Document! X for Visual Studio Developers
Document! X fully supports documentation of .NET assemblies from compiled assemblies created in any .NET language, including VB.NET, C#, J# and C++/CLI. .NET Framework
1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 are all fully supported.
Document! X integrates with Visual Studio (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008) to provide you with the tools you need to author and build documentation for your Visual Studio
solutions.
Documentation style and functionality
Templates are provided for the original Visual Studio 2002/2003 documentation style, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 documentation styles, so that users
of the documentation you produce will be familiar with the structure, layout, style and functionality.
Generated documentation supports language filtering so that any language specific reference information such as syntax tables and examples
will be filtered according to the chosen language(s). So if for example your users are programming in C#, they can choose to view shown the C# syntax definition and examples.
The language filtering functionality implemented by Document! X is 'sticky', such that a language preference is preserved when navigating between pages.
F1 support is automatically generated, so your assembly documentation is only ever a keypress away for the developers using it.
Visual Comment Editor
The Document! X Visual Studio Visual Comment Editor provides a unique fully Visual Editor for your VB.NET or C# source code comments. Integrated directly with the Visual Studio
IDE, the Visual Comment Editor allows you to create and edit comments directly within an editable preview of the generated documentation.
Comments created with the Visual Editor are written back to your source code in standard XML format. If you prefer, you can of course create and edit source code comments
manually.
Visual Studio Dynamic Help integration
When compiling to Microsoft Help 2.x format, Document! X automatically generates all the information necessary to fully support Visual Studio dynamic help
integration. This means that when using the .NET assembly you have documented, you will see entries in the Dynamic Help window and will have instant F1 access to the
appropriate documentation topic whilst you are coding.
Document! X can also automatically 'Plug-In' the generated Microsoft Help 2.x file to the Visual Studio help collection on the local machine so that the generated
Table of Contents and Index are merged into the Visual Studio help collection (this option is set on the 'Help Compiler Options' page of the Document! X Project Editor).
Document! X also ships with a command line tool to assist in registering Microsoft Help 2.x files on other machines, and generates .bat files for registration and un-registration
automatically.
XML Comment file generation
If your assembly is written in a .NET language that does not generate an XML documentation file during compile, you will find that when
using the assembly in Visual Studio Intellisense does not display a description. Document! X solves this problem by optionally generating an XML Comment file as part of the
documentation build process - this enables descriptions in both Intellisense and the Object Browser.
Object model diagrams
Document! X automatically generates object relationship diagrams for your classes. Specific relationships can be ignored where necessary (e.g. a relationship back to a
parent object). Collection objects automatically recognized and appropriately represented.
Customization
The template based configuration that Document! X is based on makes it easy to:
- Create new comment types for use in source code comments;
- Add additional standard content to the generated documentation (for example a glossary or company information);
- Adapt existing templates to match your existing corporate style and color scheme;
- Customize Table of Contents definitions according to your requirements;
- Fine tune the standard phrases and terminology used by Document! X to match your standards.
Help where you need it
The Document! X IDE includes a comprehensive help system, including a Contents, Index and Dynamic Help window. The Dynamic Help window 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 to enable you to get immediate results from Document! X.
Authoring examples
The easy to use Example code designer included in the Content Editors makes adding multi-language examples a breeze. In-line or linked examples can be created and example code
is automatically colorized in the generated output.
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.
Note that Document! X will automatically populate the description of members inherited from elsewhere in your assembly or the .NET Framework to further reduce the amount of
documentation authoring effort.