Installation

Get started with installing DocBox in your BoxLang or CFML application.

DocBox can be installed and used in multiple ways, depending on your needs. The recommended method for most users is to install DocBox as a BoxLang module, which provides access to the powerful CLI tool for generating documentation. However, you can also use it as a CommandBox module or a standalone CFML application.

🦤 BoxLang Module Installation (Recommended for CLI)

DocBox 5.0+ can be installed as a native BoxLang core module, providing access to the powerful CLI tool.

CommandBox Web Runtimes

box install bx-docbox

BoxLang OS Runtime

install-bx-module bx-docbox

Once installed, you can use the boxlang module:docbox CLI command to generate documentation. See the BoxLang CLI Tool page for complete usage details and examples.

BoxLang CLI Tool Examples

DocBox includes a native BoxLang CLI module for generating documentation:

# Basic usage
boxlang module:docbox --source=/path/to/code --mapping=myapp --output-dir=/docs

# With project title and excludes
boxlang module:docbox --source=/src --mapping=myapp \
                       --excludes="(tests|build)" \
                       --output-dir=/docs \
                       --project-title="My API"

# Multiple source mappings
boxlang module:docbox --mappings:v1=/src/v1/models \
                       --mappings:v2=/src/v2/models \
                       --output-dir=/docs

# Using frames theme
boxlang module:docbox --source=/src --mapping=app \
                       --output-dir=/docs \
                       --theme=frames

# Show help
boxlang module:docbox --help

# Show version
boxlang module:docbox --version

CommandBox Module

We also have a CommandBox module called DocBox Commands, which enables generating documentation from the CLI as a CommandBox command.

1. Run box install commandbox-docbox to install the docbox command namespace

2. Run docbox help to get a list of commands

3. Run docbox generate help to show help for the docbox generate command

Please see the DocBox Commands README for more info.

Using DocBox in a CFML Application

Installing and using DocBox consists of three main steps:

Download

For best results, use CommandBox to run box install docbox --saveDev in your app root.

Alternatively, you can download the DocBox source code and drop it into a docbox folder in your application.

Mapping

If DocBox is not installed in the root of your application, you will need to create a docbox mapping that points to the DocBox source code location:

this.mappings[ "docbox" ] = expandPath( "./libraries/doctorBox" );

Then you can access DocBox via the mapping you created.

<cfscript>
new docbox.DocBox().generate(
    source = expandPath( "./src" ),
    mapping = "myapp",
    outputDir = expandPath( "./docs" )
)
</cfscript>