DollarDoc

Dollardoc is a unique documentation method that uses Markdown and a pseudo object-oriented model to simplify documentation in complex environments. By utilizing dollar-plugins, dollardoc provides a feature-rich documentation method, while still being lightweight and straightforward.

Getting Started

Installation

To begin using dollardoc, first install Python 3.9 or above: https://www.python.org/downloads/.

Then you can install dollardoc with pip in a terminal

$ pip install dollardoc

After that you will need two files, one python file, which starts a build. And one configuration file, which tells dollardoc about the documentation environment.

build.py

from dollar.builder.dollarbuilder import DollarBuilder


def main():
    DollarBuilder.build()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

dollarconfig.yaml

docs_path: docs
target_path: output
plugin_path: plugin
file_passthrough:
  - .md
  - .txt

Now you just need to create two folders in your project, docs/ and plugin/ and you are ready to start writing dollar-style documentation.

Quicker Alternative

You can also use the dollar-project-boilerplate project, which will provide you with a quick start.

Folder Structure

This is the recommended folder structure to simply organize your dollardoc project.

dollardoc_test_project
├── docs
│   └── ... Dollardoc and Markdown files
├── plugin
│   ├── block
│   │   └── ... Block plugin python files
│   ├── extension
│   │   └── ... Extension plugin python files
│   └── function
│       └── ... Function plugin python files
├── build.py
└── dollarconfig.yaml

Creating Your First Documentation File

Dollar-files end with .mdd to differentiate them from normal markdown files. All dollar-files start with a header-section. The syntax of the header-section is in yaml and contains variables that can be used by this document and other documents. Although other documents' use of these variables is limited to their respective content-section, the header can only refer to variables in it's own context and other dollar-files (by refering to their id).

The content part is plain markdown, with the addition of dollar-references, dollar-functions and dollar-blocks.

Example Input

---
id: id-is-required
type: page

title: Some Title
description: Some description of the page

some-variable: Example text in $this.id
some-list:
  - First item
  - $another-page-id
---

# $this.title

$this.description

Variable some-variable from this has the value: $this.some-variable

Variable title from another-page-id has the value: $another-page-id.title

You can also create simple inline links to another object like $another-page-id by just writing a reference to the id.

## Dollar Function Example

$$List($this.some-list)

## Dollar Block Example

Currently there are no standard library dollar blocks to show as an example, this is *under construction*.

Example Output

# Some Title

Some description of the page

Variable some-variable from this has the value: Example text in id-is-required

Variable title from another-page-id has the value: Another Page Title

You can also create simple inline links to another object like [Another Page Title](./another-page-id.md) by just writing a reference to the id.

## Dollar Function Example

* First item
* [Another Page Title](./another-page-id.md)

## Dollar Block Example

Currently there are no standard library dollar blocks to show as an example, this is *under construction*.

Building the Documentation

$ python build.py

Unless there is an exception, all your generated markdown files will show up in the output/ folder.

Dollar Syntax Specification Document

dollar-syntax-specification-v0_1_0.pdf

Outputs Supported

This project only supports plain markdown files. Other alternatives has been considered, like docusaurus style markdown output, but nothing has been decided at this moment.

Future of the Project

• Syntax specification

  • An outline of the syntax specification is currently in progress.

• Support for tags

  • Add the ability to create indirect links between different pages using tags. This simplifies the process of linking related documentation pages without requiring the creation of entire new pages.