Re: Extract docstrings from my functions

[Johan Ekh]

Hi all,
sorry for bringing this up again, but I still don't quite understand how to do 
this. I will rephrase my question slightly.

Let's say I'm working on a project that involves writing a number of octave 
functions. Together they make up a useful tool that I want to package
and distribute to several users. I prefer to use docstrings in my functions to 
document the function and I want to automatically extract those and insert them
into a manual to their respective section. But I also want to add other 
sections in the manual, i.e. theory, installing instructions, user guide etc.
I'd like to develop the manual in parallel to developing the code so I need an 
efficient way of repeatedly extract the docstrings and build the manual.

What are the preferred tools and workflow for doing this?

BR / Johan



On Dec 28, 2012, at 4:10 PM, Ben Abbott <address@hidden> wrote:

> *** PLEASE DON'T TOP-POST ***
> *** REPLY AT THE BOTTOM, SO LATE ARRIVALS CAN FOLLOW ALONG ***
> 
> On Dec 28, 2012, at 5:17 AM, Johan Ekh wrote:
> 
>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 5:58 AM, c. <address@hidden> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 28 Dec 2012, at 01:14, Johan Ekh wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> How can I extract my texinfo docstrings from all my functions and create a 
>>>> pdf manual?
>>>> I've never used texinfo before, so please be gentle.
>>>> 
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Johan
>>> 
>>> Some time ago I started working on a package which is meant to do this:
>>> 
>>> http://sourceforge.net/p/octave/code/11522/tree/trunk/octave-forge/extra/generate_latex/
>>> 
>>> it is not finished yet, so producing a working LaTeX document might still 
>>> require some manual
>>> adjustments, but I think it mitght serve as a good starting point.
>>> 
>>> Notice that texinfo can produce TeX output but not proper LaTeX, so what I 
>>> did was to include
>>> the docstrings as text inside a \verbatim environment and manage the 
>>> indexing separately.
>>> 
>>> HTH,
>>> c.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>> But I still wonder how everyone is doing it today? E.g. how are the 
>> docstrings in the functions distributed with octave
>> used to create info and pdf documentation?
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> Johan
> 
> Converting texinfo to pdf ...
> 
>       
> http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/PDF-Output.html
> 
> From Octave you can extract the texinfo help text with 
> get_help_text_from_file() for more info ...
> 
>       help get_help_text_from_file
> 
> Ben
> 
> 
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