AntDoc in the future

So far, I have been developing AntDoc on my leisure time. Depending on the time that I spare from time to time to develop this little tool, more or less new features will be delivered in new releases...

An open-source project

However, it would be more efficient to put that project under an open-source license. If I did not do that so far, it is because the tool was not stable and mature enough, which reveals that my ideas were not clear.

Today, I know more precisely how to extend the tool. This is the reason why AntDoc is bound to become an open-source project. I just want to make sure that it is ready. It is already managed under CVS V1.11, and of course fully administered by Ant!

General enhancements

Now, concerning the enhancements, there are two major issues: AntDoc (the HTML documentation generator) and AntDocGUI (the Ant target runner). I list some of the ideas that come to my mind; the striked lines show what has already been performed.

AntDoc

• It would be nice to be able to control more precisely where the documentation should be generated, so as to integrate that documentation into existing HTML pages. I think of the idea of doclet.
• I intend to generate SVG data so as to draw the dependance graph: Vizant does this perfectly, using an external tool called Graphviz . Since it is not a pure Java solution, I did not integrate to AntDoc: it would otherwise weighten AntDoc installation too much.
• I intend to yield XSL FO format for the documentation.
• I intend to create an Ant task that seamlessly integrates that necessary feature. This task should be able to perform the transformation on multiple script files.: this is now done.
• The generated HTML is bound to be much enhanced: a single page per project, a single page per target, so as to make the documentation clearer: this is now in progress! We now need a page for all top and inner propeties. We need to see all targets depending on a target...
• I intend to publish an open API, so that thirdparty can integrate the HTML documentation generation from other tools: this is now done.
• I intend to use a JavaDoc grammar in order to enable the Ant writer to add logical hyperlinks within the XML comments, as far as Ant targets, projects, task, properties are concerned.
• I intend to use an applet into what is generated, in order to be able to execute the script at the same place as the documentation. Very often, you wonder what is the exact name of a target, and you would like to execute it: if the place where you find the information is also a place where you may execute the target, you spare time and effort. If applet issue is too limited because of the security restrictions that apply on it, I may generate an AWT or Swing stand-alone application...
• The AntDoc task needs a css attribute in order to use a given Cascading Style Sheet instead of the default generated one: this is now done, and you may also provide an HTML welcome page.
• The AntDoc HTML file should also present the full code of each Ant buildfile, and fully marked-up.
• An XML comment standard should be chosen, in order to enhance documentation: this standard would be handled by AntDoc. The comments would be placed just in front of the targets, or even task.
• AntDoc should be able to mark-up properties, so that the places where they are defined and used are highlighted.

AntDocGUI

• Within AntDocGUI, I intend to generate AntDoc HTML documentation directly, and add the corresponding task to the given buildfile.
• Provide an open API that should enable to edit Ant targets from an editing tool that already provides advanced syntax highlighting capabilities: the tool would take benefit of a great enhancement.
• Integrate AntDocGUI in the most famous IDE. AntDocGUI is bound to be integrated into IDEA 3.0 : AntDocGUI is now an IDEA build #642 plugin.
• AntDocGUI suffers from no documentation at all, so I hope that it is intuitive enough... A documentation will be available if it is actually used. I intend to create smarter tooltips on the GUI in order to facilitate its understanding.
• The idea would be to enable to be able to package Ant buildfile excecution from an AntDocGUI runtime package, so as to deliver it to production teams.