# defg

> Generate beautiful PDF documentation from code

Latest version **1.7.12** (published 2022-09-05) · ISC license · 0 weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install defg
pnpm add defg
yarn add defg
bun add defg
```

Provides the command `defg`.

## Health

**Score 15/100 (F)** — status: abandoned.

Positive: no vulnerabilities.

Warnings: low downloads; no types; no esm support.

Negative: abandoned; low maintenance score.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.7.12 |
| Published | 2022-09-05 |
| First published | 2022-02-07 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | ISC |
| TypeScript types | none |
| Module format | CommonJS |
| Dependencies | 5 |
| Unpacked size | 789.6 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 0 |
| Author | charles.lobo@gmail.com |
| Maintainers | tpp |
| Keywords | docs, documentation, README, markdown, pdf, literate-programming |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/defg
- Repository: https://github.com/theproductiveprogrammer/defg
- Homepage: https://github.com/theproductiveprogrammer/defg#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/theproductiveprogrammer/defg/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/defg

## Dependencies (5)

- [arg](https://npm.io/package/arg.md) ^5.0.1
- [chalk](https://npm.io/package/chalk.md) ^4.1.2
- [globby](https://npm.io/package/globby.md) ^13.1.2
- [md-to-pdf](https://npm.io/package/md-to-pdf.md) ^5.1.0
- [defg-default-plugin](https://npm.io/package/defg-default-plugin.md) ^1.0.6

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## Recent versions

- 1.7.12 (latest) — 2022-09-05
- 1.7.11 — 2022-09-04
- 1.7.10 — 2022-09-03
- 1.7.9 — 2022-09-01
- 1.7.8 — 2022-08-30
- 1.7.7 — 2022-08-30
- 1.7.6 — 2022-08-30
- 1.7.5 — 2022-08-26
- 1.7.4 — 2022-08-26
- 1.7.3 — 2022-08-25
- 1.7.2 — 2022-08-25
- 1.7.1 — 2022-08-23
- 1.7.0 — 2022-08-23
- 1.6.0 — 2022-08-22
- 1.5.2 — 2022-08-19
- … 9 more at https://npm.io/package/defg/versions

## README

# DEFG
Generate beautiful PDF documentation from code

![logo](./icon.png)

<div class="insert-block">
You can find this document <a href="https://github.com/theproductiveprogrammer/defg/blob/master/README.pdf">formatted nicely here</a>.
</div>

## How it Works

1. Step 1: Write documentation comments in code (`//**` or `##**` comments)
2. Step 2: `defg` merges comments into your README/markdown file, updating it.
3. Step 3: `defg` uses plugins to generate a beautifully formatted PDF.

As you update the documentation in the code, `defg` will find and merge the
updates, always keeping your markdown and PDF documentation up to date. You can
add images, styling, and layout to the markdown and `defg` will still find and
merge your updates correctly.

<div class="insert-block">

Below is a schematic of how this works:

![schematic](./schematic.png)


## Installation & Use

`defg` is a npm script and can be installed globally using:

```sh
$> npm install -g defg
```

Then enter the directory where your README.md is present, and run

```sh
$> defg
```

You can get help using:

```sh
$> defg -h
```

</div>

## Motivation

I find that README's and other documentations tend to get out of
date quickly. `defg` generates a README from documentation
comments, and as these comments are close
to the code, they are easier to access, modify, and update.

## First Lines

If you start your documentation with a title, subtitle, and image, the default plugin
will create a cover page for you.
```javascript
//** # Use a Heading as the Title
//** The next line is a subtitle (optional), followed by a logo
//** ![logo](./logo.png)
```
It will also pull version number, author, and homepage from NodeJS `package.json` files.

## First Run

If you run `defg` and there is no README.md file, it will generate one from
all the documentation it has found. During this process, because it has no reference,
it can get the order of comments mixed up. If this happens, you need to reorder
the README to get it into shape.

## Improving the Documentation

You can also update your document to make it more readable. You can:

1. Add pictures.
2. Add styling.
3. Add text.
4. Configure the page layout.

As you do all these, `defg` will preserve your changes whenever it updates your document.

<div class="page-break"></div>

<div class="sidenote">

### HOW TO IMPROVE THE DOCUMENT

<img style="width:32px;display:block;margin:0 auto" src="./edit.png"></img>

- You can add images in markdown or using the `<img..` tag. You can also
  add other block HTML styling `<div class="..."` in the document to improve it's look.
- You can add a README.css which will apply the CSS styles while generating the PDF.
- To insert additional text in the README, wrap the additional text
  in a `<div class="insert-block">...</div>`.
- To insert a page break insert a `<div class="page-break" />` and add the style to your CSS:
  ```css
  .page-break {
    page-break-after: always
  }
- To design the page layout, create a `pages.defg` file. Here you can decide the page
  size, header & footer using the following Puppeteer options: https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.pdfoptions

</div>

<div class="page-break"></div>

## Usage
```
$> defg -h
  # Generates beautiful PDF documentation from documentation comments
  # (Comments starting with //** or ##**)
Options
   -h, --help:     show help
   -v, --version:  show version
   --src:          glob paths to source files [can be multiple]
   --skip:         glob paths to exclude/ignore when searching source files
   --ext:          list of valid source file extensions (js,py,java,sql,ts,sh,go,c,cpp by default)
   --readme:       path of README file to merge (./README.md by default)
   --style:        path of CSS file containing styling (./README.css by default)
   --page-def:     path of file containing pdf page definition
   --pdf:          path of output pdf generated (./README.pdf by default)
   --ignore-src:   ignore source and just generate PDF from README.md
   --quick:        use faster (but less accurate) resolution algorithm
   --plugin:       update the documentation or style using this plugin
```

<div class="insert-block" style="margin-top: 5em">
For those interested, a technical discussion of `defg` <a href="https://github.com/theproductiveprogrammer/defg/blob/master/ALGO.pdf">can be found here</a>.
</div>

---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/defg · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._