Create documentation from source code

Hi all,

how can I generate documentation from c# unity3d scipt files?
I use both visual studio and monodevelop.

Normally I use visual studio xml generated file + sandcastle to build documentation, but with Unity3d I can't build the project and then xml file is not generated... then I can't use sandcastle to build my documentation.

What is the best solution to create documentation for a unity3d project?

Thanks in advance for any answer!
KEnshin

 

Hi Kenshin,

Unity does support a post-processing feature for builds, here.

 

I too was trying to see if I could generate a file based on the XML comments in my C#. It would seem that this is something that is built in to the usual visual studio and mono c# compilers, but there doesn't seem to be a way to turn this on when Unity builds. Also, I don't see how the post processing feature linked above could be used to turn this on.

Is this something that is just not available to the unity c# compiler?

 

The post-processing feature lets you call command-line tools (via scripting / batch scripts, depending on the OS) and have them build the documentation from the source code. Visual Studio includes a bunch of command-line tools that it uses under the hood, including the one that builds docs from C# source code, though it's been so long since I used it that I can't remember the details.

I'm not sure if Xcode includes similar tools, as it's built around Objective-C, not C#, but Unity and MonoDevelop do install a Mono environment, which should include similar tools to those in Visual Studio.

(Hey, I never said this would be easy!)

 

Hi Stimarco,

thanks for the usefull answer.

Just for info, currently I am using doxygen to create project documentation.

Grazie!
Kenshin

 

For everyone that might come agross this topic.
I was able to use Sandcastle 2015.5.2.0 and Visual Studio 2015 RC to build my documentation.
I took about 4h to configure all the settings but I'm almost there now.
You should be able to build the project in VS but not to run it.
If you have the build xml docs option enabled in your project settings (VS) it will also bild the xml documentation which you need in order for Sandcastle to work properly. Now I just gotta figure out how I can etablish links to the Unity API if this is even possible in a decent ammount of time.

 

An alternative which I found very useful to build documentation is the free plugin created by @JacobPennock that integrates Doxygen with Unity. There is more information about it in the following thread: https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/f...ation-of-your-project-through-doxygen.128355/