Dox

Dox is a JavaScript documentation generator written with node. Dox no longer generates an opinionated structure or style for your docs, it simply gives you a JSON representation, allowing you to use markdown and JSDoc-style tags.

Installation

Install from npm:

npm install -g dox

Usage Examples

dox(1) operates over stdio:

$ dox < utils.js
...JSON...

to inspect the generated data you can use the --debug flag, which is easier to read than the JSON output:

dox --debug < utils.js

utils.js:

/**
 * Escape the given `html`.
 *
 * @example
 *     utils.escape('<script></script>')
 *     // => '&lt;script&gt;&lt;/script&gt;'
 *
 * @param {String} html string to be escaped
 * @return {String} escaped html
 * @api public
 */

exports.escape = function(html){
  return String(html)
    .replace(/&(?!\w+;)/g, '&amp;')
    .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
    .replace(/>/g, '&gt;');
};

output:

[
  {
    "tags": [
      {
        "type": "param",
        "string": "{String} html",
        "name": "html",
        "description": "",
        "types": [
          "String"
        ],
        "typesDescription": "<code>String</code>",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false,
        "html": "<p>{String} html</p>"
      },
      {
        "type": "return",
        "string": "{String}",
        "types": [
          "String"
        ],
        "typesDescription": "<code>String</code>",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false,
        "description": "",
        "html": "<p>{String}</p>"
      },
      {
        "type": "api",
        "string": "private",
        "visibility": "private",
        "html": "<p>private</p>"
      }
    ],
    "description": {
      "full": "<p>Escape the given <code>html</code>.</p>",
      "summary": "<p>Escape the given <code>html</code>.</p>",
      "body": ""
    },
    "isPrivate": true,
    "isConstructor": false,
    "isClass": false,
    "isEvent": false,
    "ignore": false,
    "line": 2,
    "codeStart": 10,
    "code": "exports.escape = function(html){\n  return String(html)\n    .replace(/&(?!\\w+;)/g, '&amp;')\n    .replace(/</g, '&lt;')\n    .replace(/>/g, '&gt;');\n};",
    "ctx": {
      "type": "method",
      "receiver": "exports",
      "name": "escape",
      "string": "exports.escape()"
    }
  }
]

This output can then be passed to a template for rendering. Look below at the "Properties" section for details.

Usage

Usage: dox [options]

  Options:

    -h, --help                     output usage information
    -V, --version                  output the version number
    -r, --raw                      output "raw" comments, leaving the markdown intact
    -a, --api                      output markdown readme documentation
    -s, --skipPrefixes [prefixes]  skip comments prefixed with these prefixes, separated by commas
    -d, --debug                    output parsed comments for debugging
    -S, --skipSingleStar           set to false to ignore `/* ... */` comments

  Examples:

    # stdin
    $ dox > myfile.json

    # operates over stdio
    $ dox < myfile.js > myfile.json

Programmatic Usage

var dox = require('dox'),
    code = "...";

var obj = dox.parseComments(code);

// [{ tags:[ ... ], description, ... }, { ... }, ...]

Properties

A "comment" is comprised of the following detailed properties:

• tags
• description
• isPrivate
• isEvent
• isConstructor
• line
• ignore
• code
• ctx

Description

A dox description is comprised of three parts, the "full" description, the "summary", and the "body". The following example has only a "summary", as it consists of a single paragraph only, therefore the "full" property has only this value as well.

write1.js:

/**
 * Output the given `str` to _stdout_.
 */

exports.write = function(str) {
  process.stdout.write(str);
};

yields:

[
  {
    "description": {
      "full": "<p>Output the given <code>str</code> to <em>stdout</em>.</p>",
      "summary": "<p>Output the given <code>str</code> to <em>stdout</em>.</p>",
      "body": ""
    },
    // ... other tags
  }
]

Large descriptions might look something like the following, where the "summary" is still the first paragraph, the remaining description becomes the "body". Keep in mind this is markdown, so you can indent code, use lists, links, etc. Dox also augments markdown, allowing "Some Title:\n" to form a header.

write2.js:

/**
 * Output the given `str` to _stdout_
 * or the stream specified by `options`.
 *
 * Options:
 *
 *   - `stream` defaulting to _stdout_
 *
 * Examples:
 *
 *     mymodule.write('foo')
 *     mymodule.write('foo', { stream: process.stderr })
 *
 */

exports.write = function(str, options) {
  options = options || {};
  (options.stream || process.stdout).write(str);
};

yields:

[
  {
    "description": {
      "full": "<p>Output the given <code>str</code> to <em>stdout</em><br />\nor the stream specified by <code>options</code>.</p>\n<p>Options:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><code>stream</code> defaulting to <em>stdout</em></li>\n</ul>\n<p>Examples:</p>\n<pre><code>mymodule.write('foo')\nmymodule.write('foo', { stream: process.stderr })\n</code></pre>",
      "summary": "<p>Output the given <code>str</code> to <em>stdout</em><br />\nor the stream specified by <code>options</code>.</p>",
      "body": "<p>Options:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><code>stream</code> defaulting to <em>stdout</em></li>\n</ul>\n<p>Examples:</p>\n<pre><code>mymodule.write('foo')\nmymodule.write('foo', { stream: process.stderr })\n</code></pre>"
    },
    // ... other tags
  }
]

Tags

Dox also supports JSdoc-style tags. Currently only @api is special-cased, providing the comment.isPrivate boolean so you may omit "private" utilities etc.

write_tags.js:

/**
 * Output the given `str` to _stdout_
 * or the stream specified by `options`.
 *
 * @param {String} str
 * @param {{stream: Writable}} options
 * @return {Object} exports for chaining
 */

exports.write = function(str, options) {
  options = options || {};
  (options.stream || process.stdout).write(str);
  return this;
};

yields:

[
  {
    "tags": [
      {
        "type": "param",
        "string": "{String} str",
        "name": "str",
        "description": "",
        "types": [
          "String"
        ],
        "typesDescription": "<code>String</code>",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false,
        "html": "<p>{String} str</p>"
      },
      {
        "type": "param",
        "string": "{{stream: Writable}} options",
        "name": "options",
        "description": "",
        "types": [
          {
            "stream": [
              "Writable"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "typesDescription": "{stream: <code>Writable</code>}",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false,
        "html": "<p>{{stream: Writable}} options</p>"
      },
      {
        "type": "return",
        "string": "{Object} exports for chaining",
        "types": [
          "Object"
        ],
        "typesDescription": "<code>Object</code>",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false,
        "description": "<p>exports for chaining</p>"
      }
    ],
    // ... other tags
  }
]

Complex jsdoc tags

dox supports all jsdoc type strings specified in the jsdoc documentation. You can specify complex object types including optional flag =, nullable ?, non-nullable ! and variable arguments ....

Additionally you can use typesDescription which contains formatted HTML for displaying complex types.

generatePersonInfo.js:

/**
 * Generates a person information string based on input.
 *
 * @param {string | {name: string, age: number | date}} name Name or person object
 * @param {{separator: string} =} options An options object
 * @return {string} The constructed information string
 */

exports.generatePersonInfo = function(name, options) {
  var str = '';
  var separator = options && options.separator ? options.separator : ' ';

  if(typeof name === 'object') {
    str = [name.name, '(', name.age, ')'].join(separator);
  } else {
    str = name;
  }
};

yields:

[
  {
    "tags": [
      {
        "type": "param",
        "string": "{string | {name: string, age: number | date}} name Name or person object",
        "name": "name",
        "description": "<p>Name or person object</p>",
        "types": [
          "string",
          {
            "name": [
              "string"
            ],
            "age": [
              "number",
              "date"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "typesDescription": "<code>string</code> | {name: <code>string</code>, age: <code>number</code> | <code>date</code>}",
        "optional": false,
        "nullable": false,
        "nonNullable": false,
        "variable": false
      },
      {
        "type": "param",
        "string": "{{separator: string} =} options An options object",
        "name": "options",
        "description": "<p>An options object</p>",
        "types": [
          {
            "separator": [
              "string"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "typesDescription": "{separator: <code>string</code>|<code>undefined</code>}",
        "optional"