Documentation toolbox for your javascript / typescript projects based on JSDoc3 with @category, @component and @optional plugins.
This is how it looks:
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Example documentation can be found here: https://softwarebrothers.github.io/example-design-system/index.html
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npm install --save-dev better-docs
Assuming that you have jsdoc installed globally:
jsdoc your-documented-file.js -t ./node_modules/better-docs
In your projects package.json file - add a new script:
"script": {
"docs": "jsdoc -c jsdoc.json"
}
in your jsdoc.json
file, set the template:
"opts": {
"template": "node_modules/better-docs"
}
better-docs has a plugin which allows you to generate documentation from your TypeScript codebase.
To use it update your jsdoc.json
file
...
"tags": {
"allowUnknownTags": ["optional"] //or true
},
"plugins": [
"node_modules/better-docs/typescript"
],
"source": {
"includePattern": "\\.(jsx|js|ts|tsx)$",
},
...
And now you can run your jsdoc
command and parse TypeScript files.
It performs 4 operations:
- First of all it transpiles all .ts and .tsx files to .js, so that all comments used by you are treated as a regular JSDoc comments.
Furhtermore it:
- Converts all your commented
type
aliases to@typedef
- Converts all your commented
interface
definitions to@interface
, - Converts descriptions for your public, protected, static class members
so they can be printed by JSDoc automatically.
/**
* ActionRequest
* @memberof Action
* @alias ActionRequest
*/
export type ActionRequest = {
/**
* parameters passed in an URL
*/
params: {
/**
* Id of current resource
*/
resourceId: string;
/**
* Id of current record
*/
recordId?: string;
/**
* Name of an action
*/
action: string;
[key: string]: any;
};
}
is converted to:
/**
* ActionRequest'
* @memberof Action'
* @alias ActionRequest'
* @typedef {object} ActionRequest'
* @property {object} params parameters passed in an URL'
* @property {string} params.resourceId Id of current resource'
* @property {string} [params.recordId] Id of current record'
* @property {string} params.action Name of an action'
* @property {any} params.{...}'
*/
Also you can comment the interface in a similar fashion:
/**
* JSON representation of an {@link Action}
* @see Action
*/
export default interface ActionJSON {
/**
* Unique action name
*/
name: string;
/**
* Type of an action
*/
actionType: 'record' | 'resource' | Array<'record' | 'resource'>;
/**
* Action icon
*/
icon?: string;
/**
* Action label - visible on the frontend
*/
label: string;
/**
* Guarding message
*/
guard?: string;
/**
* If action should have a filter (for resource actions)
*/
showFilter: boolean;
/**
* Action component. When set to false action will be invoked immediately after clicking it,
* to put in another words: tere wont be an action view
*/
component?: string | false | null;
}
or describe your class properties like that:
/**
* Class name
*/
class ClassName {
/**
* Some private member which WONT be in jsdoc (because it is private)
*/
private name: string
/**
* Some protected member which will go to the docs
*/
protected somethingIsA: number
/**
* And static member which will goes to the docs.
*/
static someStaticMember: number
public notCommentedWontBeInJSDoc: string
constructor(color: string) {}
}
better-docs also allows you to nest your documentation into categories and subcategories in the sidebar menu.
To add a plugin - update plugins
section in your jsdoc.json
file:
...
"tags": {
"allowUnknownTags": ["category"] //or true
},
"plugins": [
"node_modules/better-docs/category"
],
...
and then you can use @category
and/or @subcategory
tag in your code:
/**
* Class description
* @category Category
* @subcategory All
*/
class YourClass {
....
}
Better-docs also allows you to document your React and Vue components automatically. The only thing you have to do is to add a @component
tag. It will take all props from your components and along with an @example
tag - will generate a live preview.
Similar as before to add a plugin - you have to update the plugins
section in your jsdoc.json
file:
...
"tags": {
"allowUnknownTags": ["component"] //or true
},
"plugins": [
"node_modules/better-docs/component"
],
...
Since component plugin uses parcel as a bundler you have to install it globally. To do this run:
# if you use npm
npm install -g parcel-bundler
# or yarn
yarn global add parcel-bundler
To document components simply add @component
in your JSDoc documentation:
/**
* Some documented component
*
* @component
*/
const Documented = (props) => {
const { text } = props
return (
<div>{text}</div>
)
}
Documented.propTypes = {
/**
* Text is a text
*/
text: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
}
export default Documented
The plugin will take the information from your PropTypes and put them into an array.
For Vue it looks similar:
<script>
/**
* @component
*/
export default {
name: 'ExampleComponent',
props: {
spent: {
type: Number,
default: 30,
},
remaining: {
type: Number,
default: 40,
}
},
}
</script>
In this case, props will be taken from props
property.
@component
plugin also modifies the behaviour of @example
tag in a way that it can generate an actual component preview. What you have to do is to add an @example
tag and return component from it:
React example:
/**
* Some documented component
*
* @component
* @example
* const text = 'some example text'
* return (
* <Documented text={text} />
* )
*/
const Documented = (props) => {
///...
}
Vue example 1:
<script>
/**
* @component
* @example
* <ExampleComponent :spent="100" :remaining="50"></ExampleComponent>
*/
export default {
name: 'ExampleComponent',
//...
}
</script>
Vue example 2:
<script>
/**
* @component
* @example
* {
* template: `<Box>
* <ProgressBar :spent="spent" :remaining="50"></ProgressBar>
* <ProgressBar :spent="50" :remaining="50" style="margin-top: 20px"></ProgressBar>
* </Box>`,
* data: function() {
* return {spent: 223};
* }
* }
*/
export default {
name: 'ExampleComponent',
//...
}
</script>
You can put as many @example
tags as you like in one component and "caption" each of them like this:
/**
* @component
* @example <caption>Example usage of method1.</caption>
* // your example here
*/
Also you can use multiple components which are documented with @component
tag together. So lets say you have 2 components and in the seccond component you want to use the first one as a wrapper like this:
// component-1.js
/**
* Component 1
* @component
*
*/
const Component1 = (props) => {...}
// component-2.js
/**
* Component 2
* @component
* @example
* return (
* <Component1>
* <Component2 prop1={'some value'}/>
* <Component2 prop1={'some other value'}/>
* </Component1>
* )
*/
const Component2 = (props) => {...}
Most probably your components will have to be run within a particular context, like within redux store provider or with custom CSS libraries.
You can simulate this by passing a component.wrapper
in your jsdoc.json
:
(To read more about passing options - scroll down to Customization section)
// jsdoc.json
{
"opts": {...},
"templates": {
"better-docs": {
"name": "AdminBro Documentation",
"component": {
"wrapper": "./path/to/your/wrapper-component.js",
},
"...": "...",
}
}
}
Wrapper component can look like this:
// wrapper-component.js
import React from 'react'
import { BrowserRouter } from 'react-router-dom'
import { createStore } from 'redux'
import { Provider } from 'react-redux'
const store = createStore(() => ({}), {})
const Component = (props) => {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<head>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bulma/0.7.5/css/bulma.css" />
</head>
<Provider store={store}>
<BrowserRouter>
{props.children}
</BrowserRouter>
</Provider>
</React.Fragment>
)
}
export default Component
Better-docs inserts all examples within an iframe
. This results in the following styling options:
-
If you pass styles inline - they will work right away.
-
For
css modules
to work withparcel
bundler - you have to installpostcss-modules
package:
yarn add postcss-modules
and create a .postcssrc
file:
// .postcssrc
{
"modules": true
}
- For styled-components you have to use wrapper component which looks like this:
import React from 'react'
import { StyleSheetManager } from 'styled-components'
const Component = (props) => {
const { frameContext } = props
return (
<StyleSheetManager target={frameContext.document.head}>
{props.children}
</StyleSheetManager>
)
}
export default Component
@component
plugin creates an entry file: .entry.js
in your docs output folder. Sometimes you might want to add something to it. You can do this by passing: component.entry
option, which is an array of strings.
So let's say you want to add babel-polyfill
and 'bulma.css' framework to your bundle. You can do it like this:
// jsdoc.json
{
"opts": {...},
"templates": {
"better-docs": {
"name": "AdminBro Documentation",
"component": {
"entry": [
"import 'babel-polyfill';",
"import 'bulma/css/bulma.css';"
]
},
"...": "...",
}
}
}
First of all, let me state that better-docs extends the default
template. That is why default template parameters are also handled.
[BETA]: You must explicitly set the search
option of the default
template to true
to enable search
To customize the better-docs pass options
to templates['better-docs']
. section in your jsdoc confuguration file
.
Example configuration file with settings for both default
and better-docs
templates:
{
"tags": {
"allowUnknownTags": ["category"]
},
"source": {
"include": ["./src"],
"includePattern": ".js$",
"excludePattern": "(node_modules/|docs)"
},
"plugins": [
"plugins/markdown",
"jsdoc-mermaid",
"node_modules/better-docs/category"
],
"opts": {
"encoding": "utf8",
"destination": "docs/",
"readme": "readme.md",
"recurse": true,
"verbose": true,
"tutorials": "./docs-src/tutorials",
"template": "better-docs"
},
"templates": {
"cleverLinks": false,
"monospaceLinks": false,
"search": true,
"default": {
"staticFiles": {
"include": [
"./docs-src/statics"
]
}
},
"better-docs": {
"name": "AdminBro Documentation",
"logo": "images/logo.png",
"title": "", // HTML title
"css": "style.css",
"trackingCode": "tracking-code-which-will-go-to-the-HEAD",
"hideGenerator": false,
"navLinks": [
{
"label": "Github",
"href": "https://github.com/SoftwareBrothers/admin-bro"
},
{
"label": "Example Application",
"href": "https://admin-bro-example-app.herokuapp.com/admin"
}
]
}
}
}
If you want to change the theme locally follow the steps:
- Clone the repo to the folder where you have the project:
cd your-project
git clone git@github.com:SoftwareBrothers/better-docs.git
or add it as a git submodule:
git submodule add git@github.com:SoftwareBrothers/better-docs.git
- Install the packages
cd better-docs
npm install
# or
yarn
- Within the better-docs folder run the gulp script. It will regenerate documentation every time you change something.
It supports following EVN variables:
DOCS_COMMAND
- a command in your root repo which you use to generate documentation: i.e.DOCS_COMMAND='jsdoc -c jsdoc.json'
ornpm run docs
if you havedocs
command defined inpackage.json
fileDOCS_OUTPUT
- where your documentation is generated. It should point to the same folder your jsdoc--destination
conf. But make sure that it is relative to the path where you clonedbetter-docs
.DOCS
- list of folders from your original repo what you want to watch for changes. Separated by comma.
cd better-docs
DOCS_COMMAND='npm run docs' DOCS=../src/**/*,../config/**/* DOCS_OUTPUT=../docs cd better-docs && gulp
The script should launch the browser and refresh it whenever you change something in the template or in DOCS
.
If you want to see how to setup jsdoc in your project - take a look at these brief tutorials:
- JSDoc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6WARA3IhQ
- better-docs and Mermaid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBMYogTzsBk
better-docs is Copyright © 2019 SoftwareBrothers.co. It is free software and may be redistributed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file - MIT.
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