hierarchical structure can be used for all non-simple types:


     o  Enumeration type values.

     o  Fields  in  records,  objects,  classes.   For  nested  record  definitions,  multiple  levels  are
        possible in the name.

     o  Methods of classes and objects.

     o  Properties of classes.

     o  Function and procedure arguments.

     o  Function results.  The name is always the function name followed by Result.



4.2.2        Cross  referencing:  the  link  tag

To refer to another point in the documentation (a related function, class or whatever), a link
tag exists.  The link tag takes as a sole attribute a target id  attribute.  The link tag usually
encloses a piece of text.  In the HTML version of the documentation, this piece of text will
function as a hyperlink.  In the latex version, a page number reference will be printed.



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The id  attribute contains the name of an element to which the link refers.  The name is not
case sensitive, but it must be a fully qualified name.

An example of the link type would be:


The  <link  id="MyEnum">MyEnum</link>  type  is  a  simple  type.


The link attribute also has a short form:


The  <link  id="MyEnum"/>  type  is  a  simple  type.


In  the  short  form,  the  value  of  the  id  attribute  will  be  used  as  the  text  which  will  be
hyperlinked.  This is especially useful in the seealso tag.

To refer to a type in another unit, the unit name must be prepended to the id  attribute:


<link  id="myunit.myenum"/>


will link to the myenum type in a unit named myunit.

To refer to a node in the documentation of another package,  the package name should be
prepended to the id  attribute, and it should be prepended with the hash symbol (#):


<link  id="#fcl.classes.sofrombeginning"/>


will  link  to  the  constant  sofrombeginning  in  the  classes  unit  of  the  FCL  reference  docu-
mentation.  Note that for this to work correctly,  the contents file which was created when
generating the documentation of the type must be imported correctly (see the import op-
tion).



4.3         Tag  reference



4.3.1        Overview

The tags can roughly be divided in 2 groups:


    1.  Documentation  structure  tags.   These  are  needed  for  fpdoc  to  do  it's  work.   They
        determine what elements are documented.  See table (4.1 )

    2.  Text structure and formartting tags.  These tags indicate blocks of text, such as para-
        graphs, tables, lists and remarks, but also specify formatting:  apply formatting (make-
        up) to the text, or to provide links to other parts of the text.  These mostly occur in
        text structure tags.  See table (4.2 )


The nodes for formatting a text resemble closely the basic HTML formatting tags with the
following exceptions:


     o  Each opening tag must have a corresponding closing tag.

     o  Tags are case sensitive.

     o  Tables and paragraphs are at the same level, i.e.  a table cannot occur inside a para-
        graph.  The same is true for all 'structural' tags such as lists,


Also, if special formatting tags such as a table or lists are inserted, then the remaining text
must be inside a paragraph tag.  This means that the following is wrong:



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                                   Table 4.1:  Documentation structure tags
__Tag_________________________Description____________________________________________________________________________Page_____
  descr                       Element description                                                                        25
  element                     Identifier documentation                                                                   27
  errors                      Error section                                                                              27
  fpdoc-description           Global tag                                                                                 27
  module                      Unit tag                                                                                   29
  package                     Package global tab                                                                         30
  seealso                     Cross-reference section                                                                    32
  short                       Short description                                                                          32
__topic_______________________Topic_page_________________________________________________________________________________34___



                                         Table 4.2:  Text formatting tags
__Tag___________Description__________________________________________________________________________________________Page_____
  b             Format bold                                                                                              25
  caption       Specify table caption                                                                                    25
  code          Syntax highlight code                                                                                    25
  dd            definition data                                                                                          26
  dl            definition list                                                                                          26
  dt            Definition term                                                                                          26
  i             format italics                                                                                           28
  img           include image                                                                                            28
  li            list element                                                                                             28
  link          Cross-reference                                                                                          29
  ol            numbered list                                                                                            29
  p             paragraph                                                                                                30
  pre           Preformatted text                                                                                        31
  remark        remark paragraph                                                                                         31
  table         Table                                                                                                    33
  td            Table cell                                                                                               33
  th            Table header                                                                                             34
  tr            Table row                                                                                                34
  u             format underlined                                                                                        35
  ul            bulleted list                                                                                            35
__var___________format_as_variable_______________________________________________________________________________________36___



<descr>
Some  beginning  text
<ol>
<li>A  list  item</li>
</ol>
some  ending  text
</descr>


Instead, the correct XML should be


<descr>
<p>Some  beginning  text</p>
<ol>
<li>A  list  item</li>
</ol>
<p>some  ending  text</p>



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</descr>



4.3.2        b  :  format  bold

This tag will cause the text inside it to be formatted using a bold font.

Example:


Normal  text  <b>Bold  text</b>  normal  text.


will be formatted as:
Normal text Bold text normal text.

See also:  i (28 ), u (35 ).



4.3.3        caption  :  Specify  table  caption

This tag can occur inside a table tag and serves to set the table caption.

Example


<table>
<caption>This  caption  will  end  up  above  the  table</caption>
<th><td>Column  1</td><td>Column  2</td></th>
</table>


See also:  table (33 )



4.3.4        code  :  format  as  pascal  code

The  code  tag  serves  to  insert  Pascal  code  into  the  text.  When  possible  this  code  will  be
highlighted in the output.  It can be used to put highlighted Pascal code in the documentation
of some identifier.  It can occur inside descr or errors tags.

Note that any text surrounding the code tag should be placed in paragraph tags p.

Example:


<code>
With  Strings  do
    For  i:=Count-1  downto  0  do
       Delete(i);
</code>


Seealso:  pre (31 ), p (30 )



4.3.5        descr  :  Descriptions

This is the actual documentation tag.  The contents of this tag will be written as the docu-
mentation of the element.  It can contain any mixture of text and markup tags.  The descr
tag can only occur inside a element or module.

Example:


<element  name="MyEnym">
<descr>Myenum  is  a  simple  enumeration  type</descr>
</element>



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See also:  element (27 ), short (32 ), errors (27 ), seealso (32 )



4.3.6        dd  :  definition  data.

The dd tag is used to denote the definition of a term in a definition list.  It can occur only
inside a definition list tag (dl), after a definition term (dt) tag.  It's usage is identical to the
one in HTML.

Example:


<dl>
<dt>FPC</dt><dd>stands  for  Free  Pascal  Compiler.</dd>
</dl>


Will be typeset as


FPC      stands for Free Pascal Compiler.


See also:  dl (26 ), dt (26 ), ol (29 ), ul (35 )



4.3.7        dl  :  definition  list.

Definition lists are meant to type a set of terms together with their explanation.  It's usage is
identical to the one in HTML, with the exception that it cannot occur inside ordinary text:
surrounding text should always be enclosed in paragraph tags.

Example:


<dl>
<dt>meOne</dt><dd>First  element  of  the  enumeration  type.</dd>
<dt>meTwo</dt><dd>Second  element  of  the  enumeration  type.</dd>
<dt>meThree</dt><dd>Thir  element  of  the  enumeration  type.</dd>
</dl>


Will be typeset as


meOne        First element of the enumeration type.

meTwo        Second element of the enumeration type.

meThree         Third element of the enumeration type.


See also:  dt (26 ), dd (26 ), ol (29 ), ul (35 )



4.3.8        dt  :  definition  term.

The dt tag is used in definition lists to enclose the term for which a definition is presented.
It's usage is identical to the usage in HTML.

Example:


<dl>
<dt>FPC</dt><dd>stands  for  Free  Pascal  Compiler.</dd>
</dl>


Will be typeset as



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FPC     stands for Free Pascal Compiler.


See also:  dl (26 ), dd (26 ), ol (29 ), ul (35 )



4.3.9        element  :  Identifier  documentation

The element contains the documentation for an identifier in a unit.  It should occur inside
a module tag.  It can contain 4 tags:


short     For a one-line description of the identifier.  Is used as a header or is used in overviews
        of constants, types, variables or classes.

descr     Contains the actual description of the identifier.

errors     For functions an procedures this can be used to describe error conditions.  It will be
        put in a separate section below the description section.

seealso      Used to refer to other nodes.  will be typeset in a separate section.


The  element  tag  should  have  at  least  the  name  attribute,  it  is  used  to  link  the  element
node to the actual identifier in the Pascal unit.  Other attributes may be added in future.

Example:


<element  name="MyEnym">
<descr>Myenum  is  a  simple  enumeration  type</descr>
</element>


See also:  descr (25 ), short (32 ), errors (27 ), seealso (32 )



4.3.10         errors  :  Error  section.

The errors tag is used to document any errors that can occur when calling a function or
procedure.  it is placed in a different section in the generated documentation.  It occurs inside
a element tag, at the same level as a descr or short tag.  It's contents can be any text or
formatting tag.

Example:


<element  name="MyDangerousFunction">
<descr>MyDangerousFunction  is  a  dangerous  function</descr>
<errors>When  MyDangerousFunction  fails,  all  is  lost</errors>
</element>


See also:  descr (25 ), short (32 ), element (27 ), seealso (32 )



4.3.11         fpdoc-description  :  Global  tag

The fpdoc-description tag is the topmost tag in a description file.  It contains a series of
package tags, one for each package that is described in the file.

See also:  package (30 )



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4.3.12         i  :  Format  italics

The i tag will cause its contents to be typeset in italics.  It can occur mixed with any text.

Example:


Normal  text  <i>italic  text</i>  normal  text.


will be formatted as:
Normal text italic text  normal text.

See also:  b (25 ), u (35 )



4.3.13         img  :  include  image

The img tag will include an image in the text.  It is considered equivalent to a paragraph
tag.  The required attribute file  can be used to search to specify the filename.  What kind of
file is used depends on the output format.  Normally, using png images should work with all
output formats.

The  caption  attribute  is  optional  and  can  be  used  to  specify  a  caption  text  which  will  be
displayed  above  or  under  the  figure.   Lastly,  the  name  attribute  can  be  used  to  attach  a
name to the figure (a label to which can be referred).

For example:


<p>
some  text
</p>
<img  file="myfile"  caption="A  nice  caption"/>
<p>
Some  more  text.
</p>


See also:  p (30 ).



4.3.14         li  :  list  element

The tag  li denotes an element in a ol or ul list.  The usage is the same as for it's HTML
counterpart:  It  can  occur  only  inside  one  of  the  ol  or  ul  list  tags.   It's  contents  may  be
arbitrary text and formatting tags, contrary to HTML tags, the li tag always must have a
closing tag.  Note that it cannot be used in a definition list (dl (26 )).

Example:


<ul>
<li>First  item  in  the  list</li>
<li>Second  item  in  the  list</li>
</ul>


Will be typeset as


     o  First item in the list.

     o  Second item in the list.


See also:  ol (29 ), ul (35 ).



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4.3.15         link  :  Cross-reference

The link tag is used to insert a reference to an element inside some piece of text or inside
the seealso section.  It is similar in functionality to the


<A  HREF="SomeAnchor">some  linked  text</A>


construct in HTML.

The mandatory id  attribute of the link tag should have the name of an element tag in it.
This name is not case sensitive.  FPDoc will issue a warning if it cannot find a matching
name.  It will look for matching names in the current file, and in all content files that have
been specified with the import command-line option.

The link tag can exist in 2 forms:  one with separate closing tag, surrounding a piece of text,
one without separate closing tag.  If a piece of text is surrounded by the link tag, then the
text will be converted to a hyperlink in the HTML documentation.  If there is no surrounded
text, then the value of the id  attribute will be used as the text.  This means that


<link  id="TStream">TStream</link>


and


<link  id="TStream"/>


are completely equivalent.

Example:


The  <link  id="TStringlist">stringlist</link>  class  is  a  descendent  of  the
<link  id="TStrings"/>  class.


See also:  element (27 ), url (35 ) and the import option (section 3.2.16  , page 12 ).



4.3.16         module  :  Unit  reference

The module tag encloses all element tags for a unit.  It can contain only element tags for
all identifiers in the unit and a descr tag describing the unit itself.  The module tag should
occur inside a package tag.

The name  attribute should have as a value the name of the unit which is described by the
module.  This name is not case sensitive.

Example:


<module  name="classes">
<descr>
The  classes  unit  contains  basic  class  definitions  for  the  FCL.
</descr>
</module>


See also:  package (30 ), descr (25 ), element (27 )



4.3.17         ol  :  Numbered  list.

The ol tag starts a numbered list.  It can contain only li (28 ) tags, which denote the various
elements in the list.  Each item will be preceded by a number.  The ol tag can occur inside



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a text, but surrounding text should always be enclosed in a p (30 ) paragraph tag, i.e.  an ol
tag should occur always at the same level as a p tag.

Example:


<p>  some  text  before</p>
<ol>
<li>First  item  in  the  list</li>
<li>Second  item  in  the  list</li>
</ol>


Will be typeset as:

some text before


    1.  First item in the list.

    2.  Second item in the list.


See also:  li (28 ), ul (35 ).



4.3.18         p  :  Paragraph

The p tag is the paragraph tag.  Every description text should be enclosed in a p tag.  Only
when there is only one paragraph (and no lists or tables or remarks) in a description node,
then the p tag may be skipped.

Note that if a description node contains a table, pre, code or any list tag, then the text
surrounding  these  tags  must  be  put  inside  a  p  paragraph  tag.   This  is  different  from  the
behaviour in HTML.

The paragraph tag must always have an opening tag and a closing tag, unlike html where
only the opening tag may be present.

Example:


<descr>
This  is  a  paragraph  which  need  not  be  surrounded  by  paragraph  tags.
</descr>


<descr>
<p>
This  is  the  first  paragraph.
</p>
<p>
This  is  the  second  paragraph.
</p>
</descr>


See also:  table (33 ), dl (26 ), remark (31 ),code (25 ), ol (29 ),ul (35 ),ol (29 )



4.3.19         package  :  Package  reference

The package tag indicates the package for which the description file contains documentation.
A package is a collection of units which are logically grouped together (for a library, program,
component suites).  The name attribute of the package tag will be used to select the package



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node in the description file:  Only the package node with name as specified by the package
command-line option will be used when generating documentation.  All other package nodes
will be ignored.

The package node must always reside in a fpdoc-description node.  It can contain a descr
node, and various module nodes, one node per unit in the package.

See also:  fpdocdescription (27 ), module (29 ), descr (25 )



4.3.20         pre  :  Insert  text  as-is

The pre tag can be used to insert arbitrary text in the documentation.  The text will not be
formatted in any way, and will be displayed as it is encountered in the description node.  It
is functionally equivalent to the pre tag in HTML.

Note that if there is text surrounding the pre tag, it should be placed inside a p paragraph
tag.

Example:


<pre>
This  is  some  text.
    This  is  some  more  text


       And  yet  more  text...
</pre>


This will be typeset as:


This  is  some  text.
    This  is  some  more  text


       And  yet  more  text...


See also:  code (25 ), p (30 )



4.3.21         printshort  :  insert  short  description

A printshort tag can be used to insert the short description of an element in the current
text.  The name of the element whose short description must be printed must be given in
the id  attribute.  Typical use for this is to repeat the elements of an enumerated type when
discussion function results or possible parameter values.

Example:


<dl>
<dt>float_round_nearest_even</dt><dd><printshort  id="float_round_nearest_even"/></dd>
<dt>float_round_down</dt><dd><printshort  id="float_round_down"/></dd>
<dt>float_round_up</dt><dd><printshort  id="float_round_up"/></dd>
<dt>float_round_to_zero</dt><dd><printshort  id="float_round_to_zero"/></dd>



4.3.22         remark  :  format  as  remark

A remark tag can be used to make a paragraph stand out.  The remark is equivalent to
the p tag, but it's contents is formatted in a way that makes it stand out from the rest of
the text.



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               Note that any text before or after the remark tag must be enclosed in paragraph (p) tags.

               Example:


               <p>Normal  text.</p>
               <remark>
               This  text  will  stand  out.
               </remark>
               <p>Again  normal  text.</p>


               Will be formatted as

               Normal text.

Remark:         This text will stand out.

               Again normal text.

               See also:  p (30 ), code (25 ), pre (31 )



               4.3.23         seealso  :  Cross-reference  section

               The seealso section can occur inside any element tag, and will be used to create a list of
               cross-references.   The  contents  of  the  seealso  tag  is  a  list  of  link  tags.   No  other  text  is
               allowed inside this tag.  Note that both the long and short form if the link tag may be used.

               Example:


               <seealso>
               <link  id="TStrings"/>
               <link  id="TStringList.Create">Create</link>
               </seealso>


               See also:  link (29 ), element (27 )



               4.3.24         short  :  Short  description

               The  short  description  is  used  to  give  a  short  description  of  an  identifier.  If  possible,  the
               description should fit on a single line of text.  The contents of this tag will be used for the
               following purposes:


                    o  Used as the synopsis on a page that describes an identifier.

                    o  Used in overviews of constants, types, variables, record fields, functions and procedures,
                       classes, and for method and property listings of classes.

                    o  Replaces the descr tag in an element if no descr tag is present.

                    o  In the description of an enumerated type, the enumeration values are typeset in a table,
                       each row containing the name of the value and the short description.

                    o  In the description of a function or procedure that accepts arguments, the arguments
                       are followed by their short description.

                    o  In the declaration of a class or record,  each method,  field or property is followed by
                       the short description.


               Example:



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<element  name="MyEnum.meOne">
<short>First  element  of  MyEnum</short>
</element>


See also:  element (27 ), descr (25 )



4.3.25         table  :  Table  start

The  table  tag  starts  a  table,  as  in  HTML.  A  table  can  contain  tr  (table  row),  th  (table
header row) or caption tags.  Any text surrounding the table must be enclosed in paragraph
tags (p).

Example:


<table>
<caption>
<var>TALignment</var>  values  and  their  meanings.
</caption>
<th><td>Value</td><td>Meaning</td></th>
<tr>
    <td><var>taLeftJustify</var></td>
    <td>Text  is  displayed  aligned  to  the  left.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td><var>taRightJustify</var></td>
    <td>Text  is  displayed  aligned  to  the  right</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td><var>taCenter</var></td>
    <td>Text  is  displayed  centred.</td>
</tr>
</table>


Will be formatted approximately as follows:

__Value______________________Meaning__________________________________________________________________________________________
  taLeftJustify              Text is displayed aligned to the left.
  taRightJustify             Text is displayed aligned to the right
  taCenter                   Text is displayed centred.

See also:  th (34 ), caption (25 ), tr (34 ), p (30 )



4.3.26         td  :  Table  cell

The td tag is used to denote one cell in a table.  It occurs inside a tr or th tag,  and can
contain any text and formatting tags.

Example:


<table>
<tr><td>Cell  (1,1)</td><td>Cell  (2,1)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cell  (1,2)</td><td>Cell  (2,2)</td></tr>
</table>


Will be formatted approximately as



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 Cell (1,1)       Cell (2,1)
 Cell (1,2)       Cell (2,2)

See also:  table (33 ), th (34 ), tr (34 )



4.3.27         th  :  Table  header

The th table header tag is used to denote the first row(s) of a table:  It (they) will be made
up differently from the other rows in the table.  Exactly how it is made up depends on the
format.  In printed documentation (latex) a line will be drawn under the row.  In HTML, the
font and background may be formatted differently.

The th tag can only occur inside a table tag, and can contain only td tags.

Example:


<table>
<th><td>Cell  (1,1)</td><td>Cell  (2,1)</td></th>
<tr><td>Cell  (1,2)</td><td>Cell  (2,2)</td></tr>
</table>


Will be formatted approximately as

__Cell_(1,1)_______Cell_(2,1)_____
  Cell (1,2)       Cell (2,2)

See also:  tr (34 ), table (33 )



4.3.28         topic  :  Topic  section

The  topic  tag  starts  a  topic  page  or  section.   A  topic  page  or  section  is  not  linked  to  an
identifier in some unit:  it exists by itself.  It must be inside a package or module tag.  It
must have a name  attribute (for cross-referencing).  If it appears inside a package, it can
be nested:  a topic may be inside another topic tag.


<module  name="CRT">
<topic  name="UsingKeyboard">
<short>Using  the  keyboard  functions</short>
<descr>
To  use  the  keyboard  functions  of  the  CRT  unit,  one...
</descr>
</topic>



4.3.29         tr  :  table  row

The tr tag denotes a row in a table.  It works the same as in HTML. It can occur only in a
table tag, and should contain only td table data tags.

Example:


<table>
<tr><td>Cell  (1,1)</td><td>Cell  (2,1)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cell  (1,2)</td><td>Cell  (2,2)</td></tr>
</table>


Will be formatted approximately as



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 *___



 Cell (1,1)       Cell (2,1)
 Cell (1,2)       Cell (2,2)

See also:  table (33 ), th (34 ), td (33 )



4.3.30         u  :  Format  underlined

Example:


Normal  text  <u>underlined  text</u>  normal  text.


will be formatted as:
Normal text underlined_text_______normal text.

See also:  i (28 ), b (25 ).



4.3.31         ul  :  bulleted  list

The ul tag starts a bulleted list.  This works as under HTML, with the exception that any
text surrounding the list must be enclosed in paragraph tags (p).  The list elements should
be enclosed in li tags.

Example:


<p>  some  text  before</p>
<ol>
<li>First  item  in  the  list</li>
<li>Second  item  in  the  list</li>
</ol>


Will be typeset as:

some text before


     o  First item in the list.

     o  Second item in the list.


See also:  li (28 ), ol (29 ).



4.3.32         url  :  Hyperlink

The url tag is meant to include an URL to an arbitrary web page.  It works much like the
link tag, except that any URL may be specified.  The attribute href  specifies the URL to
link to.  In output formats that support links, the text in the url tag will be the link's text.
For other formats, the URL will be printed after the text.

If the url tag does not enclose any text, then the URL itself will be printed.

Examples:

The normal usage is:


<url  href="http://www.freepascal.org/">Here</url>
is  the  website  of  Free  Pascal.


It will be typeset as:

Here    is the website of Free Pascal.

The short usage is:



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Check  out  the  following  site:  <url  href="http://www.freepascal.org/"/>.


Which will be typeset as:

Check out the following site:  http://www.freepascal.org/            .

See also:  link (29 ).



4.3.33         var  :  variable

The var tag is used to mark a piece of text as a variable (or, more general, as an identifier).
It will be typeset differently from the surrounding text.  Exactly how this is done depends
on the output format.

Example:


The  <var>Items</var>  property  gives  indexed  access  to...


Will be typeset as

The Items property gives indexed access to...

See also:  b (25 ), u (35 ), i (28 ), code (25 )



4.3.34         version  :  version  info

The version can be used to give version information:  as of what version an identifier ap-
peared or was deprecated.  It should be specified below the element (27 ) tag, and will be
output  in  the  documentation.  It  can  contain  the  same  tags  as  the  descr  (25 )  tag,  and  is
typeset in the same way.

The following is an example:


<element  name="myenum">
<descr>
The  MyEnum  type  is  a  simple  enumeration  type  which  is  not
really  useful,  except  for  demonstration  purposes.
</descr>
<version>The  myenum  type  appeared  in  version  2.1</version>
</element>


See also:  element (27 ), descr (25 ), errors (27 ), seealso (32 )



                                                                 36




Chapter   5



Generated   output   files.



5.1         HTML  output


The HTML output consists of the following files, per unit:


    1.  A  general  unit  description  with  the  contents  of  the  module's  descr  tag.   The  uses
        clause  is  documented  here  as  well.   All  units  in  the  uses  clause  together  with  their
        short description tags are typeset in a table.

    2.  A listing of all constants in the unit.

    3.  A listing of all types in the unit (except classes).

    4.  A listing of all variables in the unit.

    5.  A listing of all functions/procedures in the unit.

    6.  A listing of all classes in the unit.

    7.  An index page per unit and per package.  This is an index page,  listing all top-level
        identifiers in the current unit or all units of the package.


All these overviews are hyperlinked to pages which contain the documentation of each iden-
tifier.  Each page starts with the name of the identifier, plus a synopsis (made from the short
tag's contents).  After that follows the declaration, and the description.  The description is
filled with the descr node of the identifiers element tag.

If an errors tag was present, an 'Errors' section follows the description.  Similarly, if there
is a seealso tag, a 'See also' section with cross-reference links is made.

For  classes,  the  declaration  contains  hyperlinks  to  separate  pages  which  document  all  the
members of the class.  Each member in the declaration is followed by the short tag of the
member's  element  tag,  if  one  exists.  As  an  extra,  the  class  hierarchy  is  given,  plus  links
to pop-up pages (if JavaScript is available, otherwise they are normal links) which contain
alphabetical or hierarchical listings of the methods, fields or properties of the class.

For functions and procedures, the declaration will be typeset in such a way that all function
arguments (if they are present) are in tabular format,  followed by the short description of
the argument.  If it concerns a function, and a result element exists, the result description
will be provided in a separate section, before the actual description.

The  declaration  of  an  enumerated  type  will  be  laid  out  in  a  table,  with  the  enumeration
value at the left, and the short description node of the value's element.



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5.2         Latex  output


The latex output is in one big file with the name of the package as specified on the command
line.  in this file, one chapter is made per unit.

Per unit the following sections are made:


    1.  A section with all constants.

    2.  A section with all types.

    3.  A section with all variables.

    4.  A section with all functions and procedures.

    5.  A section per declared class.


For the constants, types and variables, the declaration is given, followed by the descr node
of the element corresponding to the identifier.  All other nodes are ignored.

For functions and procedures, a subsection is made per procedure or function.  This subsec-
tion consists of a list with the following entries:


Synopsis       filled with the contents of the short tag.

Declaration         Filled with the declaration of the function.

Arguments          A tabular description of all arguments, if  short tags are found for them.

Description         Description of the function.  Filled with the contents of the descr tag.

Errors      Description of any error conditions.  Filled with the contents of the errors tag.

See Also       Cross-references to other functions.  Filled with the contents of the seealso tag.


For classes, a subsection is made with an overview of implemented methods.  Then a subsec-
tion is presented with available properties.

Then follows a subsection per method.  These are formatted as a function, with an additional
Visibility list element, giving the visibility of the function.

After the methods, a list of properties is given , formatted as a method, with an additional
Access list element, specifying whether the property is read/write or not.



5.3         CHM  output


The chm output in FPDoc is actually inherited from the HTML backend so everything that
applies to the HTML backend applies to the chm backend, except that all generated HTML
files are written directly to a stream.  After all the HTML files are generated the compression
is begun.  Once all the auto generated files are compressed, if the -other-files option is used
these files are collected and compressed.  Now if the -auto-index or -auto-toc are used the
Index and Table of Contents are created and the compression is finished.



                                                                 38
