documentation

.Net XML comment into API Documentation

Is there an easy way to produce MSDN-style documentation from the Visual Studio XML output? I'm not patient enough to set up a good xslt for it because I know I'm not the first person to cross this bridge. Also, I tried setting up sandcastle recently, but it really made my eyes cross. Either I was missing something important in the pr...

Which tools do people use to create Data Dictionaries?

On the project that I am working on I have a couple of databases. Each table and each column in the database has a description set (as an extended property in SQL 2005). As a part of the documentation going to the client we need to produce a data dictionary showing all of the tables and columns along with a collection of meta data (data-...

"documentation" conventions and auto checking them

Were defining a C# module to outsource (I dont like it either ...) maintaining and evolving it will be done inhouse. Is there any good way to define and autocheck the in-code documentation quality ? thanks....

Best Multi-Language Documentation Generator

What is the best documentation generator? I want to something that will easily add templates for documenting functions, classes, etc. I know there are several tools out there -- from Visual Studio plugins to external applications that take code files as input. which is the best? (If language-specific, specify) are there any document...

Templates for lifecycle documentation

Does anybody have some good templates (or links to) that they use for software lifecycle documents (feasibility, concept, requirements, architecture)? I've taken some old ones I've had from school and slimmed them down a bit since none of the current projects that I work on are to that scale, but they always feel somewhat clugey. Sadly...

SQL Database documentation?

specifically, I use SQL Server 2005, but the solution might be brand independent. Need: You have 40 database tables, in some, you may have a column which is a integer values 1-9 representing some enum. Sure it makes sense in code, but not if you need to SQL the DB in a report getting only rows of type "active" but you have no clue if ac...

What is the prefered style for single decision and action statements?

In the case of languages that support single decision and action without brackets, such as the following example: if (var == true) doSomething(); What is the preferred way of writing this? Should brackets always be used, or should their usage be left as a preference of the individual developer? Additionally, does this practice dep...

Who writes the documentation?

In your team, how is documentation written? Is there someone assigned to the task? Is there a technical documentation writer? Please elaborate for: User documentation System Administration docs Development docs ...

What tools are used to write documentation?

What tools are used to write documentation? Specifically for User docs System administration Development I'm looking for software such MS Word, wiki, TeX (LaTeX, LyX) and for automated tools. ...

Documenting program architecture

What have people found to be effective methods of documenting the architecture of a large project so that programmers new to the code can "get their bearings" (relatively) quickly? ...

Getting developers to use a wiki

I work on a complex application where different teams work on their own modules with a degree of overlap. A while back we got a Mediawiki instance set up, partly at my prompting. I have a hard job getting people to actually use it, let alone contribute. I can see a lot of benefit in sharing information. It may at least reduce the times ...

Tool for generation MSDN-like documentation from <summary> tags?

Does anyone know any tool like NDoc that could generate MSDN-like documentation out of XML comments in the C# code? I need it for .NET 3.5 and C#. Sandcastle maybe? Thanks. ...

What languages have the best/worst documentation and support communities?

This is more to satisfy my curiousity than anything else, but what languages have the best (or worst) documentation and support communities (including IRC, mailing lists, USENET groups, websites, forums, etc)? ...

Javadoc template generator

I have a large codebase without javadoc and I want to run a program to write a skeleton with the basic javadoc information (e.g. for each method's parameter write @param...) so I just have to fill the gaps left. Somebody knows a good solution for this? Edit: JAutodoc is what I was looking for, it has ant tasks, an eclipse plugin and u...

Documenting Delphi

Hi Is there a good tool for scanning a Delphi project and organising the units, forms etc. Maybe it could go down to procedure level and say output to Word or RTF. This would allow me to get a first cut documentation going for a large product. thanks Andrew ...

Commenting code

What are the different standards and practices of code documentation and which have worked best for you? I ask because myself and friend are starting a company and will probably need to have some agreed upon standard for commenting things so that we can read each other's code more easily. ...

Best GUI tool for documenting a SQL Server DB

What tool(s) do you use to generate documentation for a database (preferably into a .chm help file)? ...

Tool to check Doxygen markup is up to date

I'm using Doxygen to generate documentation for my (C++) code, and am wondering if there is a tool that would give me a list of all functions/methods for which the current Doxygen markup doesn't describe all the arguments (or describes too many)? Maybe this is already included in Doxygen? (in which case I couldn't find the feature !) ...

What documentation and training are you pushing out with your app?

The question is pretty self-explanatory, but for those of you pushing out new applications, or having to support legacy systems, how do you effectively get training for new users out there? I think the way of handing over a book is obsolete, and spending an hour or two showing someone around a system is just a waste of time as a develop...

Can you recommend good UML tutorials ?

I know I could search for this on the internet but the signal to noise ratio is too low. Have you found or know about any good tutorials on UML? I would really like to find something that explains UML modeling from a practical point of view. Also a complete application example would be very helpful. Thanks. ...