README
ApexDocs
ApexDocs is a Node.js library with CLI capabilities to generate documentation for Salesforce Apex classes.
Description
ApexDocs was built as an alternative to the Java based ApexDoc tool originally created by Aslam Bari and later maintained by Salesforce.org, as that tool is no longer being maintained.
ApexDocs is a Node.js library built on Typescript and hosted on npm. It offers CLI capabilities to automatically generate a set of files that fully document each one of you classes. Additionally it can be imported and consumed directly by your JavaScript code.
There are some key differences between ApexDocs and the Java based ApexDoc tool:
- Recursive file search through your module directory structure. In an
sfdx
based project, all of your classes will be documented by specifying the top-most directory where file search should begin. - Unopinionated documentation site generation. Instead of creating HTML files, ApexDocs generates a Markdown (.md) file per Apex class being documented. This means you can host your files in static web hosting services that parse Markdown like Github Pages or Netlify, and use site generators like Jekyll or Gatsby. This gives you the freedom to decide how to style your site to match your needs.
Demo
ApexDocs currently supports generating markdown files for Jekyll and Docsify sites.
In the wild
Docsify
Demo
Jekyll
Demo
Installation
npm i @cparra/apexdocs
Usage
CLI
apexdocs-generate
-s src
-t docs
-p global
-g docsify
The CLI supports the following parameters:
Parameter | Alias | Description | Default | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
--sourceDir | -s | The directory location which contains your apex .cls classes. | N/A | Yes |
--targetDir | -t | The directory location where documentation will be generated to. | docs |
No |
--recursive | -r | Whether .cls classes will be searched for recursively in the directory provided. | true |
No |
--scope | -p | A list of scopes to document. Values should be separated by a space, e.g --scope public private | global namespaceaccessible public |
No |
--targetGenerator | -g | Define the static file generator for which the documents will be created. Currently supports jekyll and docsify. | jekyll |
No |
--configPath | -c | The path to the JSON configuration file that defines the structure of the documents to generate. | N/A | No |
--group | -o | Define whether the generated files should be grouped by the @group tag on the top level classes. | true |
No |
Configuration File
You can optionally specify the path to a configuration JSON file through the --configPath
parameter. This let's you have some additional control over the content outputs.
The configuration file allows you to specify the following:
Note: Everything in the configuration file is optional. When something is not specified, the default will be used.
root
(String)
Default: None
Allows you to specify the root directory for where the files are being generated. This can be helpful when embedding the generated docs into an existing site so that the links are generated correctly.
defaultGroupName
Default: Miscellaneous
Defines the @group
name to be used when a file does not specify it.
sourceLanguage
Default: None
Defines the name of the language that will be used when generating @example
blocks. Use this when you are interested in using syntax highlighting for your project.
Even though the source code material for which documentation is generated is always Apex
, generally you will be able to use a syntax highlighter that recognizes java
source code, so set this value to java
in those cases.
home
(Object)
Gives you control over the home page.
home.header
(String)
Default: None
Allows you to embedd custom content into your home page by using the header
property to point to the a file which contents will be added to the top of the generated home page.
Specify the path with the content that you want to embed.
content
(Object)
Gives you control over the content pages.
content.includeAuthor
(Boolean)
Default: false
Whether the @author
tag should be used to add the file's author to the page.
content.includeDate
(Boolean)
Default: false
Whether the @date
tag should be used to add the file's date to the page.
content.startingHeadingLevel
(Number)
Default: 1
The starting H tag level for the document. Each title will use this as the starting point to generate the approaprite <h#>
tag. For example, if set to 1, the class' file name at the top of the file will use an <h1>
tag, the Properties
title will be <h2>
, each property name will be an <h3>
, etc.
{
"root": "root-directory",
"defaultGrouName": "api",
"sourceLanguage": "java",
"home": {
"header": "./examples/includes/header.md"
},
"content": {
"startingHeadingLevel": 1,
"includeAuthor": true,
"includeDate": true
}
}
Importing to your project
If you are just interested in the documentation parsing capabilities, you can import ApexDocs into your own project.
Use the generate
function to create a list of ClassModel
that includes all of the parsed information from your .cls files.
generate(sourceDirectory[,recursive][,scope][,outputDir])
sourceDirectory
<string>recursive
<boolean>scope
<string[]>outpurDir
<string>
var { generate } = require('@cparra/apexdocs');
let documentedClasses = generate('src', true, ['global'], 'docs');
Documentation Format
ApexDocs picks up blocks of comments throughout your .cls
files. The block must begin with /**
and span through multiple lines, ending with */
.
Documenting Classes
The following tags are supported on the class level:
Tag | Description |
---|---|
@description |
One or more lines describing the class. |
@see |
The name of a related class. |
@group |
The group to which the class belongs to. |
@author |
The author of the class. Note that this only gets added if it is explicitly defined through the configuration class that it should. |
@date |
The date the class was created. Note that this only gets added if it is explicitly defined through the configuration class that it should. |
Example
/**
* @description This is my class description.
*/
public with sharing class TestClass { }
Documenting Enums
The following tags are supported on the enum level:
Tag | Description |
---|---|
@description |
One or more lines describing the enum. |
Example
/**
* @description This is my enum description.
*/
public Enum ExampleEnum { VALUE_1, VALUE_2 }
Documenting Properties
The following tags are supported on the property level:
Tag | Description |
---|---|
@description |
One or more lines describing the property. |
Example
/**
* @description This is my property description.
*/
public String ExampleProperty { get; set; }
Documenting Methods and Constructors
Methods and constructors support the same tags.
The following tags are supported on the method level:
Tag | Description |
---|---|
@description |
One or more lines describing the method. |
@param paramName |
Description of a single parameter. |
@return |
Description of the return value of the method. |
@example |
Example of how the code can be used or called. |
@throws ExceptionName |
Description of an exception thrown by the method. |
Example
/**
* @description This is my method description.
* @param action The action to execute.
* @return The result of the operation.
* @example
* Object result = SampleClass.call('exampleAction');
*/
public static Object call(String action) {
Inline linking
Apexdocs allows you to reference other classes from anywhere in your docs, and automatically creates a link to that class file for easy navigation.
Apexdocs recognizes 2 different syntax when linking files:
- Javadoc's
{@link FileName}
syntax - A class name wrapped in between
<<
>>
.
Example
/**
* @description This is my method description. This method receives an <<ExampleClass>>.
* @param param1 An <<ExampleClass>> instance. Can also do {@link ExampleClass}
* @return The result of the operation.
*/
public static Object class(ExampleClass param1) {
Typescript
ApexDocs provides all necessary type definitions.