Document! X for Visual Basic 6 Developers
Document! X fully supports documentation of Visual Basic projects, either from source code or from compiled ActiveX components and controls.
Source Code Comment Helper
The Document! X Visual Basic Comment Helper provides a Visual Editor for your source code comments. Operating as a Visual Basic Add-In, the Comment Helper allows you to create
and edit comments directly within an editable preview of the generated documentation. Comments created with the Visual Editor are stored with your source code, using specific
Document! X prefixes to identify the type of comment (e.g. ##SUMMARY). If you wish, you can also create and edit source code comments manually.
Context Sensitivity
Document! X automatically generates and cross-links all necessary Help Context IDs to support context sensitive help. This allows users of the components and controls you
document to press F1 whilst coding with your component or navigating the object browser to show the help topic. In addition, Document! X generates Help Descriptions that are
compiled into your component and shown when users view your component using an Object Browser - no more using the Visual Basic 'Procedure Attributes dialog from hell'.
Object model diagrams
Document! X automatically generates a full hierarchical object relationship diagram from only your Visual Basic source code. Cross project relationships are recognized as
well as those between classes in the same project.
Specific relationships can be ignored where necessary (e.g. a relationship back to a parent object). Collection objects are automatically recognised and appropriately
represented.
The root class of your object model can be specifically identified in the Document! X Project Editor so that a logically correct overview diagram can be created.
Customization
The template based configuration that Document! X is based on makes it easy to:
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Create new comment types for use in source code comments;
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Add additional standard content to the generated documentation (for example a glossary or company information);
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Adapt existing templates to match your existing corporate style and color scheme;
- Customize Table of Contents definitions according to your requirements;
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Fine tune the standard phrases and terminology used by Document! X to match your standards.
Help where you need it
Document! X includes a comprehensive help system, including a Contents, Index and Dynamic Help window. The Dynamic Help window (available in both the Document! X IDE and in the
Visual Basic Comment Helper) provides a list of help topics, tutorials, getting started guides and movies relevant to your current activity enabling both new and experienced
users to get to grips with Document! X functionality as quickly as possible.
Document! X includes several printable 'Getting Started' PDF booklets, including one for Visual Basic developers, to enable you to get immediate results from Document! X.
Authoring examples
The easy to use Example code designer included in the Visual Basic Comment Helper makes adding multi-language examples a breeze. In-line or linked examples can be created and
the Visual Basic example code is automatically colorized in the generated output. Example code can also be automatically extracted from an 'Examples Only' Visual Basic
project by using a simple ##IS_EXAMPLE Tagged Comment to associate example code with topics in the generated help.
Localization
Document! X supports several different languages (English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Russian) for the phrases used in the generated output. All of the
phrases and terminology in the generated output can be configured according to preference.
Model Comments - re-usable common descriptions
Model Comments allow you to define common descriptions in a model comment profile for re-use in future projects. For example, ActiveX controls usually support a set of
common properties and events (e.g. KeyPress event, BackColor property) - Model Comments allow you to define descriptions for these members once and have Document! X use them
wherever the members appear in order to reduce duplication and effort.