Re: [boost] docca: C++ Documentation XSLT library

Subject: Re: [boost] docca: C++ Documentation XSLT library
From: Mateusz Loskot (mateusz_at_[hidden])
Date: 2016-09-09 14:14:50

On 9 September 2016 at 19:22, Vinnie Falco <vinnie.falco_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Hi. When I developed Beast for Boost.Asio
> (https://github.com/vinniefalco/Beast), I lifted the xsl transforms
> from Boost.Asio (thanks Chris!) and adapted them. These scripts take
> the output of Doxygen and transform them into Boost.Book code (or
> QuickBook code or whatever its called). In other words, it creates a
> file called reference.qbk.
> [...]
> By this point many of you have fallen asleep, XSLT is a great cure for
> insomnia. If you're still awake you're probably very excited at the
> prospects of a turn-key solution for making great looking docs out of
> Javadoc comments in your C++ headers so I'll move right on to the
> questions:
>
> 1. Is there already a system for doing this?

Doxygen XML to Quickbook? I don't think so, but see below

> 2. If not, is there any interest in such a system? Is this project
> worth the effort?
> 3. Is this approach viable? Or is there a different approach?

Long time ago, I also picked Boost.Asio XSLT and based on that
I developed preliminary documentation generator for Boost.Geometry.
Eventually, we found it is very complex and difficult to maintain,
so Barent Gehrels developed bespoke Doxygen XML processing tool
written in C++ and dedicated for Boost.Geometry.

Here is the full story:
http://barendgehrels.blogspot.com/2010/12/doxygen-and-quickbook.html
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_61_0/libs/geometry/doc/html/geometry/aboutdoc.html

However, Boost.Asio approach seems like the one with potential to become a
Boost general purpose converter usable for other/all libraries.

Despite I no longer work on the XSLT-based converter for Boost.Geometry,
I give big thumbs up to your efforts.

Best regards,
-- 
Mateusz Loskot, http://mateusz.loskot.net