A.5. How to Document an ML Module

A.5. How to Document an ML Module
	Appendix A. Basics about ML Programming and Projects

The following hints can help you to create a complete and useful documentation of your ML classes and modules:

Use Doxygen/Dot for the documentation of the source code. Have a look at existing source code.
Add author name, creation date, filename to the file header.
Document the header file completely, that includes all members, methods, classes functions and types.
Document functionality, usage, side effects and default values of interface components for classes, methods, functions, etc.
The standard for Doxygen (http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/manual.html) with Graphviz/Dot ( http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/) is the standard for the header file and/or source code documentation.
When you use your modules in MeVisLab, your modules become really powerful. So make the ML module usable for MeVisLab. This includes the following steps:
- Create an example network which demonstrates how your module works and insert this example network as a link into the .def file with which it can be called from MeVisLab.
- Write a module help: choose Edit Help from the module's context menu to open MATE in mhelp mode.
- Add keywords and cross references to the .def file. MeVisLab registers the module and other people can search for it in the MeVisLab module database. Use reasonable keywords so that people can find the modules in the MeVisLab databases.

These rules, of course, usually also apply to non-ML modules such as Open Inventor™ nodes or macros.


A.4. General Rules for ML Programming		A.6. Updating from Older ML Versions