Provided by: tcllib_1.15-dfsg-2_all bug

NAME

       dtplite - Lightweight DocTools Markup Processor

SYNOPSIS

       dtplite -o output ?options? format inputfile

       dtplite validate inputfile

       dtplite -o output ?options? format inputdirectory

       dtplite -merge -o output ?options? format inputdirectory

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       The  application  described  by  this document, dtplite, is the successor to the extremely
       simple mpexpand. Influenced in its functionality by the dtp doctools processor it is  much
       more powerful than mpexpand, yet still as easy to use; definitely easier than dtp with its
       myriad of subcommands and options.

       dtplite is based upon the package doctools, like the other two processors.

   USE CASES
       dtplite was written with the following three use cases in mind.

       [1]    Validation of a single document,  i.e.  checking  that  it  was  written  in  valid
              doctools  format.  This  mode  can also be used to get a preliminary version of the
              formatted output for a single document, for display  in  a  browser,  nroff,  etc.,
              allowing proofreading of the formatting.

       [2]    Generation  of  the  formatted  documentation  for  a  single package, i.e. all the
              manpages, plus a table of contents and an index of keywords.

       [3]    An extension of the previous mode of operation, a method for the easy generation of
              one  documentation  tree for several packages, and especially of a unified table of
              contents and keyword index.

       Beyond the above we also want to make use of the customization features  provided  by  the
       HTML  formatter. It is not the only format the application should be able to generate, but
       we anticipiate it to be the most commonly used, and it is one of the few which do  provide
       customization hooks.

       We  allow the caller to specify a header string, footer string, a stylesheet, and data for
       a bar of navigation links at the top of the generated document.  While all can be  set  as
       long  as  the  formatting  engine  provides  an  appropriate engine parameter (See section
       OPTIONS) the last two have internal processing which make them specific to HTML.

   COMMAND LINE
       dtplite -o output ?options? format inputfile
              This is the form for use case [1]. The options will be explained later, in  section
              OPTIONS.

              path output (in)
                     This argument specifies where to write the generated document. It can be the
                     path to a file or directory, or -.  The last value causes the application to
                     write the generated documented to stdout.

                     If  the  output  does not exist then [file dirname $output] has to exist and
                     must be a writable directory.  The generated document will be written  to  a
                     file  in  that directory, and the name of that file will be derived from the
                     inputfile, the format, and the value given to option -ext (if present).

              (path|handle) format (in)
                     This argument specifies the formatting engine to  use  when  processing  the
                     input,  and  thus  the format of the generated document. See section FORMATS
                     for the possibilities recognized by the application.

              path inputfile (in)
                     This argument specifies the path to the file to process. It  has  to  exist,
                     must be readable, and written in doctools format.

       dtplite validate inputfile
              This  is a simpler form for use case [1]. The "validate" format generates no output
              at all, only syntax checks are performed. As such the specification  of  an  output
              file or other options is not necessary and left out.

       dtplite -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
              This  is  the  form  for use case [2]. It differs from the form for use case [1] by
              having the input documents specified through a directory instead  of  a  file.  The
              other  arguments  are identical, except for output, which now has to be the path to
              an existing and writable directory.

              The input documents are all files in inputdirectory or any  of  its  subdirectories
              which were recognized by fileutil::fileType as containing text in doctools format.

       dtplite -merge -o output ?options? format inputdirectory
              This is the form for use case [3]. The only difference to the form for use case [2]
              is the additional option -merge.

              Each such call will merge the generated documents coming from processing the  input
              documents  under  inputdirectory  or  any  of its subdirectories to the files under
              output.  In  this  manner  it  is  possible  to  incrementally  build  the  unified
              documentation  for any number of packages. Note that it is necessary to run through
              all  the  packages  twice  to  get  fully  correct  cross-references  (for  formats
              supporting them).

   OPTIONS
       This  section describes all the options available to the user of the application, with the
       exception of the options -o and -merge. These  two  were  described  already,  in  section
       COMMAND LINE.

       -exclude string
              This  option  specifies an exclude (glob) pattern. Any files identified as manpages
              to process which match the exclude pattern are ignored. The option can be  provided
              multiple times, each usage adding an additional pattern to the list of exclusions.

       -ext string
              If  the  name of an output file has to be derived from the name of an input file it
              will use the name of the format as the extension by default. This option here  will
              override  this however, forcing it to use string as the file extension. This option
              is ignored if the name of the output file is fully specified through option -o.

              When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.

       -header file
              This option can be used if and only if  the  selected  format  provides  an  engine
              parameter  named  "header".  It takes the contents of the specified file and assign
              them to that parameter, for whatever use by the engine. The HTML engine will insert
              the  text just after the tag <body>.  If navigation buttons are present (see option
              -nav below), then the HTML generated for  them  is  appended  to  the  header  data
              originating here before the final assignment to the parameter.

              When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.

       -footer file
              Like  -header,  except  that: Any navigation buttons are ignored, the corresponding
              required engine parameter is named "footer", and the data is inserted  just  before
              the tag </body>.

              When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.

       -style file
              This  option  can  be  used  if  and only if the selected format provides an engine
              parameter named "meta". When specified it  will  generate  a  piece  of  HTML  code
              declaring  the file as the stylesheet for the generated document and assign that to
              the parameter. The HTML engine will insert this inot the document, just  after  the
              tag <head>.

              When  processing  an  input directory the stylesheet file is copied into the output
              directory and the generated HTML will refer to the copy, to make  the  result  more
              self-contained.  When  processing  an  input  file  we have no location to copy the
              stylesheet to and so just reference it as specified.

              When used multiple times only the last definition is relevant.

       -nav label url
              Use this option to specify a navigation button with label to display and the url to
              link  to.  This  option  can be used if and only if the selected format provides an
              engine parameter named "header".  The  HTML  generated  for  this  is  appended  to
              whatever  data  we got from option -header before it is inserted into the generated
              documents.

              When used multiple times all definitions are collected  and  a  navigation  bar  is
              created,  with  the first definition shown at the left edge and the last definition
              to the right.

   FORMATS
       At first the format argument will be treated as a path to a tcl file containing  the  code
       for  the  requested  formatting engine. The argument will be treated as the name of one of
       the predefined formats listed below if and only if the path does not exist.

       Note a limitation: If treating the format as path  to  the  tcl  script  implementing  the
       engine  was  sucessful,  then  this  script  has  to implement not only the engine API for
       doctools, i.e.  doctools_api, but for doctoc_api and docidx_api  as  well.  Otherwise  the
       generation of a table of contents and of a keyword index will fail.

       List of predefined formats, i.e. as provided by the package doctools:

       nroff  The processor generates *roff output, the standard format for unix manpages.

       html   The processor generates HTML output, for usage in and display by web browsers. This
              engine is currently the only one providing the various engine  parameters  required
              for the additional customaization of the output.

       tmml   The  processor generates TMML output, the Tcl Manpage Markup Language, a derivative
              of XML.

       latex  The processor generates LaTeX output.

       wiki   The processor generates Wiki markup as understood by wikit.

       list   The processor extracts the information provided by manpage_begin.  This  format  is
              used  internally  to  extract  the  meta data from which both table of contents and
              keyword index are derived from.

       null   The processor does not generate any output. This is equivalent to validate.

   DIRECTORY STRUCTURES
       In this section we describe the directory structures generated by  the  application  under
       output  when  processing  all documents in an inputdirectory. In other words, this is only
       relevant to the use cases [2] and [3].

       [2]    The following directory structure is created when processing a single set of  input
              documents.  The file extension used is for output in HTML, but that is not relevant
              to the structure and was just used to have proper file names.
              output/
              toc.html
              index.html
              files/
              path/to/FOO.html

              The last line in the example shows the document generated for a file FOO located at
              inputdirectory/path/to/FOO

       [3]    When merging many packages into a unified set of documents the generated  directory
              structure is a bit deeper:
              output
              toc.html
              index.html
              FOO1/
              FOO2/
              toc.html
              files/
              path/to/BAR.html

              Each  of the directories FOO1, ... contains the documents generated for the package
              FOO1, ... and follows the structure shown for use case [2]. The only  exception  is
              that there is no per-package index.

              The  files  ".toc",  ".idx",  and  ".xrf"  contain the internal status of the whole
              output and will be read and updated by the next invokation. Their contents will not
              be documented. Remove these files when all packages wanted for the output have been
              processed, i.e. when the output is complete.

              The files ".tocdoc", and ".idxdoc", are intermediate files  in  doctoc  and  docidx
              markup,  respectively,  containing the main table of contents and keyword index for
              the set of documents before their conversion to the chosen output format.  They are
              left  in  place,  i.e. not deleted, to serve as demonstrations of doctoc and docidx
              markup.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the application it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs  and  other
       problems.   Please  report  such  in  the  category  doctools  of  the  Tcllib SF Trackers
       [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].   Please  also  report  any  ideas   for
       enhancements you may have for either application and/or documentation.

SEE ALSO

       docidx introduction, doctoc introduction, doctools introduction

KEYWORDS

       HTML, TMML, conversion, docidx, doctoc, doctools, manpage, markup, nroff

CATEGORY

       Documentation tools

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2004 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>