package godoctricks

import "github.com/fluhus/godoc-tricks"

This tutorial deals with tricks for making your godoc organized and neat. This is a compilation of tricks I've collected and couldn't find a comprehensive guide for.

Notice that this doc is written in godoc itself as package documentation. The defined types are just for making the table of contents at the head of the page; they have no meanings as types.

If you have any suggestion or comment, please feel free to open an issue on this tutorial's GitHub page!

Author: Amit Lavon

Index ¶

• type Code_blocks
• type Examples
• type HTML
• type Links
• type Methods
• func NewMethods() *Methods
• func (Methods) Foo()
• func (*Methods) Foo2()
• type Mock_enums
• type Paragraphs
• type Titles

Examples ¶

• Examples
• Examples (Other)
• Examples (Output)

Package Files ¶

doc.go

type Code_blocks ¶ Uses

type Code_blocks int

You can embed blocks of code in your godoc, such as this:

fmt.Println("Hello")

To do that, simply add an extra indent to your comment's text.

For example, the code of the first lines of this section looks like this:

// You can embed blocks of code in your godoc, such as this:
//  fmt.Println("Hello")
// To do that, simply add an extra indent to your comment's text.

type Examples ¶ Uses

type Examples int

You can place usage examples in your godoc.

Examples should be placed in a file with a _test suffix. For example, the examples in this guide are in a file called doc_test.go .

The example functions should be called Example() for package examples, ExampleTypename() for a specific type or ExampleFuncname() for a specific function. For multiple examples for the same entity (like same function), you can add a suffix like ExampleFoo_suffix1, ExampleFoo_suffix2.

You can document an example's output, by adding an output comment at its end. The output comment must begin with "Output:", as shown below:

func ExampleExamples_output() {
    fmt.Println("Hello")
    // Output: Hello
}

Notice that the tricks brought here (titles, code blocks, links etc.) don't work in example documentation.

For full documentation of examples, see: http://golang.org/pkg/testing/

fmt.Println("Hello")

fmt.Println("Hello")

fmt.Println("Hello")

Hello

type HTML ¶ Uses

type HTML int

You can output an HTML page if you want a fancier, JavaDoc-like output. For that, make sure GOPATH is set correctly and run the command:

godoc -url=/pkg/your_package > your_page.html

Now if you don't have a godoc server, you'll get an ugly looking page, since there is no CSS and no script files. Link your HTML to some godoc website's CSS and JS files. I add http://golang.org/ as prefix to the CSS file address (found at head section) and the script files (found at the bottom of the page's source).

type Links ¶ Uses

type Links int

Web addresses will automatically generate actual links in the HTML output, like this: http://www.golang.org

type Methods ¶ Uses

type Methods int

Methods are functions with receivers. Godoc associates methods with their receivers and attaches their documentation. See below.

func NewMethods ¶ Uses

func NewMethods() *Methods

Functions that construct an instance of a type (or a pointer to it) are associated with the returned type.

func (Methods) Foo ¶ Uses

func (Methods) Foo()

Methods are attached to their receiver type in the godoc, regardless of their physical location in the code.

func (*Methods) Foo2 ¶ Uses

func (*Methods) Foo2()

Pointer receivers are also associated in the same way.

type Mock_enums ¶ Uses

type Mock_enums int

While there are no built in enums in go, you can use types and constants to mock them (documentation-wise). Take this Mock_enums type for example, if you have a constant clause where all the constants are of the same type, it will be attached to that type's godoc. See below.

const (
    A   Mock_enums = 1
    B   Mock_enums = 2
)

type Paragraphs ¶ Uses

type Paragraphs int

To start a new paragraph, add an empty line in the comment between the 2 paragraphs.

For example:

// Paragraph 1.
// Still paragraph 1.
//
// Paragraph 2.
// Still Paragraph 2.

will yield:

Paragraph 1. Still paragraph 1.

Paragraph 2. Still Paragraph 2.

type Titles ¶ Uses

type Titles int

You can make titles in your godoc. A title is a line that is separated from its following line by an empty line, begins with a capital letter and doesn't end with punctuation.

For example, the code:

// Sentence 1
//
// Sentence 2

will yield:

Sentence 1 ¶

Sentence 2

While this code:

// Sentence 1.
//
// Sentence 2.

will yield:

Sentence 1.

Sentence 2.

See documentation here: http://golang.org/pkg/go/doc/#ToHTML