NAME

       doctools_intro - doctools introduction

DESCRIPTION

       doctools  (short  for documentation tools) stands for a set of related, yet different, entities which are
       working together for the easy creation and transformation of documentation. These are

       [1]    A tcl based language for the semantic markup of  text.  Markup  is  represented  by  Tcl  commands
              interspersed with the actual text.

       [2]    A package providing the ability to read and transform texts written in that markup language. It is
              important to note that the actual transformation of the input text is delegated to plugins.

       [3]    An API describing the interface between the package above and a plugin.

       Which of the more detailed documents are relevant to the reader of this  introduction  depends  on  their
       role in the documentation process.

       [1]    A  writer  of  documentation  has to understand the markup language itself. A beginner to doctools
              should read the more informally written doctools language introduction first. Having digested this
              the  formal  doctools  language  syntax  specification  should  become  understandable.  A  writer
              experienced with doctools may only need the doctools language command reference from time to  time
              to refresh her memory.

              While  a  document  is  written  the  dtplite  application  can  be used to validate it, and after
              completion it also performs the conversion into the chosen system of visual markup, be  it  *roff,
              HTML, plain text, wiki, etc.

       [2]    A  processor  of documentation written in the doctools markup language has to know which tools are
              available for use.

              The main tool is the aforementioned dtplite application provided by Tcllib. A  more  powerful  one
              (in terms of options and ability to configure it) is the dtp application, provided by Tclapps.  At
              the bottom level, common to both applications, however sits the package  doctools,  providing  the
              basic facilities to read and process files containing text in the doctools format.

       [3]    At  last,  but  not  least, plugin writers have to understand the interaction between the doctools
              package and its plugins, as described in the doctools plugin API reference.

RELATED FORMATS

       doctools does not stand alone, it has two companion formats. These are called docidx and doctoc, and they
       are for the markup of keyword indices, and tables of contents, respectively.  They are described in their
       own sets of documents, starting at the docidx introduction and the doctoc introduction, respectively.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and  other  problems.   Please
       report  such  in  the  category  doctools  of the Tcllib Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].
       Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments  can  be  made  by
       going  to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most button
       in the secondary navigation bar.

SEE ALSO

       docidx_intro,  doctoc_intro,  doctools,  doctools_lang_cmdref,  doctools_lang_faq,   doctools_lang_intro,
       doctools_lang_syntax, doctools_plugin_apiref

KEYWORDS

       markup, semantic markup

CATEGORY

       Documentation tools

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2007 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>