Leafdoc.md

Leafdoc-generated API reference

Command-line usage

Leafdoc includes a small command-line utility, useful when running from a console or a shell script, accepting some of the Leafdoc options. The syntax is:

leafdoc [options] [files]

Usage example

leafdoc -t templates/pretty -c '@' --verbose -o documentation.html src

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
template	String	'templates/basic'	Akin to Leafdoc.templateDir
t			Alias of template
character	String	'🍂'	Akin to Leafdoc.leadingCharacter
c			Alias of character
verbose	Boolean	false	Akin to Leafdoc.verbose
v			Alias of verbose
output	String	undefined	File to write the documentation to. If left empty, documentation will be outputted to stdout instead.
o			Alias of output Alias of output
json	Boolean	false	Write the internal JSON representation of the documentation instead of a templated HTML file.

Leafdoc

Represents the Leafdoc parser

Usage example

Output Leafdoc's own documentation to the console with:

var LeafDoc = require('./src/leafdoc.js');
var doc = new LeafDoc();
	doc.addFile('src/leafdoc.js');
console.log( doc.outputStr() );

Constructor

Constructor	Description
new Leafdoc(<Leafdoc options> options)	Constructor for a new Leafdoc parser

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
templateDir	String	'templates/basic'	Defines which subdirectory (relative to the directory the curent JS script is running) holds the handlebars template files for building up the HTML.
showInheritancesWhenEmpty	Boolean	false	When true, child classes/namespaces will display documentables from ancestors, even if the child class doesn't have any of such documentables. e.g. display inherited events even if the child doesn't define any new events.
leadingCharacter	String	'🍂'	Overrides the Leaf symbol as the leading character for documentation lines. See also setLeadingCharacter.
customDocumentables	Map	{}	A key-value map. Each pair will be passed to registerDocumentable.
verbose	Boolean	false	Set to true to display more information as files are being read.

Methods

Method	Returns	Description
registerDocumentable(<String> name, <String> label?, <Boolean> inheritable?)	this	Registers a new documentable type, beyond the preset ones (function, property, etc). New documentable should also not be an already used keyword (class, namespace, inherits, etc). When registering new documentables, make sure that there is an appropriate template file for it. Set label to the text for the sections in the generated docs. inheritable parameter determines documentable can be inherited via inherits keyword in a subclass.
getTemplateEngine()	Handlebars	Returns handlebars template engine used to render templates. You can use it for override helpers or register a new one.
setLeadingCharacter(<String> char)	this	In the rare case you don't want to use 🍂 as the leading character for leaf directives, run this function with the desired character, e.g. setLeadingCharacter('@'); The new leading character will apply only to files/dirs/strings parsed from that moment on, so it's a good idea to call this before anything else.
addDir(<String> dirname, <String[]> extensions?)	this	Recursively scans a directory, and parses any files that match the given extensions (by default .js and .leafdoc, mind the dots). Files with a .leafdoc extension will be treated as leafdoc-only instead of source.
addFile(<String> filename)	this	Parses the given file using addBuffer.
addBuffer(<Buffer> buf, <String> filename?)	this	Parses the given buffer using addStr underneath.
addStr(<String> str, <String> filename?)	this	Parses the given string for Leafdoc directives. directive.
outputStr()	String	Outputs the documentation to a string. Use only after all the needed files have been parsed.
outputJSON()	String	Outputs the internal documentation tree to a JSON blob, without any formatting. Use only after all the needed files have been parsed.