1dtplite(n) dtplite(n)
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6
8 dtplite - Lightweight DocTools Markup Processor
9
11 dtplite -o output ?options? format inputfile
12 dtplite validate inputfile
14 dtplite -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
16 dtplite -merge -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
18_________________________________________________________________
20
22 The application described by this document, dtplite, is the successor
23 to the extremely simple mpexpand. Influenced in its functionality by
24 the dtp doctools processor it is much more powerful than mpexpand, yet
25 still as easy to use; definitely easier than dtp with its myriad of
26 subcommands and options.
27 dtplite is based upon the package doctools, like the other two proces‐
29 sors.
30 USE CASES
32 dtplite was written with the following three use cases in mind.
33 [1] Validation of a single document, i.e. checking that it was writ‐
35 ten in valid doctools format. This mode can also be used to get
36 a preliminary version of the formatted output for a single docu‐
37 ment, for display in a browser, nroff, etc., allowing proofread‐
38 ing of the formatting.
39 [2] Generation of the formatted documentation for a single package,
41 i.e. all the manpages, plus a table of contents and an index of
42 keywords.
43 [3] An extension of the previous mode of operation, a method for the
45 easy generation of one documentation tree for several packages,
46 and especially of a unified table of contents and keyword index.
47 Beyond the above we also want to make use of the customization features
49 provided by the HTML formatter. It is not the only format the applica‐
50 tion should be able to generate, but we anticipiate it to be the most
51 commonly used, and it is one of the few which do provide customization
52 hooks.
53 We allow the caller to specify a header string, footer string, a
55 stylesheet, and data for a bar of navigation links at the top of the
56 generated document. While all can be set as long as the formatting
57 engine provides an appropriate engine parameter (See section OPTIONS)
58 the last two have internal processing which make them specific to HTML.
59 COMMAND LINE
61 dtplite -o output ?options? format inputfile
62 This is the form for use case [1]. The options will be explained
63 later, in section OPTIONS.
64 path output (in)
66 This argument specifies where to write the generated doc‐
67 ument. It can be the path to a file or directory, or -.
68 The last value causes the application to write the gener‐
69 ated documented to stdout.
70 If the output does not exist then [file dirname $output]
72 has to exist and must be a writable directory. The gen‐
73 erated document will be written to a file in that direc‐
74 tory, and the name of that file will be derived from the
75 inputfile, the format, and the value given to option -ext
76 (if present).
77 (path|handle) format (in)
79 This argument specifies the formatting engine to use when
80 processing the input, and thus the format of the gener‐
81 ated document. See section FORMATS for the possibilities
82 recognized by the application.
83 path inputfile (in)
85 This argument specifies the path to the file to process.
86 It has to exist, must be readable, and written in doc‐
87 tools format.
88 dtplite validate inputfile
91 This is a simpler form for use case [1]. The "validate" format
92 generates no output at all, only syntax checks are performed. As
93 such the specification of an output file or other options is not
94 necessary and left out.
95 dtplite -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
97 This is the form for use case [2]. It differs from the form for
98 use case [1] by having the input documents specified through a
99 directory instead of a file. The other arguments are identical,
100 except for output, which now has to be the path to an existing
101 and writable directory.
102 The input documents are all files in inputdirectory or any of
104 its subdirectories which were recognized by fileutil::fileType
105 as containing text in doctools format.
106 dtplite -merge -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
108 This is the form for use case [3]. The only difference to the
109 form for use case [2] is the additional option -merge.
110 Each such call will merge the generated documents coming from
112 processing the input documents under inputdirectory or any of
113 its subdirectories to the files under output. In this manner it
114 is possible to incrementally build the unified documentation for
115 any number of packages. Note that it is necessary to run through
116 all the packages twice to get fully correct cross-references
117 (for formats supporting them).
118 OPTIONS
120 This section describes all the options available to the user of the
121 application, with the exception of the options -o and -merge. These two
122 were described already, in section COMMAND LINE.
123 -ext string
125 If the name of an output file has to be derived from the name of
126 an input file it will use the name of the format as the exten‐
127 sion by default. This option here will override this however,
128 forcing it to use string as the file extension. This option is
129 ignored if the name of the output file is fully specified
130 through option -o.
131 When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.
133 -header file
135 This option can be used if and only if the selected format pro‐
136 vides an engine parameter named "header". It takes the contents
137 of the specified file and assign them to that parameter, for
138 whatever use by the engine. The HTML engine will insert the text
139 just after the tag <body>. If navigation buttons are present
140 (see option -nav below), then the HTML generated for them is
141 appended to the header data originating here before the final
142 assignment to the parameter.
143 When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.
145 -footer file
147 Like -header, except that: Any navigation buttons are ignored,
148 the corresponding required engine parameter is named "footer",
149 and the data is inserted just before the tag </body>.
150 When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.
152 -style file
154 This option can be used if and only if the selected format pro‐
155 vides an engine parameter named "meta". When specified it will
156 generate a piece of HTML code declaring the file as the
157 stylesheet for the generated document and assign that to the
158 parameter. The HTML engine will insert this inot the document,
159 just after the tag <head>.
160 When processing an input directory the stylesheet file is copied
162 into the output directory and the generated HTML will refer to
163 the copy, to make the result more self-contained. When process‐
164 ing an input file we have no location to copy the stylesheet to
165 and so just reference it as specified.
166 When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.
168 -nav label url
170 Use this option to specify a navigation button with label to
171 display and the url to link to. This option can be used if and
172 only if the selected format provides an engine parameter named
173 "header". The HTML generated for this is appended to whatever
174 data we got from option -header before it is inserted into the
175 generated documents.
176 When used multiple times all definitions are collected and a
178 navigation bar is created, with the first definition shown at
179 the left edge and the last definition to the right.
180 FORMATS
182 At first the format argument will be treated as a path to a tcl file
183 containing the code for the requested formatting engine. The argument
184 will be treated as the name of one of the predefined formats listed
185 below if and only if the path does not exist.
186 Note a limitation: If treating the format as path to the tcl script
188 implementing the engine was sucessful, then this script has to imple‐
189 ment not only the engine API for doctools, i.e. doctools_api, but for
190 doctoc_api and docidx_api as well. Otherwise the generation of a table
191 of contents and of a keyword index will fail.
192 List of predefined formats, i.e. as provided by the package doctools:
194 nroff The processor generates *roff output, the standard format for
196 unix manpages.
197 html The processor generates HTML output, for usage in and display by
199 web browsers. This engine is currently the only one providing
200 the various engine parameters required for the additional cus‐
201 tomaization of the output.
202 tmml The processor generates TMML output, the Tcl Manpage Markup Lan‐
204 guage, a derivative of XML.
205 latex The processor generates LaTeX output.
207 wiki The processor generates Wiki markup as understood by wikit.
209 list The processor extracts the information provided by man‐
211 page_begin. This format is used internally to extract the meta
212 data from which both table of contents and keyword index are
213 derived from.
214 null The processor does not generate any output. This is equivalent
216 to validate.
217 DIRECTORY STRUCTURES
219 In this section we describe the directory structures generated by the
220 application under output when processing all documents in an inputdi‐
221 rectory. In other words, this is only relevant to the use cases [2] and
222 [3].
223 [2] The following directory structure is created when processing a
225 single set of input documents. The file extension used is for
226 output in HTML, but that is not relevant to the structure and
227 was just used to have proper file names.
228 output/
230 toc.html
231 index.html
232 files/
233 path/to/FOO.html
234 The last line in the example shows the document generated for a
236 file FOO located at
237 inputdirectory/path/to/FOO
239 [3] When merging many packages into a unified set of documents the
242 generated directory structure is a bit deeper:
243 output
245 .toc
246 .idx
247 .tocdoc
248 .idxdoc
249 .xrf
250 toc.html
251 index.html
252 FOO1/
253 ...
254 FOO2/
255 toc.html
256 files/
257 path/to/BAR.html
258 Each of the directories FOO1, ... contains the documents gener‐
260 ated for the package FOO1, ... and follows the structure shown
261 for use case [2]. The only exception is that there is no per-
262 package index.
263 The files ".toc", ".idx", and ".xrf" contain the internal status
265 of the whole output and will be read and updated by the next
266 invokation. Their contents will not be documented. Remove these
267 files when all packages wanted for the output have been pro‐
268 cessed, i.e. when the output is complete.
269 The files ".tocdoc", and ".idxdoc", are intermediate files in
271 doctoc and docidx markup, respectively, containing the main ta‐
272 ble of contents and keyword index for the set of documents
273 before their conversion to the chosen output format. They are
274 left in place, i.e. not deleted, to serve as demonstrations of
275 doctoc and docidx markup.
276
278 This document, and the application it describes, will undoubtedly con‐
279 tain bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category doc‐
280 tools of the Tcllib SF Trackers [http://source‐
281 forge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883]. Please also report any ideas for
282 enhancements you may have for either application and/or documentation.
283
285 docidx introduction, doctoc introduction, doctools introduction
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288 HTML, TMML, conversion, docidx, doctoc, doctools, manpage, markup,
289 nroff
290
292 Copyright (c) 2004 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>
293Documentation toolbox 1.0 dtplite(n)