Swift-DocC Template

Use Swift-DocC to build and share documentation for most any software code project. You can build documentation as a Swift-DocC article or sample code, even if it is not Swift code.

Overview

Use this starter template to create rich documentation and interactive tutorials for non Swift projects. For example, you can write an article on the development of creating web maps that is heavy with GeoJSON, JSON, or TypeScript. See the section Add Code Listings for the programming languages where you can enable syntax highlighting.

You can edit with Xcode 15 and its Documentation Preview assistant editor, which gives you a view of your documentation as you type, allowing you to iterate on your documentation without leaving the Xcode. Or, you can use your favorite editor and generate documentation from a Swift based command line. The generated Swift-DocC documentation can be published to a static web host.

The template makes use of the Swift Package Manager command plugin for Swift-DocC, which has the Swift-DocC documentation site.

Test

Run & build using the DocC command of your choice (either from Xcode or a Swift Docker Container). The name of the root documentation is called docctemplate at the top level header.

• http://server:4256/documentation/docctemplate

This name matches in both Documentation.docc/Documentation.md and the minimal symbols JSON file Documentation.docc/DocC.symbols.json. When you want to change the name, be sure to change docctemplate in both files.

Documentation.md in the top level header, found on line 1.

# ``docctemplate``

DocC.symbols.json in the module key.

  "module": {
    "name": "docctemplate",
    ...
  }

Topics

• Meet DocC documentation in Xcode
  • Xcode 15's Documentation Preview assistant editor
  • Search Swift-DocC Videos at developer.apple.com
    • Create rich documentation with Swift-DocC
• Produce rich API reference documentation and interactive tutorials site
• For examples of Swift-DocC tutorials, see https://developer.apple.com/tutorials
  • Introducing SwiftUI
  • Bring an iPad App to the Mac with Mac Catalyst

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Command Line

Xcode

Open via the Xcode text editor invocation tool.

xed Package.swift

Preview documentation from a source bundle.

# xcrun docc preview -h
#    Port number to use for the preview web server.
xcrun docc preview Documentation.docc --port 4256 --output-path tmp/dist

DocC with Docker

Swift-DocC is integrated with the Swift toolchain since Swift 5.6.

With Docker, consider using docc convert instead of docc preview, and then plan on using your own web server.

To install Swift Docker see: https://www.swift.org/install/linux/#installation-via-docker

# docker pull swift
docker run --rm --privileged --interactive --tty \
  --volume $(pwd):/home                          \
  --workdir /home                                \
  --name swift-latest swift:latest /bin/bash

# make a temporary directory output
mkdir -p tmp

Staging

Convert documentation from a source bundle

• Set a test output folder
• serve that folder for testing
• Do not commit to GH Pages, as the baseUrl is set for local testing.

# docc -h
# docc convert -h
docc convert Documentation.docc --output-path tmp/distFromDocker

Production

Convert documentation from a source bundle, and prepare for hosting on GH Pages

Since we used the switch --hosting-base-path docs, then this is the version that would be posted to GitHub Pages and assumes that the root is /docs.

• Set the producttion output folder
• you will not be able to serve that folder for testing
• This can be committed to GH Pages, as the baseUrl is set for production

docc convert Documentation.docc --output-path docs --hosting-base-path <nameOfYourGHRepoName>

GitHub Settings for DocC

• Output the generated HTML to <repo_root>/docs on the local drive
• Set the branch to docs and serve from GH Pages the folder within the branch called /docs
• See the docc help for --hosting-base-path
  • docc convert -h

Swift Command Line

For example, you can use these command directly in macOS or from your Docker container.

Resolve package dependencies.

# Optionally `clean`
# rm -rf .build .swiftpm Documentation.docc/.docc-build

# swift package resolve -h
swift package resolve

Artifact management via swift package clean | reset.

# Online help
swift package

# SUBCOMMANDS:
#  clean                   Delete build artifacts
#  reset                   Reset the complete cache/build directory

Display available options.

swift -help

Swift Versions

Print Swift version information and exit.

swift -version

macOS Big Sur (11.7.10) 🔴

Swift 5.6 is required in order to run the Swift Package Manager command plugin for Swift-DocC. Use Docker if you need DocC on macOS Big Sur.

swift-driver version: 1.26.21 Apple Swift version 5.5.2 (swiftlang-1300.0.47.5 clang-1300.0.29.30)
Target: x86_64-apple-macosx11.0

macOS Sonoma (14)

swift-driver version: 1.87.1 Apple Swift version 5.9 (swiftlang-5.9.0.128.108 clang-1500.0.40.1)
Target: x86_64-apple-macosx14.0

Docker swift:latest

Swift version 5.9 (swift-5.9-RELEASE)
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

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Customization example with @Metadata directives.